Rice, Flaherty Recall 'Passing the Torch' as Scoring Leaders
1/25/2018 10:06:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, Features
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Glen Rice walked to midcourt at Crisler Center with Katelynn Flaherty during a break in the action in Sunday's (Jan. 21) Michigan men's basketball win over Rutgers. Rice handed Flaherty a basketball, leaned in, and put his right arm around her shoulder as both beamed and posed for photos.
"It was a resemblance to passing the torch," said Flaherty.
Rice, the Most Outstanding Player in the 1989 NCAA Tournament won by the Wolverines, had been Michigan's career scoring leader -- men's and women's teams -- with 2,442 points.
Flaherty has 2,531 points with seven regular-season games remaining and is now the No. 6 all-time scorer in Big Ten women's basketball.
Rice walked off the court at Seattle's Kingdome as both a national champion and the conference's men's scoring leader. Indiana's Calbert Cheaney (2,613) and Michigan State's Shawn Respert (2,531) have since passed Rice. Flaherty also has now tied Respert to share the No. 8 spot for career scoring when men and women are combined into one group.
By scoring 83 more points, Flaherty will be No. 5 on that list.
Rice, now a scout for the Miami Heat after an accomplished NBA career that included one championship with the Los Angeles Lakers, has become a big fan of Flaherty.
"I didn't get a chance to meet the guys because I'm a scout," said Rice. "But meeting Katelynn -- that was a huge honor. And to now be able to meet the new all-time leading scorer at Michigan, that's a blessing.
"Man, she is so humble. She's an unbelievable player, but what I love the most about her is that she's very humble and an unselfish player. And you would think that, when speaking about an all-time leading scorer, you wouldn't use the word 'unselfish'. How can you get so many points being unselfish? But she is.
"It's not like she goes out and looks to score a lot of points. But she's a natural. Can you imagine if I was a point guard?"
Rice, a 6-foot-8 forward, laughed heartily, noting Flaherty's conversion to point guard as a senior.
However, Rice did have an "assist" of sorts to Flaherty, handing her that basketball on the Crisler court to commemorate her record.
Michigan men's basketball coach John Beilein said, "How about Glen Rice, when he gave the ball to Katelynn? That was cool."
What were Flaherty's impressions of Rice, who averaged 18.3 points per game in his NBA career?
"The things he's accomplished in his lifetime is crazy," she said. "I mean, 15 years in the NBA, an All-Star. But the most impressive thing to me is being a national champion here. That's tough -- especially on the men's side.
"But he was so nice, and a very humble person. It was just incredible. Just to be in the same category as him is really unbelievable. When we talked before we went out on the court, he said that I reminded him of himself when he was younger, being humble and just having a mind to win games.
"When they asked him about all those points he scored, he said he was just focused on winning. That's kind of where I am right now. To be doing all of this while winning is the best feeling. I never thought my senior year would be this great, and I'm just so happy how it's turned out."
The No. 16 Wolverines (18-4, 7-2 Big Ten) are in second place in the conference, and Flaherty is in line to reach the NCAA Tournament that eluded her and her teammates the previous three seasons.
Flaherty is going to fall short of becoming the third 3,000-point scorer in Big Ten history unless Michigan makes a deep run in both the conference and NCAA tourneys, while boosting her scoring a bit.
"Rachel Banham and Kelsey Mitchell are up there," Flaherty said of Minnesota's Banham (3.093, 2012-16) and Ohio State senior Mitchell (3,048). "But I think I'm surrounded by great players that are playing."
She's going to leave Ann Arbor in pretty select company, having already passed the greatest scorer in Michigan history, and hunting wins as surely as points.
RICE RECALLS A CHAMPIONSHIP
What was Rice's favorite memory from his NCAA Tournament run in 1989, when he scored 184 points (30.7 per game) for a tournament record that still stands, and point guard Rumeal Robinson's free throws in overtime won the championship game with Seton Hall, 80-79?
"Being known as the national champions was the best," said Rice, "but what was really my favorite thing was how we came together without our head coach going into the NCAA."
Wolverine football coach Bo Schembechler, also the athletic director, declared that "a Michigan man would coach Michigan" once news came out that head coach Bill Frieder had accepted the Sun Devils' coaching job. Schembechler made Steve Fisher the interim coach and hired him full-time soon after the national championship game.
"Coach Frieder was so supportive of us through the whole ordeal," said Rice. "Even though Mr. Schembechler, God bless his soul, didn't allow him to coach, in spirit he was there and in person he was there with us. He just could not coach, but had instilled enough in us, and with Steve Fisher we were going to be fine. It was a huge step up for him, but Coach Fisher was prepared for it and was so underrated. He doesn't get the credit he deserves.
"Now, people look back and say, 'Damn, you know what? Steve Fisher was a good coach.' He's one of the most genuine people you will come across, and nice, and so down to earth. That was part of what made him successful."
Rice scored 31 points in the championship game, and said the basket that meant the most to him was his fourth of five three-pointers late in the second half. It provided a 64-59 lead and allowed him to surpass Bill Bradley for the NCAA scoring record.
"The one that I see over and over and over again in my mind is the one where we needed a bucket and I was wide open," said Rice. "(Seton Hall's Michael Cooper) kind of leaned into me late and I shot and I fell, and that ball went straight through to the bottom of the net.
"We were down a little bit and needed some momentum, and that was a momentum bucket. I was like, 'Damn! It was silky-smooth.' Now, I don't talk about myself like that, but I felt, 'They don't know it, but that was a momentum changer.' And still it was a beautiful, beautiful shot."
Rice's retired No. 41 now hangs from the rafters at Crisler, directly across from the 1989 NCAA Championship banner at the other end of the arena.
EDITOR'S NOTE: MGoBlue.com's Steve Kornacki covered every game during Michigan's 1988-89 national championship season for the Detroit Free Press.
