The Michigan Daily - Thursday, February 1, 1996 - 11A Wolverine tumblers travel to WindyCity By Chaim Hyman Daily Sports Writer Coming off a number of strong per- formances at last weekend's intra- squad meet, the Michigan men's gym- atcsteam will travel to University of-Illinois-Chi cago this weekend. The Wolverines plan to compete in whfiat will be their first dual meet of th'h Season. They will be trying to Wild on last weekend's competition. WHopes are particularly centered on senior Kris Klinger. Last weekend, Klinger scored a perfect 10.0 on the Hig~h bar. Assistant coach Tim O'Coonnell expects Klinger to win the high bar competition in Chicago. "We're very excited about Kris," O'Connell said. "Although a repeat performance may not happen, he should have a winning performance." 2xpectations are similarly high for t!hior captain Chris Onuska, who is .considered a catalyst for the Wolver- 'ines. " "Chris has really pulled the team together," O'Connell said. "Chris has setthe standard for training and corn- prv 6tion on the team." * Onuska will be competing in the all-around, along with junior Flavio Martins. Although freshman Randy D_'Amura is usually an all-around Jnpetitor as well, he will be limited 'to the floor, pummel, ring and vault events this weekend. "For the team overall, the excite- mient level is high because of the op- '0oftunity this meet presents. "We were really looking forward to competing against a team last week," o}Connell said. "We are more than ready to go against an actual oppo- "We are coming off a strong perfor- mance, realizing the potential of the team."~ 1*ead coach Bob Darden feels his t, has to play to its personal best to be successful in Chicago. The last time the Wolverines competed at lli- nois-Chicago was earlier this season at the Windy City Invitational. There, Michigan finished at the bottom of the'pack, in sharp contrast to its per- Om ance last weekend. "I believe the Windy City Invita- tional was a harsh reality check for us," Darden said. "However, the intra- squad was also a reality check be- cause the only difference was that another team was not present. ".Both meets were scored by real jutdges. We have to turn this attitude around and make sure we are compet- *jg to our level at all times." rThe Wolverines hope this meet will die the start of a productive season. "We want to be much more consis- tetit'this week, as well as in the rest of the'tneets of the season," O'Connell said. "We have to turn tis attitude around and make sure we are co mpeting to our level" -Tim O'Connell Michigan gymnastics coach 1 URDUE Continued from Page 9A twice from the outside and Fisher was forced to call time with 4:54 left and -Mchigan trailing, 33-17. That didn't stop the bleeding. It only seemed to open new wounds. After the break, Austin hit from long nge and then Roy Hairston went in- e for two more. At the TV timeout with 3:10 left in the half, Purdue had more than doubled Michigan, 38-18. Back on the floor, the Wolverines proceeded to crawl to halftime - with boos on their backs. The Boilermakers had ended the period with a 29-9 run. They had played a perfect half. Michigan had done the opposite. Purdue shot 60 percent for the half 'nd outrebounded the Wolverines, 17- 11.. Michigan was just 10 for 25 (40 percent) from the field, committed 10 turnovers and consistently let Purdue get inside for easy buckets. At halftime, the Wolverines' top two scorers, Maurice Taylor and Louis Bul- ._A 1__ .1- - - - Michigan suffers worst home loss since '84-'85 Boilermakers add to Wolverines' 3-game skid By Paul Barger and Brent McIntosh Daily Sports Writers The Michigan men's basketball team has had a great deal of success at home over the past few seasons. Go- ing into last night's game against Purdue, the Wolverines had won 15 straight at home. The Boilermakers put an end to that in impressive fashion, embarassing Michigan 80-59. That is the worst home loss a Wol- verine squad has suffered since the 1984-85 season. That year, Bobby Knight and Indiana traveled to Ann Arbor and took home an 87-52 vic- tory. "Unfortunately, somebody came into our home and kicked our be- hinds," freshman Louis Bullock said. This is the worst Michigan has been beaten home or away since last season's 78-57 loss to Arizona. Michigan has not lost three games in a row since the 1990-91 season. The Wolverines lost four contests in a row that year, dropping games to Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa and Purdue. Steve Fisher's squad finished that