v vvxs , us xjc - v v Owwwoff COLLEGE BASKETBALL (1) N. Carolina 96, GEORGIA TECH 75 (5) Arizona vs. WASHINGTON ST., inc. (10) UCLA at OREGON STATE, inc. Illinois 76, (11) Iowa 64 WAKE FOREST 70, (24) Clemson 66 MIAMI (OHIO) 72, Eastern Michigan 64 LOUISVILLE 73, Depaul 57 MICHIGAN STATE 63, Wisconsin 40 GEORGIA STATE 95, Florida Int'l 93 PRO BASKETBALL Seattle 109, CLEVELAND 84 NEW JERSEY 89, Orlando 87 Sacramento at DALLAS, inc. Indiana at HOUSTON, inc. PRO HOCKEY BOSTON 5, Phoenix 2 Philadelphia 3, CAROLINA 3 Montreal 8, N.Y. ISLANDERS 2 Washington 5, N.Y. RANGERS 3 Friday January 9, 1998 Saving grace MARGARET MYERS/Daily Robert Traylor's interior play was a big reason Michigan was able to beat Duke last month, and the Wolverines will need him inside tomorrow against Michigan State as well. 6partanS pay visit toL MichiL an tomorrow By Dan Stillman Daily Sports Writer Michigan basketball coach Brian llerbe was at a loss three weeks ago. is team had just followed an upset of then-No. 1 Duke with an 89-83 overtime loss to Eastern Michigan. His, and the rest of the coaching staff's problem all season: to get the Wolverines to play with the same intensity, the same kind they showed against Duke, every game. '1 have a pile of books on my d&sj," said Ellerbe, who was looking fur any help he could get to motivate .team. Well, something finally worked. The Wolverines proceeded to run dffsix victories in a row that carried them to their current No. 18 ranking. -.Even though everything went wrong for the Wolverines in Tuesday's 80-62 loss to Indiana, just as -much went right during the six victories that preceded the debacle in ,oomington at a hostile Assembly he Wolverines (2-1 Big Ten, 12-4 overall) will look to rebound from :their poor shooting and rebounding performance against Indiana when they host Michigan State (1-0, 8-3) tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. "I'm hoping that we're mature enough to handle this loss and not let it be a compound situation," Ellerbe said. The Wolverines' successful stretch ally began back on Dec. 13, when Michigan scored its biggest victory in recent memory - the 81-73 win over the top-ranked Blue Devils. But when Michigan followed the ~upset with the loss to Eastern Michigan four days later, it looked like this season would be the same old story for the Wolverines - they 4lay well in big games, but play down inferior opponents. The Wolverines then went on a tear, however, winning their next six games by an average margin of 27.2 points. While some of the victories came against pushovers such as Tennessee-Chattanooga and American University (Puerto Rico), others were more impressive, includ- ing a 32-point win over then-No. 19 Syracuse and a 13-point win at Wisconsin. The victory over Syracuse capped off a series of three games at the Puerto Rico Classic in which the Wolverines really seemed to find their stride. Michigan defeated Murray State 76-53 in first game of the holiday tournament on Dec. 24. The Wolverines' 94-49 wasting of Division II American (Puerto Rico) the next day would have seemed rather insignificant had then-ranked Arkansas not been upset by American the previous day. Michigan then won the tournament with its vic- tory over Syracuse. The Wolverines' success in Puerto Rico was in sharp contrast to their performance in last year's Rainbow Classic holiday tournament in Honolulu. In that tournament, then- No. 4 Michigan fell to two unranked teams, Memphis and Pittsburgh, and set the tone for a late-season col- lapse. During the six-game winning streak, Michigan held opponents to 34.4 percent shooting and outre- bounded the opposition by 19.3 boards per game. At the same time, the Wolverines made 55.9 percent of their shots from the floor, including over .500 from 3-point land. The players "understood the urgency to play with emotion and enthusiasm," Ellerbe said. The Wolverines hope to regain some of the intensity that they lost in Bloomington, as well as play better fundamentally, in tomorrow's game against a Spartan team that had won four straight going into last night's game with Wisconsin, including a 74-57 shocker over then-No. 5 Purdue at West Lafayette. "The two biggest keys will be tran- sition defense and rebounding," Ellerbe said. The Spartans have outrebounded opponents by almost 14 boards per game and have allowed only one team all season to shoot better than 50 percent from the floor. Guard Mateen Cleaves leads the Spartans in scoring (15.8 ppg) and assists (7.4 apg), while forward Antonio Smith carries the Spartans on the glass with 9.4 rebounds per game. Freshman guard Charlie Bell has also made an impact, scoring 10.3 points per game. Turco has carried the Wolvennes all his career By Pranay Reddy Daily Sports Writer Nestled somewhere between the glow of an NCAA record and the shadow of a teammate's arraignment on criminal charges, Michigan net- minder Marty Turco has a pair of hockey games to play this weekend. Turco will be vying for the NCAA record for career victories tonight at 7, when the Wolverines (11-2-1 CCHA, 17-4-1 overall) face Bowling Green (2-10-2, 4-16-2) at Yost Ice Arena. And if Turco falters in setting the record, he will have another shot Saturday night at Western Michigan (4-1 1-1, 5-15-2). No one has downplayed the hype this weekend more than the 6-foot senior, who has started for the Wolverines his entire career. Perched at 111 victories and on the verge of eclipsing former Michigan goaltender Steve Shields' record, Turco seems calmer than he has ever been on the ice. "I would love to get the record over with, just to get the focus off of it," he said. "Our