BASKETBALL


The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, February 19, 1996 - 5B
Technically, Knight is up
to the same old tricks

By Paul Barger
and Michael Rosenberg
Daily Sports Writers
Indiana coach Bob Knight didn't make the post-
game press conference yesterday. Maybe he lost
his voice yelling at the referees.
Knight was on the zebras' case even more than
usual in his team's 80-75 loss
to Michigan. He screamed at
them for minutes at a time, and etb
then, for a change of pace, sat
down and shook his head at
their calls. Notebook
Knight is no stranger to tech-
nical fouls. This is a coach
who once threw a chair in a
game against Purdue. Knight _
picked up one of the most un-
usual technicals of his career yesterday.
With 8:49 left in the first half and the Hoosiers
down 20-10, Knight walked onto the floor to
protest a non-foul call on Michigan's Travis
Conlan.
One problem.
Michigan was in the middle of a fast break at the
time.
"I thought he was going to grab me, because
he's capable of doing anything," said Michigan
power forward Maurice Taylor, "I think it was
more to try to stop our fast break than to protest the
foul."
Indeed, Knight's technical negated a Wolverine
layup. But Louis Bullock then knocked down two
free throws, and when Michigan maintained pos-
*session, Albert White hit a jump hook.
Michigan coach Steve Fisher received a techni-
cal of his own less than a minute and a half after
Knight.
"My technical hurt us," Fisher said. "I didn't
think it was merited, but no coach ever thinks it is
merited."
Freshman woes: Louis Bullock has cooled off
considerably since his torrid start as a Wolverine.
The guard is 2-for-20 from the field in his last two
games.
Yesterday he still managed to score I I points,
hitting eight foul shots and one 3-pointer.
In the first meeting of the year against Indiana,
Bullock led Michigan with 27 points.
PLAYING TIME: The loss of Robert Traylor will
give some Wolverines a much greater chance to
play. Neal Morton saw six minutes of action yes-
terday and Ron Oliver got in for one minute.
Morton made an important contribution and has

become a fan favorite. The senior scored two
points and grabbed a key rebound during an im-
portant moment of the game.
WHAT ABOUT WARD?: Lost in the shuffle this
season has been sophomore Jerod Ward. This is
the second year in a row that Steve Fisher has lost
his starting small forward to a knee injury.
The Wolverines came into the season boasting
of depth, but Ward and Traylor's injuries have
changed that.
Both Ward and Traylor are expected back next
season, but are gone for this year. ,
TOURNAMENT TALK: Michigan did a great dealt
enhance its chances for a bid to the NCAA Tour-
nament yesterday. The Wolverines are 16-9 over,
all, but more importantly moved back to .500 in the
conference.
Last year's Iowa squad can perhaps be used as
a reference point for Big Ten teams on the bubble
this time around. The Hawkeyes had 19 wins, but
were only 9-9 in the conference and were deniedA
bid to the tournament. The Wolverines have si&
games remaining - three on the road, three a1t
home.
INDIANA (75)
FG FT REB
MIN M-A M-A 4-T A F PTS
Evans 38 7-18 6-8 2-10 0 1 22
Patterson 20 0-5 2.2 2-7 3 4 2
Lindeman 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 3 0
Miller 40 5-11 3-4 3-4 0 2 15
Reed 40 3-7 2-4 0-3 9 1. 10
Mujezinovic 16 4-5 4-5 1-2 0 5 12
Mandeville 14 1-5 0-0 2-4 1 1 2
Eggers 24 4.5 1.2 0-5 1 2 12
Lemme 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0
Totals 200 24-56 18-25 13-38 14 24 75
FG%: .429. FT%: .720. Three-point goals: 9-22, 409.
(Eggers 3-4, Miller 2-4, Evans 2-5, Reed 2-5, Mandeville 0-
1, Patterson 0-3). Blocks: 1 (Patterson). Turnovers: 15
(Miller 4, Evans 3, Mandeville 2, Patterson 2, Reed 2,
Lindeman 2). Steals: 2 (Evans, Miller). Technical Foul:
Knight.
MICHIGAN (80)
FG FT REB
MIN M-A M-A O-T A F PTS
Conlan 37 3-5 02 0-1 2 1 6
Taylor 23 6-10 1-2 2-8 3 5 13
Baston 28 7-10 4-7 4-13 0 2 18
Bullock 36 1-9 8-9 2-4 3 2 11
Fife 26 1-6 2-2 0-3 1 4 5
White 29 7-15 7-10 7-7 1 4 21
Mitchell 14 1-4 23 0-1 0 3 4
Morton 6 1-2 0-0 1-1 1 0 2
Oliver 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 200 27-61 24-35 17-41 11 21 80
FG%: .443. FT%:.686. Three-point goals: 2-14, .143
(Bullock 1-5, Fife 1-6, Conlan 0-1, Mitchell 0.1, Morton 0-
1). Blocks: 4 (Boston 2. Conlan, Taylor) Turnovers: 7
(Mitchell 2, Baston, Bullock, Conlan, Fife, Taylor). Steals: 7
(White 4, Taylor 2. Fife). Technical Foul: Fisher.
Indiana- 29 46 -75
Michigan- 37 43-80
- At: Crisler Arena~ A: 13,562

