,Fireshmen
make fast
unpact
By Josh Kleinbaum
y Sports Writer
Mandy Stowe sat in the Crisler Arena
press lounge with a grin stretching
across her face.
She had just finished her first basket-
ball game in a Michigan uniform - a
95-67 exhibition rout of Sporitelna
Bratislava - and she had exceeded all
expectations.
Stowe, a 6-foot-I forward from
Ludington, came off the bench to score
* points and grab seven rebounds in
just 21 minutes.
After a quiet first 10 minutes - she
missed her only field-goal attempt -
Stowe caught on fire, scoring nine
points in a six-minute stretch.
"This was something that I had been
waiting for for a long time," Stowe said.
"The girls have been great in practice,
helping me and teaching me, so it was-
n't a complete shock, but I've still got a
t to learn."
Stowe has benefited from practicing
against some of the the Big Ten's best on
a daily basis, including preseason All-
Big Ten selection Pollyanna Johns and
senior forward Tiffany Willard.
Sporitelna didn't have anyone the likes
of Johns to send up against Stowe, so
she was prepared for anything the
Slovak team had to throw at her.
"I would be hurt if she didn't play like
, e did," Johns said. "I would have taken
rpersonally."
The freshman had one rough stretch
in the second half where she committed
two turnovers and a foul. Those, howev-
er, were Stowe's only turnovers of the
game.'
She did get into foul trouble late in the
game, committing her fourth foul with
five minutes left. But Stowe stayed in for
the last five minutes and managed to
avoid picking up a fifth foul.
*Stowe wasn't the only freshman to
make a statement in Michigan's only
exhibition game. Point guard Anne
Thorius had an impressive debut, adding
seven points and seven assists.
Thorius, a 5-11 Denmark native, ran
the Michigan offense with the poise and
on-the-court vision of a veteran. Starting
in her first game at Michigan, she
picked apart the Sporitelna defense with
se, finding Johns, Stacey Thomas and
Swe time and again for easy layups.
"I was pretty pleased with the way
Anne played," Michigan coach Sue
Guevara said. "She ran the show for us
today. That's tough for a freshman to
come in and, all of a sudden, you're
leading the team. She has a lot of respect
for the weapons we have on this team."
Thorius was unselfish at the point
thorughout the game. In 27 minutes, she
took just three shots from the field, hit-
Fg all three, as well as going one-for-
o from the charity stripe.
"I want her to look to score a little
more than she did," Guevara said.
Older than most freshmen - Thorius
is just two weeks shy of her 20th birthday
- she was a three-time member of the
Danish National Teamh, giving her more
experience than the average rookie.
Thorius' biggest problem was
turnovers - she committed three of
#m against seven assists - which a
point guard must avoid. But all three
turnovers came in the second half, well
after the game had been decided.
One_ explanation for the turnovers
might be the actual ball. In Denmark,
they play with a larger basketball, and it
has taken Thorius some time to adjust.
But if that's her biggest problem, she
should have a bright future at Michigan.
* ItmT~kf
COLLEGE
BASKETBALL
MICHIGAN STATE 82,
E. Tenn, State 59
CONNECTICUT 68,
Boston University 54
Purdue 73,
VALPARAISO 56
RHODE ISLAND 78,
UNC-Wilmington 69
KANSAS 88,
Rice 61
NOTRE DAME 72,
The Citadel 53
ILLINOIS 69,
Bradley 59
Utah State 75,
MINNESOTA 64
TENNESSEE 75,
Miami (Ohio) 74
PRO
HOCKEY
MONTREAL 4,
Tampa Bay 1
Boston 4.
OTTAWA 2
St. Louis 3,
TORONTO 2
Edmonton at
Phoenix, inc.
PRO
FOOTBALL
Buffalc at
Mi ym inc
Tuesday
November 18, 1997
9
Something to
talk
about
News or noise?
While the weekend soundbites
came from Columbus and Ohio
State wide receiver David Boston,
yesterday Michigan's players and
coach got the chance to talk
back. Here's a sampling of the
early-week chatter,
I agree with David
Boston. I think Ohio
State should be two-
or three-touchdown
favorites."
