Page 10-Sunday,;December 3, 1978-The Michigan Daily ALABAMA SECOND STRAIGHT VICTIM, 99-84 Healthy Hubbard leads Blue past Tide \- full court P'R-SS Look what s new .. . ...bench By JAMIE TURNER tlifts Blue SINCE THE Wolverines opened practice six weeks ago, Johnny Orr has been telling anyone who would listen that he has better bench strength this season than ever before. People guffawed. 'Sure, John,' they would say, knowing all along that Michigan teams use non-starters for more important matters like holding down the last seven or eight chairs on the bench. Well, yesterday Orr's opinion was borne out. Senior forward Alan Hardy came off the bench to almost single-handedly keep the Wolverines in the game at halftime. Not only was Hardy solid offensively, but he held Alabama's outstanding freshman forward Eddie Phillips to only six points in the last 14:40 of the period, after Phillips had reeled off three buckets against starting freshman Thad Garner. "We misjudged Phillips," said Orr after the game. "Garner overplayed him when he should have given him more room." "We brought him (Hardy) in for defense," added assistant mentor Bill Frieder. "That was getting beat and we wanted Alan in there. In the second half, Thad made some nice plays and rebounds for us. But down the stretch, we went with our experience - and that was Alan Hardy." Four seconds after he entered the game, Hardy let fly with a twenty- footer that found nothing but net, triggering an 11-2 spurt that sent Michigan ahead, 20-16, after they trailed early, 14-9. It was the Detroit native's own idea to start shooting. "Sometimes you just feel that (the shots) are there," smiled Hardy afterwards. "The coaches didn't tell me to do anything in particular. If they do, it's usually to come in and pick up the 'D'. Phillips wasn't an easy guy to check. He could jump well. Thad had his problems with him and I did too.". Crimson Tide coach C. M. Newton was more direct to the point. "Hardy just kills us," he said. King went nowhere While Hardy was the more flamboyant of the three, Phil Hubbard and Mike McGee were accomplishing their normal tasks scoring a lot of first- half points. The Wolverine pivotman notched 12 points from a wide selection of short and medium range jumpers augmented with an occasional layup and three-point play. McGee, frustrated in the early going when his normally accurate jumpers failed to find the mark, went inside and picked up 11 points. When Michigan got its fast breakoffense going at full speed in the second half, McGee picked up most of his 27 points as the lead man on the break. Most were triggered by outlet passes from Hubbard, who out- rebounded his All-American adversary, Reggie King 15-9, and outscored him, 24-11. Throughout the contest, King was stymied, looking nothing like the dominant player who scored 30 points last year against Michigan in Birmingham. "This game was a lot in reversal of last year's," said Newton. "We haven't had teams crowd Reggie as much (as today)." Hubbard crowded, pushed, held, fronted and frustrated King, who was hitting at a-22 ppg. clip until yesterday. "(King) is a big, strong player," said the 6-7 senior. "I tried to front him and get help (from the guards). When I fronted him, they went away from him, that was something we thought they would do." Lozier's finishing touch With King negated, Alabama was forced to do most of its scoring from the outside to stay close. The Tide succeeded in the first half, but sagged in the final minutes as the Wolverines pulled away for the final margin. But 99-84 doesn't tell how Orr's bench strength finished 'Bama off. With just under seven minutes left, two free throws by Tide guard Eddie Adams cut Michigan's once sizable lead down to three, 79-76. The Wolverines had led the entire second half, but now seemed in imminent danger of folding like they did last year. In came Mark Lozier, who, along with Hubbard, put the game away. The second-stringer and the star combined for 14 of Michigan's final 20 points. The two reversed roles, Hubbard popping in the jumpers while Lozier penetrated the middle for the layups. "At times, we were running a monotonous offense - doing the same thing down the floor