Page Ten
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Sunday, March 28, 1976
Some
stars
shine,
RM
AM
fade
a~4,
ichigan
runs
KknIl
Into
delze
Johnny Orr
Steve Grote
F st-breaking Wolverines,
shatter Rutgers' title hopes
stellar defense suffocates
vaunted Rutgers offense
(Continued from Page 1) teams raced up and down the
"I KNEW he was frustrated," floor at a frantic pace. Michigan
said Britt, who scored 11 points. stole the ball from Rutgers 11
"But I was too. I managed to times.
cool it out. I watched the films "We welcomed Rutgers to the
and I saw he moves a lot to get Big Ten with our defense," said
the ball. I knew I had to front Wolverine assistant Bill Frieder.
him." OFFENSIVELY, the Wolver-
"Britt didn't let Sellers do ines had their own fast break
anything and I don't think he working for the first time since
was used to that," said Mich- t h e second Michigan State
igan coach Johnny Orr. game. Passing the ball with
While Britt was controlling precision, the Wolverines man-
Sellers, Grote arrested the sec- ageo to get their shots from
ond half of Rutgers' dynamic far more advantageous posi-
duo, M i k e Dabney. Dabney tions than Rutgers. And every
scored 10 points, half his sea- time Michigan missed, it seem-
son's average, hitting on five ed John Robinson was there to
of 17 shots. Grote pumped in put the errant shot into the
14 points as all five Michigan basket.
starters scored in double fig- Robinson scored 20 points and
ures. pulled down 16 rebounds, as
"I READ in the paper before Michigan outrebounded Rutgers,
the game that if Rutgers has 50-38. Robinson scored 14 points
an advantage, it's at the off- in the first half alone, eight
guard position where Dabney coming in one two-and-a-half
matches up with me," Grote minute stretch, which pushed
said. "I don't expect to read the Michigan lead to 17.
that anymore." Freshman center Phil Hub-
The Scarlet Knights hit on bard, unawed by the prospect
only 27.5 per cent of their floor of playing in the finals of the
shots in the first half, as both NCAA tournament, contributed
16 points to the Wolverines' bal-
anced attack and hauled down
15 rebounds.
"AT FIRST 1 was tight. They
got two rebounds on me and I
picked up a quick foul," Hub-
bard said. "But then I settled
down."
Hubbard's counterpart, Rut-
gers' freshman center James
Bailey, grabbed six caroms and
scored six points, making only
one field goal.
For more sports news, in-
cluding stories on yesterday's
high school basketball cham-
pionships, see page 9.
In the Midwest Regional final
against Missouri, Michigan led
by as much as 18 points in the
first half. However, the Wol-
verines lost the lead before
coming back at the end to beat
the Tigers, 95-88. With a 17-
point lead at halftime against
Rutgers, the Wolverines remem-
bered the Missouri game.
"The important thing was
that we maintained the big lead
after halftime," said Orr, who
was head coach at Massachu-
setts in 1965, the only other time
Michigan reached the NCAA
finals.
"YOU WRITERS have been
writing all week that we can't
hold the lead and we reminded
the kids at halftime," Orr con-
tinued. "We told thetkids at the
half that if they (Rutgers) want
to run, we'll run."
"It -helped us a lot when we
lost those leads, earlier in the
season," said Rickey Green,
who scored 16 points, dished out
five assists and snared six re-
bounds. "We were more con-
scious of it today."
The closest Rutgers could
come in the second half was 15
points, with Michigan leading
by 23 at times.
One Knight to go
MICHIGAN
By BILL STIEG
Special To The Daily
PHILADELPHIA - Frustration, that unnerv-
ing devil that tears at composure and destroys
patience, has struck again.
It arrived at the Spectrum yesterday after-
noon for the Michigan-Rutgers game. Two hours
later, it had finished off the proud Scarlet
Knights, darlings of Eastern basketball.
THE SPEEDY Knights, before yesterday un-
beaten and fourth ranked, were given a taste
of defense the way it is played everywhere
west of New Jersey. Michigan blocked, clogged
and finally busted the usually potent Rutgers
scoring machine.
"I think we introduced them to Big Ten de-
fense," beamed Bill Frieder, Michigan's assist-
ant coach. "We played great defense, the type
they're not used to."
Some of the Knights, surprised and annoyed
at the physical play, acted like they were vic-
tims of a cruel practical joke, as if maybe the
NCAA had made a last minute rule change
allowing violence and didn't tell anyone on
Rutgers.
Most bewildered was Phil Sellers, Rutgers'
All-American, who was bumped and shoved all
game long by Michigan's Wayman Britt. Sellers
was so bothered by it all that he took to talking
out loud at whomever was near-Britt, the ref-
erees, or his teammates.