- Coach Lloyd Carr
"Being emotional is not a
problem for this game. The
only problem is calming down
those emotions. It will come
down to who calms their
nerves the best."
- Quarterback Brian Griese
"I was surprised (Boston) made
those comments so early. But
he'll have to see me on Saturday."
"I was never an Ohio State kid.
There was never a question of
crossing over."
- Cornerback Charles Woodson
War of words focus
shifts to Michigan
By Alan Gokdenbach
Daily Sports Editor
The most striking example of how
backward this season is for Michigan
and Ohio State as compared to the last
two, is the normally taciturn approach
Michigan coach Lloyd Carr is taking to
the trash-talking game.
"I agree with David Boston," Carr
said referring to the Buckeyes' wide
receiver, who opened the war of words
following Ohio State's victory on
Saturday. "I think Ohio State should be
two- or three-touchdown favorites."
Boston's well-publicized comments
Saturday were: "If our offense and
defense are clicking, we should beat
(Michigan) by two or three touchdowns.
We're going to go up there and upset
them. I think we're better than
Michigan."
The season finale for the Wolverines
and the Buckeyes the past two seasons
has been set with an undefeated and sec-
ond-ranked Ohio State team squaring off
against a Michigan team with three loss-
es and ranked in the bottom half of the
top 25.
This year, the roles are reversed and
Michigan is playing the part of favorite.
But it hasn't changed the attitude in the
Wolverines' lockerroom.
Demeaning comments will usually
make it on to a team's bulletin board. In
fact, Michigan cornerback Charles
Woodson said that Boston's words have
been plastered on the walls of
Schembechler Hall and the Wolverines'
lockerroom as a form of inspiration.
"If someone keeps saying your name,
you know they're thinking about you'
Woodson said. "It's flattering."
But words can only go so far in this
rivalry. The 'most powerful intangible in
this game is emotion -- something nei-
ther team should have trouble amassing.
"If I have to get them up for this game,
then something is wrong with our pro-
gram," Carr said. "Regardless of what
has happened in the past, this is our
biggest rivalry game.
"In my estimation, this is one of the
greatest rivalries in collegiate athletics
and if you are red-blooded, then you are
going to be excited."
But lapsing those emotions is the crit-
ical point for both teams, as they hake
learned in past seasons. Players have let
their mouths say perhaps a little too
much, as Boston did, often regretting
their comments later.
"Being emotional is not a problem for
this game, Michigan quarterback Brian
Griese said. "The only problem is calm-
ing down those emotions because there
is so much tradition-in this game. It will
come down to who will calm .hir
nerves the best."
The emotion behind this rivalry really
began to mount in the 1970s when Bo
Schembechler's Michigan teams rou-
tinely battled Woody Hayes' Buckeyes
for the Big Ten's Rose Bowl bid.
Schembechler, a former Hayes assis-
tant, who took the reins at Michigan-in
1969, pulled off a miraculous upset in
his first year at the Wolverines' helm,
defeating the top-ranked, defending-
champion Buckeyes.
As far as upsets are coerned, this is
not the year where one team will shock
the other, as both are ranked in the top
four. But the magnitude of this game,
which includes Big Ten rings, Rose
Bowl bids and national title implica-
tions, makes it the most heavily antiti-
pated tilt - from a Michigan point'of
view - since 1974, the last time the
Wolverines entered this game undefeat-
ed.
Michigan lost that contest, 12-10,
sending the Buckeyes to Pasadena.
A loss for the Wolverines this year
See WAR, Page 10
MARGARET MYERS/Daily
Chris Floyd, who has displayed courageous performances while fighting Injuries, Is more of the silent type when It comes to
verbal battles. While Floyd has not provided the Buckeyes with bulletin-board material, Ohio State wide receiver David Boston
was far more outgoing. According to Charles Woodson, Boston's comments are already on the Michigan lockerroom wall.
DAILY SPORTS.
WATCH AND
LEARN.
._ I I
_ .. ,
SYRACUSE
SUMMER ABROAD
*:~r... . 0. iE:iE+G3