The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, February 13, 1995 - 5

BADGERS
Continued ftom Page 1
trouble took away a part of our game,
and that allowed them to go inside
and take advantage of it."
King emerged from his mini-
slump to spark Michigan in the con-
test. His 20 points came in bunches.
He scored 10 points in the first seven
minutes of the first half to give the
Wolverines an early 17-11 lead.
Wisconsin then held him scoreless
for the rest of the half.
Midway through the second half,
King scored on three straight pos-
sessions and helped Michigan erase
a nine-point deficit, tying the score
at 50 tie at the 10:38 mark. How-
ever, much like the first half, King
*went without a field goal in the last
half of the stanza.
MICHIGAN (65)
FO FT REB
MIN WA UWA 0T A F PTE
Jackson 35 3-11 4-6 1-5 3 4 10
Taylor 24 3-8 2-4 1-5 0 3 8
Ndiaye 26 5-6 0-0 36 1 5 10
Fife 25 1-4 1-2 0-1 1 4 4
King 35 9-19 2-4 4-6 1 3 20
Baston 29 3-4 4-4 3.8 1 5 10
Conlan 15 0.1 0-0 0-0 2 1 0
WMitchell 11 1-4 0-0 0-0 1 2 3
Totals 200 25-57 13-20 16-36 1027 65
FG%: .439. FT%: .650. Three-point goals: 2-10,
.200 (Mitchell 1-2. Fife 1-4, Jackson 0-1, Taylor 0-
1, King 0-2). Blocks: 3(Baston 2, Taylor).
Turnovers: 16 (Baston 4, Taylor 4, Jackson 3,
Ndiaye 3, Conlan, King). Steals: 8 (King 3,
Jackson 2, Mitchell 2, Ndiaye). Technical Fouls:
Ndiaye, Taylor.
WISCONSIN (70)
FQ Fr REB
MIN MA M -A 0T A F PIS
Finley 40 6-12 15-17 0-3 1 1 29
Moore 11 0-1 0-0 0-222 0
Griffith 35 8-15 6-8 3-6 0 2 22
Hoskins 27 1-5 2-2 1-3 1 4 4
Kilbride 33 1-3 1-2 0-2 3 4 4
Kelley 8 0.1 0-0 1-1 03 0
Daugherty 19 0-0 0-0 1-2 2 4 0
Nwachukwu 7 1-2 0-0 1-2 0 1 2
Mason 19 1.4 6.6 0-3 0 0 9
Peterson 1 0.1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 200 18.44 30.35 8-28 921 70
FG%: .409. FT%: .857. Three-point goals: 4-10,
.400 (Finley 2-4, Mason 1-2. Kilbride 1-3, Koskins
0-1).Blocks:7 (Griffith 3, Finley 2, Mason,
Moore).Turnovers: 18 (Griffith 7, Finley 4,
Daughtery 3, Kilbride 2, Kelley, Moore). Steals: 6
(Finley 3, Griffith, Hoskins, Nwachukwu). Technical
Fouls: Griffith.
Wisconsin...........36 34- 70
Michigan ............33 32- 65
At:: Wisconsin Fieldhouse; A: 11,500.

Finley, Jackson parallel
each other in season series

By Scott Burton
Daily Basketball Writer
For the second time this year, Ray
Jackson and Michael Finley walked
off the same basketball court with
their heads hanging in different direc-
tions.
In Michigan's 62-58 victory over
Wisconsin Feb. 1, Jackson held his
head high and Finley sulked across
the court as the two seniors headed
into Crisler Arena's lockerrooms.
Jackson had just sparked Michigan to
victory with 22 points, while Finley
had one of his worst games in a Bad-
ger uniform, shooting just 2-of-12
from the field.
Saturday, in Wisconsin's 70-65
conquest of Michigan, Finley re-
gained all the pride that he had lost,
and Jackson was left wondering
what had gone wrong. Finley scored
28 points, while Jackson struggled
to a 3-for-11 shooting night, en route
to 10 points.
In a game that inherently relies on
teamwork, neither Michigan coach
Steve Fisher nor Wisconsin coach
Stan Van Gundy would suggest that
the difference in the two seniors' per-
formances determined the outcome
of the two games.
However, Van Gundy did recog-
nize that Finley's turnaround helped
the rest of the Badgers to raise their
game a notch during crunch time.
Wisconsin turned the ball over only
five times in the second half and made
14 of 16 free throws in the last 10
minutes of the game.
"After the last Michigan game, we
were real honest with them that that
game came down to the fact that their
seniors stepped up and ours didn't,"
Van Gundy said. "That turned around.
Our guys really, really stepped up big
at the end of the game. Only five

