Win some; lose some

It was ugly, but Michigan takes Big Ten lead

What a difference a year makes. Last season, the Wolverines, on their home court, watched Minnesota cut down the nets in celebration of its first Big Ten championship in 15 years. This season, the Golden Gophers could barely even find the nets.

Minnesota shot a dismal 29.4 percent last night as No. 16 Michigan won, 65-57, notching its eighth victory in nine games and taking sole possession of first place in the conference - at least for now.

The Wolverines (15-4) sit on top of the Big Ten with a 5-1 conference record. Both Iowa and Michigan State, who play each other tonight, are tied for second in the conference at 4-1.

WARREN ZINN/Daily LSA senior Maceo Baston muscles in for two of his 13 points as Kinesiology junior Robert Traylor looks on. Baston finished with 14 rebounds and Traylor collected 12 boards to go with 21 points.

First place "feels good, but it's not a surprise," Michigan forward Baston said. "Now, we're going into the hard part of the conference schedule."

The Wolverines play Illinois (3-2), No. 12 Purdue (3-2) and No. 10 Iowa (4-1) in their next three games, going on the road to face the Illini and Hawkeyes.

The defeat dropped the Gophers, a Final Four team last season, to 0-6 in the conference and 7-10 overall.

After the Wolverines dominated the first half, thanks mostly to a horrible shooting performance by Minnesota, a reversal of fortune helped the Gophers make things interesting in the second.

Minnesota shot .441 in the second half, .500 from 3-point land, compared to a dismal .147 shooting performance from the floor in the first stanza. Even though Michigan improved its overall shooting percentage from the first to second halves (.321 to .375), the Wolverines followed a 4-of-7 performance from 3-point land in the first half by missing all 11 of their attempts from beyond the arc after the break.

The Wolverines, who started the second half with a 26-15 advantage, led by as many as 15 points with 7:57 remaining in the game. But Minnesota guard Sam Jacobson cut the Michigan lead to 60-55 with 40 seconds left in the game when he made his third 3-pointer in less than six minutes.

But the Gophers had dug themselves too deep a hole, as the Wolverines made 5-of-6 free throws in the final 40 seconds of the game. The Wolverines converted on 21-of-31 (.641) attempts from the charity stripe overall.

Michigan's Robert Traylor finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Baston also helped the Wolverines with 14 boards.

The game got off to an ugly start, with neither team scoring until Louis Bullock nailed a 3-pointer to put the Wolverines ahead 3:41 into the game.

Meanwhile, the Gophers committed three fouls even before getting on the board. Minnesota finally scored when freshman Kyle Sanden hit a bank shot with 13:43 remaining in the first half to cut the Michigan lead to three points. But Minnesota baskets were few and far between in the first half.

The Wolverines .321 shooting performance in the first half, well under their .496 average, was more than enough to overpower the Gophers who made just 5-of-34 (.147) shots in the first half.

"It was an ugly game tonight," Minnesota coach Clem Haskins said. "Nothing pretty about this game. I want to thank God that it's over."

Michigan's defense held Jacobson, an All-America candidate, to one basket on 1-of-7 shooting in the first half. The senior guard, who played in his second game back after missing three games due to injury, came storming back in the second half to finish with 21 points.

As if the Gophers weren't embarrassing themselves on offense in the first half, Michigan defenders managed to humiliate the Gophers even more.

Midway through the half, the Wolverines stuffed the Gophers twice on one possession. First, Traylor rejected a shot by a driving Kevin Clark, followed by Josh Asselin's swatting away of another Gopher shot attempt, highlighting a run that put the Wolverines up, 17-4, with 7:45 left in the first half.

Minnesota scored the next five points to pull to within 17-9, but 3-pointers from Travis Conlan and Robbie Reid gave the Wolverines a 15-pointer lead with 1:51 left in the half.

01-21-98