every time," the junior guard stated. "I noticed that, and when I came in, I decided to start penetrating. When you do that, people have gotta commit themselves on you and that leaves a shooter wide open." At the end, Alabama looked like a very tired team, one that had been running all day just to keep even. On the other hand, Michigan was tired too, but possessed just enough heart to gut out the final pivotal minutes, something absolutely necessary for wins on the road this week against Louisville and Dayton. "We really wanted to win this game," added Lozier. "It proved to ourselves that we can play against this kind of competition." Frieder was even more positive. "We can go down to Louisville and Dayton and beat them if we play like we did today." By BRIAN MARTIN Phil Hubbard's not just back, he's better. The senior pivotman scored 24 points and hauled down 15 rebounds while holding Alabama's All-American cen- ter Reggie King to just 11 points as Michigan (2-0) ran away from Crimson Tide, (2-2) 99-84, before 13,609 fans at Crisler Arena yesterday afternoon. AFTER A 20-month layoff with a knee injury, Hubbard put together two of the finest halves he has played in a Michigan uniform. The balance bet- ween the two stanzas could not be any closer. In' the first half, Hubbard was five for 10 from the field, perfect from the foul line twice, and had seven boar- ds. Hubbard practically dittoed his per- formance in the second half, hitting five of -ten field goals, two of three free throws, and grabbing eight boards while playing all but nine seconds of the entire game. Hubbard's defensive contribution was just as important to the win. King,, last year's Southeastern Conference player of the year, shot only 35 per cent (5-14) from the field as Hubbard hawked him all afternoon, with help from the guards whenfever Alabama worked the ball inside. "HE'S A BIG, strong player," Hub- bard said of King. "He played well, but I think he got tired. I was trying to play him tough and I got help (from the guards)." Not surprisingly, Mike McGee led all scorers with 27 points. The sophomore forward connected on 11 of 19 field goals. Most of them came on the inside or off the fast break, as opposed to the outside jumpers he hit for his 30 points against Central Michigan Thursday night. Surprisingly, McGee did have some trouble hitting the outside shot. His overall shooting percentage was a very respectable 57.8 per cent, but eight of his 11 field goals were either layups or tip-ins. One first half shot from the 15- foot range hit the side of the backboard. "I wasn't having any problems (shooting)," McGee said afterwards. "I just wasn't hitting the (outside) shots." ALABAMA'S Eddie Phillips and Ken Johnson weren't having many shooting problems either, as they shared the Tide's scoring honors with 18 points each. Guard Robert Scott added 14 of his own in the losing effort. Both teams treated the sellout crowd to a fast-paced close contest. The Crim- son Tide enjoyed its largest lead after the first five minutes of the game when Johnson hit a 10-foot jumper to make the score 14-9. Michigan reeled off the next nine straight points to regain the lead, then the Wolverines and the Tide alternated the lead for the rest of the stanza, with Michigan taking a 53-49 lead into the locker room. Two key factors led to the four-point halftime margin. The most noticeable was the play of senior Alan Hardy, coming off the bench in place of Thad Garner, who was having defensive problems with Alabama's Phillips, a 17- year-old freshman. PHILLIPS SCORED six points in the first 4:46 of the game as Garner went for the steal and Phillips slipped by for two layups and a short jumper. Hardy reported in to hold Phillips to only six more points the rest of the first frame. Meanwhile, Hardy hit some shots of his own, leading all scorers at halftime with 14 and finished the game with 20. "We misjudged Phillips," head coach Johnny Orr admitted. "Garner over- played him when we should have given him more room." The second factor in the first half was Alabama's propensity to foul. Michigan went to the line with 10:20 left, when the Tide had committed their seventh team foul, and capitalized on the