The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 10, 2000 - 15
Mg man Stephens
helps bottom line
2000 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament
Thurs.
Mar. 9
Fri.
Mar. 10
Sat,
Mar U1
Sun.
Mar. 12
Minnesota comeback
falls short, Iowa wins
By Chris Duprey
Daily Sports Editor
*CHICAGO - Penn State's Jarrett
Stephens is a consensus first-team
All-Big Ten pick. He's averaged
almost 19 points and II rebounds a
game, and he's heard just about every
accolade - and criticism - that's
been thrown his way.
Stephens had just 10 points yester-
day against Michigan. The senior was-
n't his usual dominating self, and he
wasn't able to bull over Peter Vignier
te he has done to so many other
fenders in the Big Ten this season.
But, most importantly, his team
won, advancing to today's quarterfinal
against Ohio State. And Stephens' col-
legiate career has been extended for at
least one more day, since the Nittany
Lions would need an upset win today
to earn an NIT berth.
That's the bottom line for Stephens,
a 6-foot-7, 255-pounder who can best
described as a hoss - mostly mus-
e, a little bit of fat and a lot of deter-
mination to prove that he isn't a
"tweener," he's a player.
"I would like to think I'm a
matchup problem. I want to be the
kind of person that everyone hates to
play against," Stephens said. "I'm not
as big as any other post player in the
league, but I try to use my quickness,
my body and my strength."
Stephens is too physical for any of
chigan's smaller forwards to guard
, so Vignier answered the call.
He kept a forearm in Stephens'
back and kept him a safe distance
from the basket for most of the after-
noon.
The leading scorer on most teams
would feel pressured to get his aver-
age, if for nothing else other than ego.
But the patient Stephens took the
me as it came to him, saw the
or,and distributed the ball to his
teammates out of the post.
So instead of Stephens scoring 22
points, his point guard Joe Crispin
did.
Stephens' inside-outside ball move-
ment helped produce four double-
WH EELER
Continued from Page 14
neffective Asselin and a foul-trou-
bled Young, hit a long jump shot
from the corner and a bucket inside
on the ensuing possession, bringing
the Wolverines back from a double-
digit deficit halfway through the sec-
ond half.
He pumped his fist in the air and
yelled at his jubilant teammates, and
I realized that he had become
Michigan's leading scorer on the
eight.
Where had all this emotion come
from? Vignier was the team scholar
who refused to help his teammates
with book reviews or essays before
the season because he was too shy.
But his face after the game - as,
long as his body is slender -
revealed why Vignier was psyched
during yesterday's Big Ten
Tournament game.
As a senior, this was his last shot
*n this single-elimination conference
MICHIGAN (66)
FG FT REB
MIN MA M-A 0 A F PTS
lanchard 39 3-11 6-7 2-8 3 s 141
Smith 27 3 4 2 2 1 1 2 4 8
Asseln 7 0 2 -0-0 1 3 0 1 0
Groninger 39 4 14 2 2 0-4 3 4 13
Gaes 2 0 -5 '12 02 44 4
Jones 31 3-8 0.1 1 1 3 4 6
Young 8 12 2-2 1-20 4 4
Vignier 27 7-12 2-5 5-11 1 1 16
Totals 200 23 58 1521 12 36 16 27 66
FG% 397, FT% 714 3point FG, 4 19, 211 (Blanchard
2Groninger 2) Blocks. , (Vignier 2, Blanchard, Jones,
Young) leals 3 (Blanchard, Smith, Vi nier).
Turnovers: 13 (Gaines 3, Blanchard 2 Smith 2,
Groninger 2, Vignier 2, Jones, Young). Technical Fouls:
none.
PENN STATE (76)
FG- FT REB
MIN M-A M-A 0T A F PTS
Stephens 35 4-8 2-2 3 7 3 3 10
Ivry 3 5-10 5,5 1-3 4 4 17
Jakson 2 0-0 0-0 1-4 0 0 0
Joe Crispin 5-14 10-12 2 9 93 22
Jon Crispin 35 2-7 00 0-1 53 6
Watkins 4 0.0 0.0 -0 0 0 0
Cline-HuM 32 8-t 3 2 7 2-6 1 3 18
Smith 21-2 14 0 1 3
Hanta 2 4 0.90 00 0 1 0
Tals I 254 298 12 40 22 18 76
FG% 463. , 714.pont FG 620, 300 Oon
Crispin 2, Joe r a ny 2). Blocks 6 (sackon 2,
Stephens, Ivory ib eard Banta) Steals: 7 (Stephens
2, Ivory 2, Clne-Heard 2, Ratkins) Tur novers: 12 (o
Cris n S Stephens 3 Jon Crispin 2, Ivory, Cline
Heard) Technical Fouls none
(4) Illinois
(6) Indiana
Game 8
(1) Ohio state
(a) Michigan Gay
(9) Penn St.
(9) Penn St
(2) Michigan St. r u G
(7) Iowa 9
(7) Iowa
(10) Minnie t r; e
(3) Purdue
(6) Wisconsin m
(l) Wisconsin Al games played at Unitod CefNter,,Chicago.
(11) N we% rim All ipoff tines are Eastern Standard Time.
Games 8. 9 and 10 are televised on CBS.
Other games are televised on ESPN networks.