Maurice Taylor of *,
Michigan guards
Indiana's Andrae
Patterson at
Crisler Arena
gsterday. Just 36 .{.
.Wt hours earlier,
Taylor was the
driver In a near-
fatal automobile
accident
JONATHAN LURIE/Daily
Jjbleni'es ge ah scare fter lhes,
hnmanage to pte Hooske

ichigan power forward Maurice
Taylor pumped his fist after the
first basket of his new life, and
suddenly the Wolverines had a season again.
Michigan jumped out
a 29-10 lead
against Indiana
yesterday, and
suddenly the
Wolverines' NCAA
Tournament hopes
were alive.
More importantly,
so were they. MICHAEL
"They were very ROSENBERG
cky to be here," Roses are
nior captain Dugan Read
Fife said.
Five Wolverines, along with recruit
Mateen Cleaves, were nearly killed in a
brutal car accident early Saturday morning.
Somehow, center Robert Traylor suffered
the only serious injury - a broken arm.
It's easy for a Michigan fan to daydream
about how the near-tragedy may inspire the
Wolverines to win the rest of their games.
D9n't daydream about what these players
ay do. It is enough that they are around to
ave a chance to do it.
"A broken arm," Fife said. "We'll take a
broken arm after what they went through."
Taylor, the driver of the car, told of how
the Indiana game suddenly took on new

meaning.
"After the accident, I thought, 'I could
have played my last basketball game,"'
Taylor said. "Sometimes people take life for
granted. For us to walk away from an
accident like that, it puts everything into
perspective. Life is a fragile thing."
If this sounds like a cliche to you, please
look at a picture of the car. Note that there is
a broken windshield where Maurice Taylor
was sitting.
Excuse the man if he is a little shaken up.
Everyone involved, including Michigan
coach Steve Fisher, said that the players
,used bad judgment in staying out so late.
That's nice to say, but it's nonsense.
Fisher has received plenty of criticism in
his seven years as Michigan's coach, but
none more asinine than what he heard
Saturday. Hours after nearly losing half his
team, Fisher had to defend not suspending
his players.
Their crime? Staying out late.
A certain responsibility comes with
receiving an athletic scholarship. You have
to attend class. You have to be at practice.
You have to play hard. You have to conduct
yourself properly. k
You don't have to be in bed by 10 every
night. Letters of intent don't come with a
curfew.
If you have never been out until five in
the morning, you aren't really a college

student - you are just someone who takes
classes in Ann Arbor.
Criticize Fisher for his coaching late in
games, for the lack of adjustments in his
game plans, for his team's frequent offen-
sive confusion. Fine. Do not ever question
Fisher's concern for his players.
Fisher doesn't care ? Ask Louis Bullock.
After Bullock had an awful game at Iowa,
Fisher spent 10 minutes with his arm around
the freshman, consoling him.
"You're going to play again, Lou," Fisher
said. "There will be other games."
Fisher doesn't care'? Ask Leon Derricks.
Months after transferring from Michigan to
Detroit, Derricks came back to Ann Arbor
for a game between the Wolverines and
Titans. Derricks somehow found time to hug
Fisher's wife Angie and ask how she was
doing. This from a player who left the
program.
Steve Fisher's basketball team won a
game this weekend.
"It's a funny, funny, funny game that
we're all playing called life," Fisher said.
"You don't know what is going to hap-
pen."
The Wolverines play at Penn State
Thursday. They don't know what is going to
happen. If all goes well, they will arrive
safely.
- Michael Rosenberg can be reached
over e-mail at mcr@umich.edu.

Michigan coach
Steve Fisher
suffered through a
difficult weekend
despite
yesterday's 80-75
Wolverine win over
Indiana. After five
of his players and
a recruit from Flint
survived a
dangerous car
crash this
weekend, Fisher
commented, "You
take the
responsibility when
you recruit of
parenting not only'
your own two, but
the 12 in your
program."
JONATHAN LURIE/Daily


ACCIDENT
Continued from Page UA
*pt saying, 'We'll go home man hour,'
and then the hour's gone."
The Wolverines agreed that the acci-
dent probably wouldn't have happened
if Cleaves had not been in town. It is not
unusual for the players to take recruits
out during their visits, all in the interest
:of making Michigan an, attractive
choice.
"We were trying to show him a good
time," Taylor said, although he would
t refer to Cleaves by name due to
CAA regulations. "We were trying to
make it memorable - it was definitely
memorable."
-As was Michigan's win over Indiana,
especially for Traylor, who watched it
from his hospital room. The Wolver-
ines had lost by 16 Jan. 23 in
Bloomington with Traylor; without him,
they led by as many as 19.
Several said the team had dedicated
*eir effort to the laid-up big man, and
few sported sweatbands with Traylor's
No. 54 scrawled on them.
"It brought us together," sophomore