"HE WAS JUST telling the refs to call some-
thing," said Britt. "You know how a guy can
get frustrated. I don't go into a game planning
to get a guy mad. I just try to play good de-
fense.
"If a guy gets frustrated, it just shows that
he doesn't have the endurance of patience to
not let it bother him," Britt continued. "What
I try to do is not let anything my man does
affect the way I play."
Sellers says he was just trying to assert him-
self.
"I was talking to him (Britt), letting him
know he's got another player out there who's
going to back down. I was trying to say, 'hey,
you didn't have no kids out here-we're not
going to be afraid of you.' "
"Michigan's defense was very aggressive,"
said Knight Mike Dabney. "They hustled and
had a lot of desire. That makes a big difference.
We didn't play that well, we didn't play our
typical game."
THAT'S WHAT many Rutgers fans said. But
Michigan wouldn't listen.
"Any time you say you played a bad game,
it's because the other team played better," said
Grote. "I've never seen us play that well on
defense. We played fabulous defense."
Rutgers coach Tom Young agreed somewhat,
but said, "We lost our poise for a period of ten
minutes, and when we did we lost the game.
We played streak ball for ten to twelve minutes
and lost our poise.
"Michigan's quickness didn't figure in the
game," Young continued. We took ourselves
out of it. It's so important psychologically to
get a good start. We didn't and we didn't have
the patience to get back.
"IT'S THE FIRST time we've lost our poise
for so long a stretch," Young concluded.
"I think they got the spirit," said John Rob-
inson, who continues his outstanding tourney
play with 16 rebounds and a team-leading 20
points. "They've never been in a situation where
they got so far behind."
So now it's that daydream game that was
laughed at last October-an All-Big Ten final
between Michigan and Indiana.
"A lot of people around the country aren't
going to like this," said a reporter from the
East. "It won't have much appeal on the coast."
That's too bad, New York and Los Angeles. At
least you can listen to the consolation game.
Sour gr
Inside Straight
Andy Glazer
apes ...
0 . hard to swallow
AP Photo
STAR WOLVERINE GUARD Rickey Green attempts to hinder
Rutgers' "All-American" Phil Sellers set shot early in yester-
day's game. Sellers managed only 11 points as a stellar Blue
defense continually harassed Rutgers, forcing them to a 39.5
field goal percentage for the game. The loss gives Rutgers a
31-1 record on the season, including an 0-1 mark against
quality competition.
PHILADELPHIA
HERE WERE fourteen minutes and 57 seconds remaining in
the first half. Steve Grote had just been fouled by Hollis
Copeland of Rutgers, and stood at the line for two shots. Rutgers
had outscored Michigan 8-4 during a sloppily played, tense first
five minutes.
Grote's free throws dropped through, and although no one
knew it at the time, the Scarlet Knights were about to be blown
off the floor.
In outscoring Rutgers 42-21 over the next fifteen minutes, the
Wolverines played as superbly as they have in any game this
season, barring the overtime loss at Indiana.
There were varying explanations as to why and how it hap-
pened.
John Robinson, who continues to play tournament basket-
ball the way it was meant to be played - he led the Wol-
xerines in scoring (20) and rebounding (16) yesterday -
spoke happily after the game.
"Everybody put out a hell of an effort getting back on de-
fense, and that just took them out of the game," said Robinson.
"I felt as we pressured them they would turn the ball over."
The Knights had 16 turnovers in the first half.
"We were conscious we had to keep the pressue on," agreed
Rickey Green, who scored 16. "They were missing their shots,
and that fired us up to keep playing the tough defense.
Rutgers coach Tom Young had his own reasons for the
spurt. Refusing to credit Michigan, he said, "Obviously, I'm
really embarrassed. I don't think we played our kind of bas-
ketbalL We lost our poise for a period of ten minutes and
that's where we lost the ball game. Hell's fire . .. we didn't
execute. It's a shame for Rutgers and for Eastern basket-
ball."
Young has adopted a defensive pose for the media through
all the press conferences since his team's arrival Philadelphia
Thursday. Repeated questions about the capabilities of his
squad's previous victims have marred what should have been a
joyous, thrilling event, and the defensive posture is understand-
able.
"It may sound ridiculous," continued Young, "but I don't
think Michigan is that much better. We didn't suck it up, we
didn't go back to having patience. We played steak ball for ten
to twelve minues and lost our poise. Michigan's quickness didn't
figure in the game. We took ourselves out of it."
Grote and Michigan coach Johnny Orr disagree.
"Maybe they didn't play up to their capabilities," said
Grote, "but I don't think there were too many teams in the
country that could have beaten us today because of our de-
fense. We go our hands on more opponent's passes than in
any game this year."
"I think it was our defense that made the difference," said
Orr, whose team has now won a Michigan record 25 games.
