SPORTS BEAT
by TOM WITECI J
,Will Beat io State?"
WAY clown to Columbus, the guy on the radio kept
if they're ever going to lose one, there's a good chance
night."
adcaster was referring to unbeaten Ohio State, the
nber one team, which was to take on a highly-rated
a at Columbus that night.
Buckeyes methodically ripped through their first 16
ithout a loss, the question "who is going to beat the
as being raised with increasing frequency.
rticular radio announcer seemed to think that Branch
"hurrin Hoosiers" had the best chance to slow down
s' drive to second consecutive Big Ten and NCAA crowns.
SOME impressive facts. For instance, Indiana was the
n to beat Ohio State and the only team to beat the
their last 35 games. The Hoosiers turned the trick
ry when they handed Coach Fred Taylor's squad a'
g at Bloomington. Ohio State had won an earlier game
r 96-95 margin.
many Hoosier fans claimed the Buckeyes won the first
v because the Indiana team "blew" the. game in the
Is. And when the season was over Indiana fans were
at their team, which won its last 12 games in a
perior to Big Ten and NCAA champion Ohio State.
[hought Indiana Wo ld...
SIERS WERE said to have been waiting all winter for
contest. And while they lost big Frank Radovich and
s from last year's squad, they had gained two very fine
Tom Bolyard and Jimmie Rayl. And they still had 6'11"
n. -Walt Bellamy and sharp-shooting Gary Long, two
had made a habit a having "hot" nights against the
contest started, it soon became apparent that if the
re determined, the Buckeyes were more than determined,
ceeded toecompletely dominate the contest.
NT OFFENSE and. aggressive on, defense, Ohio State's
11 machine made. a shambles of the highly touted In-'
Cagers Drop
By CLIFF MARKS Strack simply termed
Powerful Ohio State and accur- nate" especially hurt '
ate foul shooting Purdue account- the ace guard was stop
ed for two Michigan Big Ten out a field goal for the
basketball losses last weekend after in his career, missing a
the Wolverines had opened up tempts. He did manai
their post exam schedule with an throw, but the sticky P
easy win over Western Ontario. fense kept him away
Purdue 96, Michigan 79 favorite shots.
The most recent contest, at Charging!
Lafayette on Monday, found Three of his fouls w
Michigan matching the Boiler- sive ones for charging,'
makers in field goals (28), hustle fensive man set up to I
and aggressiveness, but the host tion when the Wolve
team hit 40-48 free throws in the
foul infested game to win, 96-79.
The two referees called a to-
tal of 58 fouls, 31 on Michigan,
as the tilt turned into a free throw
contest, with the losers hittingt"
only 23-39, including several
missed first attempts with the .--
bonus shot in effect.
Refs Tighter
"The referees were just tighter
than usual," said Michigan Coach
Dave Strack, "because neither
Purdue -or us have been fouling'
teams this year. We can't blame
the loss on the refs, just our in-
eptness at the foul line, but those 4,
early fouls had us in trouble.",
Captain John Tidwell picked up
three quick fouls, then a fourth
with ':00 left in the first half;
Charlie Higgs had three fouls in
the first 20 minutes also, as did
high scorer Tom Cole, who notch-
ed 21 points in his finest effort
of the season. LUCAS and SHAI
This early foul load, which ...'M's Brow
The Buckeyes doubled the Hoosier total throughout the first half
led 46-23 at the end of the first 20 minutes. At the start of
second half, Ohio State staged a brilliant "Buckeye Blitz" as
t on 14 of 17 shots from the floor. With over nine and a half
ates remaining it led the Hoosiers, 79-39.
With the huge partisan crowd of 13,000 plus urging them on,
Buckeyes gradually worked their way up to the 100 mark, finally
hing it on John Havlicek's jump shot with a minute and a half
wining.
it They Didn't...
TER THE GAME, Taylor said it was the best total effort of
he year for his squad. And as the fans straggled out of the arena,
along with a certain radio announcer were still asking them-
s, "who is going to beat the Buckeyes."
From this corner it looks as if no one will. As individuals and
team the Buckeyes appear to be just too good.
First, there is Jerry Lucas the finest college basketball player
ae country. There is not much that can be said about Lucas than
not already been said. He is simply terrific. He makes over 60 per
of his shots and 80 per cent of his free throws. He could easily
e over 30' points a game, but prefers to be a team player.
EN THERE IS John Havlicek who is rated as one of the top
efensive players in the country. But while everyone raves about
way he "blankets" the opposition's star players, his fine offensive'
s often go unnoticed.
Another "hardnose" defensive player is Larry Siegfried, captain
e squad. A cocky and aggressive player, Siegfried is assigned to.
opposition's top back court man. On offense, Siegfried has a
,k of sliding away from the man guarding him, and breaking
rd the basket, where a perfectly timed pass from a teammate
lly results in a easy two points.
Like all the Buckeyes, Siegfried sinks over 45 per cent of the
I goals he attempts, but is on toe free throw line where he really
es. He has been making ovei 88 per cent of his pharity tosses. This
entage is higher than any in the NBA.
'e They Just Too Good?...
E FASTEST MAN on a speedy team is guard Mel Nowell, who
eads the Ohio State fast break. Taking a pass from either Hay-
c or Lucas, Nowell is often under the opposition's basket before
y of the defenders have a chance to turn around. And if they
et back in time, he simply jumps back and fires a soft one-handed
p shot that is the surest shot on the surest-shooting team in the
*try.
