The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 28, 1996 - 11
Final battle with
State sweet for Fife
By Brent McIntosh
Daily Sports Editor
It began with a 73-69 win in East
Lansing's Breslin Center. It came to an
end with a 75-46 triumph in Crisler
Arena.
Dugan Fife has played his allotted
eight games against Michigan State -
the team he grew up hating more than
any other - and he has come up victo-
rious in six of them.
For the Michigan senior captain, son
offormer Wolverine senior captain Dan
Fife, this intrastate rivalry is No. 1. You
win, you smirk; you lose, you swallow
it and move on, knowing that the green
ones among your friends won't let you
forget your failure.
For the rest of his life, Fife can
smirk. He scored six points on a pair
of 3-pointers last night, and his Wol-
verines won.
Fife finishes his Michigan-Michi-
gan State career having won three-
quarters of his eight games; his father
won the same fraction, but of four
contests.
"For me personally, it's great to beat
State," Fife said. "I've grown up a
Michigan fan - I've been a Michigan
fan all my life."
This is not a rivalry for Fife - this
is a vendetta. Everything else pales:
There is no goal, except to beat the
Spartans. Forget that Dugan is close
to members of State's club, including
center Jamie Feick -there'll be none
of that here.
"Feick threw me down three or four
times, and he's one ofmv good friends."
Fife said. "There's no 'friends' when
we play Michigan State."
And Fife's sentiments are shared by
his teammates.
"They bring the fight out in every-
body," Michigan guard Travis Conlan
said.
Not that Fife has to tell his cohorts
how much beating the Spartans means
for him personally.
They figure that out pretty quickly,
even the ones from outside Michigan.
"You find out how much of a rivalry
it is when you go up to State the first
time and you're shooting before the
game," Fife said. "The fans get on you.
They'll call you names, throw things at
you, spit on you. They'll call you any-
thing."
That may hold true for the Spartan
fans, who shouted, "Go back to the
ghetto" at Juwan Howard and wore
beer cases on their heads after Wol-
verines Jimmy King and Ray Jackson
were caught taking beer from a cam-
pus convenience store three years ago.
It doesn't apply to Michigan State
coach Tom Izzo, though: You won't
hear him denigrating the Wolverine
senior.
"I'm a Dugan Fife fan," Izzo said.
"I've been a Dugan Fife fan since he
was a junior in high school. He gives
that team some leadership and stabil-
ity. I know what a competitor that kid
is."
Most of the Wolverines will take on
the Spartans in the future.
For Fife, however, it's over. The little-
kid visions of beating State, the antici-
pation of every game against the Spar-
tans. the green and white butterflies in
his stomach - all past.
Don't think he won't miss it.
SPARTANS
Continued from Page 10
down only 10-8. Then Michigan got going.
Fife buried his first shot-a 3-pointer.
Albert White bulled inside for his first
two and Baston hit a jumper. With his
team trailing, 17-8, Izzo -not exactly in
a jolly mood - called time.
The timeout helped ... the Wolverines.
After the break, Fife promptly buried
his second three and Conlan got free
inside for a layup.
At a TV timeout with 7:56 left until
halftime, Michigan led, 22-8, and Spar-
tans not named Brooks were still score-
less. From there, Izzo's face just got red-
der. Back on the floor and with every-
thing going Michigan's way, Conlan took
a rare three (why not?) - and buried it.
Then on the next time down, he found
Taylorinsidefora dunk. Daimon Beathea
finally broke a 17-0 Michigan run with a
putback at the 4:58 mark, but by that time,
the Wolverines led, 27-10.
The Spartans managed to crawl to the
lockerroom trailing, 38-21. Michigan
State finished the half 7-of-28 from the
field for a tiny 25 percent.
The Spartans never really threatened
after halftime.
They did get within 12, though, when
Klein buried a three and was fouled by
Fife with 10:06 left. But he missed the
free throw and Willie Mitchell nailed a
trey on the other end as Brooks failed to
get in the Wolverine's face. An unhappy
Izzo called time and gave Brooks a quiz-
zical look, as if to ask: "What were you
thinking?"
It wasthatkind of day for Michigan State.
