MEN'S BASKETBALL (9) S. Carolina 85, THE CITADEL 55 (10) N. Mexico 62, TEXAS-EL PASO 71 (11) Cincinnati 76, SOUTH FLORIDA 56 (13) Arizona 72, OREGON 78 (15) Louisvile 71, MARQUETTE 79 (16} Xavier 82 DUQUESNE 14 (22) CHARLESTON 81, SE Louisiana 68 (25) California 78, WASHINGTON 67 (20) Stanford at WASH. ST., inc. WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (3) STANFORD 82, Washington St. 45 (18) 5. Austin 69, NICHOLLS STATE 62 (23) G. Wash. 56, LA SALLE 40 (25) Western Ky. 77, NEW ORLEANS 71 PRO BASKETBALL Miami 92, NEW JERSEY 87 INDIANA 92, Denver 68 PHILADELPHIA 101, LA Clippers 84 HOUSTON 107, Toronto 97 Friday February 21, 1997 10. No more time or talk from these Wolverines OWA CITY - Talk is cheap. And for this basketball team, it's about as worthless as sunblock during a Michigan winter. There is no more time for idle banter - not in late February, not from this bunch of Wolverines who have done enough yapping for the next few sea- sons. There is no more time to say: "We know what we have to work on." There are no more games left for the drastic improvement this team needs. Iowa crushed Mjhigan like JOHN day-old garbage LEROI yesterday, which Out of was'pretty much Bounds h the Wolverines played. There is no more room for talk. Now is the time for action. Three times this season, Maurice Taylor has told me -aer a game that "these next few games will show what we're made of." At least that many times, he's said he wants to find the guys in the locker- room who want to win. Late February isi far too late for that. This is not to say that the Wolverines cannot lose another game this season. That would be a ridiculous request. Lping at Iowa isn't even such a disas- tfJis occurrence. The Wolverines didn't I play terribly, but they didn't play well. Not well enough to win a big game. The Wolverines played awful defense in the first half, allowing the Hawkeyes 44 points on 65 percent shooting. The Wolverines had far too much difficulty handling Iowa's press in the first half, and they turned the ball over too many times to win a ballgame. The Wolverines had trouble with the . Hawkeyes' zone defense and still have no shown any semblance of a half- court offense. ;ihe Wolverines are not a bad team, bi they're not a good one. They're mediocre at best. It showed last night. It was a game the Hawkeyes needed to win more than the Wolverines did. Both teams now own identical 17-8 records, although the Hawkeyes have pulled ahead of the Wolverines by a game in the Big Ten. Losers of three in a row before last night, the Hawkeyes des- perately needed a win to resuscitate their NCAA tournament aspirations. The Wolverines, although not exactly on the tournament bubble, may need three wins in their last five games to get an invitation. Their next three games are very loseable - at Purdue on Sunday, home against No. 2 Minnesota on Wednesday and at Illinois a week from this Sunday. That leaves a home contest with. Northwestern and a road game at Ohio State - two games Michigan better win if it wants to avoid the NIT. Of course, the Wolverines may receive a berth to the Big Dance with just two more victories, courtesy of two big early-season wins over Duke and Arizona, and the fact that baggy yellow, shorts sell tickets. They'd be just 9-9 in the Big Ten and 19-1 1 overall. Michigan was 20-11 and 10-8 last year when it was a No. 7 seed. But the Wolverines have just two quality victories in the Big Ten this sea- son - home wins against Iowa and Illinois. Two, that's it. Right now, f. ey are the seventh-best team in the conference despite having the most talent. Do you think the NCAA tournament will take seven Big Ten teams? If it were December or January. here's what I'd say: Don't expect too much from this team come March if they don't improve their defense and start executing a half-court offense. But not now. Not with just five games remaining. It's too late for any considerable improvement. No more time for talk. Nope. Here's where I say: Don't expect much of this team, period. -John Leroi can be reached over e- mail atjreroi@umich.edu Iowa rolls in, 8-75 win By Will McCahill Daily Sports Editor IOWA CITY - Buried. That, in many ways, is what happened to the Michigan men's basketball team last night in its 80-75 loss at Iowa. After a nip-and-tuck first four minutes tlat saw th Wolverines grab a 12-8 lead, the Hawkeyes pounced. Over the next seven minutes, they exploded into a 23-4 run that gave them a 31-16 lead, and left Michigan in a hole just too deep to get out of. The loss dropped the 18th-ranked Wolverines (7-6 Big Ten, 17-8 overall) into sixth place in the conference, while~ the Hawkeyes (8-5, 17-8) put an end to a three-game losing streak. Michigan coach Steve Fisher said the Hawkeyes, with their backs to the Big Ten wall, made the big plays necessary to overwhelm the Wolverines early and then keep them at bay down the stretch. 