Page 6-The Michigan Daily- Sports Monday - March 23, 1992
BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
Cowboys look to Blue
with hot shooting hands
by Albert Lin
Daily Basketball Writer
ATLANTA - Michigan's opponent this Friday at the Southeast
Regional in Lexington, Ky., advanced past the second round in record-set-
ting fashion.
Oklahoma State broke a four-year-old tournament record by shooting
an astounding 80 percent from the field in defeating Tulane, 87-71. The
Cowboys hit 28 of 35 field goals, including five of their six 3-point at-
tempts, to break North Carolina's 1988 record of 79 percent (49 for 62), set
against Loyola Marymount.
"I've never had a team, even when I was coaching high school basket-
ball, shoot 80 percent," Cowboy coach Eddie Sutton said. "I don't think
it's gonna happen very often."
Oklahoma State's Corey Williams, Byron Houston and Sean Sutton
combined for 72 points on 23-for-28 shooting. The 6-foot-7, 250 pound
Houston was able to score at will inside the paint, but with the play of
guards Williams and Sutton, he was not needed as often.
"We tried to rush them, make them panic, make them shoot faster, slow
them done. We threw a zone at them - it didn't matter," Tulane coach
Perry Clark said. "They showed a lot of maturity and poise, and if they
play that way the rest of the way, they will be an awfully tough team to
beat"
This is Oklahoma State's second consecutive trip to the Sweet 16. Last
year, the Cowboys lost to Temple, 73-64, in the regional semifinals.
For the Green Wave, advancing to the second round marks an incredi-
ble turnaround from just three seasons ago, when the school had no team
because of a point-shaving scandal.
SHORT GUYS: The East Tennessee State team may be the shortest in
the country. The Bucs can throw an entire five at you that stands under six
feet. That made for some interesting matchups against Michigan's 6-3
Jimmy King and 6-8 Jalen Rose.
Fisher told the media at Saturday's press conference that Rose had al-
ready informed him he was going to trade places with Chris Webber, and
go down low while Webber played the perimeter.
That never really transpired yesterday, but there was still some mo-
ments when the height differential seemed almost comical.
"It's not like I'm bragging, but they were short," King said. "I wanted
to go in and post up, but you have to realize that Chris and Juwan, that was
theirs today. They were taking it to them. So I just had to keep feeding
them the ball and they would do the job."
SHORT CUTS: What appears to be a dangerous trend on the Michigan
basketball team has started.
Freddie Hunter was the first to do it. Rose followed suit before the
March 8 victory over Indiana.
And Friday afternoon, Webber joined his two teammates, walking onto
the Omni floor sporting a newly shaven head.
Webber said that while he and roommate Rose were watching a game at
the team's hotel prior to arriving at the Omni, a player pump-faked his de-
fender into the air, took the ball up for a dunk and drew a foul. Rose re-
marked, "You haven't done that in a long time," which got Webber think-
ing.
He said he took a short nap, woke up and remembered playing more
aggressively when he had a clean-shaven head in high school. So he de-
cided it was time to unveil the new, "meaner" Chris Webber.
"It was just psychological, just to have fun," he said. "This is something
I'm gonna look back at and laugh. You know, I had a bald head a long
time ago. My father wanted me to get my hair bald, so I went ahead and
did it. Now it's time to go to work."
Fellow frosh Juwan Howard originally said he would join Rose and
Hunter for the tournament, but he changed his mind.
And it appears no one else on the team will be following this trend,
even if the Wolverines keep winning.
"No!" Ray Jackson responded before a reporter even finished asking
him whether or not there was a pattern starting. "I'm keeping mine," he
smiled, fondly rubbing the top of his head with his right hand.
Coach Steve Fisher said he is already part of the trend.
"I'm already bald," he said, pointing to his head. "I think I'm gonna
keep mine, because once I lose it, I'm not gonna get mine back."
TALK, TALK, TALK: The Michigan-Temple game didn't feature as
much yapping as usual for a Wolverine contest.
Webber did some talking at Temple forward Mark Strickland about a
statement Owl coach John Chaney made during Thursday's press confer-
ence.
Chaney said, "If Webber stays in the garage (the lane), we'll have to
force them to lob over us." Webber was told Temple said they would make
him stay in the lane, so he took it upon himself to give Strickland some
good-natured ribbing.
"I was saying the quote to him that I heard in the paper," Webber said.
"After, he just started laughing. And I went to camp with Frazier (Temple
center Johnson, who is listed at 265 pounds). I was just teasing him-I
said 'You gained some weight,' or something. It wasn't the kind of talking
where we were going at each other; we were just having fun."
But Chaney didn't take too kindly to it, more particularly to how it af-
fected his players. During one time-out in the first half, as his players pro-
ceeded back onto the court, Chaney could be heard yelling, "I don't want
you guys talking! Don't say anything!"
