~~~~t-ettmtUa-

1

Scoreboard Va. 75, NO. 17 UMASS 68
COLLEGE BASKETBALL NO. 24 MINNESOTA 76, W. Va. 61
Xavier 71, NO. 1 CINCINNATI 69 NO. 25 GEO. WASH. 77, S. Fla. 65
NO. 2 KANSAS 85, California 67 LSU 70, Iowa 60
No. Uth 60 UTH ST 41Purdue 65, WESTERN MICHIGAN 56
NO. 4 Utah 6O, UTAH ST. 41 NORTHWESTERN 70, C. Michigan 49
NO. 9 IOWA ST. 87, Alcorn St. 58
NO. 11 ARIZONA 88, N. Ariz, 70 HOME TEAM IN CAPS

Wednesday
November 27, 1996

9

4

- F

.Bullock betters
backboard-buster
fter Robert Traylor shattered the Crisler Arena back-
board less than three minutes into last night's game
A gainst Ball State, most fans must have figured that
the demolition would be the contest's most exciting moment.
And indeed, why shouldn't it have been? Things like that
n't happen but once in a blue moon, and no backboard in
tisler Arena has ever been put to rest in such awesome fash-
ion But the Wolverines weren't able to gain much momen-
turn from Traylor's Shaq impersonation,
and they stumbled their way to a 25-22
lead over the Cardinals with just over a
minute left to play in the first half.
That's when Louis Bullock took mat-
ters into his own hands.
Taking a pass from freshman center
Peter Vignier, Bullock drained a 3-
ILL. pointer from the left side to push the
CCAHILL lead to six. Then with the finals seconds
Whatcha talkin' ticking off the clock, Bullock got the
"flout Willis? ball just past half-court, dribbled over to
the left side, and nailed another trey
with the last shot of the half.
" Bullock finished the half with 11I points, a couple shy of
his per-game average last season. A good night's work for the
sophomore guard, right?
Wrong. Michigan was still barely holding on to a lead over
the underdog Cardinals, certainly not a situation in which the
'l tion's seventh-ranked team should find itself
Just a couple minutes into the second half, with Michigan's
lead still at 31-22, Bullock pulled up for a shot, from just
about the same spot on the left side of the floor. Money. And
a foul. Which Bullock, as he has done nearly 85 percent of
the time in his young Michigan career, promptly swished.
Bullock's efforts, much more than Traylor's backboard-
'busting slam, seemed to break the Wolverines out of the funk
they seemed to be in during the first half.
"I just looked to take my shots more in the second half,"
F Bullock said. "The team counts on my outside shooting. With
Qyself being able to knock down those shots I wasn't hitting
in the exhibitions games, I think that helped us out."
Michigan coach Steve Fisher was hardly surprised at
Bullock's grabbing of the Cardinal by its beak.
"Louis shot the ball exceptionally well, and I think that
will be the rule rather than the exception," he said. "The one
hing (about this team) I'm not worried about is Bullock and
his shooting."
Bullock finished the night with 28 points, one better than
his previous career best. One thing is for certain: the
Wolverines need to be able to feed off each other, to build
ins on a foundation of solid play. Last night it was Louis
1ullock who laid that foundation.
Top-10 teams are able to build on great individual efforts
like Bullock's, and right now the Wolverines are, in the opin-
ion of many, a top-10 team. And top-10 teams need to blow
out teams like Ball State. The Wolverines blew the Cardinals
out this year, just like they did last year. And we all know
how last season turned out.
The foundation has been laid. The question now is, will it
be built upon?
- Will McCahill can be reached over e-mail at
wmcc@umich.edu.

Bullock, Blue make
a smashing debut
Traylor's glass-shattering thrills crowd

By John Leroi
Daily Sports Editor
It was probably a bad sign for Ball
State that forward Bonzi Wells scored all
of the Cardinals' points 12 minutes into
yesterday's game against Michigan. It
was probably a worse sign that Wells, the
nation's third-leading scorer a year ago,
had just eight points.
And this was against a Michigan
defense that allowed 104 points to an
Michigan 87
Ball State 63
amateur team a week ago.
Truth is, Ball State had more
turnovers than baskets in the first 15
minutes of play and couldn't muster a
comeback, falling to the Wolverines, 87-
63, before 12,985 at Crisler Arena.
The Cardinals, who shot just 27 per-
cent from the floor in the first half, even
benifited from 13 Michigan turnovers in
the first half alone.
Try as they could, the Cardinals had
little to offer for a second-half surge -
including Wells, who was held to 10
points. Michigan led just 25-22 with a
minute to go in the first but built a 48-29
lead just six minutes into the second.
"I'm disappointed in the way we
played in the second half," said Ball
State coach Ray McCallum, who spent
part of a season as a Michigan assistant.
"We had a huge lapse where we didn't
play well and really let the game get
away from us. But give Michigan credit.
They played well."
First-half scoring was almost non-
existent. Neither team reached 20 points
until six minutes left in the half. If
Robert Traylor hadn't shattered a back-
board with a breakaway dunk two min-
utes into the game, most fans would
have fallen asleep.