season 14-15 after a first-round loss in the NIT. TOTAL DEFEAT: Michigan was domi- nated in almost every category last night, including bench scoring. The Wolverines pride themselves in hav- ing three reserves - Dugan Fife, Willie Mitchell and Robert Traylor - who could start on any given night. Against Purdue, that strength be- came a weakness as the Boilermaker bench outscored Michigan's, 25-18. NEW TECHNOLOGY: Crisler Arena now features the "SlaM Abacus," a rack of balls above the east entrance to Crisler's bowl. The 10 balls begin on one end of the rack; After each Michigan dunk, a ball is rolled to the other end by the students sitting above, thereby keeping a tally of Wolverine slams. The abacus found its first use when Robert Traylor jammed home the re- bound of a Maurice Taylor airball with the Boilermakers up 26-13 and 8:30 left on the clock in the first half. WHERE'S THE DUDE?: President James Duderstadt and his wife Anne were conspicuously absent from their seats last night. The seats were occu- pied by an indifferent fan and a rabid Purdue rooter. MICHIGAN (59) FQ FT REB MIN M-A M-A O-T A F PTS Taylor 29 4-11 1-2 1-2 0 2 9 White 22 3-8 0-0 2-2 0 2 7 Baston 16 1-1 2-2 3-5 0 5 4 Bullock 37 7-14 3-3 2-4 0 2 17 Conlan 27 2-7 0-0 0-3 5 1 4 Traylor 27 6-9 4-6 3-4 0 2 16 Fife 18 0-2 2-2 1-3 1 1 2 Mitchell 18 0-2 0-0 0-1 0 1 0 Morton 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Oliver 2 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 DeKuiper 1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 Szyndlar 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Totals 20 23-55 12-151429 617 59 FG%: .418. FT%: .800. 3-point goals: 1-9, .111 (White 1-3, Bullock 0-3, Conlon 0-2, Fife 0-1). Blocks: 2 (Taylor, Traylor). Turnovers: 19 ..(Conlon 6, Baston 3, Fife 3, Taylor 2, Mitchell 2, White, Bullock, Traylor). Steals: 5 (Bullock 3, Conlon, White). Technical Fouls: none. PURDUE (80) FU FT RED MIN M-A M-A O-T A F PTS Hairston 28 4-6 0-0 3-8 2 4 8 Dove 23 2-7 2-2 1-3 1 3 6 Brantley 25 4-7 3-3 3-5 0 2 11 Roberts 37 3-8 1-1 0-4 7 2 7 Austin 29 10-12 0-0 0-2 1 0 23 Miller 23 2-5 4-4 1-2 2 1 8 Foster 14 2-3 0-0 0-0 1 0 6 Eldridge 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Jennings 15 3-4 3-4 0-2 2 3 10 Clay 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Lesmond 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Gilvydis 2 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 1 0 Ten Dam 1 0-1 1-2 1-1 0 0 1 Totals 200 30.55 14-16 10-30 1616 80 FG%:.545. FT%:.875. 3-point goals: 6-11,.545 (Austin 3-3, Foster 2-3, Jennings 1-1, Roberts 0- 2, Brantley 0-1, Lesmond 0-1). Blocks: 1 (Jennings) Turnovers: 14 (Dove 3, Hairston 2, Brantley 2, Roberts 2, Miller 2, Austin, Jennings,- Lesrnond ) Steals: 10 (Dove 3, Roberts 3, Austin 2, Foster 2) Technical Fouls: none. Purdue........44 36-80 Michigan....... :22 37- 59 At: Crisler Arena; A: 13,562 AP PHOTO Penn State dropped to 6-2 in the Big Ten after last night's loss to Michigan State. Spartan s slence NitLteany 1Lion Tlar Tree teams tied for BigTnla ROSENBERG Continued from Page 9A Wolverine fans had to play mind games, thinking "If we can cut it to 17 by the 10-minute mark ..." or "If we can cut it to 14 by the four-minute mark ..." and eventually "If we can cut it to a dozen by Friday ..." The Wolverines are a young team. But they aren't just young - they're bad, too. At least, they were last night. They even admitted it. "Purdue was very, very good and we were very, very bad," Fisher said. Then he added one of his favorite phrases: "You're never quite as good as you're talked about or as bad as you're talked about." His team is testing that theory. Af- ter the Indiana game, the Wolverines felt bad. Then they went to Iowa and played worse, which made them feel awful, which doesn't compare to how they felt after the disaster of last night. Keady made a point of not overstat- ing the game's importance. "We're just happy to be going home again," he said. Hey, Gene. If you were that anx- ious, you guys could have left at half- time. You probably still would have won. - Michael Rosenberg can be reached over e-mail at mcr@umich.edu. EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The burden of first place in the Big Ten and the school's first Top 10 ranking in over 50 years proved too much for Penn State to handle. Quinton Brooks scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half Wednesday night, and Michigan State grabbed a three-way share of first place in the conference with a 61-58 victory