Cin1Cy lo-ses Martin,
culyetourney
CHICAGO (AP) - Iowa got off to a
fast start and a big lead, thanks to Kyle
Galloway's hot 3-point shooting. Still, the
I lawkeyes struggled to put undermanned
and scrappy Minnesota away in the Big
Ten Tournament.
Not until Galloway hit four free throws
in the final 15 seconds and a Minnesota
3-point attempt Just before the buzzer
bounced off the rim was the victory
secured.
The Hawkeyes survived a furious
Gophers rally for a 81-78 victory last
night.
Minnesota, its roster short-handed and
its program reeling from an academic
cheating scandal, trailed by 21 points
early in the second half and was still
behind 72-55 with 8:3) to go.
But Terrance Simmons brought the
Gophers back. Just not all the way.
Simmons had 18 second-half points and
scored Minnesota's final 10 durin a 23-7
run that pulled the Gophers to within one
with 5.9 seconds to go. His 3-pointer at
the buzzer for a tie went off the rim and
Minnesota headed home with a gallant
effort and a seven-game losing streak.
The Gophers, under a self-imposed,
one-year ban from postseason play fol-
lowing a program-shaking academic
scandal, lost on a day the school
announced that 17 current and former
athletes face possible discipline for their
role in the cheating.
(Coach Dan Monson said none of them
are current players.
Minnesota was without its best player,
center Joel Przybilla, who quit the team
last month after he was suspended for
missing classes. The Gophers also missed
forward John-Blair Bickerstaff, out after
breaking his leg in February, and had only
four players on their roster who'd ever
played in the three-year-old tournament.
WisCoNsiN 51, NORTHWESTERN 41:
When the Big Ten's best defense and the
league's worst team meet, one things for
sure: It's going to be ugly.
Mark Vershaw scored 1 7 points and
had five assists yesterday as
Wisconsin beat Northwestern 51-41
in the lowest-scoring game ever in the
Big Ten Tournament.
The 92 points broke the mark of 98
scored in Northwestern's 54-44 victory
over Penn State last year.
Wisconsin, the sixth seed in the tourna-
ment, will play third-seeded Purdue in
today's quarterfinals.
Penn ,tale.........,,..31 45
- 66,
-76
At United Center, Chicago
. Attendance. Not Available
digit scorers for Penn State, the type
of balance the Nittany Lions have had
trouble finding all season Stephens
played quarterbac4, running the
offense from the low blocks en route
to a three-assist afternoon.
Somewhere, the great Big Ten hoss-
es of the past - guys like Iowa's Jess
Settles, Michigan's Robert Traylor
and Minnesota's Courtney James -
are smiling at what Stephens has
accomplished this season. In a strong
league like the Big Ten, players of
Stephens' build and talent are becom-
ing increasingly valuable.
"Ile brings the best out of a lot of
players," fellow Penn State big man
Carl Jackson said of Stephens, his
practice opponent every day. "lie's the
Charles Barkley type. There's no
doubt in my mind" that Stephens will
play in the NBA.
"It's just a matter of someone giving
him a chance to do it."
showcase, and probably his last
game against a Big Ten team.
Michigan will probably land a spot
in the National Invitational
Tournament next week, but it won't
be against another regular-season
foe.
Then again, in the Wolverines'
minds, there's always the chance that
yesterday's loss was the end of their
season. And for Vignier, the end of
his college basketball career.
It makes sense, then, that he bolt-
ed out of the shadows against Penn
State, in the tournament which his
team won as a sophomore -
Ellerbe's first year as Michigan's
coach.
The sun is setting on Peter
Vignier's basketball career: It may
not have been an illustrious one, or
even one that a Michigan sports fan
will remember in five years.
But to an RC student who
watched Vignier duck under the low
ceilings in Fast Quad, it will never
be forgotten.
r
|
FRIENDS WORLD PROGRAM
MEMPHIS. Tenn. (AP) -Kenyon
Martin knew his season was over
before he hit the floor.
Cincinnati's star player, perhaps
the best in college basketball, was
setting a screen in the opening min-
utes of Cincinnati's Conference USA
tournament opener yesterday, when
he bumped into Saint Louis' Justin
Love.
Martin's ankle turned underneath
him as he fell, breaking his right
fibula and ripping several ligaments.
Gone in that instant his drieams
of leading top-ranked Cincinnati to
its first national championship since
the 19%0s and the days of Oscar
Robertson.
"I didn't have any control over it,"
Martin said quietly after Cincinnati's
68-58 loss to Saint Louis,
Sitting in a wheelchair with his
foot in a cast, Martin said he told
Angelo Colosimo that his leg was
broken as soon as the doctor came
onto the floor.
The 6-foot-9, 240-pound Martin
was selected the Conference USA
player of the year Wednesday, and is
the favorite for national player of the
year honors.
He led the conference with 19.5
points and 10 rebounds a game.
He also had the top field-goal per-
centage (57 percent) and is the
career blocked shots leader for both
Cincinnati and Conference USA
with 292.
He set the single-season mark with
107.
With Martin, Cincinnati set a reg-
ular-season record with 28 victories.
The Bearcats also had the first unde-
feated record in conference play at
16-0.
Martin will play again. Colosimo
said doctors will insert a screw into
Martin's ankle, and that he should be
able to start running again in eight
weeks.
That won't be soon enough for the
Bearcats, who had been looking for a
No. I seed in the NCAA tournament.
"This was their chance," coach
Bob Huggins said. "You just have
very few chances I think in life to be
special, and we've gone through a
lot."
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