jScoreboard. MEN'S NCAA (1) Connecticut at BASKETBALL MASSACHUSETTS, inc. O Wisconsin 63, Weber State at (14) TEMPLE 56 (22) UTAH, inc. WEST VIRGINIA 73, NHL (12) Syracuse 59 HOCKEY (3) DUKE 116, Ottawa at Florida 86 FLORIDA, inc. (20) ST. JOHN'S 73, Colorado at (18) Pittsburg 52 NY RANGERS, inc. Edmonton at CHICAGO, inc. San Jose at DALLAS, inc. Montreal at PHOENIX, inc. Vancouver at ANAHEIM, inc. Washington at LOS ANGELES, inc. Ulije£Idiawn &iil Tracking 'M' teams CheCk out the Michigan wrestling team this Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Crisler Arena when it opens its Big Ten dual meet schedule with Michigan State. Thursday December 10, 1998 9A .1Nutts' crew is' oerjoyed toface M' machine hose Arkansas residents must be very busy now, what with packing up the family truck for the Citrus Bowl or finishing up the harvest or avoid- ing impeachment for having affairs with interns and lying to Congress. You know, the usual. So there it is. Michigan plays Arkansas on Jan. 1. Hmmmm ... Arkansas. Can things get any more unusu- al? Well, not really. There are a lot of very bizarre little nuances involved in this game. Nobody really knows hat to expect, it seems. For both teams, the trip to Orlando will be the first Citrus Bowl appearance. The Razorbacks, in 105 years of foot- ball, have only played three Big Ten teams, the last one being 17 years ago. Not one of those teams was Michigan. New Years Day, 1999, will be the Razorbacks' first bowl game since 1989. First bowl game. Hmmmm ... SHARAT The athletic program's Website is RAJU ogwired.com. No kidding. I could- Sharat In 4't make up something like that. the Dark Arkansas' coach is named Houston Nutt. Seriously. No word on whether or not he is actually crazy about Houston, Texas. I'm telling you, everything is eerie about this Citrus Bowl. Although his-name is a little bizarre, Nutt is one good coach, apparently. Picked somewhere in the '80s in some preseason *ublications, the first-year coach drove the Razorbacks to a 9-2 record and a No. 11 ranking. Nutt was named pational coach of the year by Football News Magazine. So much for preseason polls. Everything about Arkansas seems strange this year. Take earlier this season, against SEC rival and top- ranked Tennessee. Arkansas, in a position to beat the undefeated Volunteers, merely had to down the ball and run out the remainder of the clock. What happens? Well, Arkansas quarterback Clint Otoerner fumbles trying to run out the clock, giving ennessee the ball and an eventual last-second victory. -Things like that don't "just happen," in college foot- ball, unless something unusual is on the horizon. Just like Nebraska's kicked ball last year - it led to an eventual split national championship. So Arkansas' season has been a little different from the norm. I mean, Arkansas itself is different from the norm. Look at the state's name. How come it isn't pronounced Ar-Kansas, like 'are kansas?' What does all this have to do with the actual football game? Well, nothing, perhaps. But you never know. Last year, the stars were aligned just right for the Wolverines. Everything went their way, except for the aforemen- tioned blemish caused by the Cornhuskers. But the Wolverines seemed destined to win. This season, the Razorbacks have had similar good fortune besides one blemish. Nutt even said after receiving the Citrus Bowl bid' that they've been "pointing to Florida since day one." I guess that is a reasonable goal. You know, set your sights, uh, medium. Still, you have to admire a team that was picked to finish just above toaster shakings and head lice to come out and shock everybody. Except Mississippi State. And Tennessee. But they are poised to romp over Michigan. Well, with all the oddities surrounding this Citrus Bowl, anything is possible. - Sharat Raju can be reached via email at sraju@umich.edu. Smacking the MAC Bullock's 34 lead way agai for Blue By Josh Kleinbaum Daily Sports Editor YPSILANTI - The Michigan men's basketball team gave Eastern Michigan the best housewarming gift it could think of last night - a good, old-fashioned shellacking. At the dedication of Eastern's brand-new Convocation Center, Michigan outhustled, outscrapped, outre - bounded, Michigan 86 outplayed SZE. Michigan 63 and, most importantly, outscored the Eagles, winning the game, 86-63. Louis Bullock had one of the best games of his career, pacing the Wolverines in both points, with a career-high 34, and rebounds, with a career-high 11. "He's pretty good," Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe said of his senior shooting guard. "Hopefully people will start talking about him, not as a shooter, but as a basketball player. We fed off of him tonight." The 34 points move Bullock into sixth on Michigan's all-time scorers list, just two points behind Rudy Tomjonovich. Thanks to a physical