opportunity, hitting 11 out of 15 from the charity stripe. On the other side, Alabama only converted one of two foul shots. The second half picked up where the first left off, with Michigan nursing a three-point lead, 79-76, with only seven minutes remaining. At this point, Hub- bard displayed his outside shooting prowess and reserve guard Mark Lozier sparked Michigan's pattern of- fense to outscore the Tide 20-8 to the final buzzer. LOZIER AND Hubbard teamed to score 14 of those points. "I was watching the game on the bench and we were running the same plays over and over," the 6-3 guard said. "When I went in, I tried to',mix it up. I drove ,in and if the shot wasn't there, Mike or Phil or somebody would be open. I tried to run the offense." Lozier ran his own offense well enough to score seven points by driving to the bucket for the first time this season. After his first shot was blocked ("That guy swatted away my first one good"), Lozier hit his next three straight, while dropping one of two from the line. Missing from the top scorers for Michigan was starting guard Marty Bodnar, who only scored six points compared to the 18 he poured through Thursday evening. However, those were against a zone defense where out- side accuracy is essential, and Alabama stayed in its sticky man-to- man defense for most of the game. Tide washed away ALABAMA Min. FG/A FT/A Phillips ....... Johnson ...... King.......... Hancock ...... Scott ........ Adams... Lockett....... Russell-...... Mitchell ....... Hood ........ Meyers... Team......... Totals ......... 35 31 36 25 28 17 11 9 2 4 2 9/18 9/17 5/14 3/6 7/10 2/ 3/5 0/1 0/0 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/0 1/2 0/0 0/0 4/4 1/2 1/2 0/0 1/2 0/0 R 9 6 9 2 3 1 0 i 0 5 A 0 3 1 3 0 0 2 0 0 0 PF 3 5 4 2 4 1 0 1 0 Pts. 18 I8 11 6 14 7 0 1 0 McGee....... Garner ........ Hubbard ...... Staton ......... Bodnar ........ Smith ...,. . Hardy....... Johnson ....... Lozier ......... Heuerman ..... Team ....... Totals ....... MICHIGAN Min. FG/A FT/A- 38 11/19 5/6 13 4/5 0/0 39 10/20 4/5 IS 3/3 0/0 33 1/4 1/2 10 0/2 0/0 27 8/12 4/.5 10 2/5 0/0 14 3/4 1/2 1 0/0 0/0 200 42/74 15/20 R 6 6 15 0 0. 2 0 0 4 42 A 2 0 3 3 5 3 0 3 0 PF 3 2 2 3 t 2 0 2 0 Pts. 27 s 24 6 3 0 20 ,4 7 0 99 Daily Photo by ANDY FREEBERG YESTERDAY'S EXPECTED confrontation between two All-American centers never really materialized, as Michigan's Phil Hubbard (right) had a step on Alabama's Reggie King all afternoon. Hubbard outscored King 24 to 11 and out- rebounded him, 15 to 9. WOMEN CAGERS DEFEATED. 76-69: 20 16 200 38/78 8/12 39 10 22 Technical Fouls-Alabama coach t Hafltime score-M 53. A 49 Att.-13.609 Detroit. victory dampens opener By ELISA FRYE It was a valiant effort for a young team in their season opener, but in a game that was as sloppily played as the weather outside, Michigan's women's basketball team lost to a less careless University of Detroit team last night, 76-69. Coach Gloria Soluk was optimistic before the game. "I expect the kids to play well," she said. "I'm looking for a victory." BUT WITH ONLY three players returning from last year's team, and 12 new players (ten of whom are fresh- women) to break in, yesterday's result didn't come as a surprise. The young cagers hurt themselves time and time again, committing 31 turnovers. Afterwards, Soluk commented, "We were flat out there. I just don't think we were ready." Soluk started only one returning player, sophomore forward. Brenda Venhuizen. The other starters were freshwoman forward Jeanne White, freshwoman center Penny Neer, junior transfer Terry Schevers and fresh- woman guard Diane Dietz. First half play was inconsistent, but Michigan seemed to dominate. The last three-and-one-half minutes of the first half saw the Titans steal a 29-21 lead from the Wolverines, and convert it into a 35-32 lead which they didn't relinquish for the rest of the game. A second half comeback effort by the cagers was thwarted when Schever fouled out with just 1:42 left. Until then, Michigan had been able to keep pace With Detroit, pulling within one of the elusive, "Big Red" team, 68-67. Although Soluk was reluctant to label any players as outstanding, there were a few stars out last night for