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February 07, 1997 - Image 10

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1997-02-07

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

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MEN'S
BASKETBALL
(3) KENTUCKY 82,
Western Carolina 55
(5) UTAH 85,
Brigham Young 49
(9) New Mexico 75,
S. METHODIST 72
Saint Louis 64,
(11) LOUISVILLE 62

(12) CINCINNATI 65,
(21) Tulane 64
(20) N. CAROLINA 90,
Florida State 62
RICE 75,
(22) Tulsa 58
PRO
BASKETBALL
DETROIT 96,
Houston 87

CHARLOTTE 115,
Sacramento 100
MIAMI 102,
Milwaukee 90
Indiana 104,
NEW JERSEY 100
NEW YORK 96.
San Antonio 84
ORLANDO 119,
Boston 111

MINNESOTA 103,
Vancouver 86
PRO
HOCKEY
Vancouver 7,
DETROIT 4
Hartford 5,
BOSTON 3
PHILADELPHIA 9,
Montreal 'S

Friday
February 7, 1997

10

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Effort not enough
i game Michzgan
should have won
' ADISON - When all was said and done last night,
Mchiganstdidn't quite have enough.
Despite the best efforts of every player on the floor,
the Wolverines left UW Fieldhouse with a 58-53 loss.
On paper, it was a game they should have won. Michigan was
facing'a Wisconsin team that scored a mere 11 points in the first
halftitis last outing, a 60-42 loss to lowly Ohio State ... a team
that s ts two players averaging less than 11/2 points per game.
Altiis against a Michigan squad on a three-game winning
streak.a squad that was coming off of a blowout of its intrastate
rival;asquad that had four players with double-digit scoring
averages and a fifth knocking on the door.
But that, as they say, is why the games
are played. No one in the packed-to-the-
crumbling-rafters crowd of 11,500
could have foreseen what went down
last night.
Just under seven minutes into the
game, junior forward Maurice Taylor
stepped up to the top of the key to guard
NWILL Wisconsin forward Paul Grant. As
McCAHILL Grant pivoted to face the basket, he
hateha talk in'caught Taylor with an inadvertent, but
koI'Wh ilkins? punishing, elbow.
'tils Taylor collapsed on the court, face
down, and stayed that way for several
minutes, until he rolled over to reveal a puddle of blood.
As he was helped off the court, one couldn't help but think
that Michigan's chance for a victory was leaving with him.
The Wolverines were only down a point at the half, 23-22,
despite being held to 33-percent shooting by the league's best
defense.
But as the second half wore on, Taylor's absence and the
weight of Traylor's fouls pulled Michigan down. Travis Conlan,
Bpandun Hughes and Louis Bullock were forced to play simul-
taneously, and for longer than they've been used to. Forward
Mace& Baston was asked to shoulder the burden of both the
missing big men after coming off the bench the entire season.
And, all gave valiant efforts. Conlan played 39 minutes,
Hughes 30. And Bullock somehow tossed in 20 points, includ-
ing a 3-pointer that cut the Badgers' lead to 56-53. with 10.5
ticks left on the clock. Baston added nine points and seven
boards in 32 minutes of action.
But it wasn't quite enough. With Taylor out, Wisconsin out-
rebounded Michigan, 37-19, a simply astounding margin. And
fatigue compounded by the noise forced the Wolverines into
some bad mental errors - such as when Baston was called for
offensive goaltending on a Hughes floater that would have cut
the score to 53-50 with less than a minute left.
- Last night's defeat was a tough loss for the Wolverines, and
one that certainly eliminated them from the Big Ten title race.
9 showed them how much they need Taylor - a sobering
tiought - but also showed them how tough they can be.
- But it also showed them how much tougher they need to be,
low much tougher they must be down the stretch.
' The Wolverines must now take a long, hard look at them-
elves, andgauge the mental distance between the result their
efforts brought last night and actually winning.
And for their season to be a success, they need to figure out
Low to get from here to there.
- Will McCahill can be reached over e-mail at
wmcc@umich.edu.

Wolverines
down and
Taylor out
Badgers bully Blue, ruin
Big Ten title hopes
By Alan Goldenbach
Daily Sports Editor
MADISON - It had the tough and grind-it-out play of a
football game. And for the most part, it had the score of one as
well.
Wisconsin used its in-your-face defensive style to put a muz-
zle on just about any kind of Michigan offense as the Badgers
beat the Wolverines, 58-53, at UW Fieldhouse last night.
Michigan (6-4 Big Ten, 16-6 overall) played all but s
minutes of the game without forward Maurice Taylor, whoa
the game after taking an elbow to the face from Wisconsin's
Paul Grant.

