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S
JOHN KF
The Michigan hockey team defeated Alaska-Fairbanks,
this weekend. The Wolverines sit atop the CCHA stand
icers bak
Alcaka., 5-1
By Chris Farah
Daily Sports Writer
In 1867, Secretary of State William Seward bout
tire territory of Alaska from the Russians for a littli
n $7 million. Americans, thinking Alaska to be noth
a frozen wasteland, named the deal "Seward's Folly."
After Saturday's game against the Wolverines
CCHA, 20-4-1 overall), the Alaska-Fairbanks hocke
was probably cursing the sale for another reason. .
The combination of a grueling flight from Alaska, a
match against Michigan State, and a well-rested M
hockey team made the Nanooks (6-16-1, 7-18-2) prime
for the Wolverines. Michigan easily knocked off AlasI
in front of 6,477 at Yost Ice Arena on Saturday.
"That's a tough trip for Alaska, too," Michigan coa
enson said. "For them to have to come down ai
Michigan State one night and play us, as a rested team, t
night - that's weak scheduling:,
The Wolverines took advantage of the weak schedi
pour in one of their most impressive offensive performa
the season - and this despite receiving no goals from s
ward Bill Muckalt for the second straight game.
Picking up the offensive slack were names that ha'
conspicuously absent from the scoring column recently
wing Greg Crozier, who scored his'fourth goal of the
d right wing Justin Clark, who tallied his second.
l'You can't keep playing without scoring,' Berense
"You're not contributing enough to the team. You have
threait to score, unless you're a real limited-role player
.guy like Crozier should be a goal-scorer."
Crozier stepped up on Saturday when it seemed a t
Michigan offense would be too cautious against the N;
defense. During the first five minutes of the game, th
crowd became impatient with the Wolverines as they c
ously passed the puck along the point, having trouble p
ing Alaska's defense.
As soon as Michigan became more assertive, goo
0 rted to happen for the Wolverines. At 10:33 in the
uckalt shot from the right slot bounced off Alaska go;
Ian Perkins. Crozier was waiting for the puck and snu
Perkins for Michigan's first goal of the evening.
The game was rife with ticky-tack penalties, with
racking up 15 and Michigan earning 16. The Wolverir
advantage of tne scrappy style of play, capitalizing on
See NANOOKS, P
Howard nabs
in 52nd annua
WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP)-As far as Maryland
defensive end Eric Ogbogu and Michigan running
back Chris Howard were concerned, the Hula
Bowl was not a relaxing All-Star game.
Ogbogu had four sacks to lead a South defense
*t held on during the final North drive to pre-
serve a 20-19 victory in the 52nd annual Hula
Bowl on Sunday.
"I just wanted to have a good game and impress
the scouts," Ogbogu said. "I did a little better than
I thought."
Ogbogu had four sacks and was named most
valuable player for the South. Howard had 14
rushes for 116 yards and was MVP for the North.
"I played like I was playing for Michigan,"
Ooward said. "I didn't care if it was a relaxed
me. I came here to win"
Robert Nycz of Arizona State booted a 47-yard
field goal with two minutes to play to rally the
South to victory.
The North scored all its points in the second
half, rallying from a 10-0 halftime deficit to take a
Wolverines
bop Bucks
from outside
By James Goldstein
Daily Sports Writer
COLUMBUS - It's something the Michigan players
and coaches do at every game: stand by their seats from the
opening tipoff until the Wolverines score.
On Saturday, Michigan stood for a mere 25 seconds
before its main man, Robert Traylor, got whacked and broke
his nose, and painfully walked to the bench. And this was
on Michigan's first possession.
Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe pointed to Travis Conlan
to enter the game in Traylor's place, giving the Wolverines
a three-guard lineup. A little
Michigan 79 more than a minute later,
Conlan nailed a 3-pointer from
Ohio State 61 the left baseline, allowing his
teammates to comfortably take
their seats. Conlan's trey was just the beginning of
Michigan's 3-point barrage that led to its 79-61 victory
before a sellout crowd of 13,276.
"The best feeling that I got in the game was when Travis
(Conlan) made his three," Ellerbe said. "You feel like Louis
(Bullock) and Robbie (Reid) will get theirs going, and that
gives you a third guy out on the perimeter."
The 19th-ranked Wolverines improved their overall
record to 15-4, getting their eighth victory in 10 games, and
improving their Big Ten record to 4-1. The Wolverines are
tied for first in the conference with Michigan State and
Iowa. Ohio State fell to 0-4 in the conference and 7-10 over-
all.
The Wolverines tied their season-high with 12 3-pointers
in 24 attempts, a mark they equaled against Tennessee-
Chatanooga at Crisler Arena on Dec. 20. The 3-point total
was one shy of the team record, which was set against North
Carolina in a March 1989 NC AA tournament game.