A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME...: Some local writers had a little
trouble with the unique name of Michigan's leading scorer.
Two writers were overheard discussing the proper pronunciation, but
apparently the Omni's public address announcer never got in on their con-
versation. For most of the first half, he called Rose, "JUH-leen. "
"That's been happening since elementary school," Rose said. "Every
time someone calls me my wrong name, I have to glance over to see who it
is because I really don't like it."
REDEMPTION: Jackson had a tough game early on against Temple.
He missed a three and turned the ball over twice in the first five minutes.
Jackson was held scoreless with four turnovers in the first half, but
bounced back to grab four rebounds (six total) and score all six of his
points - without a turnover - in the second half.
Jackson's three baskets were scored in spectacular fashion, but he also
had an embarrassing moment.
He scored back-to-back hoops on two dunks, one from each baseline.
On the second, he came in hard from the left side and threw it down two-
handed with Strickland's hand literally in his face.
His last basket also was a fine move, beating Mik Kilgore along the
baseline and going up strong for a reverse lay-in. Rather than dunking the
ball, Jackson opted to lay it in softly.
The previous time Jackson had been free, shortly after his consecutive
dunks, he took a pass from Webber and went up for a one-handed toma-
hawk. The problem? He missed.
"I don't know (what happened). They were saying I was up too high, or
I tried to cock it (back too far). I don't know," Jackson said. "I think (my
third basket) was redemption, that's the only reason I dropped it in," he
said. "I was like, 'I can't miss this one.' So I just dropped it in 'nd went
Michigan grounds Owls, 73-66
Rose sparks Wolverines to second-half surge
by Albert Lin
Daily Basketball Writer
ATLANTA - People said that
eventually, experience would win
out over the talented Michigan ball
club.
But Friday night, the Wolverines
proved that sometimes it just pays to
have more talent than your oppo-
nent. Michigan dismantled Tem-
ple's matchup zone and held off the
obligatory Owl run to advance to the
second round of the NCAA
Tournament, 73-66.
"The youth of our team is not a
negative and a handicap," coach
Steve Fisher said. "We think of it as
a positive. There are people out there
who will say that five freshmen are
not tough and experienced enough to
handle a situation like this. But I
have told them that they are."
Michigan maintained the lead for
most of the game, but its customary
inability to play a consistent 40 min-
utes made for some excitement for
Temple fans. The Owls tightened up
their defense and went on a 12-0 run
to take a 57-53 lead.
That's when Jalen Rose stepped
up. With the Wolverine offense
stalled, Rose took it upon himself to
get Michigan going. Rose scored in
similar fashion on two consecutive
plays, beating his defender from the
left wing and throwing in two shots
off the glass.
"The first thing that went through
my mind (when Temple took the
lead) was that I don't want to go
back to Ann Arbor tomorrow night,"
Rose said. "When you look at it in
those terms, you just have to reach
down inside and play harder."
The Wolverines followed Rose's
initiative. After the Owls took an-
other momentary lead with 7:44 left
in the game, Michigan clamped
down, going on a 10-0 run and hold-
ing Temple scoreless for the next
6:30.
"We knew we had to get back to
what we were doing at the beginning
(of the game)," Juwan Howard said.
"You know you got to keep forward,
stay at it. Don't give up."
The Wolverines jumped out to a
quick 8-0 lead to start the game,
keyed by strong defensive pressure.
Juwan Howard opened the scoring
with a jam on a no-look pass from
Jimmy King off the opening tip.
Temple tied the score at 13, then
Michigan went on a 14-4 run to take
a 10-point lead, 27-17. Temple
closed to within three with 1:33 left
in the half, but the Wolverines
closed with three consecutive bas-
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FJtNINET oitMsLL.W
Forward Ray Jackson, despite tough defense by Temple's Mark Strickland, throws home two Wolverine points.
kets to lead at the intermission, 42-
33.
"We knew we would come out
and play hard," forward Ray Jackson
said. "So I wasn't surprised at the
lead. I was just hoping we could
keep it."
With the defeat, Temple's season
was over. The Owls were unable to
match last year's tournament run,
when they reached the Final Eight
behind standout Mark Macon. But
despite losing, they earned the re-
spect of their victorious opponents.
"(Being able to come back) is
what teams with mental toughness
are about," Howard said. "Don't
quit, stay at it and fight. I feel they
showed a lot of character out there."
And Fisher felt Michigan showed
character of its own.
"We played smart almost the
whole game," Fisher said. "Some
say our youth causes ups and downs,
but we are through with youth. Ups
and downs are just a part of basket-
ball."
