- The Michigan Daily-Sunday, February 15, 1981-Page 9 Spartan surprise: By BUDDY MOOREHOUSE Special to the Daily EAST LANSING-In a game of gian- ts, it isn't very often that the little guys make the difference. But in the last two Michigan games, small men have given the Wolverine cagers big headaches. Last Thursday it was Ohio State's Todd Penn, at 5-9, the smallest player in the Big Ten. Penn tossed in a career- high 24 points in the Buckeye win that night. YESTERDAY IT was 6-2 Kevin Smith that gave the Wolverines fits, as he ripped the nets for a game-high 28 points to lead his Michigan State teammates to a 70-66 win over the Wolverines before 10,004 screaming fans in Jenison Fieldhouse. The junior from Birmingham hit on ten of 14 from the floor and added eight of ten from the foul line to reach his career-high total. "The last two games I played really bad," said Smith. "I knew I could do better. I almost went to Michigan, so this was a really special game for me'' "Kevin Smith is one helluva basket- ball player," Michigan coach Bill Blown to Sr MICHIGAN STATE Min fg/a ft/a R A PF Pty Tower............34 2/3 0/0 2 2 1 4 Perry ............. 18 0/1 5/6 1 0 0 5 Vincent ........... 27 7/13 4/5 3 4 5 18 Brkovich...........11 2/4 0/0 2 2 0 4 Smith .............39 10/14 8/10 3 4 2 28 Kaye ............34 3/3 2/2 4 0 5 8 Bostic ............. 27 1/2 0/0 0 3 1 2 Bates .............3 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0 Cawood.......... 1 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0 Morrison.......... 1 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0 Gore............. 4 0/0 1/2 0 0 1 1 Fossum............ 1 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0 Team Rebounds 3 Totals.............200 25/40 20/25 18 15 15 70 Smith sparks MSU; 'M' offense fizzles Frieder remarked after the game. "We haven't had that much trouble with a guard in a long, long time." THE WOLVERINES raced to an early five-point lead in the game, but eight unanswered Spartan points ignited an offensive surge that helped MSU to a 35-30 halftime advantage. After the intermission, Michigan State came out firing again, extending its lead to as much as 11 points before star center Jay Vincent fouled out at 4:23 with 18 points. Michigan State then committed numerous turnovers, but the Wolverines couldn't quite capitalize on them as they never got closer than four points in the second half. Turnovers and missed shots by the Wolverines allowed the Spartans to hold off Michigan and up their record to 4-8 in the conference. THE LOSS DROPS Michigan to 7-5 in the league, two games off the pace. "It really would have helped us if we could have won this game," said Frieder. "Now we're going to have to pick up a game somewhere along the line if we still want to make the NCAA (tour- nament)." Forward Mike McGee led the Wolverines in scoring, as usual, with 23 points. Johnny Johnson had 14 and Thad Garner and Marty Bodnar chip- ped in ten apiece, but Frieder was not happy with his squad's offensive per- formance. "We didn't play too poorly on defen- se," said the Wolverine mentor. "Our problems were on offense. We weren't patient enough early, and it really hurt us." The Wolverines shot 53 percent from the floor, conpared to a blistering 63 percent for the Spartans. THE WOLVERINES outrebounded MSU, 23 to 18, and committed fewer 70-66 turnovers, 22 to 19, but it was Michigan's poor shooting that ultimately doomed them. In a game filled with sloppy play, one of the more unusual plays came in the second half, when Smith was caught travelling as he dropped the ball. Michigan center Tim McCormick, not hearing the whistle, picked up the loose ball and raced downcourt for an uncon- tested dunk. But the referees ruled that McCormick was delaying the game, and slapped him with a technical. Smith then sank the free throw and his team got the ball back out of bounds. "That was ridiculous," said Frieder when asked about the call. "Tim just didn't hear the whistle. It was so noisy down there that one of the officials said that he didn't hear it, either. It really was a bush call." It's apparently not going to get much easier for the Wolverines in the near future, as they travel to Champaign on Thursday to meet Illinois. Then after a home game with Northwestern, the Blue cagers head out to play Iowa and Indiana on the road. "It's not going to be easy winning those road games," admitted Frieder. "But our kids have a lot of heart, and hopefully they can bounce back." mith-ereens MICHIGAN Min fg/a ft/a McGee...........36 9/19 5/7 Garner ............ 