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It's perhaps the most cliched expres-
sion in all of sports: "Pressure situa-
tions bring out the best in me."
What makes it so trite is that too
many athletes apply it to themselves
when only the game's greats are allowed
t y it, if that.
W e greats ... and Brandun Hughes.
Hughes followed Jerod Ward's com-
ing-out party against Purdue with one
of his own, Sunday against Iowa. His
sensational 18-point effort and stingy
defense against the Big Ten's top dog,
Andre Woolridge, made it all the more
impressive.
"I knew I'd
have a big game
today," Hughes
said after
Michigan's 79-71
victory. "Because
most of the time
N when we play
GOLDENBACH against good
guards, I have a
The Bronx big game."
ber Sure, Hughes
had big games
against Illinois' Kiwane Garris and
n nesota's Bobby Jackson. But neither
ofthose performances came close to
matching the shooting and defensive
exhibition he put on against Woolridge.
Hughes' play flat-out won the game
for Michigan on Sunday.
Everyone of his baskets seemed big.
His first points of the game came on
a 3-pointer seven minutes in. It ended a
6-0 Iowa run and began a 13-4
Michigan spurt which ultimately gave
Wolverines a three-point lead.
ine minutes later, Woolridge hit the
second of his five treys to a rowdy
Criser crowd. But Hughes promptly
replied with a three of his own, which
began the duel.
"(Playing against good guards) brings
out my competitive nature ; Hughes
said. "That just brings my spirit out and
helps me play well."
A pair of jumpers in the 44 seconds
tre the intermission gave Michigan a
t ee-point halftime lead, 40-37.
The other score of note: Hughes 10,
Woolridge 10.
But halftime was more of a starting
gun for the Hughes-Woolridge show-
down than it was a break in the game.
"Brandun's got a lot of pride,'
Michigan coach Steve Fisher said. "He
was chomping at the bit to guard
Woolridge."
Early in the second half, Hughes'
*nse bit deeply, forcing Woolridge to
fire up an airball and bringing "airball"
chants every time he touched the ball
afterwards.
Every time until Woolridge drove to
the hoop for a two-handed jam, which
tied the game at 58 and saw Hughes and
Woolridge begin trading verbal blows
up and down the court.
With Woolridge out, Hughes embar-
IedIowa's backup, Jason Bauer, for
straight baskets, which gave the
Wolverines the lead for good, 62-58.
And giving Hughes the individual
See GOLDENBACH, Page 5B
After Friday tie,
Broncos go quietly
Morrison leads Blue to 3-point weekend
By Andy Knudsen
Daily Sports Writer
With three points in a home-and-
home series against Western Michigan
this weekend, the consenus No. 1
Michigan hockey team has finally made
it back to the top of the CCHA.
After settling for a 5-5 tie in
Kalamazoo on Friday, Michigan came
out strong on its home ice Saturday, out-
lasting the Broncos, 8-5.
The Wolverines (12-1-2 CCHA, 21-1-
3 overall) now find themselves in a
three-way tie with former frontrunner
Miami (Ohio) -
which lost twice
this weekend -
and Lake Superior.
Once again, cap-
tain Brendan
Morrison came
through when theY
Wolverines needed
him most, scoring
with 13.2 seconds
remaining Friday Morrison
to tie the game.
Morrison then netted three goals in a
span of 9:55 in the first period Saturday
for his fourth career hat trick. With one
assist each night, Morrison now has 51
points (18 goals, 33 assists) on the sea-
son.
But despite the dramatic comeback
Friday and elevation into first place in
the conference, the Wolverines didn't
feel much like celebrating after giving
up 10 goals in the weekend series, and
14 in the last three games.
"This has been a tough stretch for us,"
Michigan coach Red Berenson said.
"Our team has played well in spots but
we're not playing well consistently and
we're not playing well defensively."
Michigan looked determined to blow
the Broncos (5-8-3, 9-12-3) out of Yost
Ice Arena on Saturday, getting goals
from the three centers it dressed -
Morrison, Mike Legg and Bobby Hayes
- in the first 2:26.
At 8:19, left wing Matt Herr fed
Morrison from behind the net for an
easy one-timer on the power play,
extending Michigan's lead to 4-0.
"Brendan is one of those players who
has to play through a lot of defense
every night," Berenson said. "It's nice to
see him get through some of it aind put
the puck in the net, because he is one of
the premier players on our team and in
the league, and in college hockey."
But Western Michigan's confidence
was lifted by a 4-on-3 goal 10 minutes
into the game on only its third shot of the
contest. The Broncos' sixth shot also
found the net at 18:42, cutting
Michigan's lead to 5-2 at the first inter-
mission.
With goals from John Madden and
Jason Botterill, and strong goaltending
from Marty Turco, the Wolverines
apparently put the game out of reach in
the second period.
But in the third, the Broncos got two
goals in the first 3:30 and added a fifth
goal at 18:25 to make Michigan's win
less impressive and less pleasing.
"I think the challenge of defense takes
a lot more work than the challenge of
offense;' Berenson said.
He continued to say that the lapses
can't be pinned on any one particular
player or position.