The mess, which delayed the game 19
minutes, would have cost the Michigan
Athletic Department $1,000 had it not
had the goal insured: Not a bad idea
when you have a 300-pound center.
"Me and Brandun (Hughes) are going
home and watching a lot of TV tonight,"
Traylor said of the imminent surge of

Michigan highlights ESPN was about to
show. "I think it got us all excited:'
It must have energized Louis Bullock.
After both teams struggled to score for
most of the half, Bullock scored eight
straight points to end the half and ;then
poured in eight more in the first three
minutes of the second. He ended with
28 points.
Most impressive was Michigan's
defensive effort. After a letdown against
Athletes in Action, the Wolverines held
Ball State to 34 percent shooting, while
hitting 59 percent of their shots.
Travis Conlan and Jerod Ward held
Wells to 4-of-18 shooting. "The
Cardinals made five of their 22 attempts
from behind the arc.
"Our defense was a lot better," Fisher
said. "But, I was extremely disappointed
that we had 26 turnovers. That was;sur-
prising."
Michigan blew the game open mid-
way through the second half. After a 3-
pointer, a pull-up jumper and two free
throws by Bullock and a dunk off an
inbounds play by Maurice Taylor, the
Wolverines had an 87-63 lead.
At one point, Bullock had 10 straight
points and scored 16 points in a nine-
minute span.
Before the intermission, however,
Michigan had its probems scoring. The
Wolverines went up 7-0 to stait the
game, capped by Traylor's monster slain.
But after a short breather, while Criser
staff members replaced to goal,
Michigan went cold.
The two teams traded baskets and
turnovers until Ball State went on a 6-0
run a pulled to 25-22 with a Randy
Zachary 3-pointer with 2:13 left in the
half.
But Bullock nailed a three on
Michigan's next posession and, aftet a
Cardinal miss with ten seconds left, hit
another at the buzzer to give Michigan a
comfortable 31-22 lead at the half.
"I just got on a roll and got some open
looks," Bullock said. "We did some
good things there in the second half'
The Wolverines were without the ser-
vices of junior forward Maceo Baston.
Baston, who missed the first two exhibi-
tion games with a strained Achilles ten-
don, will probably not dress for
Michigan's game Saturday at Cleveland
State.

An avalanche of glass fell on Robert Traylor last night after he put all of his weighti

7
V
T
E
C
f
V
C
c
ti
F
F
1

MICHIGAN (87)
FQ FT RES
MIN M-A WA O-T A F PTS
Taylor 29 7-13 3-3 5-9 0 3 17
Ward 29 4-8 7-8 2-5 3 1 16
Traylor 28 6-7 2-4 4-12 2 4 14
Bullock 28 9-14 3-4 0-5 2 1 28
Conlan 31 1-3 2-3 0-4 5 2 4
Hughes 28 2-4 0-0 0-3 4 1 4
Vignier 15 1-1- 0-0 0-1 1 2 2
Oliver 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
DeKupier 3 0-0 0-2 1-1 1 0 0
Szyndlar 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Haratsaris 1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
D. Taylor 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Palmer 1 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 2
Totals 200 31-5317-2415-471816 87
FG%: .585. FT%: ..708. 3-point FG: 8-15,
.533 (Bullock 7-10, Ward 1-3, Conlan 0-2).
Blocks: 2 (Traylor, Ward). Steals: 4 (Traylor
2, Bullock, Conlan). Technical Fouls: none.

BALL STATE (63)
FG FT REB
MIN M-A M-A O-T A F PTS
Wells 29 4-18 2-3 4-4 3 2 10
Johnson 22 2-2 0-2 1-3 0 2 4
Martin 11 0-4 1-2 4-4 0 3 1
Zachary 28 2-10 0-0 1-4 3 1 6
Smith 18 1-4 0-0 0-2 0 4 2
Reed 13 2-4 0-0 2-2 0 2 4
Hankins 18 3-7 2-2 6-6 0 3 8
Clemens 24 6-17 1-2 1-1 2 1 15
Mason 22 2-7 0-0 2-3 3 2 5
Williams 12 3-3 0-0 0-1 2 0 6
Hosier 3 1-1 0-0 0-1 1 1 2
Totals 200 26-77 6-112-331421 63
FG%: .338. FT%: .545. 3-point FG: 5-22, .227
(Clemens 2-7, Zachary 2-7, Mason 1-3, Wells
0-4, Smith 0-1). Blocks: 2 (Wells 2). Steals:
10 (Smith 3, Wells 2, Clemens, Hankins,
Hosier, Williams, Zachary). Technical Fouls:
none.

into a dunk.
Up
next
Who:
Cleveland
State
When:
Saturday,
7:35 p.m.
