sports desk: 647-3336 'portsdesk@umich.edu SECTIONB I -- ---- -- F t. e 4 ' ,:. . TAI' d fee;ing Carr 's preparation produces ' 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- I A~MhI Lull a~b~.U