12A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, December 10, 1998
Men thump Eagles
EAG LES-
Continued from Page 9A MICHIGAN (I R
16-point lead was cut to seven. MIN -A C0
"You're down 15 points, you bet- Jones 20 3-10 3-3 0
Smith 32 2-4 8-10 0
ter do something, Barnes said. Vigner 28 56 01 3
But the Wolverines responded by ue 35 10-16 1-122-
doing something, too - something, Olver 3 0-0 1.2 0
Asln 11 0-2 1-2 0
that they've struggled with all sea- Young 28 0 4-4 0
son. They put an opponent away. Scott1r 2 0.0 0.0 0
And, surprise, surprise, Bullock Gibson 1 0.0 0.0 0
Denning 1 GO0.0 0-
led the charge. Szyndlar 2 00 12 0
The senior scored nine points in a Totals .204.2246% 343 6-:
two-minute span as Michigan scored (Bullock 3-7, Reid 3-9, smith 1-1, Jo
Blocks: 2 (Asselin, Bullock). Steals:
11 straight, shooting down the Bullock 2, Vignier 2, Reid 2, Asselin
Turnovers: 16 (Reid 4, Jones 3, Smit
Eagles' soaring hopes. Asselin, Bullock, Taylor). Technical I
But unlike most coaches after a
loss, Barnes wasn't quick to give EASTERN MICHIGAN (68
accolades to the victors. MIN -A U-A
"Michigan's a decent ballclub," Warner 38 7-12 2-6 5-1
Barnes said. "They've got some Radney 20 1 3 o 1
matchup problems that some teams Hard 24 3 -10 13 -
could exploit, but we couldn't. We're Ebeer 3 GO g0-0
Roao 5 0- - -
just not talented enough to win yet." Wells 6 0-1 0-0 1-
Ellerbe does have more talent to VanOrden 16 3-0 0-0a
work with, but he's not quite sure MGee 18 1-1 2-3 a:
Somevile0 O-0 0-0 0-t
how to use it yet. Last night, he went Tanner 6 0-0 2-2 0-
with a new-look starting five, FG%:.396.Ft%:.471.3-pointFG:5
benching Josh Asselin in favor of a (Erquhart 2-7, Hadley 2-6, Tarrant 1-
2, Wells 0-1, Howard 041). Blocks: 2
three-guard lineup, putting Leon McGee). Steals: 7 (Howard 4, Erquh
Jones with Reid and Bullock in the 3,c Tunowerd 2 Hadr , Th
backcourt. McGee, Van Orden, Sommerville). Te
none.
"W e didn't do it for Leon, we did Michigan............................38
it for Brandon (Smith)," Ellerbe Eastern Michigan.............24
said. At: Convocation Cente
Asselin has constantly been in Atten tiance?,47
foul trouble this season - he fouled
out with 7:32 left yesterday, playing)
just 11 minutes -and Ellerbe cited "AMlC
him for lack of aggressiveness in the M 1c
paint. With the three guards creating
opportunities for Smith, Ellerbe
thought the sophomore could use his By Andy Latack
athleticism to exploit a small. Daily Sports Wrter
Eastern front line. Smith responded YPSILANTI -- Despite l
by scoring 13 points. for most of last night's game
Ellerbe hasn't decided if Asselin accuse Eastern Michigan
will start Saturday's game versus unprepared. Like everyc
Duke. Michigan has played this
The Blue Devils have a much big- Eagles were well awar
ger, stronger, more experienced Michigan could beat them.
frontcourt than Eastern Michigan. Michigan guards Louis B
New arena finally
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DAVID ROCHKIND/Daiy
Although guard Robbie Reid took a spill on this play, Michigan walked all over
Eastern Michigan last night. The Wolverines evened their record at 5-5 on the sea-
son with the 84-63 victory.
fall too much for Eagles
By Rick Freeman
Daily Sports Writer
YPSILANTI - Walk the halls
deep inside Convocation Center.
The scent of new paint and con-
struction dust has settled, leaving the
new home of Eastern Michigan's
basketball and volleyball teams with
the faint scent of newness, and little
else.
Even though both decks of seats
seem to hover directly over the free-
throw lines, there's still plenty of
room in a new arena such as this.
Plenty of room, it seems, for sto-
ries.
Which, for Eastern's men's basket-
ball team, is a good thing.
They'd probably just as soon for-
get the way they opened The
Convocation Center, with an 84-63
loss to Michigan
The Eagles' new digs for the next
millennium have a lot going for
them.
And with the NBA locked out,
they've got the market for gaudy
paint jobs, laser-light shows and
black pants-wearing dance teams
cornered.
For player introductions, the lights
were turned off.
Bass-heavy dance music blared
from the darkness and a spotlight
shone the rotating silhouette of an
Eagle onto the floor.
Even though the floor is painted
between the 3-point arc and the key,
and the arena has luxury boxes,
there's one touch that makes it a true
college basketball arena.
The student section - and there is
a designated student section -- is in
the lower bowl of seats.
And in the second half, it's at the
end of the court that Eastern
defends.
But perhaps the best feature of the
student section - it's free.
And even a below-capacity crowd
of 7,646 was able to fill the arena
with noise, especially when
Eastern's press cut Michigan's lead
to seven early in the second half.
