The Michigan Daily - Sports Wednesday - January 8, 1992- Page 7
The Results:
3-0 over break, 8-1 overall
December 21 at Crisler:
Michigan 87
Rice 70
December 28 at Orlando:
Michigan 86
BYU 83
December 30 at Orlando:
Michigan 63
Virginia Tech 51
HUNTER TO GET FORWARD'S SCHOLARSHIP
Mitchell leaves Michigan
Senior captain Freddie Hunter received some good news yesterday,
learning that he will be on athletic scholarship for the second semester.
by John Niyo
Daily Basketball Writer
On the heels of some disappointment, Michigan
men's basketball coach Steve Fisher had a rather
triumphant announcement to make following practice
yesterday.
"Freddie's going on full scholarship immediately,"
Fisher said, referring to senior captain Freddie Hunter,
who has been a non-scholarship player since walking on
to the team last season.
Monday's announcement that sophomore forward
Sam Mitchell is transferring to another school to start
the second semester paved the way for the scholarship
offer to Hunter.
"It feels good," Hunter said. "I'm happy. But I'm a
little disappointed at the way it happened. We're gonna
miss Sam a lot. We wish him well, wherever he decides
to go."
- Mitchell's decision was not completely
unexpected. He had been upset over a lack of playing
time so far this season. The 6-foot-9 forward saw
action in Michigan's first four contests, averaging 3.0
points and 2.8 rebounds per game, but hadn't played
since.
- "He and I had long talks over Christmas break,"
Fisher said. "But he told me he was staying on New
Year's Day. He practiced all week; went through
doubles. But then on Sunday, he decided this just wasn't
going to work out."
Mitchell signed a letter of intent to play at
Michigan as an all-state senior at Kalamazoo Loy
Norrix, but he would have been academically
ineligible. Consequently, Mitchell opted to spend a
year at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, playing
basketball and working on his studies.
He returned to Ann Arbor last year, and was
expected to battle for a starting spot this season after
playing in all 29 games and averaging 4.9 points and 3.6
rebounds a year ago in his first season as a Wolverine.
Mitchell put on 20 pounds during the offseason
weight-training program, bulking up to 236 pounds,
and continued to work on his offensive skills in the
low post. But his playing time failed to increase;
Mitchell averaged only six minutes per game this year.
"Like everyone, Sam wanted the opportunity to
play more," Fisher said. "He liked the players here. He
liked the program. But he wanted to play more than
anything.
"Maybe part of it's my fault for not putting him in
there and letting him play as long and as hard as he
wanted to some times. He didn't get as much of an
opportunity for whatever reason. I'm still not
convinced that this is the best thing for Sam. Mid-
semester transfers are tough."
Mitchell will decide where he will transfer later
this week and then will have to sit out a year. He can
start playing at the semester break next season.
However, the bright side of the story was obvious
yesterday. When asked what Hunter's response was,
Fisher's face was beaming as well.
"Just a big ol' smile," Fisher said. "I felt awful
that we didn't have him on scholarship before, but he's
on now. I told him to go put that six or seven thousand
dollars in the refrigerator or something."
Hunter has provided Fisher and Michigan fans with
tremendous hustle and intensity since joining the squad
last fall as a walk-on. The 6-foot-5 forward earned a
starting role after becoming eligible to play one game
into the Big Ten season. Hunter started in 12 of 17
games, averaging 3.6 points and 4.4 rebounds a game. He
was selected the team's captain this fall.
Rookies lead
M'
by John Niyo
Daily Basketball Writer
9 Michigan's rookie contingent
continued its early-season domi-
nance with strong showings in three
victories over the break to improve
Michigan's season record to 8-2.
Leading the way again were
Chris Webber and Jalen Rose. One
of those two newcomers has led the
Wolverines in scoring in each of
their first nine games.
Rose scored 19 points and dished
*ot five assists in a 87-70 romp over
Rice Dec. 21 at Crisler Arena. Web-
ber and Juwan Howard each added
14. Michigan shot .528 from the
field and held Rice to just .382
shooting.
From there, Michigan headed
south to the Red Lobster Classic in
Orlando, Fla., Dec. 28-30, to face
first-round opponent Brigham
Young.
The Cougars, minus 7-foot-6 cen-
ter Shawn Bradley who is on his
two-year Mormon mission, proved
to be a tough match for the Wolver-
ines, falling 86-83.
BYU got on the board first
thanks to a putback by forward
Kevin Nixon, but Michigan's
Jimmy King countered with a three-
pointer. The two teams seesawed
throughout the first half, trading
the lead on seven occasions.
Webber led a charge to start the
second half with eight straight
points on four dunks as Michigan
stretched the lead to 48-38. Nine
minutes into the second half, the
lead was 18 at 60-42.
However, BYU clawed back
with Nixon pouring in the points.
basketball
After two Nixon 3-pointers and
layup, they were within nine, forc-
ing a Michigan timeout. But they
continued to close the gap.
Rose led Michigan with 23
points, while Webber finished with
19 points and 11 rebounds. Nixon
led all scorers with 27.
The championship game pitted
Michigan against Virginia Tech. The
Wolverines jumped out to a 7-0 lead
and never trailed on their way to a
63-51 victory, despite shooting only
.397 from the floor.
Webber and Rose both tallied 12
for the winners, and Webber snared
11 rebounds for the second straight
game. The two were both named to
the all-tournament team, while
Webber was named the tournament
MVP.
Sophomore forward Sam Mitchell announced that he is
transferring from Michigan to another school Monday.
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