The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 6, 199871 Purdue is boiling over with payback for Blue in mind By Andy Latack Daily pois Wrter Four times this season, the Purdue women's basketball team has welcomed a Big Ten foe to Mackey Arena. Each time, the Boilermakers have sent their opponent packing with a loss. M ichigan (6-5 Big Ten, 14-6 overall) hopes to break that trend Saturday, but don't count on Purdue to be a gracious host -- considering what ----- happened the last time the Tomorrow' two teams met. Vo: Vichii On Jan. 9, the Where: Mack Boilermakers visited the When:7:30 Wolverines at Crisler Notables: Th Arena. Ranked 23rd in the wil try toexa nation at the time, the the W"lverinc Boilermakers had put SS. Michigar together the beginning of a opponent his pretty solid season. Sitting beating then-r at 2-1 in the Big Ten, 67-59 Purdue's only loss was to No. 12 Illinois in hostile Huff Hall. After finishing the previous year locked in a three-way tie atop the Big Ten standings, the Boilermakers hoped for a victory over Michigan to again establish them- selves as a contender. The Wolverines had other ideas. Harassing Purdue guard Stephanie White, the Boilermakers' leading scorer, to an uncharacteristically poor 8-of-23 shooting performance, Michigan used a strong inside-outside game to post a 67- 59 victory. It was Michigan's first victo- ry over a ranked opponent all year . Purdue (7-3, 14-6) will definitely have revenge on its mind when the Wolverines come calling on Sunday. "They're going to be out to prove the first game was a fluke," Michigan coach Sue Guevara said. Purdue coach "Carolyn (Peck) thought they didn't play very hard last time." Despite their lackluster performance s game Fn S. Purdue cY Arena e Boilermakers Ct rev ngt on s for a Jan. 9th n ced its first aranked s son by no. 23 Purdue, at Crisler, the Boilermakers didn't let the loss slow them down. Since that game, they went on a tear, winning five of their next six Big Ten games, including key road victories against con- ference heavyweights Iowa and Penn 'State. Purdue sits tied with the Hawkeyes for second place in the Big Ten, but her team's chance to play in front of the raucous fans, who show up in confer- ence-leading numbers to supports the Boilermakers. '" don't think our kids are afraid fthe crowd," Guevara said. *t's not going to be anything brand new" The fans aren't the only reason Purdue is a dangerous team. White is ths sec- ond-leading scorer in the Big Ten, aver- aging 20.5 points per game. Her backcourt mate, Ukari Figgi is also among the conference's sdorxpg leaders. Despite her team's success against White and Figgs (they were just a cjn- bined 14-for-40 from the field on Janr), Guevara is concerned about the duo. "White and Figgs are going to get their points, one way or another,' Guevara said. "We just need to make those points difficult by contesting shots and switching on defense. In putting the clamp on White and Figgs, the Wolverines need to make sure they don't neglect the rest of Purdue's lineup. Combining for just 23 points in their last meeting, the Boileriakers don't have the most balanced scoring attack - yet Guevara realizes the need to contain other players as well as Purdue's potent backcourt. "Our defense on the other three play- ers will be key," Guevara said. -If.we keep them all below their average, we're doing a darn good job." not for long. Iowa and Purdue will meet in West Lafayette tonight - the winner gaining sole possession of second place. "I'm just hoping they use up all their energy against Iowa," Guevara said. "That's going to be a tough game for them." It is likely to be even tougher for the Hawkeyes, who, after already losing at home to Purdue, probably are not anx- ious to enter the frenzied confines of Mackey Arena. Guevara, on the other hand, welcomes FILE PHOTO Enthusiastic defense will be key for Michigan guard Ann Lemire and the rest of the Wolverines if Michigan wants to upend Purdue tomorrow night at raucous Mackey Arena. Tar Heels to Devils in biowout CHAPEL HILL, (AP) -- Antawn Jamison zgot North Carolina the lead and Ed Cota made sure it didn't get away. Jamison scored 23 of his 35 points in the first half as the second-ranked Tar Heels took a 16-point halftime lead, and Cota came up big down the stretch when No. 1 Duke closed within four points. North Carolina won the showdown of the nation's top two teams, 97-73, last night, the sixth time in as many appearances it has won a No. I vs. No. 2 matchup. The Tar Heels (9-1 Atlantic Coast Conference, 23-1 overall) seemed to have things under control as Jamison went 9-of-11 from the field in the first half, and North Carolina opened a 50-34 lead. It was 64-44 with 14:45 to play when Duke (9-1, 20-1) made the run it seemed most of the record crowd of 22,050 at the Smith Center had been anticipating. The Blue Devils went on a 25-9 burst to get within 73-69 with 5:48 left. The last six points of the run