forward Maceo Baston said. "We'll
grow together as a team. I feel sorry for
Robert - we dedicated this to him. It
was a rough weekend for us."
Taylor said the team would visit
Traylor after yesterday's victory; Fisher
apparently used the center's absence as
a motivational point for the beleaguered
Wolverines.
"We talked about Robert cheering
for us in the hospital," Fisher said. "And
I know he was."
Traylor's grandmother, Jessie Carter,
said the center was in good spirits but
wanted badly to go home. He could be
released today, she said, but the doctors
were monitoring him to protect against
infection or fever.
"When (Indiana) tied it up, it prob-
ably gave him a temperature," she
said after the game. "But I know
right now, he's saying 'Yeah, yeah,
yeah!"
Fisher said the 18-year-old center
was disappointed to miss the rest of the
season.
"Robert's a warrior, but Robert's a
little kid," the coach said. "Wheni first
saw him, he started crying, and he said
'Coach, I can't play tomorrow."'

Big Ten Roundup:
Purdue takes control of Big Ten race with win

The Associated Press
Penn State went more than eight min-
utes without a field goal as No. I1
Purdue defeated the ninth-ranked
Nittany Lions, 66-49, Saturday night in
a showdown for first place in the Big
Ten.
Sophomore Brad Miller came off the
bench to lead the Boilermakers with 17
points as Purdue opened a two-game
advantage in its bid to become the first
school to claim three consecutive Big
Ten titles since Indiana won four in a
row from 1973 through 1976.
Purdue (11-2 Big Ten, 21-4 overall)
never trailed the Nittany Lions (9-4, 18-
4) as it avenged an 87-77 loss at Penn
State on Jan. 24.
Dan Earl topped Penn State with 18
points. Glenn Sekunda, who leads the
Nittany Lions in scoring with a 14.8
average, went scoreless while his team
was limited to 37 percent shooting.
ILLINOIs 76, OHIO Si-. 67
Kiwane Garris scored 23 points and
Illinois, which missed its first four free
throws, hit 25 of 28 after that to beat
m:-n Ctat. ?,-Fx, C ..iiri

Ohio State fell behind 13-0, 16-1 and
23-3 at the outset and trailed by as many
as 40 points in the second half.
This time the teams combined for 48
fouls, with one player fouling out and
five finishing the game with four fouls.
Ohio State's only lead of the second
half came at 36-35 on Rick Yudt's 3-
point shot at the 17:24 mark. Brian
Johnson scored inside for the Illini and,
after an Ohio State free throw, Jerry
Gee and Garris hit field goals. Two
Keene free throws put the Illini on top,
43-37.
Ohio State got as close as one point
on two occasions, but never could pull
even.
Illinois was on top, 62-58, when Gee
hit a turnaround with 3:33 left, fol-
lowed by two Garris free throws to push
the lead to 66-58.
The Illini then hit all six of their foul
shots in the final minute to keep the
Buckeyes at bay.
MICHIGAN ST. 75, NORTHWESTERN
57
Quinton Brooks and Jamie Feick
c- I r, -,-It c ' anie xarc Michian

Feick converted a three-point play
and a jumper to help the Spartans in-
crease the lead to 10 and then State
pulled away.
Brooks then hit a basket, Ray Weath-
ers drove right through the Wildcat
defense for a layup, Brooks did the
same after a timeout and then Jason
Klein hit a 3-pointer for the 18-point
lead with 8 minutes left.
Evan Eschmeyer led Northwestern
with a career-high 18 points.
In the first half, Michigan State went
on a9-0run, holding the Wildcats score-
less for seven minutes and 27 seconds
to go up 29-18.
But Northwestern got a 3-pointer from
Geno Carlisle and then another from
Jevon Johnson just before the buzzer
and trailed only 31-27 at the half.
MINNESOTA 70, WIsCONSIN 66
Freshman Courtney James had 15
points and I1 rebounds and David Grim
sparked a late 13-3 run that helped
Minnesota beat Wisconsin, 70-66, on
Saturday for its third straight victory.
Grim scored all 10 of his points in the
seond half inludin, fourconsecuntive

eight seconds remaining.
Okey led Wisconsin with 14 points
but was just 4 of 16 from the field. Sean
Daugherty added 13, I in the second
half.
Eric Harris tied a career-best with 11
points for Minnesota, which had five
players in double figures.
The Badgers, who beat Minnesota in
overtime Jan. 24, led, 59-56, on apairof
free throws by Osita Nwachukwu with
6:45 left to play. But Nwachukwu
missedapair47 seconds laterthat would
have pushed the lead to five, and Grim
hit four consecutive free throws to give
the lead back to the Gophers, 60-59.
James, who had his second straight
double-double, converted a three-point
play and then worked a nifty 2-on1
break to get Grim a layup for a 65-59
lead. After a 3-pointer by Daugherty
pulled Wisconsin within three, Grim
swished a long jumper to make it 67-62
with less than a minute to play.
Minnesota, the worst foul shooting
team in the Big Ten, made 18 of 23 at
the line for its second straight strong
showin there. The Gonhers were 13 of


CAGERS
Continued from Page 1B

verines, exploded for nine straight
points, cutting the lead to 29-19. A
technical foul called on Fisher sparked