8B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - January 7, 2002 " Trash talk "I think most people would agree with me, Michigan is not an upper-level Big Ten team." - Eastern Michigan coach Jim Boone evaluating the Wolverines after his team lost 88-58 on Dec. 22 in Crisler Arena but before Michigan's strong start in Big Ten play. SATURDAY' S GAME Purdue 75 Michigan 79 Players of the Game Bernard Robinson (Michigan) Robinson scored a season-high 20 points, including a runner in the lane to ice the game with 22 seconds left. Darmetreis Kilgore (Purdue) Kilgore hit three 3-pointers in a 1:17 span to cut the Michigan lead to four w (69-65) with 3:17 remaining. Robinson a star for 'M' in ast two wins By Joe Smith Daily Sports Editor It was a symbolic exchange between a new coach and one of his star players. In Saturday's victory over Purdue, Michi- gan coach Tommy Amaker anxiously stood and watched Bernard Robinson take the ball at the top of the key. Despite the sophomore's tendency to turn the ball over and his sometimes inconsistent shot selection Amaker showed confidence in his young guard. In fact, he confidently unleashed the reigns. "Take him," Amaker yelled from the bench. Just like he had the entire game, Robinson delivered. In arguably his best overall per- formance of the season, Robinson scored a season-high 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds. He also had several key post-entry passes to Chris Young, racking up six assists. Robinson calmly came through in the clutch, shooting 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the waning minutes. He also added one of his trademark runners in the lane after the Boilermakers trimmed the deficit to three points, icing the victory for Michigan (with about a half minute to play) for the second straight game. Three days prior, Robinson led the Wolver- ines with 16 points and five boards, gutting out an important road win at Penn State - Michigan's first victory away from Crisler Arena in 345 days. Robinson was also a perfect 5-5 from the charity stripe in Happy Valley, where he had a key tip-in to preserve the Wolverines' win. "Coach told me to be more aggressive and I just wanted to go out there and play with con- fidence - make or miss," Robinson said. "And if you do that, good things will happen." On Saturday, good things happened at both ends of the floor for Robinson, as he embraced his new role this season as one of Amaker's defensive stoppers. He held Purdue's top offensive weapon, junior guard Willie Deane to just five points in the first stanza. "I thought his overall performance was outstanding," Amaker said. "He had to guard maybe the best perimeter player on their team, and certainly he delivered for us in a lot of key situations offensively. It's nice to see him being aggressive and attacking." The only thing a struggling Robinson could effectively attack in the first nine games was the fire extinguisher case in Bowling Green's Anderson Arena. On Nov. 28, after Michi- Michigan finally learning to win Two players dismissed from team By Steve Jackson Daily Sports Writer All season the Michigan basketball team has talked about "learning how to win." After opening up the Big Ten season with back-to- back victories (for just the second time since the 1993- 1994 season), Michigan (2-0 Big Ten, 6-5 overall) is starting to believe. "People are confident BASKETBALL and trusting the system, and that's why we are Notebook playing so well,"said sen- ior tri-captain Leon Jones. "It's great, everybody is buy- ing into it. We are learning how to win." After ending a streak of seven consecutive losses away from Crisler Arena with a hard-fought 67-63 win over Penn State on Wednesday, the Wolverines returned to Ann Arbor with a remarkable shooting touch. Michigan converted on 61.9 percent of its attempts (13-of-21) in the second half of play against Purdue on Saturday; they shot 56.9 percent for the game. CLASS ACT: Before the Wolverines 88-58 victory over Eastern Michigan on Dec. 22, Michigan coach Tommy Amaker announced that sophomore center Josh Moore and freshman guard Marcus Bennett would be leaving the team because of academic troubles. Moore was declared ineligible because of his low grades. He will no longer practice or play with the team. Bennett left the team due to a "private" academic issue, which reportedly occurred prior to his enrollment at Michigan. Bennett has dropped out of school, and Moore's sta- tus at the University is still uncertain. "We