"Britt didn't let Sellers do anything and I don't think he was too
used to that.
This battle was markedly different from the Wolverines con-
quest of Missouri, in which Michigan blew an 18 point first half
lead. This time the Wolverines took their lead and clung 'to it
ferociously.
The Wolverines scored the first two baskets of the second
half to take complete control of the game. Rutgers tried on
several occasions to come back, but each time a heads-up Michi-
gan play killed their momentum immediately.
"I think some of the big leads we lost reminded us that we
had to keep playing," said Green.
"During the second half, I just hoped we'd keep it on so
they wouldn't come back," said Phil Hubbard, who scored 16
and took down 13 rebounds for the Blue.
"The important thing was that we maintained a big lead
after hilftime," said Orr. "You writers have been writing
_,1 . , > + .+ - .. f . .1.1 L. ,, ,..7 .«1 -, e.«.. «.7 .. L.
DEFEATS DEFENDING CHAMPS:
Britt
Robinsoi
Hubbard
Green
Grote
Baxter
Staton
Bergen
Thompso
Schinner
Hardy
Jones
Lillard
Team
Totals
Sellers
Copeland
Bailey
Jordan
Dabney
Anderson
Conlin
Hef ele
Team
Totals
MICHIG.
Rutgers
n
rer
FG FT R PF A
5-9 1-1 5 4 5
8-13 4-5 16 2 3
8-13 0-3 13 4 1
7-16 2-2 6 4 5
4-13 6-6 4 4 1
2-5 1-2 3 0 2
1-1 2-2 0 1 2
0-0 0-0 0 0 0
0-0 0-0 0 0 0
0-0 0-0 0 1 0
0-0 0-0 0 0 0
0-0 0-0 0 0 0
0-0 0-0 0 0 0
3
TP
11
201
16
16
14
50
4'
0
0
0
0
By TOM CAMERON
special To The Daily
PHILADELPHIA - A f t e r
mounting a 13 point lead, In-
diana waswforced to slow the
ball down with six minutes to go
to hang on to beat UCLA, 65-51,
in the NCAA semi-finals yester-
day to secure an all-Big TenI
final.
Indiana led by 13 points with
12 minutes to go when the
Bruins' Andre McCarter and
Rick Washington combined for
three field goals and cut the In-
diana lead toasix with 8:23 re-
maining.j
The Hoosiers answered with
four points of their own in
the next minute, but Gavin
Smith cut it right back to six
with a 19-foot jumper at the
tcces
Bruins,
65-w51
35-70 16-21 50 20 19 86
RUTGERS
5-13 1-3 8 4 1 11
d 7-12 1-1 5 3 2 15
1-3 4-6 6 0 1 6
6-20 4-4 4 4 6 16
5-17 0-1 5 4 2 10
n 3-8 0-1 6 3 0 6
2-2 0-0 1 2 2 4
1-1 0-0 1 2 1 2
2
30-76 10-16 38 22 15 70
SCORE BY HALVES
1 2 F
AN 46 40 86
29 41 70
7:05 mark and a layup with | then fed May underneath to in-
6:02 remaining. ! crease the lead to 10 points.
"We felt that with six to eight Another hurried UCLA shot
minutes left and being only six fell astray and Brett Vrooman
down, we had our chances," fouled Bob Wilkerson with 2:19
said UCLA head coach Gene remaining. Wilkerson hit on
Bartow. two free throws to give In-
But Indiana went into their diana a 12 point lead and all
slowdown offense with six min- but sew up the victory.
uutes left, not attempting a shot At the start, though, it was
for another 1:44 when Wash- UCLA who controlled the con-
ington fouled Scott May. May test.
sunk his two free throws to The Bruins jumped out to a
make the score 54-46 with just quick 7-2 lead in the first two
over four minutes left. minutes while Kent Benson
Smith'committed an offensive picked up two fouls trying to
foul to give Indiana thetball and stoj All-American Washington.
the Hoosiers held on to it for UCLA held onto that lead un-
another 1:20 when Smith foul- til 7:26 remained in the first
ed Jim Crews. Crews missed the half when Benson put the
first half of a one-and-one, but Hoosiers ahead to stay, 21-19.
Indiana got the rebound and It was Tom Abernethy who
took over defensing Washing-
ton when Benson got into foul
trouble. The 6-7 guard held
BLUE Washington to 11 points for
the rest of the game.
"This is nothing new for Ab-
ernethy," Bobby Kniht, Indi-
ana's head coach said. "He hasI
done a great job for us all year
and has come through for us
many times. He just played a
great game, a really great
game."
"I didn't play him real tight,"
Abernethy said of his defense.
"I just got a lot of help. I justj
tried to keep him from getting
inside on me."
