Nothing comes easy for these freshmen WEST LAFAYETTE - It was supposed to be the slam dunk that finished the game. Michigan led Purdue by four with time running down in overtime, and the Boilermakers were pressing hard. The Wolverines gained control and pushed the ball upcourt, with Brandon Smith and LaVell Blanchard waiting at the other end. Blanchard, ever the gentleman, stopped three feet short of the basket and flipped to a cruising Smith on his right - "After you, my good man" - and the junior made sure to actually convert this dunk, unlike the slam he bricked just three days earlier in that horrible Minnesota game. Timeout, Purdue. 40 seconds remaining. A 76-70 Michigan lead. Game. Or not. The Boilermakers rushed down the court, hit a 3-pointer as quickly as they could set the screen for one, and then fouled the first Michigan man to touch the ball - Jamal Crawford. His free-throw percentage: 79.4 percent, second-best on the team. One free throw would give Michigan another two-possession lead with 19 seconds left, which would almost surely seal the game. All he had to do was make one. Get out your calculators, statistics majors: the chance of a 79.4 percent free-throw shooter missing two in a row is just 4.2 percent. So much for statistics. Clank went the first, and clank went the second. The lead was still three, and Purdue had this surprisingly confident attitude as they walked to the bench for another timeout, as if to say, "It's Mackey Arena. We're destined to win. We never lose here." Sure enough, Crawford tried to atone for his mistake by using his 6-foot-5 frame to engulf Carson Cunningham - like he has done to so many other guards this season - as he attempted the game-tying 3-pointer from the right wing. That wingspan, that reach, that instinct was all classic Jamal, part of what makes him such a dangerous defender, and the reason why he leads the team with 15 blocks. Brian Ellerbe loves "positive aggression" - that's the message painted on the door to the Michigan lockerroom in Crisler Arena - but on this occasion, it gave Purdue a way out. Cunningham was fouled while shooting. His ensuing three foul shots tied the game, sending a shock through an arena that was emptying just moments earlier, still doubting the scoreboard that said the game was going to double overtime. Michigan never remembered that the visiting team is supposed to lose in overtime, or that you pay for mental mistakes in the Big Ten. In the wildest of fashions, at the most crucial of times, the Wolverines went out and earned their first conference victory. This was the Win That Saved The Season. A freshman-dominated 0-2 team, one that just blew a six-point lead with 40 seconds to play, probably doesn't bounce back. The Big Ten doesn't let up. Three years ago, a Michigan team with Robert Traylor, Jerod Ward and Maceo Baston lost five Big Ten games in a row. Last year's team also lost five in a row. And both these teams were full of veterans. But take that with a grain of salt. After all, they're just statistics. - Chris Duprey can be reached via e-mail at cduprey@umich.edu. Chris Duprey Dupe's Scoop Originally on page 1B in the 1-10-2000 issue of the Daily.