have high academic standards here at the Uni- versity of Michigan, and we are going to enforce those standards," Amaker said. "We are going to build a pro- gram of which this university and our fans can be proud - on and off the basketball court." DEJA vu: Sophomore point guard Avery Queen sat out the entire game against the Eagles. He was suspended for an unspecified "violation of team rules." This is nothing new for Queen; Brian Ellerbe sus- pended him twice last season citing the same reason. But Queen returned to the court with a bang, scoring 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting and directing the Wolver- ines' offense with confidence during the last two wins. DoM BOMBED: Amaker has chosen to utilize his veter- an players more during the Big Ten season. The minutes given to upperclassmen like Jones and Gavin Groninger have left Dommanic Ingerson, who has led Michigan in scoring three times this year, on the bench. Ingerson played just one minute in the second half against Pur- due. "I'm not going to bicker about this," said Ingerson, who showed visible signs of frustration. "This is Coach's decision. I just need to accept this and grow" Ingerson had been suffering from the flu earlier in the week, but said that it did not affect his play. SATURDAY' S GAME Purdue (75) FG FT REB MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS Kilgore 28 7-17 0.0 2-4 0 2 18 Buscher 16 2-3 0-0 1-2 0 1 4 Allison 34 5-9 1-2 5-9 1 2 11 Parkinson 18 0.1 0-0 0-2 9 4 0 Deane 34 8-18 1-3 0-1 2 3 19 Smith 24 6-6 2-3 3-3 3 4 15 Marshall 17 0-3 0-0 1-2 1 2 0 Lewis 25 3-7 0-0 1-3 0 1 6 Carroll 4 1-2 0-0 1-2 0 0 2 Totals 200 32.66 4-8 1A-28 16 19 75 FG%: .485. FT%: .500 3-point FG: 7-17 .412 (Kilgo- re 4-7, Deane 2-5, Smith 1-1, Lewis 0.2, Parkinson 0-1, Marshall 0-1). Blocks: 1 (Deane). Steals: 7 (Deane 3. Parkinson 2, Buscher, Lewis). Turnovers: 15 (Deane 3, Smith 3, Marshall 3, Lewis 3, Kilgore, Buscher, Parkinson). Technical fouls: none. MICHIGAN (79) FG FT REB MIN M-A M-A O-T A F PTS Robinson 33 7-14 6-6 4-7 6 2 20 Blanchard 33 5-10 5-7 1-2 1 2 18 Young 38 7-9 0-0 1-3 0 1 14 Gotfredson 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Jones 22 0-0 0-0 0-2 2 2 0 Queen 34 3-5 0-0 0-2 2 2 8 Bailey 9 2-3 0-0 1-2 0 0 4 Groninger 14 2-5 4-4 0-0 3 2 9 Ingerson 11 3-5 0-0 1-2 0 0 6 Totals 200 29.51 15.17 &-23 14 11 79 FG%:.569. FT%: .882. 3-point FG: 6-14, .429 (Blan- chard 3-5, Queen 2-2, Groninger 1-4, Ingerson 0-2, Robinson 0-1). Blocks: 4 (Young 3, Robinson). Steals: 6 (Queen 3, Robinsonu2, Blanchard). Turnovers: 14 (Robinson 4, Jones 4, Queen 3, Bai- ley , Ingerson, Young). Technical fouls: none. Purdue .......................30 45 - 75 Michigan .............39 40 - 79 At: Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor Attendance: 11,190 0 BIG TEN Team Ohio State Indiana Michigan Illinois Iowa Minnesota Wisconsin Northwestern Michigan State Purdue Penn State STANDINGS Conference Overall W L W L 2 0 10 2 2 0 9 5 2 0 6 5 1 1 12 3 1 1 12 4 1 1 8 5 1 1 8 7 0 1 8 4 0 1 9 5 0 2 8 8 0 2 4 9 0 DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily Michigan senior center Chris Young tries to keep possession after being tripled teamed down low. Young fought hard all day on the glass, but ended the day with Just three rebounds. gan's second-straight loss to a Mid-American Conference team, Robinson missed the shot that could have tied the game. Afterwards, he took out his frustrations by punching the glass case - lacerating his right (non-shooting) hand. Michigan's co-MVP from last season admitted he was trying to do too much in an effort to prove to the coaches that he was fully recovered from his summer battle with mononucleosis. Both Robinson and fellow MVP LaVell Blanchard had problems gelling in Amaker's new offensive system. Robinson shot below 40-percent from the field in five of his first nine games, missing his first 10 3- point attempts. But he's using his aggressive style to his advantage now. He's penetrating and getting to the line more often - where he leads the team with a nearly 90-percent clip. On Saturday, Blanchard's 18 points and both forwards' inspired play, gave Michigan the rock it relied upon so much last season. It also took some pressure off Young, who has been battling numerous double teams since his 25-point performance against No. I Duke. "We knew (Blanchard and Robinson) were going to come around," junior Gavin Groninger said. "We just waited and kept playing off of them - and they're coming through