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C. OLUMBUS - Saturday night
in this home of Ohio State,
Bucks fans filled the airwaves to
release their grievances - some sound-
ing despondent, others sounding angry,
an even greater amount sounding their
resignation to the fact that Ohio State
can no longer
compete evenly----- --
with the Wolver-
ines.
The Buckeyes,
have been
reduced to a
"once in four
years" team
against Michigan. CHRIS
In the typical stu-
dent's tenure, the DUPREY
Buckeyes will DIupe's
win every other Scoop
game at the
Horseshoe and lose both games in Ann
Arbor. The probability of winning in
this rivalry is no longer a coin flip.
Once a greater opponent on Michi-
gan's schedule than intrastate rival
Michigan State, Ohio State has taken a
recess. The Buckeyes are only capable
of winning a game in this series in
which they clearly have the superior
team, such as in 1998.
Reasons are afloat for this downturn.
it's a mental issue for the players, some
talk-radio respondents say. "2-10-1
since John Cooper arrived in Colum-
bus' others bellow. "That's all there is
to say."
Those are fine excuses, but it ignores
Michigan's methodical approach to
these games. Lloyd Carr knows Ohio
State inside and out and his team
M'
vitality
reflects that mastery.
No one in Columbus wants to give
credit to Carr, but that's not a surprise.
Nothing the Buckeyes and his counter-
part Cooper do surprises Carr in the
least. He has the preparedness of an
Eagle Scout - matches, knife and
compass.
And the Wolverines, like their leader,
are impeccably prepared for this game
every year.
"It always comes down to prepara-
tion and performance," Carr said, not-
ing that this past week of practice was
one of Michigan's best all season. That
was just what Carr had hoped for -
earlier in the week he stressed the
importance of preparing for Saturday
by taking care of practice responsibili-
ties day by day.
It's not to say the Wolverines shut
down Ohio State. They gave up a long
kickoff return on a fake reverse handoff
at the start of the game. But Michigan
remained in emotional control.
A 9-0 first-quarter deficit didn't
cause Michigan to panic. The Wolver-
ines knew it was a 60-minute game, and
they played that way.
On the offensive end, Carr expected
Ohio State to crack down on Michi-
gan's running game and force Drew
Henson to throw over cornerback Nate
Clements and the rest of the Buckeyes'
skilled secondary.
That's exactly what Ohio State did.
Cooper threw eight men in the box with
the expressed goal of halting Anthony
Thomas. The Buckeyes succeeded in
that objective, holding Thomas to 60
yards on 29 carries.
See DUPREY, Page 4B
DAVID KATZ/Daily
Junior receiver David Terrell assures onlookers that the Michigan offense has
everything in hand Saturday.
DAVID KATZ/Daily
ABOVE: Even the oft-stoic Lloyd Carr finds the opportunity to crack a smile.
TOP OF PAGE: Michigan's Drew Henson seals the deal.
nlea
M' maul
Ojakland
By Dan Williams
Daily Sports Writer
led by
FRIDAY: MICHIGAN 8, ALASKA-FAIRBANKS 0
SATURDAY: ALASKA-FAIRBANKS 5, MICHIGAN 2
Nanooks break Yost curse
ROCHESTER - An animated Oakland squad relied on
infallible 3-point shooting to ambush the Michigan men's bas-
ketball team, 97-90, in both teams' season opener.
Oakland's blistering performance from behind the arc --
&eys on 29 attempts - permitted them to lead the game
nearly wire to wire. Michigan was unable to get within six
points of the Golden Grizzlies
in the second half.
OAKLAND 97 More than 100 buoyant Oak-
MICI3AN 90 land students stormed the court
M_______AN__9_ following the final buzzer,
reflecting the significance of the
victory to the maturing program.
"It's the biggest win in school history, I don't think there's
any question," Oakland coach Greg Kampe said.
Meanwhile, Michigan began the game with a makeshift
sling lineup due to "academic irresponsibilities" And
while the Wolverines showed individual spurts of proficiency,
the team appeared generally disoriented.