E. Tennessee St. upsets Arizona, 87-80.
by Albert Lin
Daily Basketball Writer
ATLANTA - Michigan did its
part Friday night to set up perhaps
the Southeast Regional's most antic-
ipated match-up, but Arizona was
unable to come through on its end of
the agreement. The No. 3-seeded
and heavily favored Wildcats were
knocked off by unheralded East
Tennessee State, 87-80, in this
year's biggest (and in some minds
only) upset in the first round.
The loss marked Arizona's ear-
liest exit from the NCAA
Tournament since 1987, when the
Wildcats suffered a third consecutive
first-round defeat. For the
Buccaneers, appearing in their fourth
consecutive tournament, the victory
'The shots were there,
so I took 'em. Coach
told us just to play
hard and let our
offense come to us,
and I think we were
able to do that
tonight.'
- Rodney English
ETSU senior
broke a string of three straight first-
round losses.
Third-year coach Alan LeForce,
who took the reigns when Les
Robinson departed for the N.C. State
job, had his team running on all
cylinders. Playing with a line-up
much smaller than Arizona's NBA-
sized front court, the Bucs turned to
a harassing defense and every little
team's best friend - the three-point
shot.
"The shots were there, so I took
'em," said senior Rodney English,
who was the team's leading scorer at
arc in the initial stanza, adding only
four two-point goals the entire half.
The lead proved to be more than
Arizona could handle on this night.
Coach Lute Olson's Wildcats shot
only 36.8 percent for the game, and
his front court could never assert it-
self offensively against a Bucaneer
lineup that frequently included only
one player above 6'5". Whenever
the ball went into the low post in the
second half, one or two Bucs would
follow it down and force a quick
shot or turnover.
"We came out in the second half
and competed hard, and tried a
smaller lineup," Olson said. "But as
typically happens when you expend
so much energy coming from be-
hind, when you finally get to the
point where you can take control,
you're unable to put the shots in."
Arizona did dominate the offen-
sive glass, pulling down 25 to
ETSU's 8, but most of those came
because the team missed so many
shots.
"We gambled on their outside
shooters. We hoped that if he shot
the ball, it wouldn't go in," LeForcet
said. "We tried to jam down as much
as we could with their big guys, so
we couldn't help off of their guards
~and we had to try and take them one-
on-one. Push them to a certain spot
and contain."
"We pride ourselves on playing
good defense - it's been the forte.,
of this team the last two, three years
But I would never have dreamed we,
could hold them to 38 percent shoot-
ing."
Bearcats end MSU hopes, 77-65
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - Anthony Buford scored 21
points as Cincinnati held off Michigan State 77-65 on
Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Midwest
Regional at the University of Dayton.
Cincinnati (27-4), the fourth-seed and ranked 12th in
the final national poll, advances to meet ninth-seeded
Texas-El Paso in next week's regional semifinals in
Kansas City.
Herb Jones added 15 points and Corie Blount 14 -
all in the first half - for the Bearcats, regular-season
and tournament champions in the Great Midwest
Conference.
Shawn Respert led Michigan State (22-8) with 27
points and Dwayne Stephens added 15.
In each of the last two years, Michigan State
overcame an 18-point deficit to beat the Bearcats on a
shot in the final seconds. In December, Kris
Weshinskey capped the comeback on a 3-pointer with
six seconds left for a 90-89 victory.
This time the Bearcats built a 17-point lead in the
first half at 37-20 and Michigan State came back to trail
42-35 at the half and by four twice in the second half.
But each time, Cincinnati responded.
After the Spartans pulled to 54-50 on a three-point
play by Anthony Miller with 11:46 left, the Bearcats
countered on a driving basket by Erik Martin, a Jones
layup off a steal and Buford's perimeter jumper for a
60-50 lead by the 9:46 mark.
Again Michigan State came back, this time on a 6-0
Cincinnati a 25-14 lead midway through the first half.
Cincinnati had not won two games in the NCAA
tournament since 1975.
Michigan State hit just 9 of 32 shots from the field in
the second half for 28 percent, while Cincinnati was 11
of 23 for 48 percent. The Spartans' last three opponents
had combined for 41.1 percent shooting.
Two dramatic turnarounds took place in the first
half. Up 16-14 with 11:34 left, Cincinnati went on a 21-
6 run for a 37-20 lead by the 5:38 mark. Buford scored"
all the Bearcat points during the 9-0 run to start it, with E
Blount scoring eight of the next 12 points.
But Michigan State countered with a 12-1 run
despite playing without center Mike Peplowski and
forward Matt Steigenga, who were largely ineffective in
the half with a combined two points and two rebounds,
and point guard Mark Montgomery, who picked up his
third foul at the 4:43 mark.
Cincinnati (27-4), the fourth-seed
and ranked 12th in the final
national poll, advances to meet
ninth-seeded Texas-El Paso in next
week's regional semifinals in
Kansas City.
B
Blount, whose career high is 15 points, had 14 in the
C