Arizona Proves It Can Go the Rout Against Michigan

The Michigan faithful--if you can call them that--began streaming out of The Palace of Auburn Hills midway through the second half of Wednesday evening’s game against Arizona. By then, a Wolverine fan seated behind the bench had stood up, glared at the offending scoreboard and held his nose in disgust.

Good thing he didn’t stick around for the end. Who knows what the guy might have done after Michigan’s 78-57 loss to Arizona.

The defeat itself wasn’t such a huge surprise, but the rout was. Arizona (3-1) began the game ranked No. 9 and had four starters returning from last season’s Final Four team. The 17th-ranked Wolverines were down to two Fabs--Jimmy King and Ray Jackson--two freshmen and junior Dugan Fife, who hardly counts these days.

By the time it was finished, many of the 18,885 fans who had come to see their beloved Wolverines (3-1) were long gone. They had seen enough of Wildcat senior guard Damon Stoudamire, who finished with 24 points, seven assists and six rebounds, and had had their fill of junior guard Reggie Geary, who once again reduced Michigan’s top offensive threat into a jump shooting wreck.

Last year, when Arizona beat the Wolverines by 24 points, Geary completely unnerved Jalen Rose, holding him to four of 15 from the field. He did likewise against King, who made one of 10 shots in the first half and only one of two in the second half for a total of 11 points.

“Seemed like he just quit looking for (the ball),” Geary said.

King wasn’t alone. Jackson had only 11 points, as did freshman Jerod Ward. In all, the Wolverines were a miserable 21 of 67 from the field (31.3%), while Arizona shot 50.8%. It was Michigan’s lowest point total since its 71-51 loss to Duke in the 1992 NCAA championship.

“They were talking about blowing us out,” Geary said of the early going. “At the end of the game I didn’t hear no more of them.”

The first game of the evening didn’t have the same marquee value, but it did have a close finish as unranked Missouri defeated unranked Purdue, 69-66.

Never was Purdue’s search for a Big Dog II more evident than in the final 14 seconds of their game against Missouri. Down by three, there would have been little doubt who would have taken the clutch shots last season. Somehow the ball would have found its way into Glenn Robinson’s hand, the 6-foot-8 power forward who later became the NBA’s No. 1 pick.

This time junior Brandon Brantley got the ball.

Same size as Robinson. Same home state. Same position. But not the same bite.

Brantley’s would-be dunk with 6.3 seconds left to play was partially blocked by Missouri’s Sammie Haley, the 7-1 center whose twin also plays for the Tigers. Haley got a piece of Brantley’s wrist, but no one seemed to care, especially the referees.

Then, with two seconds remaining, Brantley tried a game-tying three-point shot. He missed. So much for comparisons.

“We don’t even consider that,” Purdue Coach Gene Keady said. “He’s his own man. I wish you people would quit worrying about it.”

Purdue (3-1), which just returned from a tournament in Hawaii, was understandably sluggish. The Boilermakers trailed by 11 points midway through the first half and again in the second half.

But that was before Missouri (2-0) went cold, scoring only 10 points from the 12-minute mark to 1:47 left in the game. Meanwhile, Purdue slipped ahead for the first time since shortly after tip-off.

The Tigers regained the lead with 48.5 seconds to go, but it wasn’t easy. With one second on the shot clock, Jason Sutherland took the inbounds pass near the baseline, heaved and hoped. The jumper was good, which figures.

Sutherland, a sophomore guard from Watertown, S.D., always has had a flair for the dramatic. When he was in high school, Sutherland occasionally would dunk, hang on the rim and then, while still in the air, salute the opposing crowd. He even has it on videotape.

Sutherland didn’t dunk Wednesday night, but he did convert the key shot of the game and then delivered the crucial steal moments after his baseline jumper.

“I was in the right spot, the right time,” he said.