"We didn't run our offense. We didn't execute a play the
entire night," junior Chris Young said. "We didn't play any
type of defense. Our transition defense was terrible. We came
out and we weren't ready to play."
Freshmen Bernard Robinson, Maurice Searight and Avery
Queen entered the game at 3:33, producing an unusual start
at point guard for former walk-on Mike Gotfredson.
en the freshmen entered the game, Michigan had already
fM to a 9-4 deficit which they never recovered from.
Furthermore, Michigan's performance was hindered by
persistent foul trouble. Josh Moore fouled out a minute into
the second half, and both Young and Josh Asselin finished
the game with four fouls.
With all three big men in foul trouble, Michigan was
unable to receive consistent play in the p(st, where the
By Joe Smith
Daily Sports Writer
"Tomorrow night we'll obviously come out flying
because we have something to prove to ourselves
and to the rest of the league," Alaska-Fairbanks
defenseman Daniel Carriere said after Friday night's
8-0 drubbing at the hands of the Wolverines.
The Nanooks (2-4-2 CCHA, 2-6-2 overall) did
just that, proving that quality is definitely better than
quantity in their 5-2 triumph over Michigan (6-3-0,
8-3-2) on Saturday night. The win made the long trip
worthwhile.
"I'd do this 10 times again to experience some-
thing like this," Alaska-Fairbanks coach Guy Gad-
owsky said. "It's going to be a nice ride home."
It didn't matter that the Nanooks were outshot a
combined 86-41 in the two games, or that they held a
dismal 1-19 record all-time against Michigan com-
ing into this weekend. When the final buzzer sound-
ed on Saturday, the stellar play of Alaska-Fairbanks
freshman netminder Preston McKay and the oppor-
tunistic capitalization on three-of-four third period
shots helped the Nanooks win their first-ever game
at Yost, only their second victory over the Wolver-
ines in 22 games.
"On our grade-A scoring chances, (McKay) made
the difference," Michigan coach Red Berenson said.
After playing the final 15 minutes of Friday's
game when starter Lance Mayes was pulled, McKay
found out during Saturday's pre-game skate that he'd
be between the pipes for the Nanooks. But he didn't
know that he'd get an early lead from such an unlike-
ly source.
Just 26 seconds into the opening stanza, Michigan
goalie Josh Blackburn made his usual trip to the
bench after a delayed penalty call on the Nanooks,
leaving the Michigan goal unattended. But a shot by
Mike Komisarek from the blueline deflected off Tom
Herman's shin guard all the way into Michigan's
empty net - giving Alaska-Fairbanks an early 1-0
lead.
"The first goal was a flukey goal," Berenson said.
"I don't think I've ever seen one like that."
Michigan's special teams woes continued to aid
the visitors - the Nanooks scored shorthanded, on
the power play and added another empty net goal to
finish off the Wolverines and hand Michigan its sec-
ond straight weekend split.
See NANOOKS, Page 38
BRENDAN O'DONNELL/Daily
With Michigan goalie Josh Blackburn watching on, the Nanooks
celebrate their first ever win In Yost Ice Arena.
'efe sv1e collapse hurts women
Hoops takes down No. 8 Louisiana Tech, falls to Washington
By David Roth
Daily Sports Writer
After upsetting No. 8 Louisiana Tech
69-66 on Friday, Michigan women's
basketball coach Sue Guevara told her
team to enjoy the win until Saturday at
4 p.m. But when the Wolverines took
the floor against Washington yesterday,
layup tied it at 66. Yesterday against
Washington, the Wolverines never led
but did manage a tie at 48. But this
time, their opponent responded - the
Huskies went on a 25-12 run en route
to a 73-60 win.
"We were so overwhelmed with our
victory Friday night," said Michigan
co-captain Anne Thorius. "We thought
down," Guevara said. "We weren't
moving our feet. We had people hus-
tling after loose balls - unfortunately
they were in purple uniforms."
Clearly, Washington wanted the win
more. After losing in overtime to Indi-
ana on Friday, the Huskies were out for
revenge against the Big Ten.
"We outhustled people today" Wash-
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