"I can't tell you it's goalkeeping. I
think Turco's played very well during
this stretch, but he's given up some weak
goals," he said. "Our defense has played
very well, but they've also made some
costly mistakes and turnovers and give-
aways and missed assignments. The for-
wards have played very well, but also
contributed to the defensive lapses."
Morrison thinks the team is taking
shortcuts.
"Our team is capable of doing (the lit-
tle things), it's just (making) us willing
to do it, paying the price to get the job
done," he said.
The Wolverines were willing to get
the job done in the last minute Friday.
Mike Melas scored his third goal of
the night for the Broncos with 5:43
remaining in the game and it didn't look
like Michigan was going to beat red-hot
goaltender Matt Barnes in the final min-
utes.
Turco came off the ice with 37 sec-
onds left in regulation in favor of a sixth
attacker, and the added pressure paid off.
Defenseman Harold Schock skated to
the middle, and put a shot on goal,
See BRONCOS, Page 4B
MARK FRIEDMAN/Daly
Wolverines like Maurice Taylor saw to it that Guy Rucker and the Hawkeyes fumbled away their lead in the Big Ten race.
Deathroned!.
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Michigan brings Iowa back to reality
By Danielle Rumors
Daily Sports Editor
History does not always repeat
itself, as the Iowa men's basketball
team found out Sunday.
The Hawkeyes employed the same
zone defense game plan as a year ago,
Michigan 78
AP Iowa 71
but this time there was a different out-
come.
Last year, Michigan's three-guard
rotation struggled against the
Hawkeyes at Crisler Arena, losing,
62-55. This year, Michigan's three
guards - Brandun Hughes, Louis
Bullock and Travis Conlan - turned
the tables on the Hawkeyes (5-1 Big
Ten, 14-4 overall) to win, 79-71, and
destroy their previous unbeaten mark
in the Big Ten.
Last year, the Hawkeyes destroyed
the Wolverines (4-2, 13-4) mainly by
destroying their guards. The
Hawkeyes' stifling defense shut down
Michigan's perimeter game, holding
its guards to a 3-of-22 shooting per-
formance.
This year, Michigan's guards con-
nected on 15 of 29 field goals, and
the Wolverines sunk 52 percent of
their shots as a team.
"If you want to look at specifics as
to why (the Wolverines) are better
now (it's) because of the addition of
Hughes into the backcourt as well as
the improvement of Bullock and
Conlan," Iowa coach Tom Davis said.
"They're both better, and then you
add in a third guy who is also very
good and tough to cover."
The Hawkeyes played the No. 18
Wolverines in a zone for most of the
afternoon, intending to shut down
Michigan's post play.
And it worked for the most part,
especially on Maurice Taylor.
He attempted just seven shots for
the entire game, connecting on three,
and finished with eight points. Fellow
forward Maceo Baston had many of
the same problems in the paint, fin-
ishing with five points, while center
Robert Traylor finished with nine.
Iowa's zone undoubtedly kept
Taylor - and the other big men -
off-balance all afternoon and allowed
See HAWKEYES, Page 5B
WARREN ZINN/Daily
Michigan center Bobby Hayes was moved up to John Madden and Warren
Luhning's line this weekend, but he couldn't beat goalie Matt Barnes on Friday.
Brawl breaks
put at end of
track meet
By Chad Kujala
Daily Sports Writer
The windchill dipped well below zero outside
Saturday, but inside the track building, things were hot.
The end of the Michigan men's track meet ended in a
spontaneous mob, a small version of a Riddick Bowe-
irew Gulotta boxing match.
The last men's event, the 4x400 relay, proved to be the
most exciting race of the day for the second straight
week. Michigan's biggest competition came from
Eastern Michigan. The race was close throughout, but
the last leg was too close. Michigan anchor runner Neil
Gardner and Eastern Michigan's anchor runner were
itntacirt nrridtn:int a ct I- ndn .t.- rhP.nnn-
Wolverines seeing Green
,after weekend sweep
By Sharat RaJU
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - So close. So very close.
The Michigan women's basketball team now
owns a 3-4 record in the Big Ten. The Wolverines
could just as easily be 4-3.
After dropping a heart-breaker Friday at home
to Indiana and having a potentially epic rally from
20 points behind fall short at Michigan State on
Sunday, the Wolverines dropped both games this
weekend, 72-59 and 76-67, respectively.
On Sunday, 7,519 green- and white-clad fans
packed into the Breslin Center to watch their first-
place Spartans (6-1 Big Ten, 14-3 overall) beat up
Michigan (3-4, 11-5), the traditional doormat of
the Big Ten. For about 35 minutes, they got to see
inst that - a Michigan State nummeling of its in-
Most of the game was controlled by the
Spartans, as they put on a defensive clinic, forcing
23 turnovers on 12 team steals in the game,
enabling them to burst out to a 22-point lead.
With about five minutes remaining in the
game, the Wolverines snapped out of their
drought, and began to play closer to their normal
level.
- "We dug ourselves a hole and couldn't get out
of it," Guevara said. "But we out-played them in
the second half."
Tiffany Willard's 3-pointer from the top of the
key with 4:37 left in the game sparked a 15-4
Michigan run. Ann Lemire's defense (four steals)
and clutch shooting also helped the Wolverines
climb back into the game.
"I feel that penetrating is one of my strong
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