0 "In eight minutes, we were outscored (23-4) to give them such a lead that it became difficult for usto mount a charge" he said. Junior guard Travis Conlan underscored the insurmount- ability of lowa's charge into the lead. "They seemed to roll, and we could never get out of that first big run they had," Conlan said. "We just never got out of that deficit." The Hawkeyes were able to stretch their lead to as many as 19 points late in the first half, and led, 44-29, at the break. But five minutes into the second half, the Wolverine appeared poised to make things tough for the Hawkeyes. Aft Iowa point guard Andre Woolridge hit a 3-pointer to make the score 50-36, Michigan broke the Iowa press, and sophomore guard Louis Bullock was fouled on a layup attempt. He nailed both shots to cut the lead to 12 with 14:52 remaining. Two possessions later, junior forward Macco Baston sank a layup after a feed from Conlan, whittling the lead t'o 51-40 On Michigan's next trip downcourt, sophomore center Robert Traylor was fouled and made one of two free throws to cut the deficit to 10. But the Hawkeyes rattled off three quick buckets, and witg 9:52 to play, the lead was back up to 16 points, 57-41. The Wolverines made another attempt to get back into the game with less than three minutes left, closing to II points when junior guard Brandun Hughes hit one of two free throws with 2:33 to go. And again, Iowa had the answer. Off a Bullock miss, the Hawkeyes raced back in the opposite direction, and after some crisp passing, junior center Ryan Bowen's lay-in restored Iowa to its comfort zone with a 72-58 cushion. On paper, things got tight again in the final minute of play, as Michigan closed the lead to 10, then eight and then sixBu each Michigan basket was followed by an Iowa trip to thecha See HAWKEYES, Page 11 JOE WESTRATE/Daily Iowa's Andre Woolridge stole the ball - and the game - from Brandun Hughes and the rest of the Wolverines last night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Wolverines fell, 80-75, to the Hawkeyes after com- -mitting 19 turnovers. Woolridge finished with 25 points, as the Hawkeyes pulled ahead of the Wolverines in the Big Ten standings by one game. The Wolverines, now 7-6 and in sixth place in the con- ference, travel to Purdue on Sunday. a i {I -RESTAURANT Saturday, February 22 Shakespeare, Ebe ab individual titles By Josh Kleiribaum Daily Sports Writer INDIANAPOLIS - The Michigan women's swim- ming team took the first step toward its 1Ith-straight conference title yesterday, earning 208.5 points, 30 ahead of second-place Minnesota, at the Big Ten cham- pionship. The third-ranked Wolverines were led by Shannon Shakespeare and Jen Eberwein, who each claimed an individual Big Ten title. Eberwein was also part of the w inning 2(X)-yard fcesy Ic relx :eam. Shakespeare, a freshanu, set a Big Ten champi- onship record in the 20() individual medley with a time of 2:00.87. "I didn't even know that the record was coming in so it was a big surprise,' Shakespeare said. "I'm really happy about it." Shakespeare was also part of the third-place 400 med- ley-relay team, swimming the freestyle leg of the race. Eberwein claimed the 50 free Big Ten title for the sec- ond-straight year. She also swam the opening leg of the 200 free relay, posting the best time in that-event. But not all the Wolverines had a good day. Senior Melisa Stone, swimming the 50 free forthe l time in her Michigan career, missed qualifying for th finals by 1/100th of a second. She finished 13th overall. "It's easy to see that this meet is not going to be a run- away meet," Michigan coach Jim Richardson said. "Over the next two days, we're going to have to be very tough." Special Acoustic Performance: South Paw No. 12 grapplers fall, 24-10, to fourth-ranked Illini $1.50 Premium Bottles Sam Adams " Labatt's * Rolling Rock " Killian's By Tracy Sandler Daily Sports Writer Maybe it was a sign. Due to a techni- cal problem, the national anthem was cut off at the halfway point before last night's wrestling meet between No. 12 Michigan and No. 4 Illinois. Two hours later, the Wolverines lost, 24-10. After the second period. Michigan's 1220 S. University " 665-7777 118-pound Chris Viola had a 3-3 tie with Lindsey Durlacher but ended up losing, 9-3. At 134 pounds, Michigan's Corey Grant was a 2-1 loser to Tony Siebert. The Wolverines did not score a point until 167-pounder Jeff Catrabone defeat- ed Illinois' Bill Zeman, 8-0. "I said all year, if we don't split the first five (matches), we're in trouble, and we didn't split the first five," Michigan coach Dale Bahr said. Part of the problem for Michigan may be fatigue. After Sunday's loss to Minnesota, the Wolverines had a short practice week then had to make weight Wednesday. They have to make weight again today for tomorrow night's meet at Wisconsin. "The kids are a little tired right now;' Bahr said. "I can just sense it. They're dinged up a little bit. "What I think we need to do is get through the match at Wisconsin, give them a couple of days off to relax a little bit, try to get our dings healed up a* then get ready for the Big Tens." Catrabone sees the last couple of meets as a slight slump. "If we're going in a roller-coasterride, let's go down now and come back up for the Big Tens," Catrabone said. Heavyweight Airron Richardson and 190-pound Frank Lodeserto, were Michigan's only two other winners. Happy as he was with his win over No. Seth Brady, No. 6 Richardson sees roo* for team improvement. -T-- . 4: . ._ . ;,, a_ ; 4 ; , . - fix:. w ' W ,;x , ,..,. -. " t ,®, g i,. .. . . Yy . 5. . 1 . k~ rh i . R r_. ; 3. ti.g f ,., i '7 . 5 'd {. ' _ 2 i :r y s t-. r S I I'A youi I'LIIU r(. i A Stay at Boyne between February 24 and March 14 (We bet your Spring Break is in there somewhere!) Boyne Mountain has lodging for just $40 Per day, per person, dbl. occ.) WANTS YOU! Now taking applications for Executive Board Positions! The Universities Activities Center is the largest student-run organization on campus. Our goal is to provide educational and social programming for the entire student body. InlowIV. i