. .' c be £idiigrp~n ai g Freshman RickyWilliams scoredtwo touchdowns againstthe nation's top defense Saturday and No. 9 Texas snapped No. 16 Texas A&M's 31- game home winning streak with a 16-6 victory that clinched the last Southwest Conference championship. The Longhorns (10-1-1 overall, 7-0 SWC) will play in the Sugar Bowl while the Aggies (8-3, 5-2) get the consolation prize of meeting Michigan on Dec. 29 in the Alamo Bowl at San Antonio. Wolvenines need to rd sconszg threat ETROIT - For most practical purposes, the Michigan section of the box score from the Wolverines' 68-48 win over Detroit Saturday night could have read like this: Defense defeats Detroit Taylor keys Michigan win in clash with the Titans FG 3PtFG Pts Taylor/Bullock 14-20 3-4 38 The other guys 9-27 2-9 30 Consolidating the box score this way would convey 85 percent of the game's relevant information in 25 percent of the space. True, it would have omitted some of the game's rare highlights, like Robert Traylor missing only one of his six free throws. Or like Jerod Ward playing solid defense, hauling down seven re- bounds, and By Michael Rosenberg Daily Editor in Chief DETROIT- They say defense wins championships. At the very least, defense wins games against Detroit. The Michigan men's basketball team found that out at Cobo Arena Saturday night, when they held the Titans to just 38 percent from the field on the way to a 68-48 victory. "Both halfs we played well defen- sively," Michigan coach Steve Fisher said. Detroit's shooting was consistently miserable throughout the game: 10-for- 23 in the first half, 10-for-30 in the second half, down for a 10-count at the end. The Wolverines (5-2) had their own shooting struggles in the first half, mak- ing just nine of 24 shots from the field. But Michigan improved to 14-for-23 in the second half to blow out Detroit (2-1). Forward Maurice Taylor scored Michigan's first seven points and ended with 20 for the night. "This is one of the best games I've played this year," Taylor said. "I don't think I have played the way I'm capable of playing." Despite Taylor's outburst, Michigan kept the Titans (and the crowd of 10,709) in the game. The Wolverines held a slim 27-23 lead at the half and found themselves tied up, 29-29, with 16 min- utes remaining. It was around then that the Wolver- ines suddenly realized that, hey, they were bigger and stronger and, well, maybe they should start playing like it. After that, their problems disap- peared. The Wolverines used their size to outscore the Titans 38-19 in the final 14:50. "Dutch came to me at the half and said we only had one basket in the paint and that was a driving basket by Dugan (Fife)," said Fisher, referring to assis- tant Brian Dutcher. The Wolverines pounded the ball in- side in the second half, with positive results. On those occasions when they didn't score, they often found themselves at the foul line. For the game, Michigan made 17 of 27 free throws. Detroit was just five for seven from the line. One reason for the Titans' low score was Michigan's defensive rebounding, which prevented Detroit from getting many second chances. Jerod Ward alone grabbed seven defensive rebounds. "It was a really good victory for the team overall," said Ward, who scored nine points. "I'm happy about it." Guard Jermaine Jackson was the only Titan in double figures. He scored 13 points. Despite Jackson's efforts, Detroit coach Perry Watson said his team fell apart in the final 10 minutes. "For 30 minutes we really gave the type of effort that was needed to win," Watson said. "I was pleased for about 30 minutes with everything we did." Part of the reason for the collapse may have been Watson himself. The coach was slapped with a technical foul with 5:20 remaining. Watson was an- grily protesting that a foul should have been called on Michigan guard Louis Bullock, who ran into a Detroit player. "I thought it was just a blatant call," Watson said. "Our player was knocked out of the air." The Titans were down 52-44 at the time ofthe technical but were outscored 15-4 during the rest of the game. "I think they were kind of surprised," Watson said. "It was my first technical in three years here." Although Watson was disappointed with the final score, the Titans made a strong impression on the Wolverines. "We didn't think they would come out and play so well," Taylor said. "They came out hard." McNTOSH McIntosh Classics for the Wolverines: chipping in nine points. But glazing over those statistics also emphasizes one important fact Right now, Michigan's Louis Bullock's steal helped the Wolverines past Detroit Saturday. First-period flurry leads Wolverines over Falcons Bullock and Taylor are the only Wolverines that can be counted on to put points on the board every game, night-in and night-out. Taylor is Michigan's stalwart. Every game this season has found him scoring in double figures, and when the Wolverines need a bucket, the ball inevitably ends up in his hands. En route to a 20-point, eight- rebound performance Saturday, Taylor scored Michigan's first seven points and made eight of his 11 shots. Bullock's play is a pleasant surprise for Michigan coach Steve Fisher; in fact, Bullock's play has been a pleasant surprise even for Bullock. "Coming in as a freshman, you don't really know where your career will go right away," Bullock said. But don't get the wrong idea: The other Wolverines had a good deal to do with beating Detroit. Michigan's defense was swarming, forcing a wide variety of misguided Titan shot selections. Their rebounding was suspect, but they did win the battle of See McINTOSH, Page 88 By Alan Goldenbach Daily Sports Writer BOWLING GREEN - Among the banners of some Falcon alumni that hang in Bowling Green Ice Arena are those of Ken Morrow and Mark Wells. They were members of the 1980 gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic Hockey team that performed the "Miracle on Ice," beating the heavily favored So- viet Union. Unfortunately for the Bowling Green hockey team, a miracle of equal stature may have been the only hope for the Falcons to have had any chance ofcom- ing back from the whirlwind of Michi- gan domination in the first period Sat- urday. The No. 4 Wolverines (8-2 CCHA, 11-3 overall) put to rest any hints of a slumping team on a losing streak with season bests