program is team-oriented, and as much as my name has been associated with the record, it's an awesome tribute to our program." It's tribute that no one would have expected four years ago, when Turco was a couple of inches shorter, about 25 pounds lighter, and a lot less sure of himself. With Turco's predecessor Steve Shields leaving a career record for victories behind him, Turco had unbelievable, almost unrealistic standards to fol- low. The bar for success at Michigan had been raised. But from the beginning, Michigan coach Red Berenson never failed to back his netminder. "I've always thought he could make the differ- ence in a game, but he didn't get the recognition partially because our team was expected to be a good team regardless of who was in goal," Berenson said. "But I think now when you start looking back you will see one of the reasons we had a good team was because of Marty Turco, and vice versa." While Turco tries to shift the spotlight away from himself tonight, players and coaches alike realize the danger of overlooking a cellar-dwelling Bowling Green team - especially with the light of an NCAA record shining in the foreground. The record "is a distraction, and typically if you make a big deal of these types of things you end up with a poor performance," Berenson said. "We're trying to play that down. "We want to make sure we have a strong game, a strong performance at home first. The Turco thing, the record, is going to happen anyway so we can't worry about whether it's tomorrow night or not." *I WARREN ZINN/Dail After three years and 111 victories, Marty Turco stands on the cusp of history. Poised to break Steve Shields' NCAA record for victories by a goaltender, Turco continues to maintain his cool composure. Berenson is especially wary of the Falcons, con- sidering their 1-0 upset of CCHA leader Michigan State one month ago. "The pressure we need to put on our team is the fact that we're playing a team that can upset us," Berenson said. "We need to play well at the start of this game." But no matter how much Berenson plays up Michigan's competition tonight, it seems that the largest hurdle the Wolverines have tonight pre- sented itself earlier this week. In addition to Turco's record chase, Michigan defenseman Chris Fox's arraignment on assault charges has provided another untimely distraction for the Wolverines. Charged with "assault with intent to do bodily harm" resulting from an incident during a game in a summer hockey league, Fox has not been sus- pended from the team and every person involved with the squad has supported him - starting from the top. "We all believe in Chris Fox as a person, and this alleged attack is not the Chris Fox ,we know" Berenson said. "He is not a criminal anid he is not a person that is out to maim people, so it's unfor- tunate that other people are attacking Chris Fox." Teammate and captain Matt Herr echoed his coach's statement, and added his own thoughts on the adversity facing the Wolverines. "This is a big weekend for us ... it is a good test of character for our entire team," he said. f A tale of two goalies ~1 If all goes according to plan, Marty Turco should break former Michigan goaltender Steve Shields' NCAA record for career victories tonight. Below are the career totals for each, but remember: Turco still has half a season left to play. Turco 140 111 18 Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Games Victories Losses Hometown Shields 144 111 25 Toronto, Ontario Shields (right) played for Michigan for the four years preceding Turco giving Michigan an eight-year run of two straight goaltenders with more than 100 victories each. No other NCAA goaltender has reached triple digits in victories. Wp Woodson to announce his plans this morning By Alan Goldenbach Daily Sports Editor Michigan's Heisman Trophy winner, Charles Woodson, has called an 11 a.m. press conference at Schembechler Hall for today, at which he is expected to make an announcement so anti-climac- tic that yawns may be aplenty at the assembly. Woodson will announce that he is foregoing his final year of collegiate eligibility to apply for the NFL Draft, where many predict him to be one of the top five players selected. Woodson's older brother, Terry Carter, was quoted in a Detroit newspa- per yesterday as saying, "A year like this is kind of hard to top off, isn't it?" The deadline for declaring for the NFL Draft is midnight tonight and the last few days have seen a number of the nation's top stars announce their candi- dacy. Most players waited until their teams concluded their seasons with bowl games before making announce- ments. The other top Heisman vote-getting underclassmen have already decided to pass on their remaining eligibility and opt for the professional ranks. Marshall's sophomore wide receiver, Randy Moss, made his announcement yesterday. Washington State junior quarterback Ryan Leaf made his the morning after the Rose Bowl and Nebraskajunior tail- back Ahman . Green declared Wednesday afternoon. Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said Jan. 2, that he was aware of the decision Woodson made regarding his future, but would not reveal it to the public.. Woodson led the Big Ten in interp- tions this season with eight, whiJe becoming the first primarily defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy. He also won the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, as well as the Bronko Nagurski Award, given to the natioii's best defensive player, and the -Jim Thorpe Award, presented to the top See WOODSON, Page'liI .r" Sometimes req u res ore thai an~applel 4et the it n to