40 5/8 0/1 Heuerman........23 0/2 1/2 Johnson..........37 7/11 0/0 Bodnar ............ 32 5/10 0/1 McCormick ....... 24 3/5 0/0 Person...........7 1/2 0/0 Burton ............ 1 0/0 0/0 Team Rebounds Totals...........200 30/57 6/11 R A PF Pts 0 1 4 23 7 3 5 10 2 0 5 1 5 6 1 14 0 9 4 10 3 1 46 3 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 23 20 21 66 Razor Sharp By DREW SHARP Daily Photo by BRIAN MASCK MICHIGAN'S MIKE McGEE (40) goes up for a shot against Michigan State's Rick Kaye. McGee led Wolverine scorers with 23 points, but it wasn't Fouled Out: Heuerman, Vincent Technical Fouls: VincentMcCormick Halftime: Michigan State 35. MICHIGAN 30 Attendance: 10,004 enough as the Spartans won, 70-66. BIG TEN ROUNDUP: ;:v , Illini down Bucks, keep pace COLUMBUS (AP) - Seventeenth- ranked Illinois, led by guards Criag Tucker and Derek Harper, outscored Ohio State 8-2 in the final two minutes last night to defeat the Buckeyes 63-57 in a Big Ten Conference college basket- ball game. Tucker's basket with two minutes left gave the Illini, 16-5 overall and 8-4 in the conference, the lead for good at 57-55. The victory kept the Illini one game behind conference co-leaders Indiana and Iowa and was the second time this season that they had beaten the Buckeyes, 12-9 overall and 7-5 in the conference. Minnesota 92, Purdue 72 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Sophomore center Randy Breuer erupted for a career-high 29 points, powering Min- nesota to a 92-72 Big Ten basketball vic- tory over Purdue last night. Breuer, a 7-foot-3 giant, connected on 13 of 17 field goal attempts and was vir- tually unstoppable against the much shorter Boilermakers. Breuer had 17 points by halftime, as the Gophers assumed a 39-30 lead. Pur- due scored the first basket of the second half, but Minnesota then got 10 of the next 12 points to forge a 15-point lead at 49-34. Iowa 82, Northwestern 64 IOWA CITY (AP) - Steve Krafcisin and Bob Hansen scored 14 points apiece and led a balanced attack as No. 14 Iowa romped to an 82-64 victory over Northwestern in Big Ten basketball yesterday. Iowa took control early, outscoring the Wildcats 14-4 in the first 10 minutes. The Hawkeyes coasted to a 38-25 half- time edge on the strength of Krafcisin's 12 first half points. Indiana 59, Wisconsin 52 MADISON (AP) - Indiana, paced by Randy Wittman's 15 points, fought off scrappy Wisconsin yesterday as the 20th-ranked Hoosiers posted a 59-52 Big Ten college basketball victory. Wittman scored nine of his points in the second half as he led the Hoosiers to their 16th victory of the season. In- diana, 16-8 overall, remained tied with Iowa for the Big Ten lead at 9-3 in the conference. Big Ten Standings Conference Iowa ......... Indiana...... Illinois ........ MICHIGAN .. Purdue ....... Ohio State .... Minnesota .... Michigan St... Wisconsin.,. Northwestern W 9 9 8 7 7 7 6 4 2 1 L 3 3 4 5 5 5 6 8 10 11 Overall W L 17 4 16 8 16 5 16 5 14 7 12 9 14 7 10 11 8 12 7 14 Yesterday's Games Michigan St. 70, MICHIGAN 66 Indiana 69, Wisconsin 62 Iowa 82, Northwestern 64 Illinois 63, Ohio State 57 Minnesota 92, Purdue 72 Medley team leads women tracksters to twi-meet wn Michigan State sports .. a rapid fall in two years DOOLEY'S, EAST LANSING The Michigan-Michigan State rivalry is competition that can best be described in one word - fierce. When they're not battling each other on the playing field, they're usually engaged in a crossfire of verbal attacks. "Hey, Spartan!" said the Michigan student. "Why do they have artificial turf at Spartan Stadium? Give up? So the Homecoming Queen won't graze on the field at halftime." "Look here, Mr. Meechigan!" countered a MSU student. "You know what 'A-square' really stands for - arrogant asses!" It is this kind of spirit that makes college sports great and was the reason why I decided to watch yesterday's game at this popular watering hole in- stead of that archaic sardine can, Jenison Fieldhouse. With such an emotional confrontation taking place, it would be safe to assume that the bar would be packed with enthusiastic fans who were unable to get their hands on the hottest ticket in town. I was wrong. There were a measly 10 people watching the game on one of the tavern's three television sets. It was definitely a weird feeling to hear the cry "Jud's Duds" instead of the chant "Go Blow." The people watching the game there were just like me'