BASKETBALL-
The Michigan Daily - Monday, February 5, 1996 - 5B
* Ten Roundup:
due
ops MSU
om tie for
St place
WEST LAFAYETTE (AP)- Jus-
in Jennings came off the bench to
core eight points for Purdue in a
ecisive 12-point spurt that led to the
oilermakers' 56-51 victory over
ichigan State Saturday.
rdue (7-2 Big Ten, 17-4 overall)
i the Spartans without a field goal
or nine minutes in the second half.
Michigan State (6-3, 12-9) fell out
f a first-place tie in the conference
vith the loss.
The Boilermakers trailed, 35-31,
fter Chad Austin made one of two
ree throws with 13:26 left to ignite
he run which put the Boilermakers
head to stay.
ichigan State then had six turn-
>s and nine consecutive missed
hots.
Jennings, who scored all 10 of his
oints in the second half, had a pair of
teals and layups in the streak and a
asket with 8:48 to play put the Boil-
rmakers ahead, 42-35.
After Quinton Brooks made one of
wo free throws for the Spartans,
ennings came up with another steal
nd hit two free throws to give Purdue
.0-36 advantage.
The Spartans managed to cut their
eficit to 46-43 but Purdue responded
ith a 3-pointer by Todd Foster. Jon
aravaglia's 3-pointer and a free
hrow by Daimon Bethea left the Spar-
ans trailing, 49-47, with 1:54 to go.
Porter Roberts hit two free throws
ne second later for Purdue, followed
y Austin's 3-pointer. Purdue then
sed an opportunity to put the game
y at the free throw line as it missed
ou of six attempts in the final 61
econds, but the Spartans were un-
ble to capitalize.
No. 10 PENN STATE 95, No. 16
OWA 87, OT
Pete Lisicky and Glenn Sekunda
ach scored 20 points and Matt Gaudio
dded 19, including eight in over-
ime, to lead No. 10 Penn State to a
5-87 win over No 16 Iowa Satur
an Earl finished with II points
and Phil Williams 10 for the Nittany
Lions (7-2, 16-2), who continued to
laim a share of the conference lead
while handing Iowa its first home loss
this season in 11 games.
Jess Settles scored 23, Andre
Woolridge 19, Chris Kingsbury 17
and Russ Millard 15 for the Hawkeyes
(4-5, 15-6), who were trying to give
c~h Tom Davis his 200th win at
Iowa.
WISCONSIN 57, ILLINOIS 56
Hennssy Auriantal's jumper with
seven seconds remaining Saturday
gave Wisconsin a 57-56 Big Ten win
over Illinois.
Auriantal only scored four points,
but his baskets were the final ones of
the game for both teams. His jumper
with 1:07 to go brought the Badgers
( , 13-8) to within a point, 56-55.
fter Auriantal's second basket,
Kiwane Garris got the ball for Illinois
(3-6, 14-7) in the final seconds but
missed a layup as time ran out.
Illinois led by as many as eight, 48-
40, on Richard Keene's 3-pointer.
The Illini then went cold, making
only one field goal and four free
throws in the next seven minutes.
INDIANA 95, NORTHWESTERN 61
rian Evans scored 27 points and
gbbed eight rebounds to lead Indi-
ana to a 95-61 victory over North-
western Sunday at Assembly Hall.
Haris Mujezinovic and Neil Reed
had 13 points apiece, while Andrae
Patterson added 12 points, three steals
and three blocked shots.
Indiana (6-3, 13-8) dealt Northwest-
ern (1-8,6-12) its worst loss of the
season. The Hoosiers remain one game
behind Big Ten leaders Penn State
Purdue at the midpoint of the
conference schedule.
Big Ten Standings
New starters put
Blue back on top
Traylor, Mitchell,
By Brent McIntosh
Daily Sports Editor
COLUMBUS - There is only one
problem with that "If it ain't broke,
don't fix it" cliche: Its value dimin-
ishes significantly if "it" is indeed
broke.
Then, our lovely, trite proverb has
very little to offer. Then, we have to
search for our own solutions.
Michigan coach Steve Fisher fi-
nally found the solution to his team's
problems Saturday, as the Wolver-
ines snapped a three-game losing
streak by slamming Ohio State, 77-
58, on the Buckeyes' home court.
Part of that solution certainly was
that Michigan played a Buckeye team
that had only two Big Ten wins. An-
other part, though, was found in
Fisher's starting lineup.
