/ Page Nine Friday, January 28, 1977 THE MICHIGAN DAILY full court Big Ten toughens... no rest in sight By DON MacLACHLAN MADISON EVERYBODY IS UP for Michigan. When the second-ranked Wolverines take their show on the road, opposing coaches have no problem getting their teams mentally ready to play. Take last night's 69-64 victory for instance. The Wolverines, riding high atop the Big Ten stand- ings, faced the cellar-dwellers of the conference, the Wis- consin Badgers. And Wisconsin coach Bill Cofield had his team motivated. "Hey, I don't have to get my players fired up to play the top dog, like Michigan. I think when our school is play- ing the best team, our squad plays the best ball we are cap- able of," said Cofield. Michigan coach Johnny Orr is surprised at how sharp weaker teams are when they face the Wolverines. "I can't believe that teams play so good against us," said Orr. "We are 8-0 and Wisconsin is 1-7 and in our two games we only beat them by a total of eight points. That's amazing, isn't it?" "Woo,sthe Big Ten is a tough league," Orr added, "When the top team beats the lpst place team by five, you know its a good conference." Cofield was in full agreement with Orr - the Big Ten is a tough conference. "Michigan beat Michigan State by 13, then MSU wins at Indiana by one. Minnesota beat Indiana 79-60 tonight, now they'll turn around and probably win by only four or five points. That's indicative of the type of play in this league, Cofield added. After three close calls, Michigan certainly knows it can- not look past the Wisconsins, Northwesterns and Ohio States on its schedule. "Everybody is up to get you and it's hard to keep motivated all the time," said Rickey Green. "We've gotta take each game one at a time. We sure can't look too far ahead." Last year the Wolverines pulled off a few surprises play- ing as underdogs on their way to a second place finish in the Big Ten and the NCAA tournament. This year, Michigan is the team to beat in the Big Ten. "Last year we got the jump on Indiana at their place when they were number one," said Robinson. "We prepared a lot more for them and confused them with our tactics. That's the way teams look at us now." With all the travelling the cagers have done recently, it has been tough to prepare for road games. "We only have so many minutes to practice on the road," remarked Robinson. "We practice for around 45 minutes and then we are out of them. Opposing teams prepare for us much more than that." Michigan has another date with a dveaker team tomorrow at Northwestern. Perhaps, assistant coach Bill Frieder says it best. Fred Taylor, the old Ohio State mentor, told him something recent- ly that Frieder will always remember. "He told me when his teams were number one, every- one was fired up to play them and tried to knock them off," Frieder said. "And when he coached his weaker teams, he had no problem getting his players fired up to play the best team." Everybody is up for Michigan. Blue for By KATHY HENNEGHAN MADISON - Michigan co-cap- tain John Robinson hit the first end of a one and one foul situ- ation with 0:05 remaining to ice a 69-64 win over the Wisconsin Badgers here last night. The victory was the Wolver- ines' ninth straight. Michigan's conference leading record is now 8-0. The Wolverines, at 15-1 overall, are off to their best start ever since Cazzie Russell's sophomore season in 1963-64. MICHIGAN'S largest lead was ten points in the tug-of-war con- test. In a near-replay of Monday night's finish at Ohio State, Johnny Orr called a time-out with 1:24 remaining and put Steve Grote in at forward. The Wolverines then protected their 65-60 lead by stalling. Wisconsins' Bob Falk fouled David Baxter, whose free throw made it 66-60. The Badgers raced down the court where Joe Chrnelich's short jumper cut the lead to 66-62 with 0:53 remaining. ON THE ENSUING in-bounds play, Grote uncorked a half- court pass to Rickey Green. The senior speedster from Chi- cago laid the ball in to clinch the game at 68-62. All that was left was Badger Jim Smith's jumper, 68-64, and Falk's foul which sent Robin- .son to the line. "We never had to use a de- lay until three games ago," said Wisconsunk stalls Bat ers triumph *VALUABLE COUPON*A i 69-=64 Orr. "Now we seem to use it every game."