Louis Bullock led the way from behind the are, connect-
ing on five of seven 3-point attempts and tied his career-
high with 28 points, 16 of those in the first half. Bullock
also was a perfect 13-for-13 from the free throw line.
The Wolverines took advantage of the Ohio State 2-3
zone, constantly making the extra pass, which gave the
guards open looks on the perimeter. In addition to Bullock's
See BUCKEYES, Page 5B
JOHN KRAFT/Daily
Junior guard Louis Bullock connected on five-of-seven 3-point attempts and tied his career-high with 28 points in
Michigan's 79-61 victory over Ohio State in Columbus on Saturday.
Ohio State next victim in Michi an's roll to tourney
C OLUMBUS - Some days, you just
watch them play and you say to your-
self, "Man, how do they ever lose?"
Saturday was one of those days. The
Wolverines were in rare form, dismantling a
hapless Ohio State team with incredible
ease and looking, dare it be said, like a team
capable of making a serious run for a Big
Ten title.
Granted, even the Ohio State pep band
showed significantly more spunk than the
Buckeyes, but the Wolverines deserve most
of the credit for that as well. In the past,
Michigan might have looked at a game like
this and taken it for granted, or tried to coast
through on just enough energy to squeak
out a win. But not this time.
The Wolverines
came out firing, liter-
ally, scoring their first
15 points on five 3-
pointers. Less than
seven minutes into the
game, it was already
over. Ohio State coach
JIM Jim O'Brien tried to
ROSE change his defense,
Rose but he knew it was a
Beef lost cause, and shortly
thereafter he knew it
was a lost game, too. The Wolverines did
whatever they wanted, however they wanted.
"Clearly, we were in over our heads,'
O'Brien said. "That, in my opinion, is the
best team we've played all year."
It was as dominant an offensive display
as the Wolverines have put together all sea-
son, with the kind of passing and ball move-
ment you're used to seeing from teams like
Duke and Kentucky - not Michigan, never
Michigan.
Ohio State decided to clamp down on the
big men and take away the inside game -
not a bad strategy, all things considered -
by trapping and double-teaming. But the
Wolverines, believe it or not - the same
Wolverines that lost to Western Michigan,
Bradley and Eastern Michigan - were too
smart. Traylor and Baston were feeding the
guards on the perimeter. The guards were
making the extra pass to find the holes in
the zone. Conlan was hitting threes. Reid
was hitting threes. Bullock, of course, was
hitting threes. The Ohio State fans could
just watch with their mouths agape, which,
incidentally, is pretty much what the Ohio
State defense did as well.
It was an awesome offensive perfor-
mance, and it came at a nice time for the
See ROSE, Page 5B
MVP honors
a Hula Bowl
"I knew that once I got in the end zone, I had to
catch the ball," Griese said. "I knew I as going to
get hit, but I knew I had to catch it."
Griese drove the North into South territory in
the final minutes, but two sacks and an incomplete
pass ended the comeback.
The game-winning kick by Nycz capped a nine-
play, 55-yard drive that was led by North Carolina
State running back Tremayne Stephens. Stephens
ran three times on the drive for 27 yards and
caught a nine-yard pass from North Carolina quar-
terback Chris Keldorf.
The North took the opening kickoff of the sec-
ond half and drove 69 yards on six plays, with
Griese hitting Jurevicius on a 35-yard scoring
strike with 13:27 left in the quarter.
The North intercepted Nebraska quarterback
Scott Frost on the next series, with Wisconsin cor-
nerback LaMar Campbell returning the pick 25
yards to the South 14. Ettinger's 20-yard field goal
with 10:43 in the quarter tied the game 10-10.
Frost led the South to its final touchdown on the
Blue women's
hoops sweeps
Big Ten games
By Tracy Sandier
Daily Sports Writer
It was a weekend of records and monkeys for the
Michigan women's basketball team. The Wolverines man-
aged to break the former, while getting the latter off thei
collective backs. To begin with, Michigan beat Indiana, 78-
73, at Assembly Hall for the first time in 11 years and it
front of a record crowd of 3,213.
The Wolverines went on to beat rival Michigan State, 81-
65, on Sunday, in front of another record crowd of 4,032.
this time at Crisler Arena. Michigan has beaten Michigan
State, where Michigan coach Sue Guevara was once an
assistant, twice this season.
The Wolverines (5-3 Big Ten, 13-5 overall) were forcec
to play most of Sunday's game against the Spartans (1-6, 7
10) without center Pollyanna Johns. Johns, who average:
20 points and 10 rebounds per game, left the game with t
knee injury early inbthe first half.
"We just had to be aggressive and go to the boards," sai
forward Stacey Thomas, who finished the game with I
12I