After beginning consecutive losses
to Indiana, Iowa and Purdue with
Maceo Baston, Albert White and
Travis Conlan on the floor, Fisher's
Saturday slate was absent that trio.
Replacing them, and accompanying
the usual Louis Bullock and Maurice
Taylor, were Willie Mitchell, Robert
Traylor and senior captain Dugan Fife.
Fisher said the move was part of an
attempt to eliminate the bugs that had
been plaguing the Wolverines.
"When you lose three in a row, it's
like Watergate," he said. "You do
everything you can to find fault."
The switcheroo paid off for Michi-
gan, which jumped out to 45-30 half-
time lead behind 21 points from the
newly appointed starters. Fisher didn't
show much of a grudge against the
benched three, though: All three
subbed into the game after just over
five minutes, replacing their replace-
ments.
"I'm not a guy that likes to change
the lineup just to change the lineup,"
Fisher said. "But I'm not a guy who
likes to lose either. I didn't want to
make those three guys scapegoats. If
I could have subbed five guys, I should
Fife get the nod
have. I felt it was imperative to make
changes."
For Fife, the change held a certain
irony. The team's lone senior had
started 65 consecutive games before
sitting for Michigan's tip against Ari-
zona Nov. 22. With Bullock's emer-
gence as an outside threat and
Conlan's improvement, Fife found
himself relegated to the role of a sub-
stitute.
lie took no time to assert himself
Saturday, however: with 1:20 gone in
the game, the senior nailed a 21-foot
3-pointer to give Michigan a 5-0 lead.
Forty-six seconds later, he dropped
another long-range bomb on the Buck-
eyes; the score was 8-2 and the Michi-
gan rout was on.
"I thought Fife really changed our
game plan," Ohio State coach Randy
Ayers said. "He hit those two threes
and it sort of changed our ability to
help in the post. Our plan was to back
off Michigan's other guard (besides
Bullock). We thought it would be
Conlan who would start."
Fife finished the game with I1
points on only four shots: he hit three
of four from downtown and made his
two free throws.
Mitchell scored I I points on 5-of-
10 shooting and stole the ball three
times in his eighth start, while Traylor
chipped in 13. The freshman center's
court time was limited to 19 minutes
by foul trouble, but he still shot 6 of8
from the floor and 1 of I from the line
to tally 13 points, six rebounds, two
assists and a blocked shot.
Fisher said he was impressed with
the 300-pounder despite his fouls.
"Traylor played with a lot ofenthu-
siasm and effort," he said. "Some-
times he makes mistakes that are
youthful. Sometimes he gets called
for fouls because of his size and his
reputation."
Traylor, too, was happy with his
second start, calling it "a step forward
as far as being a player."
Louis Bullock
(22) was one of
two Wolverines
not to lose his
starting job in
Saturday's game
in Columbus; the
other was
Maurice Taylor.
Bullock hit only
three of his nine
attempts and
finished with nine
points, three
rebounds and two
steals. Taylor led
Michigan with 14
points in 29
minutes of play.
The two are
Michigan's
leading scorers.
WALKER VANDYKE/Daily
speli trouble for0 OSU°:-'
By Michael Rosenberg
Daily Sports Writer
COLUMBUS - The Michigan
men's basketball team was put in an
unusual position against Ohio State Sat-
urday. The Wolverines were the vet-
eran team.
Of the Buckeyes' top six scorers, five
are freshmen. Seniors Rick Yudt and
Steve Belter are the only upperclass-
men to have a ma-
jor impact. At
times this season,
the youngsters kt
have tested Ohio 13ase
State coach Randy
Ayers' patience. Notebook
"I've been
where Randy is
with a lot of young
kids," said Michi-
gan coach Steve
Fisher, referring to
the Fab Five, all of whom started as
freshmen Wolverines. "But they didn't
have bodies of young kids, especially
Chris (Webber) and Juwan (Howard)."
Ohio State guard Damon Stringer
said his team's inexperience contrib-
uted to its ineffectiveness.
"We just fired up shots when we
didn't have to," Stringer said. "That's
something we have to work on."
THE BULLOCK FILE: Louis Bullock
didn't play well against the Buckeyes
- he shot just three for nine from the
field. But he continued making his mark
on the Michigan record book.
Bullock's two 3-pointers gave him
51 for the season, tied with Sean 11 iggins
for fifth on the Wolverines' season list.
Glen Rice holds the top spot with 99 in
1988-89. Bullock needs just five more
to pass Jalen Rose for fourth place.