over the 10th-ranked Nittany Lions. The Spartans won with good defense. But the fact that the Nittany Lions sud- denly lost their shooting touch also was a factor. "I thought we were impatient on of- fense and made some bad decisions," Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said. "They are a good defensive team. You can't panic. We made bad decisions in transi- tion andtried to make passes that weren't there." The Nittany Lions broke into the national rankings four weeks ago. This week, they are ranked in the Top 10 for the first time since the 1954 team fin- ished ninth. "Michigan State was a better team tonight," Dunn said. "They executed better and it showed." Penn State shot just 39 percent on 20- of-58 shooting. The Nittany Lions entered the game leading the nation in 3-point shooting at 47.3 percent. But the Spartans defense held the Nittany Lions to 6-of-26 shoot- ing from beyond the arc for a season- low 23.1 percent. "I thought they played good defense on everybody," Dunn said. "They got on everybody, right down the line." It was just the second loss for the Nittany Lions (15-2, 6-2 Big Ten), and both of them came in the Great Lakes State. They took a 67-66 loss at Michi- gan on Jan. 21. It was the fourth straight victory for Michigan State (12-8, 6-2) and tied the Spartans for first place with Penn State and Purdue. The Boilermakers won 80- 59 at No. 20 Michigan. Michigan State's victory was far from pretty. The Spartans, who shot 45 percent, went without a field goal in the final 3:28 of the game as a 55-43 lead melted away. "I neversaid it would be easy," Michi- gan State coach Tom Izzo said. "That was worse than going to the dentist." Glenn Sekunda and Matt Gaudio each had 19 points for Penn State. There were many dry spells. Penn State, whose last lead was 34-32 with 17:23 remaining, went almost four min- utes without a basket early in the sec- ond half. The Nittany Lions then had another stretch of 6:30 without a field goal later irn the half. Brooks has led the Spartans in scor- ing 13 times, including last week at Minnesota where he scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half, following a stern halftime lecture from Izzo. "We work hard," Brooks said. "I know our hard work is paying off right now for us. It's starting to show. We're playing well as a team." After grabbing a 9-6 lead with 12:27 left in the first half, Penn State went without a field goal over the next 5:03. The Spartans, with Thomas Kelley coming off the bench to score two quick baskets off steals, took ad- vantage of the Penn State lull to forge a 21-13 lead. Sekunda brought the Nittany Lions back. They trailed 27-24 at halftime and finally took the lead, 34-32, on Pete Lisicky's 3-pointer early in the second half But Daimon Beathea scored six of his 12 points and Brooks added four in a 15-4 Michigan State burst that gave the Spartans a 47-38 lead. "I was happy we got out of here with a win," Beathea said. "Because Penn State is a heck of a ballclub. They're for real. We have to play them again, and it's going to be another war." Gaudio, who had eight points at halftime, scored the last three field goals for Penn State. But they all were from close range at a time when the Nittany Lions desperately needed 3- pointers. Penn State outrebounded the Spar- tans 41-31, including a 13-4 edge on the offensive boards. "Teams are coming at us now," Brooks said. "They're trying to keep Antonio (Smith) and me off the glass. We just need to find a way to get around that." INDIANA 76, No. 16 IowA 73 BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - Indiana's best offense came with the clock stopped. The Hoosiers survived an eight- minute stretch without a field goal, scored 16 of their final 20 points from the free throw line and beat No. 1 6 Iowa 76-73 Tuesday night. "Our offense got real slow. We weren't cutting and moving like we were the first 28 minutes of the game," said Brian Evans, who led Indiana with 25 points. "The last 12 minutes we were standing, not really cutting and mov- ing." Indiana's last six points came on free throws and for the game, the Hoosiers hit 24 of35 foul shots to just I1 of 18 for the Hawkeyes. Next up Michigan takes on Ohio State', - Saturday at 8 p.m . in Columbus. F%..> ' X C~p Y Robert Traylor and Michigan couldn't stop Purdue last night. TODAY ON CAAMPUS... Peace Corps is broadcasting a nationwide interactive satellite television show to more than 325 universities around the nation. The program will feature President Clinton,