Where: CSU
Convocation
Center
Opponents'
nickname:
Vikings
Vikings'
coach:
Rollie
Massimrino

Ball State......22 41 - 63
Michigan......31 56 - 87
At: Crisler Arena. A: 12,985

ROUNDUP:
Men's cross country
places 14th at NCAAs

Blue icers to Showcase
talent this weekend

By Jacob Wheeler
Daily Sports Writer
With the Michigan men's cross
country team relying on its two stand-
outs to carry the Wolverines, Monday's
result at the NCAA championships was
hnain to hannen sooner or later. .
Michigan turned in its worst perfor-
mance in years, finishing 14th in the
season's climax at Tucson, Ariz.
0 "It was disappointing, but not disas-
trous," Michigan coach Ron Warhurst
said. "We were ranked 14th coming
into the meet, but we thought we could
have placed higher."
Senior Scott MacDonald was the top
Wolverine in the meet, finishing 43rd.
John Mortimer, Michigan's best runner
all season, placed 116th.
The heat played a large factor in
Monday's meet which was held in the
ot, dry climate of the southwest.
"A lot of runners, including all seven
of ours, were affected by heat exhaus-
tion," Warhurst said. "But it affected
different people in different ways."
Mortimer was one of those suffering
from the heat.
"John (Mortimer) was dying out
there," Warhurst said. "It was like he
was going backwards.'
IVomon's cross
country
Marcy Akard didn't know what to
expect.
The redshirt freshman on the
Michigan women's cross country team

Monday in Tucson, Ariz., as the only
individual from Michigan to qualify
for the NCAA championships, it was
her sole responsibility to maintain the
eight-year tradition of Michigan
appearances in the nationals.
Akard overcame her own inexperi-
ence and harsh weather conditions and
finished 51st (18:36) out of the 186-
runner field. The 5,100-meter course
was 100 meters longer than the women
usually run at the collegiate level.
"There were about 10 runners in the
women's race that passed out, and peo-
ple were dehydrated," Akard said. "It
was actually good to even cross the fin-
ish line anywhere for the day."
- Chris Farah
Crew
When the Michigan women's crew
team faced Ohio State in its final race
of the season Saturday, it had to con-
tend with more than just a tough oppo-
nent. The Wolverines had to contend
with a hostile Ohio State crowd.
"People spit at our rowers and kicked
snow off the bridges at them and that
sort of stuff," Michigan assistant coach
Pam Carroll said. "Ohio State doesn't
have the most classy fans."
The Wolverines raced two varsity
eights and one four in three 1,500
meter sprints, winning one varsity
eight race. In the second varsity eight
sprint, Michigan led from the start and
finished an impressive four boat
lengths ahead of Ohio State.
--Fred Link

By Mark Snyder
Daily Sports Writer
For the last two seasons, Minnesota
has defeated the Michigan hockey team
at the College Hockey Showcase.
That would matter if Michigan (Il-I-
1) hadn't defeated the Gophers (8-4-0) in
last season's NCAA regional final.
But that's not to say this weekend of
hockey doesn't matter to the Wolverines.
"The Showcase is something that,
since I've been here two years, we've
lost to Minnesota both times," Michigan
junior Matt Herr said. "One of our team
goals is to sweep the Showcase and to
take the next step. Hopefully, next week-
end will be that weekend.'
Both of Michigan's games in the
fourth-annual Showcase will be played
at 4:30 p.m. at Joe Louis Arena. Friday,
the Wolverines square off against
Minnesota, with a Wisconsin (6-6-0)
contest to follow Saturday.
Michigan is playing in the afternoon
because Michigan State is serving as the
Showcase host.
The idea for the Showcase originated
four years ago and the Wolverines host-
ed the first exhibition at the Palace of
Auburn Hills in 1994. Over the last two
seasons, each school has served as host
with St. Paul, Minn., and Milwaukee,

Wis., serving as the sites.
While the Showcase is not a winner-
take-all tournament, both CCHA
schools play one game against each of
the WCHA teams. Because the four uni-
versities compete in the same confer-
ence in most other sports, the Showcase
gives hockey an opportunity to renew a
missing rivalry.
"I think all four schools have enjoyed
the tournament," Berenson said. "We're
keeping a Big Ten rivalry alive in hock-
ey."
But after a four-year run, the contract
of the Showcase has expired. A decision
on the future of the Showcase will take
place this weekend, when the four
coaches will convene.
"The (last) two years they've had
good crowds?' Berenson said. "If you
continue it, it becomes a benchmark for
Thanksgiving.
Michigan and Minnesota, both near
the top of their respective leagues year in
and year out, have made the Showcase
an annual battleground.
Last season, Michigan went down to
defeat when Minnesota goalie Steve
DeBus stopped 29 of Michigan's 31
shots. The game ended a 12-game
Michigan winning streak and left the
Wolverines wanting revenge.

MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
Brendan Morrison will lead No. I Michigan into the College Hockey Showcase this
weekend against Minnesota and Wisconsin at the Joe Louis Arena.

Th Showcase
No.I Michigan

Vi

Friday and Saturday at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit
No. 3 Minnesota Wisconsin
Friday, 4:30 p.m. Saturday, 4:30 p.m.

I

Work for one of the most well-respected
student businesses in the nation:

I

i

I-



l