MICHIGAN STATE (46)
FO F RES
MIN M-A MWA 0-T A F PTS
Smith 17 1-3 0-0 1-1 0 3 2
Brooks 23 4-10 3-4 1-6 0 2 11
Feick 31 0.6 1-4 3-9 03 1
Beathea 16 1-4 1-2 1-1 0 2 3
Weathers 35 3-12 1-3 1-1 3 2 7
Garavagila 28 2-4 3-6 3-8 1 1 7
Kelley 9 0-0 0-0 040 0 0
Mull 18 2-6 1-1 0-2 1 2 5
Respert 5 1-2 0-0 0.0 0 2 2
Klein 12 2-3 0.1 01 01 6
Nicodemus 2 1-1 0.0 0-0 0 0 2
Polonowski 2 0.0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Hart 2 0.0 0-0 0000 0
Totals 200 17-51. 10.2110430 518 46
FG%: .333. FT%: .476. Three-point goal.: 2-6,
.333 (Klein 2-3, Weathers 0-3). Blocks: 3
(Beathea, Garavagila, Klein). Turnovers: 16
(Brooks 3 Feick 3, Weathers 3, Smith 2,
Garavagila, Hart, Kelley, Mull, Respert). Steals:
3 (Feick, Kelley, Weathers). Technical Fouls:
none
MICHIGAN (75)
FS FREB
MIN M-A M-A O-T A F P1%
Conlan 35 4-10 0-0 0.5 6 0 10
Taylor 30 8-14 0.1 1-5 0 3 16
Baston 27 5-6 2-2 2-11 2 4 12
Bullock 33 3.9 2-2 0.0 2 1 9
Fife 31 2-3 00 0-0 0 4 6
White 21 4-8 4-6 0-6 2 2 12
Mitchell 15 1-4 0-0 2-3 1 3 3
Morton 2 0.1 2-2 0-000 2
Oliver 2 0.1 2-2 0-0 1 0 2
DeKuiper 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 3
Szyndlar 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 00 0
Totals 200 28-57 12-15 5-30 1417 75
FG%: .491. FT%: .800. Three-point goals: 717,
.412 (Fife 2-2, Conlan 2-4, Dekupier 1-1,
Mitchell 1-1, Morton 0-1, Oliver 0-1, White 0-2).
Blocks: 6 (Baston 2, Taylor 2, White 2)
Turnovers: 10 (Taylor 4, White 3, Bullock,
Conlan, Mitchell). Steals: 5 (White 2, Bullock,
Conlan, Fife). Technical Fouls: none.
Michigan State . 21 25- 46
Michigan ..........38 37 - 75
At: Crisler Arena; A: 13,562 1f
Ray Weathers and the Spartans fell to Dugan Fife and Michigan last night.
It's oicial: The Great
,One traded to Blues
ST. LOUIS (AP)- Wayne Gretzky,
the ambassador of hockey, has a new
address: St. Louis.
Gretzky, who failed to win a Stanley
Cup in Los Angeles, was traded to the
St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night, end-
-ing weeks of rumor and speculation
about his future.
"'m emotionally drained," Gretzky
said at a new conference in Los Ange-
es. "I'm disappointed to be leaving Los
Angeles but I'm excited to play in St.
Louis. ... It's always tough when you
move. Nobody likes to make changes.
Sometimes it's just timing."
To get the most prolific scorer in
NHL history and a hockey icon whose
name is synonymous with the sport, the
Blues gave the Kings three young play-
ers - Craig Johnson, Patrice Tardif
nd Roman Vopat - and their No. I
4Wck in the 1997 draft.
The 35-year-old superstar said he
expects to sign with the Blues in two to
three weeks.
a '"It wasn't a financial issue," he said.
""Finances never really were a factor."
Gretzky can become a free agent af-
ter this season, and the Kings risked
losing him without compensation ifthey
failed to sign him. He said it "could
conceivably happen" that he plays out
Ohe season with the Blues, then signs
elsewhere.
"I think it's been tough on everyone,"
Gretzky said. "It'sbeen very unfair forall
of us. I think everyone is relieved."
Word of the trade from St. Louis.
came while McMaster and Kings gov-
ernor Bob Sanderman were meeting
into the evening at the Forum in
Inglewood, Calif.
Earlier in the day, Sanderman an-
nounced there was "no conclusion" to
the negotiations with Gretzky and his
agent, but the talks were to resume.
"We want to do what's right for
Wayne," Sanderman said at the time. "At
the same time, we owe it to our fans to do
what's right for the Los Angeles Kings."
However, Gretzky has played his last
game for the Kings. And now, like the
NFL's Rams before him, Gretzky is off
to St. Louis and is expected in the lineup
for the Blues on Thursday night in
Vancouver.
"I just follow the Rams," he said.
"Wherever they go, I go."
That initial announcement dampened
anticipation in St. Louis, where the news
conference was watched by reporters
on a monitor and the team had a podium
ready for a satellite news conference of
its own.
Sanderman described the 1 1/2-hour
meeting as cordial, and said he was
optimistic about reaching a conclusion
concerning Gretzky this week. The reso-
Spring/summer and fall/winter term
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Dethroned
AP PHOTO
Wayne Gretzky, also known as The Great One, is no longer a King. Gretzky was
traded from Los Angeles to the St. Louis Blues last night. Gretzky Is the NHL's all-
time leading scorer and won four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers.
lution came much sooner.
Gretzky was in the meeting while
the Kings practiced for Wednesday
night's game. He and Barnett left the
building before the news conference
began.
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