Ray Jackson is
a warrior for us,
ie's been our best
player all season.
- Michigan basketball coach
Steve Fisher
turnovers in the second half against
that defense is really outstanding."
Finley's four turnovers Satur-
day were three more than he com-
mitted in the first matchup. But that
increase was due mainly to the fact
that Finley was more aggressive with
his shots in the rematch. Although
he took 12 shots in both games,
Finley got to the free throw line 17
times Saturday, versus seven times
in Ann Arbor.
"We thought there were some big
gaps for Mike to attack," Van Gundy
said. "We showed him from the last
Michigan game times where he could
have attacked and didn't, and today
he did.
"He is the most focused college
basketball player I've been around in
my 14 years. He is very, very com-
petitive - if you bring him in after a
game and say 'You know Mike, if you
would have played we would have
won,' he's got a lot of pride, he'll go
to work on that."
Finley's pride, raised by intense
preseason expectations, has been the
victim of numerous blows all season
long. Going into the 1994-95 season,
Wisconsin was supposed to contend
for the Big Ten title and Finley was
considered a National Player of the
Year candidate.
However, Wisconsin has struggled
to a 5-5 conference record and will

not come close to winning the Big
Ten. Finley's 21.7 points per game
does rank third in the conference, but
his 39 percent shooting percentage
will likely leave him on the short end
of postseason awards.
Yet, as the Badgers fight for a
NCAA Tournament bid, Finley has
been at his best. I Ic had scored at least
20 points in six straight games before
his drought in Ann Arbor. He re-
bounded from that season-low point
total with 27 points in a victory over
Illinois.
"I think that in the first half (of the
season), because we were so publi-
cized, our games weren't coming to-
gether," Finley said. "(Now) from
free-throws to offense to defense,
we've been more relaxed."
Jackson also speaks of the ben-
efits of relaxing when he accounts for
his standout senior year. However,
after the loss to Wisconsin, Jackson
was glum and even accepted. some
responsibility for the Wolverines com-
ing up short.
Although Fisher has designated
Jackson as Michigan's leader, Fisher
would have nothing of the senior's
stance.
"I don't have to let him off the
hook," Fisher said. "Ray Jackson is a
warrior for us. He's been our best
player all season. When you are a
four-year starter, you take a lot of the
pressure on us on yourself. He didn't
shoot particularly well, he missed
some shots he had been making, but
he fought hard.
"If you go in as a team, you go
down as a team. So he doesn't have to
do anything other than feel badly and
say 'Hey, I am better than I played
today.' But in no way, shape or form
should he say 'I'm the reason,' be-
cause he's not."

Wisconsin center Rashard Griffith had 22 points in the victory over
Michigan Saturday.


BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK

Van Gundy given support by
Fisher after media criticism

BIG TEN STANDINGS
Records through Feb. 12

By Antoine Pitts
Daily Basketball Writer
MADISON - On the heels of
last season's 18-11 record, many
people at Wisconsin expected much
of the same this year.
The Badgers were picked by
many preseason prognosticators to
finish at or near the top of the Big
*Ten standings. Things haven't gone
as anticipated, though.
Wisconsin lost its first two con-
ference games and even dropped a
home contest to Penn State. The
most embarrassing defeat though
was a 16-point December loss at
Eastern Michigan.
Newspaper reports in Madison
- have rumored that first-year Wis-
consin coach Stan Van Gundy's
*job was on the line.
Michigan coach Steve Fisher
came to Van Gundy's defense after
reading an article this weekend.
"I was surprised when I read in
(Saturday's) paper - it said: 'Van
Gundy's job in jeopardy' when he
signed a five-year contract last

year," Fisher said. "I would hope
that someone administratively
would step up and say, 'Not true."'
Van Gundy took over as coach
this summer after Stu Jackson left
to become the general manager of
the Vancouver Grizzlies.
Last season, Jackson guided the
Badgers to their first NCAA Tour-
nament appearance since 1947. The
prospect of not returning to the tour-
nament this season has made Van
Gundy the subject of much criti-
cism.
"It's unfair not just to Stan but to
the Wisconsin basketball program
to have those kinds of statements
made," Fisher said. "Yeah, they're
disappointed in not having a better
record right now but so are we, and
so are a lot of teams across the
country."
FINLEY IS TWO GRAND: Wiscon-
sin guard Michael Finley became
the first Badger to top the 2,000
career scoring mark Saturday. Finley
needed 16 points coming into the
game and topped the mark with a

