The Michigan Daily - SportsTuesday - January 28, 2002 - 5B

Trash talk

"I like our chances."
- Michigan senior tri-captain Chris Young on Wednesday
night's game against Michigan State at the Breslin Center
Young said his confidence stems from what Michigan is
doing and has nothing to do with the Spartans'struggles.

SATURDAY'S GAME
Vermont 62
Michigan 75

Players of the game

Dommanic Ingerson
(Michigan)

Trevor Gaines
(Vermont)

Ingerson led the Wolverines with 13 Gaines, a Farmington Hills native, made
points on S-7 shooting, including three 3- a successful return to his home state by
pointers that deflated Vermont. scoring 23 points, mostly on tip-ins.

I J I *~ -

Wolverines head to East Lansing with best shot in years

W ell, it's that time once again. Wednesday
WmI night, the Wolverines take on Michigan
State at the Breslin Center - where
Michigan has lost the past
two games by a combined 72
points.
The Spartans have
thrashed Michigan in the
teams' past seven meetings,
representing the longest one-
sided streak in the rivalry
since the Wolverines beat
Michigan State 12 straight JOE
times from 1921-1927 by SMITH
such scores as 17-10, 19-17 T
and 23-19. he one
Due to an "administrative and only
oversight," Wednesday's
game will be the only time Michigan meets the
Spartans this season, and the first time in 32 years
that the Spartans don't travel to Crisler Arena.
Michigan and Michigan State don't always have
a guaranteed second game due to the revolving
Big Ten schedule - implemented after the Big
Ten changed from an 18-game schedule to 16,
when Penn State joined the conference. The two
schools could have played each other in a noncon-
ference game at Crisler, but Michigan Associate
Athletic Director Warde Manuel said that both
sides realized late last summer that neither school
had the scheduling room for an extra game.
Given the painful experiences the past few years
with the Spartans, one could guess why Michigan
happened to "forget" its intrastate rival. Michigan
State (along with its fans) have made a strong case
Rebounding
concerns(M)
against State
By Steve Jackson
Daily Sports Writer

for "owning" Crisler in recent years. The Spartans
have embarrassed Michigan on its home floor the
past three seasons - winning by an average of 20
points and bringing enough fans to each game to
qualify it as a quasi-home game.
But things have changed for both programs. So
much so that this Wednesday's game marks the
best chance in years for Michigan to dethrone the
Big Green Machine.
Too bad it's the Wolverines' only shot.
"I really wish that we did have them at Crisler
this year," said senior tri-captain Chris Young, who
admitted that barring an NCAA Tournament run,
his career would be incomplete without beating
the Spartans at least once. "I think it's kind of
unfair that we only have one opportunity to play
them again."
Especially with the Spartans as troubled as they
are.
Injuries and the NBA Draft have left Michigan
State coach Tom Izzo with just seven healthy
scholarship players. And if forward Jason
Andreas' heavily bruised pelvis bone keeps him
on the bench, that makes it six.
Michigan coach Tommy Amaker chooses to
play former walk-ons; Izzo is forced to.
Suddenly, a perennial Final Four team and
owner of four-straight Big Ten titles has just as
many football players (freshmen Aaron Alexander
and Robert Strickland) practicing with them as
Big Ten wins. Right now mighty Michigan State is
actually looking up at the Wolverines in the con-
ference standings
So Michigan has one more win in conference,
but that's not the only reason why even Michigan

players themselves feel that their one and only
meeting with the Spartans this Wednesday is their
best shot at turning things around.
After last year's 27-point loss to the Spartans at
Crisler, Young said that he "could hardly show his
face" in Crisler and just wished he could "go hide
under his bed."
This time, he's singing a different tune.
"I like our chances," Young said. "Regardless of
what's going on with them with injuries"
There's a renewed sense of confidence for the
Wolverines and a fresh feeling of "starting over"
has immersed itself among everyone inside
Tommy Amaker's new Michigan program. Players
insist "last season was last season" and times have
changed.
"It's two different teams now," Bernard Robin-
son said. "So we'll see what happens when the ball
goes up."
Come tipoff on Wednesday night, Michigan will
not be facing the daunting task of upsetting a far
more talented group of Spartans in an intimidating
road environment.
No more Jason Richardson. No more Zach
Randolph. And thank God, no more Mateen
Cleaves.
But more importantly, no more nation-leading
53-game home unbeaten streak to contend with.
That intimidation factor ended on Jan. 12, when
Wisconsin stole one from the Sparties. Even Izzo
admitted that loss also tarnished Breslin's mys-
tique.
"There's a chink in the armor now," said Izzo
after the Wisconsin loss.
Instead of facing NBA talent and a heralded