the Wolverines. One of .them was fresh- woman forward Katie McNamara, who notched 18 total points to lead the way for the cagers. "IT WAS HARD," said McNamara of her first game in a Michigan uniform. "It's a lot different from high school; it's faster paced. "But I'm getting used to it," she ad- ded. Other leading scorers for Michigan were Neer with 11 points, Dietz with 10 and sophomore center Abby Currier who chalked up 12 points. "We were just trying so many things," said Soluk of the team's first appearance on the court. "We were trying to get a lot of kids in the game." And the large number Df turnovers seemed to indicate their inexperience. "We just needed to get a game under our belts," she said. The Wolverines' next game is on the road, Dec. 6 against Louisville. ummoi Upstaged in debut DETROIT COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP MICHIGAN I FG FT/A PF N.C. State cli GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP)-Charles "Hawkeye" Whitney scored 20 points and Clyde Austin added 19 to lead sixth- ranked North Carolina State to a 77-70 victory over Wake Forest last night in the consolation game of the Big Four* Basketball Tournament. Top-ranked Duke met No. 14 North Carolina in the cham- pionship game. Whitney, a 6-foot-5 junior forward, collected 12 points in the second half before fouling out with 9:44 left in the game as the Wolfpack battled bck froma 41-40 deficit at intermission. Purdue 58, Nebraska 47 LINCOLN, Neb. (AP)-Joe Barry Carroll scored 11 second-half points to lead Purdue to a 58-47 come-from- behind victory over Nebraska in a college basketball game last night. Trailing 27-24 at the half, Purdue installed a full-court press and then tied the game at 27-all with 16:54 remaining. Drake Morris led Purdue to a 34-27 lead during a 71/2- minute scoring drought by Nebraska. Morris led his team with 21 points. Husker Andra Smith hit two free-throws to give Nebraska its first score of the second period. Nebraska pulled within four points with six minutes left, is Wake Forest but the Boilermakers turned to the four-corner offense and hit eight unanswered points, mostly on lay-ups, to ice the vic- tory. * * * Indiana 80, Morehead St. 37 BLOOMINGTON (AP)-Indiana held Morehead State to a single field goal in a 13-minute stretch yesterday and rode the game-high 20 points of center Ray Tolbert to an 80-37 college basketball victory. The 20th-ranked Hoosiers, who lost their last two games in the inaugural Sea Wolf Classic in Alaska last week, evened their record at 2-2. Morehead held several leads in the opening moments of the game, but the inside play of the 6-foot-9 Tolbert and the outside shooting of guard Tommy Baker helped Indiana to a six-point lead, 27-21, with three minutes to go in the first half. * * * Northwestern 93, Rice 71 EVANSTON (AP)-Brian Jung scored 22 points and Jerry Marifke added 20 to lead Northwestern to a 93-71 victory over Rice yesterday. The first half was close as the lead changed hands seven times, the final time when Rice held a 31-30 lead with 3:52 to play. Northwestern's Larry Lumpkins hit a 12-foot jumper with 3:20 to play to give the Wildcats the lead for good and propel them toward a 40-31 halftime bulge. The triumph was Northwestern's first after two defeats, while the loss evened Rice's record at 1-1. LeBach.................... Blackburn.................. Danials.................. Lillie...................... williams.................... East....................... erry ...................... Messe .................. Green ... .................... 1 2/4 5 4/8 5 2/5 3 4/6 9 1/5 4 1/1 2 3/4 0 0/0 0 0/0 5 3 4 2 4 4 1 0 Pts. 4 14 12 10 19 7 0 0 vanHusen ........... White............... Neer .............. Schevers.......... Dietz.............. Currier........... McNamara ........ Harris ............ Sanders ........... Grier ............. FG/A 2/5 0/1 5/7 1/7 4/16 5/11 8/13 0/1, 1/1 1/1 FT/ 5/6 0/2 1/2 3/6 2/4 2/3 2/2 0/0 0/1 1/1 R 3 2 10 3 4 4 3 0 1 0 30 A 4 0 2 4 3 1 1 0 i 0 16 PF 4 4 3 4 3 2 3 2 2 3. 29, Pts. 9 0 11 S 10 12 18 0 2 3 69 Totals..............29 17/33 24 75 Totals..............27/63 16/27 ISCORES I College Football Atnav 9'Lt dnsr... n Purdue 58, Nebraska 47 :. <::