free throw late in the first half. He is
just the 22nd player in Big Ten his-
tory with 2,000.
"It's something I'm very proud
of," Finley said. "It's something that
I can always come back and look in
the history books and see my name
up there."
Finley leads the Badgers this sea-
son in scoring, assists and steals.
NATIONAL EXPOSURE: While the
Wolverines have already appeared
on national television 11 times this
season, Saturday's CBS telecast was
just the second nationwide broad-
cast of the year for Wisconsin.
"We know as coaches who re-
cruit that kids identify more with
Michigan maybe than with any bas-
ketball team in the country," Van
Gundy said. "If there is anybody
you would like to get on T.V. and
beat it's probably Michigan."
CBS will once again televise
Michigan next Sunday when the
Wolverines take on Indiana, and the
Wolverines will be on ESPN when
the face Michigan State Feb. 21.

Team

w;

L

Michigan St.

Purdue

Minnesota
Illinois
Michigan
Indiana
Wisconsin
Penn St.

9 2
73
7 3
7 4
7 4
65
55
5 6
4 7
1 10

Iowa
Northwestern
Ohio St.

Wisconsin's Michael Finley scored 29

WISCONSIN SPORTS INFORMATION
points against Michigan Saturday.

Continued from Page 1
(Remember that Illinois and Indiana
are fighting to get into the
tournament themselves). That
forces the Wolverines to win at
least two of the three remaining
road games. No easy chore
considering they have to travel to
Michigan State, Iowa and Purdue.
Don't forget that the Spartans
and Boilermakers are challenging
for the Big Ten title so those games
will have added significance for
those teams as well.
Everything could come down to
the March 12 meeting between
Purdue and Michigan. The teams
face each other in West Lafayette
on the last day of the regular
eason, also known as Selection
Wunday. The Wolverines will most
likely still be 'on the bubble' of
making the tournament.
What better way for the
Wolverines to earn a trip to the
tourney than to impress selection
committee by beating one of


could, more than likely, be a game
that the Boilermakers have to have
in order to win for the conference
championship.
For seniors Jimmy King and
Ray Jackson, they face the prospect
of ending their Michigan careers in
the NIT after beginning their
careers with two straight trips to the
National Championship game.
"It just like the tournament - it's
do or die now," Jackson said. "We
have to do what we can. We're trying
to hold on to the last string right
now."
Saturday's loss deepens the hole
the Wolverines have been digging
for themselves all season long.
However, Michigan seems to be
running out of time in which to
rescue itself from the pit.
The Wolverines haven't been
able to put together consecutive
winning games since mid-January
when they defeated Iowa,
Northwestern and Illinois in-a-row.
A red alert has sounded for the
Michigan basketball team. The
Wolverines can come out fighting

Spartans hold onto
first place in Big Ten

Associated Press
- STATE COLLEGE - Shawn
Respert scored 21 points as No.7 Michi-
gan State (9-2 Big Ten, 17-3 overall)
held onto first place in the Big Ten with
. .._- a 68-53 victory over Penn State (5-6,
00 13-7) Saturday.
Penn State controlled the early pace
y of the game, forcing the Spartans into a
N a\slow half-court contest that the Nittany
Lions led 32-28 at halftime.
But the Spartans got the running
game going in the second half, opening
with a 15-4 run to take a 43-36 lead.
John Amaechi hit a- free throw to
bring the Nittany Lions within nine,
after Michigan State reeled off 13
straight points to take a 65-43 lead with
five minutes left.
,- 4 Indiana 82, Purdue 73
'\ a Alan Henderson scored 26 points
and freshman Charlie Miller had a sea-
max. r ? ^ ^w. ..n " enn la ?1 Cnras acIn- u a-5

Indianamade 12-of-16first-halffree
throws and 21-of-32 for the game com-
pared to only 12-of-25 for Purdue.
Henderson hit six straight free
throws and Evans added a basket as the
Hoosiers rebuilt their lead to 36-21.
Three times, the Boilermakers came
within 12 points after that, but a free
throw by Todd Lindeman pushed
Indiana's lead to 40-27 at halftime.
Illinois 104, Iowa 97
Sophomore guard Kiwane Garris
scored 27 points and set an Illinois
record for consecutive free throws (33)
while leading the Fighting Illini to a
104-97 overtime victory over Iowa Sat-
urday in Champaign.
Illinois (7-4, 16-7) frittered away a
13-point first-half lead as Iowa caught
up and took a 52-51 edge with 13 min-
utes left. The Illini had staged a come-
back themselves in the final seconds to