SATURDAY'S GAME
Vermont (62)
FG FT REB
MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS
Coppenrath 34 6-15 0.1 &8 0 1 12
Anderson, G. 18 1-3 0-0 0-4 1 1 2
Gaines 37 10-19 3-4 7-10 2 4 23
Sorrentine 39 7-25 0-0 0 3 1 1 18
Anderson, A. 9 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Goia 9 0-1 0-0 1-2 0 1 0
Hehn 27 1-3 0-0 2-5 3 1 3
McLaughlin 8 0-1 0-0 1-3 1 2 0
Nji lla 18 2-6 0-0 3-6 1 0 4
Phelan 1 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 200 27.75 35 2544 9 12 62
FG%: .360. FT%: .600. 3-point FG: 5-18, .278 (Sor-
rentine 4-12, Hehn 1-2, Gaines 0.1, Goia 0-1, Njila
0-1, Phelan 0-1). Blocks: 0. Steals: 6 (Hehn 4, Sor-
rentine 2). Turnovers: 9 (Gaines 3, Coppenrath 2,
Sorrentine, Anderson, A., Hehn, Team). Technical
fouls: none.
MICHIGAN (75)
FG FT REB
MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS
Robinson 24 5-12 1-1 1-6 2 3 12
Blanchard 19 5-10 2-2 1-5 0 4 12
Young 32 5-6 0-0 0-3 3 1 10
Queen 31 4-8 0.0 1-3 4 0 10
Jones 25 4-8 0-0 0.1 4 1 10
Groninger 7 0-1 0.0 0-0 0 0 0
Bailey 20 4-4 0-1 2-5 0 0 8
Gotfredson 9 0-0 0.0 0.1 1 0 0
ingerson 22 5-7 0-0 0-1 2 0 13
Adebiyi 8 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Gibson 1 0-1 2-2 0-0 0 0 0
Dill 1 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 0 0
Garber 1 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 0 0
Totals 200 32-59 3.4 8311.6 10 75
FG%: .542. FT%: .750 3-point FG: 8-20, .400 (Inger-
son 3-5, Jones 2-5, Queen 2-6, Robinson 1-1, Blan-
chard 0-1, Groninger 0-1, Dill 0-1). Blocks: 3 (Young
2, Bailey). Steals: 2 (Robinson, Young). Turnovers:
10 (Queen 4, Groninger 2, Robinson, Blanchard,
Young, Jones). Technical fouls: none.
Vermont...........31 31 - 62
Michigan........................39 36 - 75
At: Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor
Attendance: 11243
BIG TEN STANDINGS

DANNY MOLOSH-OK/Daily
Chris Young and the Wolverines will try to do to
the Spartans what they did to Vermont yesterday.
streak at Breslin, Michigan will deal with man-
ageable issues like rebounding and penetration.
That's a good reason why Michigan players
"like their chances."
After all, the new Breslin streak is just one.
Michigan has won two straight at Crisler.
It's a shame one more can't come against
Michigan State.
Joe Smith can be reached atjosephms@umich.edu.

If Michigan wants to survive in the paint
against Michigan State and its Big Ten-lead-
ing plus-9.1 rebounding margin this Wednes-
day, it better learn to get a body on people
soon.
Saturday against Vermont, the Wolverines
got outbattled, outhustled, outpositioned, out-
worked and completely
outplayed on the boards. BASKETBALL
The Catamounts tied a
Crisler Arenarecord with Commend tary,
their season-high 25
offensive rebounds, two more than Michigan
could salvage on its own end of the court. In
total, the Wolverines were outrebounded 44-
31.
"Coach emphasized (rebounding) at half-
time, but they just killed us and we can't have
that," said forward LaVell Blanchard, who
finished with five boards.
After the game, Michigan coach Tommy
Amaker lamented his team's inability to
rebound against an opponent from the meager
America East conference.
"It's concerning. We're hoping this was just
a one-time lapse," Amaker said. "That would
be nice if that's that case."
The rebounding issue had not been this
depressing recently, but it has been a weak-
ness all season. In the Big Ten home opener
against Purdue, the Boilermakers won the
battle on Michigan's glass 18-17. Boston Col-
lege and Eastern Michigan also grabbed more
than 15 offensive rebounds during their
respective visits to Crisler earlier this season.
Amaker admitted that his team's rebound-
ing ills allowed Vermont to "keep within
striking distance."
Those second and third chances added up
for the Catamounts, who finished the game
with 75 field goal attempts - 16 more than
the Wolverines.
Trevor Gaines, Vermont's leading scorer
and rebounder during the season, notched 12
of his team's 23 second-chance points.
WHISTLE BLOWER: LaVell Blanchard has
battled with foul trouble in each of his team's
past three home games, fouling out twice.
Saturday, he was limited to just 19 minutes
and finished with 12 points and four fouls.
"We need him on the floor for us to be suc-
cessful," Amaker said. "What it does is it
causes us to go to our bench in a different
way than we planned."