of a five-goal first period and a whopping 50 shots on goal en route to an 8-1 blowout of the No. 10 Falcons (6-2-1, 11-3-1). Michigan's power play, mired in a 2- for-21 slump in its three previous games, received an injection of life with a 4- for-8 showing, with all four goals com- ing in the first period. In particular, the unit was greatly keyed by a five-minute man-advantage late in the first period which saw Michi- gan tack on tallies by Matt Herr and Steven Halko to create a nearly insur- mountable 5-0 lead. "We needed to have a good start and the puck went in for us," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "The power play was something we've been con- cerned with and that was the difference in the game and how we played in the first period." While there was little neutral-zone play, the Wolverines clearly had the advantage. They were the quicker of the two teams and consistently beat the Falcons to loose pucks. Sometimes they beat the Falcons be- fore they could blink, as was the case on Michigan's first goal where John Mad- den scored off the draw at 4:44, coming only five seconds aftera Bowling Green penalty. Mike Legg, playing despite a sepa- rated shoulder that he suffered against Michigan State on Tuesday, made it 2- 0 less than two minutes later with the Wolverines' only even-strength goal of the first period. Legg came down on a 3-on-2 break and deked Falcon goaltender Bob Petrie who had already come out of the crease, and slid the puck under him. Warren Luhning made it three in. a row for Michigan at 13:01 with a power play goal coming off another Wolver- ine odd-man rush. Luhning took a pass in the low slot from Jason Botterill, who drew the Falcon netminder out of the crease, and beat an out-of-position Petrie. Bowling Green coach Buddy Powers called a timeout following Luhning's goal, hoping to settle down his team. But all it did was give Michigan a chance to rest its smoking guns. Less than two minutes after the stop- page, Falcon defenseman Chad Ackerman was assessed a major pen- alty for checking Harold Schock from behind along the boards by the Michi- gan bench. The penalty turned out to be the turn- ing point of the game as Michigan just pulled away from there. The Wolverines' hustle showed on their next goal as Sean Ritchlin See ICERS, Page 78 WALKER VANDYKE/Daily Michigan's Matt Herr tips in one of the Wolverines' eight goals against Bowling Green Saturday night. I Women cagers split non-conference pair Breeze Basketball's never been a problem for Jennifer Brzezinski By Jmes Goldstein D~aily Sports W~riter Michigan coach Trish Roberts said her women's basketball team gave Friday's game away because it gave up the ball too much. Yesterday, the Wol- verines took care of the ball and the game. Michigan finished the weekend up strong with a 91-79 victory over Ohioin Athens, Ohio. Friday, the Wolverines fell to South Carolina 78-69 at Crisler Arena. Michigan (3-1) was able to cut down on its turnovers yesterday, which was a problem in Friday's game. The Wol- verines ended up with 13 turnovers in yesterday's game after giving the ball up 23 times Friday. By holding onto the ball better, Michi- gan was able to utilize its inside-outside game. Center Pollyana Johns and forward Tiffany Willard led the Wolverines with 20 points a piece against the Bobcats. Johns was 7-of-15 from the field and 6-of-12 from the line. And the guards complemented the post-players nicely. Starters Akisha Franklin and Jenni- fer Kiefer contributed with 15 points and 14 points, respectively in the win over Ohio. Franklin added six rebounds, three assists and shot six-of-eight from the foul line. Kiefer canned two 3-pointers and was perfect from the line on four attempts. The Bobcats were led by forward Barb Grbac with 21 points on seven-of- 10 shooting, including two-of-three from the three point line. Free throws were akey in both games. Yesterday, the Wolverines converted on 22-of-38 attempts. Friday, Michi- gan got to the line only 16 times and made only eight of those shots. Against South Carolina, the Wolver- ines gave up too many easy baskets. "We gave the game away," Michigan coach Trish Roberts said. "The key things that hurt us in the game was that we didn't box out. South Carolina had so many second and third shots" By Jim Rose Daily Sports Writer Jennifer Brzezinski had an easy time picking up the game of basket- ball. You might say it was a breeze. "Breeze," as Brzezinski's (pro- nounced Bruh-ZIN-ski) teammates refer to her, is the lone senior on the Michigan women's basketball team. The 6-foot-I power forward is coming off a stellar junior season, in which she led the Wolverines in scoring and rebounding. Just from talking to her, though, you'd have a hard time picturing Brzezinski as the bruising, physical power forward whose 9.3 rebounds per game were third best in the Big Ten last year. She just doesn't fit the mold of the tough, rugged power forward - off the court, that is. She's quiet, unassuming and friendly - traits which get left behind when it's time to hit the hardwood. But the first thing you notice about Jennifer Brzezinski is her height. I started asking myself questions like, 'What if I'd chosen a different school? Would I still have gotten hurt?'" - Jennifer Brzezinski On her knee injury last season Brzezinski grew up surrounded by a family of basketball players. Her dad and brother both played (and wore jersey number 42, at Lincoln High School in Warren, Mich., just like she did. So it's easy to under- stand why she got an early start playing hoops. By the time she was in second grade, she was big enough (and good enough) to be playing competitively, on the same team as her sister. Her sister was in fifth grade. So was the rest of the league. "They weren't really supposed to let me do that - plav in that league into it." By the time she was a senior at Lincoln, Brzezinski was flying high. Her parents liked the fact that she-was class valedictorian and class presi- dent. Various basketball coaches around the country liked the fact that she was also a first-team All-State selection, and a four-time conference MVP. Combine the characteristics, and you can see why Brzezinski could pretty much pick whichever college she wanted. Throw in her liking for architecture, and you can see why she chose Michigan.