m Page 14-Wednesday, January 7, 1981-The Michigan Daily Roughopening Purdue hands'M'first season loss ,;, full court 'sS -4 By BUDDY MOOREHOUSE Michigan's rookie head basketball coach Bill Frieder said it best back in December, during the Wolverines' sleepy non-conference schedule. "Hell, no. I'm not anxious for the Big Ten season to start," said Frieder. "We've got the toughest start of any team in the, conference. We've got to play Purdue and Minnesota on the road, and then come back with Indiana, Iowa and Illinois at home. I'd rather play thesej non-conference games all year." The wisdom of Frieder's words became evident Monday night, as the Wolverines bowed to Purdue in the con- ference opener for both teams, 81-74. The loss was the first setback of the season for Michigan, which had cruised through' the non-conference schedule unscathed. The Wolverines' 9-0 record entering the Purdue game earned them, a ninth and tenth place ranking this week in the UPI and AP polls, respec- tively.r THE BIGGEST scare of the pre- conference season for Michigan came on December 13 at Dayton. The Flyers were 5-0 entering the contest with the Wolverines, and hung right with Michigan all the way. It took two clutch free throws by Thad Garner in the final minute to give Michigan an 85-84 win. The cagers were idle during finals week, but the layoff seemed to have no detrimental effect on the Wolverines as they demolished Western Michigan, 102-73, on December 20. Johnny John- son hit a career-high 29 points to help the Wolverines top the century mark for the only time this season. Freshman center Tim McCormick tossed in a. season-high 15 points and hauled in nine rebounds. After the Christmas break, Michigan traveled to Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on December 30, where they overcame poor rebounding to whip the University of Detroit, 85-68, The Titans' Joe Kopicki tore apart the Wolverines, scoring 29 points and pulling in 18 rebounds. The rest of the Titans were ineffective, however, allowing Michigan to advance its unbeaten string. Mike McGee led the Wolverines with 21 points. MICHIGAN STARTED off 1981 on the right foot, beating Northern Michigan (a Division II school) at Joe Louis Arena, 92-56. The Wolverine! starters played well, but the substitutes allowed Northern to close the wide gap the Wolverines had opened. Michigan only led by ten at the half, 38-28. "I really hoped that by, this time one of the sub- stitutes would have distinguished him- self," said Frieder after the game. "But no one really has." Purdue, with the loss of All-American and number one NBA draft pick Joe Barry Carroll expected to see its for- tunes sour this season, but freshman center Fussell Cross has superbly filled the gap left by Carroll. Against Michigan, Cross led all scorers with 21 points, most of them coming on easy back-door layups. The main reason behind the Purdue victory was the Boilermakers' amazing 75.5 percent shooting from the floor. That mark established a new Big Ten record. Even a career-high 18 points from Paul Heuerman couldn't stop Purdue. McGee tallied 20 points and Marty Bodnar hit on eight-of-12 from the floor f'or 16 points, but it wasn't enough to overcome the balanced Pur- due attack. "I've never played in a game where the teams shot like that," remarked Cross after the game. "I THOUGHT it was a helluva game," said Frieder. "Purdue played extremely well. If we could have gotten the lead in the second half, it might have been a different story, but we didn't." Michigan has a chance to even its Big Ten mark this Saturday, when it travels to Minnesota. The Gophers, who beat North Carolina by 15 points last week, are the 14th-ranked team in the UPI poll this week. "I think Minnesota is the most underrated team in the country," said Frieder. "I think they're one of the five best teams in the country." Frieder received an early Christmas present over the holidays, as Eric Tur- ner, a 6-3 guard from Flint Central, called Frieder on Christmas Eve to tell the Michigan coach he would be bringing his talents to Ann Arbor next year. The lightning-quick Turner is regarded as possibly the best point guard prospect in the state. 11 do all thle work. Just fill out the RUSH SLIP below (or pick one up in the store), and hand it to one of our clerks. Voila! Your books will appear. No searching shelves and pawing through stacks looking for the right book. We maintain an up-to-date list of required texts. And, of course, any changes will bring a cheerful exchange or refund (even for dropped courses). Just return the book with a receipt and in the same condition as purchased. And how much does this service cost? Nothing. We guarantee it. It our prices aren't competitive, we'll refund the difference at any time within two weeks. What more could you ask? NOTE: Please specify if you want new books. Our clerks are instructed to provide the best quality used books available (and we've got a lot of 'em). 1. 2. 3. 4. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20~. AP Top 20 DePaul (59) 12-0 Oregon State (2) 10-0 Virginia (1) 9-0 Kentucky 8-1 Wake Forest 10-1 UCLA 8-1 Maryland 10-1 LSU 10-1 MICHIGAN 9-1 Iowa 8-1 Illinois 8-1 Tennessee 9-1 Arizona State 9-2 S. Alabama 10-1 North Carolina 9-3 Brigham Young 101 Utah sr 11-1 Minnesota 8-1 Clemson 11-1 1,237 1,159 1,098 989 874 867 773 744 664 575 442 429 359 317 293 264 223 192 146 Boilermaker blitz.. . . , rude awakening orBlue By JON MORELAND WEST LAFAYETTE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS poll of the top 20 basketball teams taken this week places Michigan in the number ten spot. Michigan earned this lof- ty position by romping through its non-conference schedule with a perfect 9-0 record. The results of this poll were announced about 9:30 Monday night. At the same time in West Lafayette's Mackey Arena Purdue soundly defeated the Wolverines, 81-74. Purdue wasn't even ranked in the top 20 because of its two non-conference road defeats to Tennessee and Tulsa. Tennessee is ranked thirteenth in that same poll, and Tulsa has only one loss in its first ten games. Among Purdue's seven non-Big Ten victims were Georgia Tech and Florida-earning the Boilermakers a championship in the Gator Bowl Classic in Jacksonville, Florida-and always-tough Providence. Purdue's non-conference slate was obviously tougher than that of the Wolverines, which featured games against Arkansas, Kansas, and Dayton. This put Michigan at a great disadvantage Monday night, and it could con- tinue to haunt the team as the Big Ten season progresses. Every team Michigan played in the pre-season featured at least one or two solid players. Northern Michigan's guard Ernie Montgomery could play with just about any team in the country. The difference was that Mon- tgomery lacked the supporting cast to give Michigan a good battle. What Michigan found in Mackey Arena Monday night was a team that can come at you with five solid starters and come in with capable reserves. when the starters get tired. The situation was as if Michigan had been practicing against four men and suddenly found itself in a game against five. When Purdue had the ball, anyone on the team could put it in the hole the way Ernie Montgomery alone could. When Michigan was on offense, Purdue's swarming defense made it seem like the Wolverines were playing seven on five. And this defensive pressure took its toll on the Wolverines. "Our defense in the early going made them (Michigan) a little shakey," said first-year Pur- due coach Gene Keady. "We even shook their seniors, and that surprised me." Actually, it's not all that surprising. Michigan had not faced a solid defen- se since last March when it lasted three games in the National Invitational Tournament. That's over nine months of playing scrimmages against the' freshmen and sophomores and games against sub-par opponents. Even those experienced seniors had probably forgotten what a tough man- to-man defense looked like. It's no wonder they got a little flustered. It's the old story of not knowing how good a team actually is until it's been' tested, and now it is just beginning to be tested. Michigan coach Bill Frieder maintains he's glad it has worked out this way. "We had those three pretty impressive wins, and with the Big Ten season, we'll have a damn tough schedule. "We schedule as much as six years in advance, and a couple of years ago. everyone was screaming for us to schedule Detroit. It just turned out that they were a little down this year." Frieder also points out that Michigan always plays three Mid-American Conference teams, and again it just happened to catch teams (Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, and Kent State) in down years. So no one is really to blame for the weak Michigan schedule. The Wolverines will just have to use these early Big Ten games to toughen up. Their next game is against Minnesota, which faces Wisconsin tomorrow night. The Gophers themselves should be sufficiently battle-worn, having played Louisville and Marquette, before beating highly-touted North Carolina in the finals of a Christmas tournament. "I am glad about the way it's turned out, though," said Frieder, referring to the fact that Michigan will have five days to prepare for the Gophers. Despite all the drawbacks of Michigan's weak schedule, it could be beneficial toward the end of the season. Say, for instance, Michigan comes back and beats Purdue in Ann Arbor and the two end up with identical 10-8 Big Ten marks and tied for fourth place. The NCAA Tournament Committee could look favorably upon the Wolverines' unblemished non-conference record if it is forced to choose between the teams. MR FACTORY CLOSEOUTS Swimwear, Footwear, Bodywear 406 E. Liberty 2 blocks off State St. OR 2 - It I iI .1 . . it N RUSH SLIP LIST COURSE NUMBER DEPARTMENT INSTRUCTOR COURSE NO. SECTION NO. f~.4a~ 2u-. a Not sure which 'TI is right for you? 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