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Show The Daily Utah Chronicle - Thursday, December 6, 1990 Page Fourteen Sports Iftunnin' Uttes against Alabama-Birmingha- On the season Oregon is having lost to Wisconsin at home Loren Jorgensen Chronicle Sports Editor By 1-- (72-7- Already this young season the University of Utah basketball team has played against some fine guards. 's Van McCade scorched the nets for 38 points against the Utes. Michigan's guard trio of Demetrius Calip, Michael Talley and Kirk Taylor combined for 46 points while playing Utah. Utah State point guard Jay Goodman held a shooting exhibition en route to a game-hig- h 28 points Center. the Huntsman in Tuesday But Utah fans might see the best guard of them all tonight when Terrell Brandon comes to town. Brandon and his team, the Oregon Ducks, are set to battle the Runnin' Utes in a game beginning at 7:30. As a sophomore, the 10 Brandon was an all-Pa- c ot selection last season. So far in three games this year he is averaging 25 points and seven assists per game. "Brandon is a great player," Utah coach Rick Majerus said. "He may be the premier guard in the West." But the Ducks are in no way a , team. Brandon's backcourt mate Kevin Mixon one-ma- n scored 26 points Tuesday night in an impressive 98-7- 1 victory over Alabama-BirminghaMixon was from the floor including from range during the first half of the win. Center Richard Lucus and forward Bob Fife each pitched in 16 points -8 -4 Jazz 2, Ay and nationally ranked 0) Missouri on the road Wisconsin-Milwaukee- to go Bmh huntln g tomiDght win over to the (65-5- 8) prior Alabama-Birmingha- m. "We're delighted to get a good win," Oregon coach Don Monson said. "We shot pretty well and played adequately on defense." Last year the Ducks beat the in Eugene during a Utes, 73-6season when they went 4 and 6, 15-1- earned an NIT bid. Brandon scored 27 points against the Utes, while Mixon scored 13 and Fife, who was a freshman at the time, pulled down seven rebounds. "Fife kicked Walter Watts' ass last year," Majerus said. "If Walter has any self respect at all, he'll try to go there and redeem himself." 1 Utah, which played its best basketball of the season in the first half of the Utah State victory, is 1 overall on the year and 1 against Division I opponents. 2-- 4-- Josh Grant, who scored 25-poin- ts against the Aggies, continues to lead the Utes in scoring and rebounding. Grant, a junior, is averaging nearly 18 points and nine boards per game. Sophomore guard Byron Wilson is the other Ute to average double figures at a 13 point per game clip. For the season, Utah has been shooting 50 percent from the field Utah's M'Kay McGrath, shown here playing defense against Utah State, is one of the reasons Ute opponents are shooting just 41 percent from the floor this year. The Utes play Oregon tonight in the Huntsman Center. opponents to Utes as a Utah team, while holding 41 percent shooting. has also been out-reboundi- ng opponents by better than five boards per game. Majerus hasn't hesitated to use his bench this season, as nine get defensive - - - 0! - are averaging 14 minutes or more per game. The starting lineup tonight will likely consist of Grant and M'Kay McGrath at forward, Watts at center and Tyrone Tate and Wilson on the in and the New York Giants square off in a close, classic, hard- hitting battle. For three quarters of Wednesday night's game at the Salt Palace, the Utah Jazz and the Detroit Pistons offered basketball fans their version of a defensive-minde- d affair. basketball purist's dream. Phoenix vs. Denver, this was not. Then a funny thing happened. A The classic turned into a cakewalk, as the Jazz outscored Detroit 33-1- 5 in the final period and handed the Pistons their second blowout in as many nights, winning handily, 106-8- 5. John Stockton dished out a 18 assists and Jeff Malone, who'd all but owned the third period in previous Jazz victories, waited instead for the tight fourth quarter to go on his scoring binge, scoring 11 of his 27 points in the game-nig- h lead to Utah on a 22-- 8 quarter run midway through the period and hand the stunned Pistons just their fifth loss of the season. Piston coach Chuck Daly was impressed by the Jazz' newest season-hig- h Si star. "He's (Jeff Malone) a big league offensive player. raved Daly. Utah's newest star, Jeff Malone, shoots over Detroit's Vinnie Johnson Wednesday night during the Jazz' 106-8- 5 win over the defending World now 10-- 7. 27 points for the Jazz, I mean big," "I felt good," said Malone, "and after the game the other night (against Wasington when he had 28) I was hoping I could k games. put together This was a big game for us and we hung in there, but now we'll have to be ready on Friday (the Jazz host the Lakers). Fatigue figured to be a concern back-to-bac- game-hig- h However, Craig Rydalch, Jimmy Soto, Paul Afeaki, Phil Dixon and Barry Howard should each see guardline. considerable playing time. After tonight's game, the Utes will hit the road to play Saturday night. Utah will then return to the friendly confines of the Huntsman Center to play four Cal-Irvi- straight non-conferen- ce before Christmas. ne games win over Pistons 106-8- 5 Two nights ago, NFL fans witnessed San Franciso 49ers mMm Champion Pistons. Malone scored a CHRONICLE PHOTOEarl Cline World Champions fall in Salt Palace TOW fA cte J for Detroit heading into Salt Lake, (despite the luxury of traveling in their own private ( plane) considering they were coming off a hammering in Los Angeles courtesy of the Lakers less than 24 hours earlier. Despite early foul troubles to Bill Laimbeer, who received the showers of obligatory game-lon- g deafening boos from the moment he was introduced, and James Edwards, the Pistons looked very 20-poi- much like nt the two-tim- e defending World Champions in the first quarter, finishing the lead thanks period with a 24-2- 3 to the offensive (offensive?) efforts of Dennis Rodman, who had six points. The defensive intensity, as promised, was abundant, and was even more prominent in the second quarter when the Jazz twice kept the Pistons from getting a shot off before the 24-seco- nd clock had expired and closed out the quarter tied at 44. Entering the third, the Jazz were hoping to deliver their accustomed knockout punch and thanks to Stockton's, Karl Malone's, and, surprisingly, Mark Eaton's offense the Jazz appeared to be right on schedule, building leads as big as nine, before Isiah Thomas (9 points in the period) brought the Pistons back to within three, 73-7- 0. There were no signs of what was to transpire in the final 12 minutes. Jeff Malone hit four of the Jazz' first six shots, and the Jazz were on their way to their second straight Salt Palace blowout. Afterwards, Karl Malone, who John Stockton added points and nine team's tenacious defense (the 23 rebounds, chose to reflect on his Pistons shot just 45 percent from the field). "I thought we played some damn good defense," the Mailman said. "Anytime you play defense like that you're going to win ballgames. I thought it was our defense and not their (Detroit's) fatigue that was the difference." The Jazz now await the arrival of the Lakers who, after a tumultuous start, have won six straight. Jeff Malone warned, "I've seen the Lakers play and it won't be an easy game." Course, after watching the Jazz improbable destruction of the World Champs, who knows? Ty Bronicel |