+ Wisconsin coach Bill Cofield' credited his team with contain- ing the explosive Wolverines throughout the contest. "WE LOST SOME GAMES,"i said Cofield, "but only when the other team beat us. We don't: give anything away. Michigan , had no major spurts, just three- or four-point spurts. I think wej did a very good job controlling, the tempo of the game." Two Badger starters were in-, jured during the course of the game. Forward Jim "Stretch" Gregory re-sprained an ankle and sat out the last nine min- utes of the game. Center Ray Sydnor pulled ligaments inhis left instep, slowing him down in the second half. Chrnelich led a balanced Bad- ger attack with 16, while Gre- gory and Sydnor added 15 points apiece. Phil Hubbard led all scorers with 20, connecting on eight of 11 shots from the floor, four of five free throws, and hauling down eight rebounds. "HUBBARD PLAYS so hard," said Orr, "and he helps us out so much on defense. He's a good kid to have in there."j Green had 19 for Michigan. -50 0 T.4 uIn- I N Robinson and Baxter had ninef each and Grote had six. "This was our sixth game in 12 days, four of those on the road," said Orr. "It's a miracle that we're winning all thesel games. "As long as my team plays hard, I have no complaints," Orr explained, "but today I got on them worse than I have all year.. We seldom get outhustled, but I felt Wisconsin outhustled! us in the first half." For you trivia buffs, Wiscon- sin's Pete Brey scored his first two points of the season last night. That would not be usual except that Brey is the 1 " .Badger's captain. "We've beaten Wisconsin twice by a total of eight points," Orr said. "How do you explain that? I'll tell you how. This is a bal- anced league. When the top team beats the bottom team by five points, that's balance." The Wolverines travel to Evanston today to prepare for tomorrow's game with North- western. Tipoff is 5:05 Ann Ar- bor time. The game can be heard of WUOM-FM 91.7. ASI Mr. Tony's delicious 14" PIZZA! tU SUBMARINES & PIZZA 1327 S. University FREE, DELIVERY!!* 66'3-0511 d for pickup, dine-in or FREE DELIVERY at 1327 its location only COUPON EXPIRES FEB. 3, 1977 F AST Offer ot S. Univer Joi j ra rs n the Daily Sports Staff Rickey Green Phil Hubbard I U Robinson Thompson Hubbard Green Grote Staton Baxter Hardy Bergen Team Totals Gregory Chrnelich Sydnor Gaines Falk Smith, J. Pearson Brey Smith, B. Team Totals MICHIGAN FG/FGA FT/FTA R 2-4 5-7 5 2. A Tj 2 9! 1-2 8-11 3-6 0-3 4-5 2-8 E -2 0-0 4-S 1-2 0-0 0-0 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 14 2 1 0. 18 2 0 35 2 1 3 2 1 2 1 0 14 2k 20, 19 4! 0i JANUARY 30 11:00 p.m.-THE DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA9 * Brahms: Violin concerto and Symphony No. 2 JANUARY 31 11:00 p.m.-NEW MUSIC, George Cacioppo, host Works by John Cage FEBRUARY 1 8:05 p.m.-A Concert by the AEOLIAN WvJ)M CHAMBER PLAYERS Works by Haydn, Bolcom, Bartok and Brahms ANN ARBOR FEBRUARY 2 7:30 p.m.-OPERA NIGHT Handel: Alcinoa FEBRUARY 4 8:05 p.m.-THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC Mohler: Symphony No. 9 FEBRUARY 5 11:00 p.m.-THE GOON SHOW FEBRUARY 6 6:30 a.m.-SUNDAY MORNING MUSICAL, Patrick Hill host. Works by Bach, Milhaud, Paganini, Beethoven and Strauss FOR A FREE PROGRAM GUIDE CALL (313) 764-9210 29-58 11-16 69 WISCONSIN FG/FTA FT/FTA R A T 7-18 1-13 5 1 15 8-13 0-3 12 0 16 6-9 3-3 13 2 15 1-9 0-0 5 5 2 3-11 0-1 0 3 61 3-7 0-0 2 4 6 1-1 0-0 3 2 2 1-1 0-0 1 2 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 30-69 4-8 41 19 64 Halftime: Michigan 33, Wisconsin 3i Attendance: 7,042 Minnesota downs Hoosiers, Wildcats sharpshoot State i 01 t SBA.S" B ASS- &AAS sASS. sBASS* ASS 529 o EAST LIBERTY MON. & SAT. 9:30-6; TUES.-FRI. 9:30-8 .V SASS. ASS* 6ASS * ASS * BAS *BASS. AS S* BASS Bor CLARK'S , Carlton ac 2 OFF By The Associated Press BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Mi- chael Thompson, winning his head-to-head duel with All- American center Kent ,Benson, scored 35 points last night to lead 13th-ranked Minnesota to a 79-60 Big Ten basketball vic- tory over Indiana. The 6-foot-10 junior center scored three straight baskets midway through the first half to give Minnesota a 19-14 lead and the Gophers led the rest of the wty.eA 10-point Minnesota burst late in the second half killed Indiana's chances for good. The victory was the Gophers' 13 h in 14 starts and fourth in five league outings. Indiana, which has won the league title four straight years, dropped to U i 9-7 overall and 4-3 in conference. I McKinney, who went six of Thompson, hitting inside and out, scored 18 points in the first half, then added 11 points in the first five minutes of the second half as Minnesota solidified its lead. The Hoosiers never got closer than seven points in the second half. IN OTHER Big Ten action last night, Billy McKinney hit fc- 22 points and Northwestern went 24 for 24 from the free-throw line as the Wildcats defeated Michigan State. 66-58. McKinney was pulled from t he game after he picked up a fourth personal foul with 17:15 left. With Northwestern trailing 51-42 with 10:29 to go, McKin- ney returned and the Wildcats swiftly outscored the Spartans 11-2. six from the line, made nine of the 11 points as NU put on its final period drive while holding Michigan State to only two field goals in the last 10 minutes of the match and only three points j" the final 4:47. Su bscri be I SCORES_ !' College Basketball Iowa 84. Ohio State 66 Arkansas 77, Southern Methodist 59 Maryland 75, N. Carolina state 73 NBA Houston 114, DETROIT 107 Cleveland 113, N.Y. Knicks 11 Phoenix 111, Philadelphia 94 NHL Washington 4, DETROIT 1 ! t 3 s i I TO Q A I OPEN TIL 1 A.M. 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