Washington ended the game
with 15 points, six below his
average but still higher than
any of his teammates. Marques
Johnson was second with 12
Washington and Johnson as
much as they could worked in
excellent fasihon.
"The way they played the
help defense all the time makes
them the toughest defensive
team in the nation."
The Indiana defense held the
Uclans to a measly 34 per cent
shooting average from the floor.
"Look at the statistics, and
we've only shot like that once
or twice in the last 15 or 16
ball games," Bartow said. 'tBut
basically, the game was lost in
the way Indiana defensed us
points, and worked on Washington and
Benson was the leader for In- Johnson."
diana with 16 points while Ab- "Defense made the difference
ernethy and May both scored in our team," Knight said. "It
14. Quinn Buckner hit for 12. has enabled us to go along.
Indiana's aggressive defense This game was the difference
carried them past UCLA once between two great squads who
again. "I don't think there's played hard and the strong de-
any doubt," Bartow said, fensive pressure by both teams
"that Indiana's game plan to made it the kind of game it
back in and double team was."
THIRD CHANCE FOR
Indiana: the las-
1Z liatie
1T1oot boyiIHoos-iers!
UCLA
By KATHY HENNEGHAN
Special to The Daily
PHILADELPHIA - The third time's the
charm.
"This was a very fine game for us but it
wasn't our best - that one we lost," said
Michigan coach Johnny Orr after yesterday's
86-70 shellacking of Rutgers. That finest
game he was referring to was the 72-67
overtime loss to Indiana at Bloomington.
The Wolverines had that nationally tele-
vised contest all but won until a controver-
sial call at the buzzer allowed Kent Benson's
tip-in to send the game into overtime. The
Hoosiers iever led in regulation play.
MICHIGAN LOST an earlier encounter to
the Hoosiers, 80-74, at Crisler Arena back in
January. The Wolverines had only one prac-
tice session to prepare for, that contest due
to a rare Thursday night game at Wisconsin.
And now, Michigan has another chance
at the Hoosiers - this time for all the
marbles.
"I've never really dreamed we'd have to
play Indiana three times," said Orr yes-
terday. "Good gracious, twice is enough."
But Orr, the team and most Michigan fans
urp r..n+ 'nr Tndinn nver TTCT.A - not
an indication of the kind of ball we play in
our league."
"Michigan is the best team we've played
all year long," Knight added. "Our kids felt
this after we played them each time and
I agreed.
"Michigan is very, very quick. They have
confidence and are a good bunch of kids who
work their tails off," said Knight. "John
and his staff have done a great job with
them.
"Michigan's speed presents a problem to
us, but every team presents a problem of
one kind or another."
ASKED IF the Michigan team might have
a little more incentive going into the final,
Quinn Buckner replied, "Hell, we both have
incentive - we're playing for the national
championship."
All-American Scott May said, "We made it
to the championship, so I don't care who we
play. We're going to be playing hard, I'll
guarantee that.
"Britt plays me pretty tough," he added.
"He plays hard."
Tom Abernethy echoed the general senti-
ments, saying, "Michigan is a very good
ball chub, and I think we'll have to play
unpr good .RBt T'm elad thev won because
FG
Washington 6-15
Johnson 6-10
Greenwood 2-5
Townsend 2-10
McCarter 2-9
Drollinger 0-3
Holland 0-2
Spillane 0-2
Smith 3-4
Hamilton 0-1
vroman 0-
Lippert 0-0
Olinoe 0-0
'team
Totals 21-61
FT R PtF A TP
3-4 8 3 3 15
0-1 6 2 0 12
1-2 10 2 0 5
0-0 3 1 2 4
0-0 4 5 3 4
2-2 1 3 0 2
0-0 0 0 0 0
0-0 1 0 2 0
0-0 0 3 0 6
1-2 0 0 0 1
0-0 1 2 0 0
2-2 0 0 0 2
0-0 0 0 0 0
3
9-13 37 21 10 51
Aberneti
May
Benson
Wilkerso
Buckner
Crews
Team
Totals
UCLA
Indiana
hy 7-8 0-1 6 3 2 14
5-16 4-6 4 2 5 14
6-15 4-6 9 4 0 16
n 1-5 3-4 19 3 7 5
6-14 0-1 3 3 2 12
1-1 2-3 3 0 3 4
1
26-59 13-21 45 15 19 65
SCORE BY HALVES
1 2 F
26 25 51
34 31 65
Atnance, 17,540
SCORES
I
NBA
Detroit 112, Portland 94
Washington 99, Chicago 84
Cleveland 103, Milwaukee 99
New York 105, Boston 103
Houston 109, Philadelphia 95
Phoenix 117, Kansas City 100
NIIIT
ItAINME M AA Y , ;;.'.i ter- :X