came on a play when North Carolina's Makhtar Ndiaye fouled out and was charged with a technical for slam- ming the ball to the floor. The four free throws and Trajan Langdon's jumper on the ensuing possession had Duke right back in it. Enter Cota, who finished with 12 points and 12 assists. The sophomore point guard scored six points and had two assists on the next six pos- sessions as the Tar Heels, looking almost as exhausted as the Blue Devils, started a 24-4 run to close the game, including the final 18 of the game. The 1-2 matchup was yet another first for rookie North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge - and Dean Smith couldn't have done much better. It was the ninth North Carolina victory in the past 10 meetings with its biggest and clos- est rival, just 12 miles away, and it tied the teams at the top of the ACC standings. The Tar Heels and Blue Devils will play again Feb. 28 at Duke in the final regular-sea- son game for both teams. Duke was trying to match the best start in school history and its best in the league since 1964. It was the first time Duke trailed at halftime all season. The Blue Devils' average lead at the half had been 19.6 points. Jamison, who entered the game averaging 22.3 points, finished 14-for-20 from the field, making him 49-for-69 in his five games against Duke. He also grabbed II rebounds. Jamison scored I I straight points for North Carolina in the first half, as it turned a 37-31 lead into a 48-34 ad ointage. Vince Carter and Shammond Williams each had 17 points for North Carolina. Roshown McLeod and Chris Carrawell led Duke, which had won 11 straight since losing to Michigan. with 19 points each. Trajan Langdon had 12. North Carolina's victory gave No. 2 teams a 13-19 record in 1-2 matchups. It was the third straight victory for the lower-ranked team in the rivalry, including North Carolina's 89-78 victory over Duke in Chapel Hill in 1994. North Carolina's Antawn Jamison got up for the game against Duke yesterday. The forward had 35 points and 11 rebounds in the Tar Heels' 97-73 victory over the Blue Devils. Eschemeyer stopped; Wink paces 'Cats By James Goldstein Daily Sports Writer All week long, the talk heading into yesterday's game against Northwestern was that Michigan needed to contain Wildcats center Evan Eschmeyer, the Big Ten's leading scorer and rebounder. At 21.9 points and 11.4 rebounds per game, the 6-foot-I I Basketball Notebook center has torn up the Big Ten. Yesterday, Eschmeyer got off to a solid start, scoring 10 points in the first half, But in the second stanza, he was shut down by the Wolverines' interior defense, which held him to just one field goal in the half. Eschmeyer fouled out of the game with 1:31 left, finishing with just 15 points. On any normal night, that would spell trouble for the Wildcats. But the shooting of freshman guard Sean Wink saved Northwestern last night. Wink poured in a team-high 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting, including 3 of 5 from the 3-point line. When the Wildcats were leading early in the sec- ond half, Wink drained 3-pointers to frustrate Michigan. And when Michigan regained the lead late in the game, the Wolverines weren't able to put the vic- tory away - once again because of Wink's clutch shooting. NORTHWESTERN (67) FG FT REB MIN M-A M-A 0-T A I;, PTS Harmsen 16 2-4 0-0 0-4 1 4 4 Branch 35 0-2 0-0 0-2 5 1 0 Eschmeyer 36 6-9 3-7 2-8 5 5 15 Bonner 40 3.7 3.4 0-2 2 1 11 Wink 37 7-12 1-1 0-2 2 3 18 Harris 8 1-3 2-6 1-1 0 4 4 Pomeday 9 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 6 Molnar 19 3-4 3-6 1-4 1 3 9 Totals 200 2444 12-24 5-27 16 23 67 FG%: .545 FT%: .500. 3-point FG: 7-13, .500 (Wink 3-5, "I'm glad Sean Wink didn't listen to me when I told him last spring not to come," Northwestern coach Kevin O'Neill said. "But he's played great bas- ketball. We made every play at the end of the game for him, and he responded." DOWN AT THE HALF: Including yes- terday's game, the Wolverines have come back from halftime deficits three times to win the game. The last time Michigan defeated a team after trailing at the half was against Duke on Dec. 13, when the Wolverines came back from 11 points down to beat the top-ranked Blue Devils, 81-73, at Crisler Arena. The other second-half comeback occurred on Dec. 3 against Florida International, also at Crisler. Michigan trailed by one going into halftime but overcame the deficit to beat the Golden Panthers 71-62. Yesterday, the Wolverines were down, 34-27, at halftime. NEXT up: The Wolverines have little time to rest, before Michigan heads to Minneapolis for a matchup with Minnesota tomorrow afternoon. The second meeting between the two teams will be televised on CBS at 1 p.m. On Jan. 20, the Wolverines held the Gophers to an anemic 15 points in the first half en route to Michigan's 65-57 victory at Crisler. The last time the Wolverines won in Williams Arena was Jan. 20, 1993, when Michigan beat the Gophers 80-73. m