Nonconference
schedule provides
break for Cagers
By David Horn
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan played very well on Saturday - as well as it has
played all season - but Vermont isn't exactly Indiana. The
Wolverines' first game against a non-Big Ten opponent since
the last calendar year was as good, statistically, as coach Tommy
Amaker could have hoped. Other than allowing the Catamounts
25 rebounds under the Michigan basket (where the Wolverines
collected just 23), Michigan posted numbers that .should war-
rant optimism. Six Wolverines scored in double-digits and a
seventh - freshman forward Chuck Bailey - had eight. The
Wolverines shot 54.2 percent in the game (40 percent from the
3-point line), had 16 assists (a statistical catsgr which thgy.
have lately been struggling) and controlled the game for the
entire second half.
"I think this was a good step for us ... especially coming off
the terrible loss at Ohio State, senior tri-captain Chris Young
said. "It was definitely beneficial."
That 22-point loss in Columbus last Thursday was Michigan's
worst of the Big Ten season. After keeping the game close for
the better part of the first half, the Wolverines fell apart. The
Buckeyes made a small run to end the first half, followed by a
19-6 run to begin the second. Michigan's dominance in the sec-
ond half against Vermont was reminiscent of what happened to
them two days earlier in Columbus. The Wolverines scored the
final six points of the first half, then went on a 14-0 run to begin
the second to put the game out of reach.
"We really had it clicking," Amaker said of the second-half
run. "I was pleased with that effort in the first four minutes."
But executing their revenge for the Ohio State embarrassment
against a team from the America East conference does not quite
satisfy the Wolverines. The question is whether they will be able
to take all the positives from Saturday with them to East Lans-
ing on Wednesday, when the Wolverines battle Michigan State.
Michigan is grateful that its capacity for a breakdown on the
glass was exposed out of conference.
"I think this is a game where we learned a lot," senior tri-cap-
tain Leon Jones said. "Michigan State is probably one of the
best rebounding teams that we've seen in the past few years, so
hopefully we can work on (rebounding) in the next few prac-
tices and into State."
The last time Michigan played a nonconference game in the
middle of the Big Ten season was in 1994-95, when they played
at Crisler against Big East power St. Johns. That game was
sandwiched between two wins - at Indiana and home against
Wisconsin. But that team ended the season 11-7 in the Big Ten,
whereas this team is struggling to find .500. The hope is that
this game against Vermont - and another nonconference game
at Colorado State in February - will serve as opportunities to
stay on track and avoid any kind of losing skid in the midst of a
grueling Big Ten schedule.
"I think it's a good break from the same old thing," Jones
said. "I kind of like playing someone that's not in our confer-
ence in the middle of the season."
When the Wolverines travel to Fort Collins, Colo. to take on
the Rams, they will be playing their fourth game in 10 days.

Team
Ohio State
Indiana
Wisconsin
Illinois
Minnesota
Michigan
Iowa
Purdue
Northwestern
Michigan State
Penn State

Last Saturday's results:
MICHIGAN 75, Vermont 62
WISCONSIN 66, Penn State 63
INDIANA 88, No. 8 Illinois 57
PURDUE 73, No. 24 Iowa 68
MINNESOTA 89, No. 23 Ohio State 71
Northwestern 63, BUFFALO 57
Tuesday 's game:
No. 8 Illinois AT No. 23 OHIo STATE, 7 P.M.
Wednesday's games:
Michigan AT MICHIGAN STATE, 8 P.M.
Wiston mt AT1'4RT-WESTERN, 8 P: -
Penn State AT MINNESOTA, 8 P.M.
Thursday's game:
Purdue AT INDIANA, 7 P.M.
Saturday's games:
Wisconsin AT MICHIGAN, 8 P.M.
Northwestern AT No.23 OHIo SrATE 12:15P.M.
Penn State AT No. 24 IowA, 2:30 P.M.
Indiana AT MINNESOTA, 4:30 P.M.
UP NEXT:

Conference Overall
W L W L
6 1 15 3
6 1 13 6
5 3 12 9
4 3 15 5
4 3 11 7
3 4 8 9
3 5 14 8
3 5 11 11
2 4 11 7
2 4 11 8
1 6 5 13

DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily
Dommanic ingerson lit it up from behind the 3-point line, and ended the day with 13 points.

