SportsTuesday - January 18, 2000 - The Michigan Daily - 58 Quote of the weekend "That is not up for discussion. It's a team issue." - Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe in Sunday 's postgame press conference, taking a school- teacher's tone with the media on his decision not to start shooting guard Jamal Crawford Michigan Illinois Player of the game Michigan center Josh Asselin After a weak first half in which he didn"'t grab a single rebound, Asselin pulled down 10 boards (eight offensive) in the second half and overtime periods, and dunked in the game-winning basket with 49 seconds remaining in overtime Sunday. 91' (OT) 4ichigan owes victory to reversal in offensive boards By Jacob Wheeler Daily Sports Writer Michigan may be a run-and-gun team that plays for one quick shot on offense, but lasting an entire half without one offensive rebound isn't part of anybody's recipe for success. The Wolverines created no second chances in the first half against Illinois, getting outrebounded by the Illini 25- 14 in all. "We were horrible on the boards in the first half" Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe said. "I've never seen that before, not even in Boys Club." Illinois center Marcus Griffin pulled down four rebounds, meanwhile blanking Michigan's big man, losh Asselin. But it was an Illinois guard who did most of the damage. Junior Sergio McClain, who doesn't tower over anyone a 6- foot-4, grabbed I 1 rebounds in the first half lone, thre of them on the offensive end. The reason: McClain is built like a truck i: m ,ur. 222-pound frame boxed out the Miehig a uards. non of whom weigh more than 195 pounds. And when convenient, the truck pushed aside the tall and slend'r Wo n in his path to the hoop. "Coach (Lon Kruger) told me I had to concente on rebounding today," McClain said. "The Michigan uards created rebounding opportunities on their o cnsive dr es The Wolverines stuck to the blocks in t',e second half, however, and rebounding proved the ultimate difference in the game. Michigan outrebounded Illinois 29-20 in the sec- ond half and overtime period eeking out a 95-91 victory. Asselin's reversal of fortune stood out the most. The junior pulled down an unprecedented eight offensive rebounds after halftime, re-establishing hi:Qlf as the put- back force that Michigan has missed for much of this sea- son. "Offensive rebounding was the main point of emphasis at halftime," Asselin said. "Coach wasn't happy with our offensive play." The disparity in fouls helped Michigan's big men play more physical in the second half, however. Asselin and BIlanchard grabbed a combined 19 rebounds for the game, because they were boxing out Illini who were in constant danger of fouling out. Illinois center Marcus Griffin fouled out of the contest with five minutes remaining in regulation, and backup for- ward Damir Krupalija took a seat with 4:16 left in overtime. Three other Illinois forwards - Robert Archibald, Cleotis Brown and Brian Cook - were on the verge of early exits with four fouls each. ALMOST PERFECT: Though their timing seemed ques- tionable, the Wolverines' accuracy from the foul line was almost perfect. Michigan converted 12 of 14 free throws in the first half and 37 of 45 for the game - a Michigan record for most converted foul shots in a game. Forward LaVell Blanchard, Michigan's high scorer with 22 points, sank all 11 of his free throws. Point guard Kevin Gaines also displayed his fluid touch, converting eight of nine attempts. But the Wolverines regained consciousness at the worst possible time, as center Josh.Asselin missed two foul shots in a row with 29 seconds remaining in regulation. With the score knotted at 82, either shot might have made the differ- ence in the see-saw battle. BACK To No. 2: Gaines re-entered the game with a minute and a half remaining in overtime, wearing No. 14 on his back. He had bloodied his normal jersey 70 seconds before when he received an unintentional knock across the nose from Illinois forward Robert Archibald. But Gaines will go back to his old ways. "I'm going back to No. 2 when we get the blood off," the point guard said. Crawford 17.1 14 Blanchard 151 22 Gaines 12.9 18 Jones 9.9 10 REBOUNDING Bianchard Asselin Gaines Vignier ASSISTS Crawford Gaines Jones STEALS Gaines Crawford Jones 8.8 5.4 4.4 4.4 4.8 4.5 1.9 1.4 1.0 1.0 9 10 4 2 2 .3 0 1 0 TURNOVERS Gaines 3.7 Crawford 3.1 Jones 2.6 6 > 4 FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE Young Anderson Asselin 3-PoINT Jones Blanchard Groninger 15-19, 10-15 47-82 PERCENTAGE 16-36 16-39 23-58 .789 .667 .573 .444 .410 '397 DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily Robert Archibald (21) gave the Wolverines all they could handle in the post, scoring 12 points and grabbing eight rebounds, six of which came on the offensive end. QUIZ TIME Put your books away and take out a blank piece of paper - it's quiz time. Keep your eyes to yourself. Pick out the person who made the following statements regarding *nday's Michigan-Illinois game. Here goes: 1. "We all know Mr. Bradford is a great player." A. Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe B. Michigan forward LaVell Blanchard C. Illinois coach Lon Kruger D. Mascot-basketball participant Mr. Peanut 2. "I don't think I've seen straight zeros in offensive rebounding ever - even in Boys Club." A. Ellerbe B. Crisler fan favorite Chris Young * C. Public address announcer Jimmy Barrett D. Michael Jackson 3. "The fans are great at Michigan and everybody knows that" A. Blanchard B. Trainer Steve Stricker C. Stylish injured forward Leland Anderson D. Indiana coach Bob Knight SAv-ol 1C igem n ie28f in poll Crawford shoots down transfer rumor FREE ThROW Blanchard Crawford. Groninger- PERCENTAGE 37-46 .804 29-37 .784 7-9 .778 CRAWFORD Continued from Page 1B in the Big Ten - and averages five assists per game. The freshman also plays the most minutes for the Wolverines - averaging almost 36 pr game. Michigan heavily recruited Crawford, even when he struggled with academic eligibility. Crawford won a plea for a fifth year of high-school eligibility, earned his degree, and passed the acade- mic requirements to come to Michigan. He continued with a 2.8 his first semes- ter at the University. Crawford has said often this season that he always followed Michigan bas- ketball and was extremely impressed that the Wolverines wanted him. He also credits junior Brandon Smith and Ellerbe in the recruiting process for con- vincing him to come to Michigan. The recent media coverage of the Crawford situation has prompted the university to take action. Yesterday, the Michigan Athletic Department placed tighter restrictions on all media covering the basketball team. The team canceled all future midweek press conferences, and all interviews must now be personally supervised by Sports Information Director Tom Wywrot or Ellerbe himself. "We opened up to (the media) this season and it's been abused," Ellerbe said. "I don't want them misinterpreting or ridiculing our guys in the paper. It just hurts a 19-year-old kid" FG FT REB MIN M-A M-A OT A F PTS Arhilbald 25 5-7 2-3 6-8 0 4 .12 Brown 22 2-6 3-3 1-4 1 4 8 Griffin 26 3-9 5-6 1-5 0 S 11 Bradfordl 42 8-22 7- 1-3 0 3 28 Mcan 33 613 3-3 618 5 4 S Johnson 17 0-2 0-0 0.0 1 2 0 Harnngton 13 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 2 Wiliam$ 15 1-5 00 0-3 00 3 Krupalia 24 4-7 1-2 1.3 0 5 10 Cook~ 8 1-2 4-0 0-0 0 42 Totals 225 31-75 21-26 1645 7 32 91 EG%: 413 FO/: 808 3-point FG: 8-23,.348 (Bradford 5- 13, Wiliams 1-2, Krupa ija 1-2, Brown 1-3, Johnson 0-2, Harrington &1).Blos: 2 (Griffin Johnson) Steals: 8 (42hibaid 2. iiams 2, Bradford, Brown, Harnngton, la). Turnovers: 21 {Wils 6, Brown 5, d3, Giffin 3 McCain 3 Hamngton). Technical Fouls: none: MICHIGAN (95) FG FT REB MIN M-A M-A O-T A F PT5S Blartchard 38 5-13 11-11 0.9 0 4 22 Smith 38 2-5 3-4 1-5 5 _4,7 Asselin 27 6-12 1-4 8-10 1 3 13 Jones 30 3-7 3-4 1-5 0 5 10 Gaines 36 4=12 8-9 0-4 3 3 18 Crawford 28 5-14 2-3 0-2 2 1 1 Groninger 10 12 3-4 0-1'10 5 Young 7 0-0 4-4 1-10 14, Vigier IT 0". 2-2 0.2 0 3 2 Totals 225 26-65 37-45 1243 12 24 95. FG%: .400 FT%:.822 3-point FG: 6-21, 286 (Crawford 2-7, Gaines 2-5, Blanchard 1-4, Jones 1-4, Groninger 0- 1). Blocks: 7 (Smith 4, Asselin 2, Vignier), Steals; 9 (Blanchard 3, Smith 3, Crawford, Gaines, Vicnniei4. Turnovers: 19 (Gaines 6, Jones 4, Sniith 3, lanchard 2, Asselin, Crawford, Groninger, Vignier). Technical Fouls. none. I.38 44 9 -91 Michigan ..... ..34 48 13 -95 At: Cnsler Arena Attendance: 11,367 The Michiigan men's basketball team earned 68 votes in the latest Associated Press poll. The Wolver'nes are now just three spots away from breaking into the top 25 for the first time this season. "I don't really want to be ranked," Michigan guard Kevin Gaines said. "I want to sneak up on some teams." e North Carolina State received 158 s and rests at 26th. Temple gar- nered 102 votes to place 27th. Cincinnati remained on top and four schools entered the latest poll, released yesterday. Cincinnati (16-1), which moved back to the top of the poll last week following a loss by Stanford, received 61 first-place votes and 1,738 points from a nationwide panel * writers and broadcasters. The Bearcats defeated