game in which Michigan used its size and strength to draw fouls, Bullock was able to do much of his damage from the free throw line, hitting 1 of 12 shots. The Wolverines bullied the Eagles in the paint, forcing them to commit 30 fouls, bringing Michigan to the charity stripe 43 times. The Wolverines converted 34 freebies, enabling them to score their season- high 84 points. The Eagles had their chances at the line, too, but converted on just 16 of 34 shots. "If you don't make free throws, you don't win," Eastern Michigan coach Milton Barnes said. Michigan controlled the game from the get-go. After the Eagles took an 8-6 lead in a slow six-minute stretch to start the game, Bullock hit a three, Brandon Smith took a Robbie Reid alley-oop pass and slammed it home and Reid and Smith each hit two free throws, giv- ing Michigan a seven point lead. And the Wolverines never looked back. Midway through the second half, the Eagles made a run. Behind tight defense and a fierce press, they caused several Michigan turnovers. Leon Jones dribbled off his foot, Reid did the same and Smith made an ill-advised pass trying to break the pressure. Suddenly, Michigan's See EAGLES, Page 12A DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily Michigan guard Louis Bullock continued his offensive tear of late, scoring a career-high 34 points last night in the Wolverines' 86-63 thrashing of Eastern Michigan. women continue tear, hold off BGSU By Geoff Gagnon Daily Sports Writer BOWLING GREEN - The Michigan women's basketball team's Midwest tour played its second game in a row in Ohio last night. And again, the road-weary Wolverines came out on top, beating Bowling Green, 82-71. In the midst of a four-game road swing through Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, Michigan didn't exactly have its most grueling Michigan 82 trip, trav- / Bowling Green 71 elling just an hour south to upend the Falcons at Anderson Arena. Nevertheless, the game would prove more troublesome for Michigan than the trip. Michigan (7-1), behind Alison Miller's 10 first-half points, managed to jump out to a slight edge early. But Bowling Green was able to keep things close, trailing by only a point halfway through the first peri- od. "This was our third game in some- thing like eight days," Guevara said. "I thought we came out very sluggish, we missed a lot of open puppies." Despite Michigan's slow start and the Falcons' tenacity, Guevara saw her squad use a 14-2 scoring run to close the first half with a 10-point lead. The Wolverine lead would prove vulnerable, however, as Bowling Green opened the game's second half by scoring a pair of unanswered bas- kets, prompting a Michigan timeout. "I give Bowling Green a lot of cred- it," Guevara said. "They kept playing and kept coming after us. It was like we couldn't put them away." Michigan was able to find some breathing room following the timeout. The Wolverines exploded on a 9-0 run, building a lead from which they would never look back. The contest marked the team's sev- enth straight win, a feat that ties a school record set last by the 1989-90 squad. Guevara says the competitive nature of last night's game came as no surprise. "We knew we were going to be in a fight playing Bowling Green," Guevara said. "The scouting report on them says they're very fundamen- tally sound, will go to the boards, are scrappy, and are going to outwork you." But in the end, Guevara was thank- ful to see that it was her squad that came out on top, saying the game proved educational for her team. "We did some key things, we learned some things, and it was anoth- er step in our growing process," said Guevara. Guevara admits that the ordinarily speedy and assertive Michigan attack was certainly slowed by the fast pace of their recent schedule. "We were kind of sluggish as I said, and as much as I wasn't exactly pleased with our defense, we were able to get our seventh win, and it came on the road" DARBY FRIEDLIS/Daily Heather Oesterte and her Michigan teammates are on a roll like none of them can remember, after reeling off their seventh straight victory last night over Bowling Green. Strong out of the gate The Michigan women's basketball team Is off to one of its best starts ever after a vIctory last night over Bowling Green. Other memorable seasons for the Wolverines 1989-90:The team made its first trip to the NCAA tournament on the heels of its only 20-win season. 1997-98: Last year's team returned to the "Big Dance," led by current WNBA player Pollyanna Johns. Previous Best Starts: Season: Record 1989-90 6-0 1986-87 6-1 1987-88 7-2 Citrus Bowl Information No. 15 Michigan (9-3) vs. No. 11 Arkansas (9-2) Site: Orlando, Fla. Time: 1 p.m. EST Television: ABC Just in Time for Finals! MR. PIZZA 1200 Packard at Dewey I i Mo. T OPEN LATE Til 2AM Sunday-Thursday Til 3AM Friday and Saturday r - I I I I I