"You want to go to a place that's
full and crazy," Michigan coach
Brian Ellerbe said after the game.
As for the actual game-friendli-
ness of the place, Michigan guard
Louis Bullock seemed impressed as
he scored 34 points - a career high.
"It's beautiful," the senior said
after the game. "It's a nice place .to
play in."
Some arenas evoke ghosts of past
players and the goosebumps raised
in chanting, bobbing masses of col-
lege students.
Tate of the Tape
Some vital statistics on Eastern
Michigan's newly completed
Convocation Center, which was
completed prior to this season
and officially dedicated before
last night's game:
Cost
$29.6 million
Capacity (basketball)
8,824
Capacity (special events)
9,780
Square Footage
204,316
Architects
Rossetti Associates/The
Argos Group
Eagles' record at
Convocation Center 0-3
kI
0,
Next up for the Michigan basket-
ball team is just such a place -
Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadiun
Il
looking lost
e, you can't
of being
other team
year, the
e of how
Bullock and
Robbie Reid would have to lead the
charge .for the Wolverines to win, as
will be the case all season long.
And being a perimeter-oriented team,
there is one thing Michigan needs to
succeed - open looks at the basket.
Coach Brian Ellerbe knows this, and
devotes plenty of his offensive game-
plan to getting Bullock, Reid and the
rest of Michigan's shooters clear shots.
And in last night's lopsided victory
over the Eagles, the Wolverines were
getting plenty of open looks. But they
didn't come off any screens, cuts or
inbound plays that Ellerbe drew up.
No, the Wolverines were even more
open than that. Because at the grand
opening of their brand new
Convocation Center, the Eagles were
fired up. And very out of control.
Which resulted in plenty of open
looks for the Wolverines - from the
free-throw line.
"Both teams were really eager to
make plays," Ellerbe said. "That con-
tributed to the game being a little slop-
py."
Sloppy is exactly what last night's
game was, from start to finish. The first
half of the game was sloppy, with nei-
ther team shooting over 40 percent from
the floor.
The second half was sloppy as well,
with five players fouling out and
Eastern Michigan center K.C. Tanner
being ejected for a flagrant elbow to the
head of Michigan center Josh Asselin.
And the final statistics were sloppy,
especially from the Eagles' standpoint,
as they did not shoot over 50 percent
from the field or the free throw line.
Michigan struggled from the floor as
well, but still managed to blow out
Eastern Michigan, thanks to free throws
- those open looks that come from 15
feet away with the clock stopped.
The Wolverines shot 79 percent from
the line against the Eagles, and when
you go to the line 43 times, as Michigan
did, that results in plenty of points.
And while Bullock can drain a wide-
open 3-pointer as well as anyone in the
country, his free throws are even more
automatic. The senior is shooting 91
percent from the line this season.
Against the Eagles, Bullock, who
again re-wrote his personal record book
with a career high of 34 points, was
even better than his average, going I I -
of-12 from the line.
And four of his free throws were cru-
cial, coming during a 30-second stretch
midway through the second half and
putting an end to the Eagles' only
threatening run of the game.
"Every game I go into, I tell myself
that I want to get to the foul line,"
Bullock said. "If I get my foul shots
going, it helps me get my shot in
rhythm, which I've been able to do late-
ly."
And even when Michigan wasn't
converting from the charity stripe, it
was taking advantage of the Eagles'
lackluster offensive play. The
Wolverines' starting five tallied 10
steals on the day, as the Eastern
Michigan guards managed to equal
their dubious average of 20 turnovers
per game.
"We scrapped tonight;" Bullock said.
"That was the key. We got after them on
defense."
where every rafter and every bolt
has borne witness to legend after
legend, and the cheers of two NCAA
championship seasons in thi
decade.
Cameron is also home to a legion
of fans - the Cameron Crazies - {
who are known for their ability to
shower taunts and derision upon a
struggling opponent, as well as their
ability to make noise.
"That's what college basketball is -
all about," Ellerbe said.
Even Crisler Arena, certainly not
included in the Pantheon of arenas
with names like Maples or Rupp, has
absorbed the stories of the Fab Five,
and countless others, into its cush- -
ioned seating.
But at Eastern, the only stories are
sealed beneath layers of varnish and-
green paint.
The floorboards are the very ones.,J.
upon which Kentucky and Utah bat- . -
tied last year for the NCAA title.
Although that will probably be a
close to the NCAA Tournament as .
the Eagles come this year, they've
got time. r
They played in their previous
home, Bowen Field House, for 43
years.
So far, Convocation Center has
lasted one game.
401 E. Huron 9t. (walking distance
from campus) :0 769-0560
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DAVID ROCHKIND/Da Iy
,Freshman guard Leon Jones made his second start of the season last night, as
coach BrianEllerbe altered his starting lineup against the smaller Eagles.
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§O2c!
i5S O 1-orIiB1iN'G!
ecL6PZKS--Take orders for advertising services and balloons
'OivEP--Drive one of those cool little university trucks!
Ci2APd4iC AzriSr--Design diag boards and banners.
Contact sundholm@umich.edu for more information!
These are student positions. Deadline is December 21.-
AML
NOW-
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73