Rounding out the top five, is Richie Hoyt. Not in the class of
other four starters, Hoyt nevertheless is a good shot when left
he open, which happens fairly often when the opposition is trying
ontain Lucas or another of the Buckeyes.
Even more important than their great individual talents is
way the Buckeyes have been able to work as a team.
ERE IS NO one play maker on the Ohio State team, instead all
he players are constantly thinking an setting up plays. The way
set each other tip is even more amazing than their spectacular
ting percentages.
They say St. Johns and St. Bonaventure entered the NCAA,
er tIan the NIT tournament, so they both could get another
,k at the Buckeyes whom they both lost to in New York's Holiday
SEEK IRST BIG 10 WIN:
Go To Minnesota Tomorrow
By DAVE GOOD home court of the Irish, who had have corrected that weakness,
Still looking for their first Big won 24 in a row. surprisingly outrebounding mighty
Ten win to offset their five losses, The Spartans are getting good Ohio State by four and giving up a
Michigan cagers will get two scoring from forward Dick Hall margin of only five to Purdue.
cracks in three days at two more (17.57points per conference game), Cole, Maentz and Bob Brown have
of the Conference's second- guard Art Schwarm (12.1), guard supplied the much-needed re-
division teams. Dave Fahs (11.4) and center Ted bounding punch.
Coach Dave Strack's charges go Williams (11.2). "I'm sure Williams won't do the
up against sixth-place Minnesota Tidwell Scored 41 job he did against us last time,"
at Minneapolis tomorrow, and Last year Michigan drew 41 predicts Strack.
Monday they host ninth-place points from John Tidwell in the The coach implied that fansd
Michigan State in a rematch teams' second meeting for thea et
which could pull the Wolverines Wolverines' only conference win, fought, exciting game between
past the Spartans and out of the and stand a good chance to repeat these two bitter rivals Monday.
cellar. that home victory.
The game starts at 8:00 p.m. in "Since the second semester Exa
Yost Fieldhouse. break I think we've been a little Exa s Cosly
sounder basketball team, judges
Minnesota Record Creditable Strack. "We have to try to tighten
Minnesota, though it lacks a up defensively and although we
single standout, has managed a shot 46 per cent against Purdue Iowa's Hawkeyes, second in the
creditable 4-4 conference record by we'll have to shoot better. We Big Ten basketball race, with a
beating Michigan State, North- haven't been a good foul shooting 4-1 record, received a bitter blow
western twice, and Indiana. team either." earlier his week when four star-
"Minesoa i on ofthe tro- Te Wlveineshav reeivd aters, Tom Harris, Ron Zagar, Dave
ger teams in the conference," con- big boost in their last ,two games T a ran A e
tends Strack. "They play a slower from the improved play of Tom declared ineligible for the re-
brand of ball than Ohio State and Cole, who hit 16 points against mainder of the season.
Purdue, but they're a big, strong Ohio State and 21 against Pur- 'Only leading scorer, Don Nelson,
team with good shooters, good re- due. was left from Iowa's original first
bounders, and good ball-handlers." Balanced Scoring five, which has been trying to
The Badgers have three players They have- also shown a more gain ground on unbeaten Ohio
scoring in dobule figures, with balanced scoring effort since the State's national champs.
center Tom McGramm, forward closely guarded Tidwell, after hit- Illinois also announced the in-
Dick Erickson and guard Bob ting 13 points in the first half eligibility of two players, includ-
Griggas all averaging about 12 against the Buckeyes, has man- ing first line reserve Edgar Searcy
points a game. aged only three points in the last of Indianapolis, a 6'5" forward.
Spartans Ninth three halves of action.
Jon Hall, Charlie Higgs and
Michigan State, which with- Scott Maentz took up the slack
stood a bleated second-half rally against the Boilermakers, how-
in defeating the Wolverines, 81- ever,. scoring 16, 14 and 12 points
69, in their first encounter, has respectively. Standings
compiled only a 1-6 Big Ten mark. Michigan lost to the Spartans
In their last two games, how- in the first meeting because of a BIG TEN STANDINGS
ever, the Spartans have displayed la'cl of rebounding, as Williams W L Pet.
a near-miraculous turnabout. Af- cleared the boards 25 times for Ohio State 7 0 1.000
ter dropping a 79-71 decision to Michigan State. owade 12.800
small college Northern Michigan, Weakness Correcte urnois 4 2 .667
the Spartans perked up by whip- In their last two games, how- Indiana 3 2 .600
ping Notre Dame, 89-74, on the ever, the Wolverines seemingly Minnesota 4 4 .500
Northwestern 2 5 .286
Wisconsin 1 4 .200
Team Statistics Michigan State 1 6 .145
11
L
i
Don Petroff, I
Scott Maentz, I
Bob Brown, c
John Tidwell, g
Steve Schoenherr, g
Tom Cole, c-f
.Jon Hall, g
Rich Donley, c
Charlie Higgs, f
Tom Eveland, g
Syi Jankowski, g
George Ginger, I
Joe Nameth, g
Team Rebounds'
MICHIGAN TOTALS
OPPONENTS' TOTALS
Russell Stovers
CANDY
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