Wisconsin 58
Michigan 53
ers examined him.
"I lost consciousness for about
came over,' Taylor said.

No foul was called on
the play, and Taylor sus-
tamed a broken nose and
concussion. He laid on the
ground for about five
minutes while team train-
a minute until the train#

JOE WESTRATE/Daily
Sean Daugherty (left) and David Burkemper bully Maceo Baston around in the paint. Baston was forced to shoulder the load
inside after Maurice Taylor went out with a broken nose and Robert Traylor once again found himself in deep foul trouble.

Taylor plans to have doctors reset his nose today in Ann
Arbor and have a mask fitted in time for tomorrow's game
against Penn State at Crisler Arena.
"It's frustrating when you see one of your teammates down,
because for one, there was no foul called, and two, because
there's a teammate on the ground bleeding," Travis Conlan said.
According to Michigan coach Steve Fisher, Taylor tried to
give it a go in the second half, but the team's doctors told him
not to.
But perhaps more important than the temporary loss f
Taylor is the more permanent departure of Michigan's Big
title hopes.
The loss puts Michigan at 6-4 in the conference, three games
behind front-runner Minnesota, which has already beaten
Michigan once this season. No team has won the Big Ten title
with more than three losses.
"You're always thinking about the Big Ten title in the back of
your head," Conlan said. "It's hard not to think about it.
"It's a big loss for us, but we were right in it until the end.'
Despite missing its most dominant inside force, Michigan
managed to stay in the game, never letting Wisconsin's l
become too large.
Wisconsin (5-5, 12-7), the Big Ten's top defensive squad,
allowed the Wolverines 43 shots - their lowest output of the
season - while outrebounding Michigan, 37-19.
In fact, Wisconsin grabbed as many rebounds off the offen-
sive glass as Michigan did on both ends.
"I think we could say that we won because we played well
defensively and rebounded extremely well," Wisconsin coach
Dick Bennett said. "I think that was the story of the game."
Michigan came out shooting the ball well and seemed
unfazed by Wisconsin's aggressive defense. All three members
of Michigan's starting frontcourt - Taylor, Jerod Ward a
Robert Traylor- helped build an 8-6 lead.
But then a 3-pointer from Hennssy Auriantal followed by a
Grant jumper gave the Badgers an 11-8 advantage.
Grant was left unguarded at the top of the key after his right
elbow landed squarely on Taylor's nose.
"I feel bad about the kid getting hurt," Bennett said.
"Certainly, that makes a difference in this game.'
The game remained close for the remainder of the half.
Wisconsin held the lead for most of the first half but never by
more than a three-point margin.
Michigan's second death blow of the game came with 13W
left when Traylor picked up his fourth foul, leaving Maceo
Baston as the only legitimate inside presence.
"When Robert got into foul trouble, we had to bring Jerod
inside," Fisher said.
Traylor was whistled for his third foul with 5 1/2 minutes left
in the first half, forcing the Wolverines to go small.
That hurt the Wolverines, especially when Wisconsin threw
6-foot-10 Sean Daugherty and 7-foot Grant at them for most of
the game. The pair helped turn the rebounding margin into a
brutal mismatch by game's end.
Nonetheless, Louis Bullock, on the brink of breaking
Rice's career 3-point mark, almost single-handedly kept
Wolverines in the game in the second half, while Traylor and
Taylor were on the bench.
Bullock scored 15 of his game-high 20 points after the inter:
mission. His four threes tie him with Rice at 135 3-pointers far:
his career.
Following a Brandun Hughes three with 7:50 to go that gave
Michigan a 38-37 edge, Wisconsin stormed back with seven
straight points to take a six-point lead with 5:40 left.
But Bullock tried to keep his team in it. scoring seven points
in the final five minutes.
However, Michigan went cold when it could least afford it,
going scoreless over an 80-second stretch in the game's final.
two minutes.

JOE WESTRATE/Daily
Maurice Taylor's night ended here, after he blocked the elbow of Wisconsin forward Paul Grant - with
his nose. Taylor missed the final 33 minutes of the game with a concussion and a broken nose.

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