What's more impressive is Bullock's
assault on the career record. Rice holds
it with 135. Even if he doesn't hit an-
other 3-pointer this season, Bullock
would need only to average 28 per
season over the next three years to tie
Rice. Bullock needs nine more to tie
James Voskuil for 10th on Michigan's
all-time list.
SEVEN STRAIGHT: The Wolverines
have beaten the Buckeyes seven straight
times. The first win of the streak is also
the most noteworthy. Michigan beat
Ohio State, 75-71, in overtime in the
1992 NCAA Southeast Regional Final
to earn a trip to the Final Four. The
Buckeyes have not been nearly so close
lately.
In their only meeting with Michigan
last season, they lost 72-58 at Crisler
Arena. In that game, Ohio State scored
just 18 first-half points. Turnovers are
the main culprit for the Buckeyes'
troubles with Michigan lately. Ohio
State has committed 51 in its past two
games with the Wolverines.
NOT-SO-FINE FIFE: Michigan guard
Dugan Fife suffered ahip pointeragainst
Indiana Jan. 23. He has not missed a
game since, but said he expects the
WALKER VANDYKE/Daily
Michigan's Travis Conlan keeps a close eye on Ohio State's Jason Singleton Saturday night at St. John Arena. Conlan
finished with seven points and six assists in the Wolverines' 77-58 romp.
injury to bother him
season.
for the rest of the
A
Team
Penn State
Purdue
Michigan St.
.iana
sconsin
Michigan
Iowa
Minnesota
Illinois
Ohio State
N'western
Big Ten
W i
7 2
7 2
6 3
6 3
5 4
5 4
4 5
3 5
3 6
2 7
1 8
Overall
W L
16 2
17 4
12 9
13 8
13 8
15 7
15 6
11 9
14 7
9 9
6 11
McINTOSH
Continued from Page lB
fouls are becoming a little too routine for his own good.
He's averaging more fouls per game (3.05) than any
Wolverine except the extremely foul-prone Baston. Foul
trouble has limited his minutes several times this season,
as it did Saturday at Ohio State.
Part of Traylor's ability to attract whistles, though, is
physics: Like most freshmen, he hasn't mastered the
vagaries of mass ratios yet. When Albert White, all 230
pounds ofhim, bumps someone, that someone tips slightly.
When the 300 pounds Traylor carries around bumps some-
one, someone gets out of the way rather quickly whether
someone wants to or not - and so Traylor gets called
every time for transgressions that White gets away with
every time.
"He can't be getting in foul trouble all the time,"
Mienhaan mnnn C ,te r iser said after Travlor's four-
Burton Tower. The media played Traylor off as the best
thing since the hallowed Fab Five. Therein lies the prob-
lem: Blame it on the Fab Five. Since Jalen and Company's
arrival, Wolverine rooters have expected freshmen to
step onto Crisler's floor and into the ranks of the nation's
prime players. In real life, the Fab Five are the singular
exception. What teams have equaled their first-year ac-
complishments? Exactly none.
Traylor shouldn't be held to those
standards. He is not Chris Webber --
but he forces opponents to alter shots
like the now-injured Washington Bul-
let did, and you better box him out if
you don't want him to grab the re-
bound. Think he can't jump? He has
no problem hoisting his mass sky-
ward.
But Traylor's biggest assets - in
spite of the stereotvoe that big guys
BASKETBALL
Continued from Page 1B
this time for good.
"I didn't think that, at the critical
time of the game when we pulled
within eight, that we played well,"
Ayers said. "We really forced the is-
sue. I have to give Michigan all the
credit. They came in prepared after
losing three in a row."
There was one bright spot for Ohio
State: Jermaine Tate. The center shot
7 for 7 from the field. He finished
with 16 points and eight rebounds,
both game highs.
After the game, the Wolverines took
the attitude that a win is a win. More'
importantly, it's not a loss. Michigan
had had enough of those lately.
"I not only feel better about.the
win," Fisher said. "We played harder.
We at least are headed in the direction
we want to be in."
The Wolverines plugged the artery.
Now they have a few days to get back
in top condition.
Saturday.
At Purdue.
Their next game is
I
MICHIGAN (77)
OHIO STATE (58)
FG
MIN
FG
M-A
Fr
M-A
REB
04T
FT
M-A
REB
O-T
A Fl
PTS
MIN
M-A
A F PTS
{ 1
IN
Mitchell 2 3 5-10 1.2 02 2 3 11 Yudt 33 310 2-2 2-4 1 2 81
I