By Will McCahill
Daily Sports Editor
On Saturday, Maurice Taylor was unstoppable.
But this time, it was not opposing defenses trying to stop the junior forward.
It was the heckling of his own teammates, the concern of his coaching staff and the tardiness of the UPS delivery man.
After breaking his nose in Thursday's 58-53 loss at Wisconsin, Taylor was fitted for a special plastic mask to protect his tender proboscis.
Although the mask is clear, it nevertheless brought comparisons between Taylor and various masked movie villains known for wearing hockey goalie-type facegear.
"(Senior guard) Ryan DeKuiper said I look like Michael Myers (of Halloween)," Taylor said. "And then (trainer Steve Stricker) got on me and said all I needed was a chainsaw.
"Then he was talking about painting it all different kinds of colors, looking like a goalie mask. He told me to put the wings on it, like the football helmets."
Because of delivery problems, Taylor almost missed out on all the friendly teasing. The mask arrived a mere 45 minutes before the scheduled tip-off with Penn State.
Taylor said the scene in the lockerroom was almost frantic as he, Stricker and coach Steve Fisher waited for the accessory to arrive.
"We couldn't find it," he said. "We were searching for the UPS guy.
"Fish was in an uproar," Taylor said of his normally reserved coach.
Indeed, Fisher said he was beginning to doubt if the Nittany Lions would get a look at Taylor's schnozz-protector.
"They told me the mask would be here," he said, "then it got delayed and delayed, and we all got a little worried that 'Will it get here for this game?'"
Fisher said there would have been no stopping Taylor from playing, masked or un-masked.
"I would have played him had he said he wanted to play," Fisher said. "He was in no danger if he played."
Taylor, too, said he was willing to put his beak on the line for the team.
"I was going to play regardless," he said. "I had a headache before the game, but I told (Stricker) not to tell Fish, because I knew I could play through it."
The appearance of a masked man on the Crisler Arena floor was reminiscent of Chris Webber's turn behind the facegear during the 1992-93 season after his nose was broken in practice.
In fact, Michigan assistant coach Brian Dutcher made Taylor a tape of Webber's first game after the injury, an 80-73 victory over Minnesota in which Webber set a career-high for blocked shots.
"I watched (the tape) before the game," Taylor said. "It kinda hyped me up a little bit."
Taylor came off the bench to score 14 points in the 81-64 drubbing of the Lions, despite taking an elbow in the nose from Penn State center Calvin Booth shortly after entering the game.
"I thought I was cursed or something," he said of taking the blow. "But then I realized I could take a hit on it, and it made me feel better as the game went on."
Taylor reported few problems with the mask after the game.
"There was a couple rebounds I could have had (without the mask)," he said. "Looking straight up was kind of hard because I would look into the edges of the mask, and I couldn't see anything."
Still, the mask - which Taylor said he expects to wear through the remainder of the Big Ten season - isn't exactly something he plans to wear around the house.
"As soon as I got to the bench I was out of it," he said.
"I didn't want to spend time in it or anything."
MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
Looking somewhat like Hannibal Lechter in his fashionable mask, Michigan forward Maurice Taylor drives by Penn State's Jarett Stephens for two of his 14 points. He also pulled down five rebounds.