This one’s for you, Hank
(MARCH 18, 1990)
This story was published when 11th-seeded Loyola Marymount, a team that was still mourning the tragic loss of star Hank Gathers earlier in the month, stunned defending national champion Michigan in a record-setting NCAA Tournament blowout. It has been edited for space.
Message to Alabama: Get out of Loyola Marymount’s way. Don’t try to run with them. Don’t try to shoot with them. Just clear out and hope they keep it under 200 points. The inspired Lions sent the word by flaying the hides off the defending national champion Michigan Wolverines 149-115 Sunday in a second straight West Regional triumph in memory of deceased teammate Hank Gathers. It was an NCAA tournament record for points by a team, a staggering total built on the unthinkable 11-of-15 three-point shooting by guard Jeff Fryer.
“There’s no doubt in my mind,” said a stunned Terry Mills, the Michigan center. “They’re on a mission. They’re not going to go down. We tried a lot of things on them, but they just answered.”
The third-seeded Wolverines (23-8) watched helplessly as No. 11 seed Marymount (25-5) advanced farther than it ever has in the NCAA tournament. Next stop is Oakland on Friday against Alabama, which defeated Arizona 77-55 in Sunday’s other game.
“Loyola is on a crusade, and they played that way today,” said Michigan coach Steve Fisher, whose 7-0 postseason run ended. “It’s going to take an awfully, awfully good team to beat them if they keep shooting the way they did.”
Michigan is awfully good, but nobody’s good enough to defend 52.5 percent shooting from three-point land. Even little-used Marcellus Lee heaved in a trey from the corner as time expired.
The Lions led the nation in scoring this season, averaging 124.8 points a game. They passed that Sunday with six minutes to go.
It was the sort of blitz that Gathers, who led the nation in scoring and rebounding last season, would have appreciated. And his teammates had him in mind every frenzied moment as they ran the Wolverines out of Long Beach Arena. “We just wanted to go out and win because we’re doing it for Hank,” said Fryer, who hit 15 of 20 from the floor and led all scorers with 41 points. “We’re an emotional hurricane. We don’t get discouraged by a team like Michigan or anybody. We don’t think anybody’s going to stand in our way.”
Michigan stood and jumped in Loyola’s way all afternoon, though it did little good.
The Lions used much the same script they followed in Friday night’s defeat of New Mexico State, their first game since Gathers collapsed and died on the court during the West Coast Conference tournament two weeks ago.
Unable to contain Kimble or Fryer, the Wolverines found themselves in a desperate race on a track far too fast for anyone used to the push-and-shove pace of the Big 10.
“They didn’t seem like they understood what was going on,” Kimble said. “It was going too fast. They were confused. They didn’t know how to play against us.”
That was confirmed by Michigan’s Loy Vaught, who scored 19 and pulled down a game-high 17 rebounds. “I expected it to be a fact-paced team, but to be truthful, I’ve never run across a Big Ten team that moves the ball that way,” he said. “They’re in excellent condition.”
Michigan still was nursing its dream to repeat as champion when it pulled to within 77-70 with 15:19 left. But then the roof caved in.
Fryer made two three-pointers and Terrell Lowery and Per Stumer made one each to put Loyola ahead 89-76. Thast` when the clearly exhausted Wolverines folded. Twice Michigan failed to advance the ball out of its own end, and Loyola answered with a Kimble slam and free throw and a Stumer three-pointer. That ran the lead to 95-76 and ended it for everyone but the scorekeeper.
In the final 15 minutes, the Lions outscored the Wolverines 72-45.