COLLEGE BASKETBALL REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS : Freshman Helps Minnesota Beat Michigan, 73-64

Much has been said about the recruiting effort that landed five talented freshmen at Michigan this season.

But Minnesota freshman Voshon Lenard--one that got away--was the player Michigan Coach Steve Fisher was talking about Saturday after Lenard scored 25 points to lead Minnesota to a 73-64 victory over No. 11 Michigan in a Big Ten Conference game at Minneapolis.

Lenard was a teammate of Michigan freshman Jalen Rose at Detroit Southwestern High.

“We knew what Minnesota was getting,” Fisher said. “When we didn’t get him, I hoped he wasn’t going to be in the Big Ten. We said, ‘We have to get one of these two guys--Rose or Lenard.’ ”

Michigan (9-2, 1-1) got Rose, Chris Webber and three other highly-touted freshmen and had won five consecutive games since its only defeat, an overtime loss to No. 1 Duke.

But the Wolverines couldn’t handle Lenard, who also had eight rebounds for Minnesota (9-6, 1-1).

Minnesota beat Michigan even though it was coming off a 96-50 loss to Indiana, its worst defeat in history.

Lenard scored 10 points in the first 7 1/2 minutes as Minnesota took a big, early lead and never trailed.

The Gophers, who beat the Wolverines for only the third time in 17 games since 1984, have upset ranked teams in four successive Big Ten home openers.

Rose scored 25 points for Michigan, which made 31% of its shots and trailed, 38-29, at halftime.

EAST

Chris McNeal had 22 points and Pittsburgh (11-4) scored eight consecutive points down the stretch for an 83-72 Big East Conference victory over Providence (8-7, 0-3) at Pittsburgh.

MIDWEST

Woody Austin had 24 points and 10 rebounds and Purdue (9-5, 1-1) got its last nine points on free throws in overtime for a 77-69 victory over Iowa in a Big Ten Conference game at West Lafayette, Ind.

SOUTH

Allan Houston’s three-point basket with 12 seconds left gave Tennessee (9-4, 2-0) a 78-76 Southeastern Conference victory over Georgia (7-5, 0-2) at Knoxville, Tenn.

WEST

Ike Williams scored 22 to lead New Mexico (8-6, 2-0) to a 78-63 Western Athletic Conference victory over Air Force (5-8, 0-2) at Albuquerque, N.M. . . . Texas El Paso (12-1, 2-0) held Utah (10-4, 0-2) to three field goals in the final 11:30 for a 64-62 Western Athletic Conference victory at El Paso.

Eric Piatkowski scored 20 points and Carl Hayes had 17 as Nebraska (12-1, 1-0) beat Colorado (8-5, 0-1), 84-74, in a Big Eight game at Boulder, Colo. . . . J.R. Rider scored 20 points, including five three-point baskets and Nevada Las Vegas (12-2, 4-0) defeated UC Santa Barbara (8-4, 2-2), 78-54, in a Big West Conference game at Las Vegas that extended the nation’s longest current home winning streak to 41 games.

Dell Demps scored 15 points, leading Pacific (5-7, 1-2) to a 66-52 Big West victory over San Jose State at Stockton. . . . Dana Achtzehn scored eight points during a 20-2 run that gave Southern Utah (10-4) an 87-78 victory over San Diego State (2-11) at San Diego.

Wayman Strickland scored 19 points to lead San Diego (9-5) to a 67-58 West Coast Conference victory over Santa Clara (4-10) at San Diego.