MINNEAPOLIS - One is a forward. The other is a guard.
One is from Detroit. The other is from New York.
One leads his team in rebounding. The other leads his team in scoring.
Sometimes they are friends. Sometimes they are enemies.
Despite the opposites, Michigan sophomore forward Robert Traylor and Minnesota junior guard Eric Harris have a lot in common.
Traylor and Harris first played together when they were teammates on the 1994 U.S. Junior Team that won the gold medal in the World Junior Championship in Argentina.
And now, they both play for Big Ten basketball powers - Michigan and Minnesota - both vying for the conference title.
The Wolverines have not held the honor since 1986, and the Golden Gophers since '82. Both Traylor and Harris are starters and both mean a lot to their respective squads.
On Saturday at Minnesota's Williams Arena, Traylor and Harris played together for the first time since the '94 game in the Southern Hemisphere.
"We played on the junior national team together, ... so I know him and guys like Maurice Taylor," Harris said. "We talked a little bit (on Saturday). Off the court, we're good friends, but on the court it's a war."
Harris, a junior, is playing the best ball of his college career, averaging 13.2 points per game, which leads the Gophers balanced scoring attack. Over the previous two seasons, Harris averaged a meager 2.3 and 4.7 points per game.
But this year, with Harris leading the offense and the scoring, the Gophers are off to their second-best start in school history. They are just one win away from tying the best start, 16-1, posted by the 1976-77 team. Kevin McHale, then a freshman and one of the most storied players in Minnesota history, was an integral part of that team's success as Harris is now.
The Gophers are 4-0 in conference play for the first time since the 1971-72 team got off to the same 4-0 start. The best conference start ever was 10-0 by the 1918-19 team.
"We got the chance to break the school's all-time start for the season," Harris said. "We stuck with the defense (yesterday), and when you do that, you're chances are good."
The Wolverines, on the other hand, have lost four games this season, including two conference games, but Traylor's steady play has helped the Wolverines. He leads the team in rebounds and has had three double-doubles this season.
Shot dead: The Gophers won Saturday's contest, but not in their usual fashion.
Before Saturday, the Gophers averaged 49.9 percent from the field. Over the weekend, the Wolverines limited the Gophers to just 40.3 percent.
Secondly, the Gophers stifling defense allowed its first three Big Ten opponents - Wisconsin, Michigan State and Indiana - to a combined 37.2 field goal percentage.
This weekend, the Wolverines broke through that average, connecting on 39.7 percent for the game, 43.5 percent in the first half.
The Gophers had also averaged 34 percent from three-point range and 64.5 percent from the charity stripe. The Wolverines limited them to a 33.3 percent clip from downtown and 55 percent from the stripe.
Growing old: The Gophers home court, Williams Arena, completed in 1928, is the oldest arena in the Big Ten and one of the loudest and toughest places to play in the country.
The Gophers are 100-26 in Williams under coach Clem Haskins over the past seven seasons.
Although the Wolverines hold a 68-52 series advantage overall over the Gophers, they are just 23-37 in games played at Minnesota and 20-34 in games played in Williams Arena, one of the few raised-floor arenas in the country and one of two in the conference. Purdue's Mackey Arena has the other raised floor.
The Gophers have won the last three games against the Wolverines in Williams. The Wolverines last won there during the Fab Five era, Jan. 20, 1993.
So, were the Wolverines rattled by the venerable arena this time around?
"No, not really," Taylor said. "It's just another game."
Despite Taylor's opinion, Williams was ranked third in a list of top college basketball arenas in the country by Inside Sports.
Feeling Ugly: During a timeout late in the second half with the Gophers up, 53-51, Williams Arena officials held a contest for the ugliest dressed person in the crowd.
And Goldy the Gopher, Minnesota's bushy-tailed, bucked-tooth mascot, won out of the field of three contestants.
Minnesota's mascot? Winning the prize?
He probably won because he wore a little too much gold - blue and gold, that is.
Goldy wore a Michigan tee-shirt and shorts, and his victory induced a few chuckles from the maroon and gold-clad crowd.
Minnesota guard Bobby Jackson drove over, around and through the Michigan defense on Saturday. The 6-foot-1 guard, an All-Big Ten candidate, scorched the Wolverines for a game-high 20 points. He also snagged 11 rebounds and dished out three assists in the Gophers' 70-64 victory. Minnesota now has a 4-0 Big Ten mark, its best since it won the conference title after the 1981-82 season and is in the driver's seat in the race for the Big ten title this season.
JOE WESTRATE/Daily