Amaker pointed to poor positioning as the
cause, and Blanchard agreed.
"Three of those fouls came trying to get
rebounds," Blanchard said. "When I come
over the back on the defensive end, that's def-
initely a positioning thing."
No LOVE FOR CRISLER: This weekend the
Columbus Dispatch ranked Crisler Arena as
the second-worst Big Ten basketball venue
behind Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center.
The article called Crisler "a notorious noise
underachiever" and "a dark, old mushroom in
need of some juice," noting that even with the
talented Fab Five "the place just did not hop."
KING OF ALL MEDIA: Vermont head coach
Tom Brennan's weekly radio show - Corm
and Coach on WCVP - draws better ratings
in Burlington, Vt. than the Howard Stern
Show, and has consistently done so for nearly
nine years.
"I'd never claim I am as good a coach as
Rick Pitino or 326 other guys, but I am every
bit as good as Stern," Brennan told CBSS-
portsline.com.

Broken glass
Rebounding has been one of Michigan's
sore spots this season, as the Wolverines
have often found themselves on the losing
end of the battle on the boards - even
under their own basket.
Boston College
The Eagles grabbed 19 offensive rebounds in
their 83-74 win in Crisler, with guard Ryan
Sidney collecting nine by himself.
Eastern Michigan
Michigan lost the rebounding battle to a much
smaller Eastern Michigan team, and the Eagles
recorded 16 offensive boards.
Purdue
The Boilermakers destroyed Michigan on the
offensive glass, 1&8, as center John Allison
grabbed five on his own.
Vermont
The Catamounts had a season-high 25 offensive
boards - two more than Michigan had defen-
sively. Vermont outrebounded Michigan 44-31.

Aloyslus Anagonye DANNY MOLOSHOK/DaIly
MICHIGAN TATE
The Wolverines may have their best
chance in a long time to end the Spartan
curse - their seven-game losing streak
against Michigan State -when they trav-
el to the Breslin Center on Wednesday
night at 8 p.m.

NEXT WEEKEND:

I

WEEKEND NOTES

Indiana 88, No. 9 Illinois 57: The
Hoosiers won a laugher Saturday after-
noon in Bloomington.
Dane Fife scored 20 points and Indi-
ana set a school record with 17 treys
to send the Illini home with their
worst loss in more than 10 years.
"Basically, every time we shot,
we were like 'Let's go and get
on back on defense because we
know it's going in,"' said Fife,
who notched six 3-point-
ers by himself. "I was

er book of coaching, and it paid off.
He started the game without two of
his best players. While Kevin Burleson
and Michael Bauer rode the pine, the
Gophers found a way to win.
Travarus Bennett scored a
career-high 21 points for Min-
nesota in an 89-71 upset of the
Buckeyes, ending their nine-
game winning streak and hand-
ing them their first Big Ten
loss in almost a year.

Arkansas 94, No. 5 Florida 92 (OT):
Jannero Pargo came off the bench to
score a career-high 35 points, includ-
ing a 3-pointer that sent the game into
overtime and another 14-footer to win
the game for the Razorbacks.
When Orien Greene's shot clanged off
the rim at the buzzer to give the
Gators their second straight loss, stu-
dents poured onto the court.
Texas Tech 92, No. 6 Oklahoma 79:
Bobby Knight completed the a unique
sweep with his second-straight upset

HOW THE AP
Team Record
1. Duke 17-1
2. Kansas 17-2
3. Maryland 16-3
4. Cincinnati 19-1
5. Florida 15-3
6. Oklahoma 15-3
7. Virginia 14-2
8. Kentucky 13-5
9. Illinois 15-5
10. Arizona 13-6
11. Oklahoma State 17-3

TOP 25 FARED
This weekend's results
Beat No. 7 Virginia 94-81
Beat Texas A&M 86-74
Beat Florida State 84-63
Beat South Florida 78-68
Lost to Arkansas 94-92
Lost to Texas Tech 92-79
Lost to No. 1 Duke 94-81
Lost to No. 14 Alabama 64-61
Lost to No. 1 Duke 94-81
Lost to No. 25 Connecticut 100-98
Beat Colorado 64-55

WISCONSIN
Michigan hosts the Badgers in a rare Sat-
urday night game. Wisconsin, under new
coach Bo Ryan, has utilized his infamous
"swing offense" to perfection as they
have risen to third place in the Big Ten.

Player
Blanchard
Robinson
Young
I ngerson
Groninger
1I,,nne

'M' STATS
G Min A Reb
17 28.0 1.5 7.0
17 27.4 2.3 4.6
17 30.6 1.1 5.5
17 18.1 1.4 1.8
17 18.9 1.0 1.3
1 Q ')0d 17 9

Pts.
14.7
12.2
10.8
9.8
7.1