for us now." Last Saturday's results: MICHIGAN 79, Purdue 75 INDIANA 61, Penn State 54 MINNESOTA 70, No. 19 Michigan State 67 OHIo STATE 72, No. 9 Iowa 62 WIScoNSIN 72, No. 7 Illinois 66 Tomorrow's games: No. 19 Michigan State AT INDIANA, 7 P.M. Wednesday's games: Michigan AT MINNESOTA, 8 P.M. Ohio State AT MASSACHUSETTS, 7 P.M. No. 7 Illinois AT PURDUE, 8 P.M. Wisconsin AT PENN STATE, 8 P.M. Northwestern AT No. 9 IowA, 8 P.M. Saturday's games: Michigan AT No. 7 ILLINOIS, 4:30 P.M. Wisconsin AT No. 19 MICHIGAN STATE, NOON Minnesota AT PURDUE, 2:30 P.M. Ohio State AT NORTHWESTERN, 8 P.M. Sunday's games: Indiana at No. 9 Iowa, TBA 6 REC SPORTS The University of Michigan Department of Recreational Sports INTRAMURAL SPORTS PROGRAM WHATS HAPPENING INTRIAMURAL$ In case you missed it In a very busy break, Michigan went 3-1. Here are the highlights. Michigan 88, Eastern Michigan 58 The Wolverines posted a season-best 58.3 percent shooting per- , formance from the field and LaVell Blanchard had 20 points. San Francisco 55, Michigan 47 Despite Dommanic Ingerson's 16 points in his return to the Bay Area, the Wolverines fell to San Francisco after shooting a dis- mal 24 percent from the floor. Michigan 67, Penn State 63 Bernard Robinson came through in the clutch, scoring a team- DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily high 16 points and adding a late tap-in to ice Michigan's first Bernard Robinson road win in 345 days. UP NEXT: Intramural Ice Hockey Officials Needed!! o No Experience *4 Necessary T- SPORTMS * Officials are Paid for All INTRA URAL h Games Worked Get a Free =Shirt BOILERMAKERS Continued from Page1B Most of all, it was the aggressive heads-up defense of Robinson and point guard Avery Queen that gave Michigan some momentum on both sides of the floor. The two combined for four steals in the-first half, and the Wolverines capitalized with nine first- half points off turnovers. "We just sat down and we decided not to let them score," senior tri-cap- tain Chris Young said. "We're going to stick to our defensive principles and play our defensive game and create some turnovers, which turned into points on the offensive end." The Wolverines first half effort was aided by freshmen Dommanic Inger- son and Chuck Bailey, who had a combined 10 points and four rebounds in 17 minutes. They were all but absent from the floor in the second half, however, as Amaker utilized his vets to hold on to the lead down the stretch. Junior Gavin Groninger was crucial in the win. He converted both free throws with 13 seconds left to give Michigan a four-point lead and put the game out of reach. "In conference play, we're going to rely on our veterans," Amaker said. Despite the late push by the Boiler- makers and a shouting match between Purdue head coach Gene Keady and Groninger as the game became tense, the Wolverines emerged in a position where few expected them to be. But everyone around the program is excit- ed that they're there. "To be 2-0 and have some confi- dence is really important for our young team," Amaker said. The first win came on Jan.2, against Penn State in State College. "A lot of people don't understand how much a victory like that can give you confidence going into the next game," Robinson said. "Hopefully we can keep it going." Jerry HolmanAPO MINNESOTA The Golden Gophers shocked No. 19 Michigan State on Saturday in Williams Arena, 70-67. Now, Michigan must travel to the same raucous arena on Wednesday and face a Minnesota team with great size and momentum. NEXT WEEKEND: A 4 Flexible hours ILLINOIS While Illinois proved it was susceptible to the upset when Wisconsin knocked it off in Madison two days ago, Michigan will need-to have its best game on Saturday when it heads to Champaign to take on the Fighting Ilrini. Illinois swept the Wolverines last season. 'M' STATS Training Clinics Begin Tonight 6110nm Mondav Januarv 7 Team 1. Duke 2. Kansas 3. Florida 4. Vi rinia 6. Kentucky 7. Illinois 8. Maryland 9. Iowa Record 12-1 12-1 12-1 9-1 13-1 9-3 12-3 11-2 12-4 114 1 Result of last game Lost to Florida St. 77-76 Beat Colorado 97-85 Beat South Carolina 69-60 . Lost to North Carolina 81-74 Lost to Texas 70-61 Lost to Louisiana State 74-69 Lost to Wisconsin 72-66 Beat Norfolk State 92-69 Lost to Ohio State 72-62 Qol. To..... Aft A n00_41 Player Blanchard Robinson Young Ingerson Groninger Ralp 6 11 11 11 11 11 Min 28.5 27.5 29.7 19.5 20.6 15.)~ A 1.9 2.2 1.1 1.5 1.4 O.4 Reb 7.5 3.8 5.5 1.9 1.5 Pts. 14.7 12.6 11.0 11.0 8.3 i I mm