Tulane and Ohio State last week. No. 19 St. Johns, No. 20 Vanderbilt, No. 22 Utah and No. 25 UCLA moved into the poll. Vanderbilt is ranked for the first time since 1994, while the other three schools were in the poll earlier this season. Arizona (15-2), Stanford (14-I) and Auburn (15-1) remained second through fourth in the latest poll, receiving four, one and three first- place votes, respectively. Riding a 13-game winning streak is fifth-ranked Duke (13-2), which has not lost since the initial weekend of the season and moved up one spot in the rankings. Syracuse (14-0), the lone remaining unbeaten team in the poll, also advanced one spot to sixth and received the remaining first-place vote. Ilihnois, Temple, Louisiana State and Louisville fell out of the rankings. - From staff and wire reports a reshm mal Crawford said DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily he is not considering a transfer, despite Michlgan fnal ciches with s Indiana gets back on track with 86-61 win ILLINI Continued from Page 18 Asselin came up with a block, a board and the dunk that put them up for good. Credit that assist to plays- through-pain Gaines and his new clean jersey. Appropriately, with 12 seconds left it was now a game of free throws, and Crawford, who missed two at Purdue that could have put the game out of reach and avoided double overtime, had the same opportunity against Illinois. Clank. From the crowd? A collective Urrrrgh ! F Crawford? No visible reaction. ept t burhis next attempt. A sigh fom press row ensued (where's the oective viewpont) and a sigh from the Michigan b 'nh - congratulations to the Woiverines for their first CFT of the season. Rumeal Robinson would be ter Ilnois' star guard Corey Bradford failed to tie the game on an off-balance three, Gaines went to the line and also hit one-of-two, putting the game out of reach. "That's the dfrence between win- ig close gams and not;' Illinois coach Lon Kruger said. "In overtime, every possession is important, and we had a couple that got away from us." Free throws are the difference in close games. But especially with Crawford in the dog house and on the bench most of the first half, freshman LaVell Blanchard had to make sure the game was close at all. Blanchard took over the first half for the Wolverines, and finished the game with a team-high 22 points, three steals and a perfect 1I free throws. "I guess in overtime our confidence is growing;' chuckled Blanchard. "Now we've got to get some in regulation" LOOMINGTON (AP) - A.J. uyton found his shooting touch in the second half Saturday, and that was fine for Indiana. Guyton, sixth on the Hoosiers' career scoring list, hit just 2-of-7 shots in the opening 20 minutes. In the second half, the senior guard missed only one of seven attempts and firished with 19 points in an 86-61 win over Minnesota. Kirk Haston had 18 for Indiana. Joel Wybilla had 22 points for Minnesota (2- 2 Big Ten, 1,3-4 overall) and Kevin Burleson had I 1. HIaston did most of his scoring with sweeping hook shots over the 7-foot Przybilla. "We ran into one of the best teams in the sluggish, 17th-ranked Buckeyes, and Ohio State coasted for a 58-44 victory over Northwestern on Saturday night. Brian Brown had a perfect night, scor- ing 14 points on 4-of-4 shooting. He also was 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. Ken Johnson added 12 for the Buckeyes (3-1, 11-3), who won for the seventh time in eight games. PURDUE 63, WISCONSIN 52: Brian Cardinal's long-range shooting made sure Purdue kept its Mackey Arena mastery of Wisconsin intact. Cardinal matched his career high with five 3-point baskets and scored 26 points Saturday, as the Boilermakers overcame an early deficit and beat the Badgers 63-52. It was Purdue's 26th straight home vic- Texas Tech basketball coach James Dick a report ready for the Big 12 by Monday, f own ending to a game in which Texas A&M' ia shot was counted, not counted and counted agfin to a winning margin. "On the replay, it clearly shows th bask w a Dickey said Sunday after his team's 88-86 loss u y. 3. Stanford 4. Aubum (2) 5. Connecticut 6. Duke 7 Syracuse () 8 Kasas 9. Indiana 10. Floida 14-1 13-2 12-1 13-1 11-2 11-2 11-0 12-2 12-1 12-2 - Beat Ohio, 73-59 Beat Washington, 69-62' Beat Oregon, 85-71 Beat Mississippi State, 51-45 Beat S . Johns, 82-77 Beat Florida State, 85-54, Beat Notre Dame, 80-57 Beat Nebraska, 97-82 Beat Minnesota, 86-61 Idle :' Team W L W Michigan State 3 0 12 Indiana 3 1 13 Ohio State 3 1 11 Hichigan 2 1 11 Purdue 2 1 11 Minnesota 2 2 10 Penn State 2 2 10 Illinois 1 3 9 Wisconsin 1 3 9 l , 'I 3 7 L 4 2 3 3 5 4 5 6 7 R a