4 Page 10 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, January 29, 1985 Kansas massacre By JEFF BERGIDA Bill Frieder would be the last to ad- mit it but, deep inside, Michigan's basketball coach must be feeling the way Kent "Flounder" Dorfman did when he uttered the immortal line, "Oh boy! This is great!" Sunday's 96-77 Wolverine victory over 15th-ranked Kansas established, once and for all, that this is a team to be reckoned with. Frieder's club put on a nearly-flawless performance and blew the more-celebrated opposition off the court. A NATIONAL television audience got to see a great show, starring who else but Gary Grant, the man who can no longer be considered a freshman on the court. The 6-3 guard sank eight con- secutive field goals in the first half as the Wolverines jumped out to a 50-35 lead at intermission. He finished with a career-high 20 points. But Grant was only the spark that got; the fire burning. A fire that ultimately left only the smoldering embers of a Jayhawk club that entered the game as a national contender. Antoine Joubert may have had the best all-around game of his college career. The Judge finished with 18 poin- ts, eight assists and two steals. In ad- dition, the sophomore held Kansas for- ward Ron Kellogg, an 18-point scorer who had a career-high 31 the night before, to a measly four points. "I STARTED denying him the ball and then he just didn't get back in the game," said Joubert. Roy Tarpley finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. The junior center outplayed Jayhawk freshman Danny Manning when both were in the game. Rich Rellford and Leslie Rockymore combined to produce 26 points (16 and 10, respectively) from the small for- ward spot. Rockymore swished a shot from mid-court as the buzzer sounded to end the first half. That heave set the tone for a second half in which Michigan would lead by as many as 31 before Kansas closed the gap during garbage time. "Anybody who's watched our prac- tices knows we work on (half-court shots)," said Frieder. "You never know when you're going to get that kind of shot to win a game." KANSAS COACH Larry Brown, less- than-thrilled with his own team's effort, gave a four-star review to the Wolverine starting line-up. "I don't see any weaknesses," said the coach of the 1980 UCLA club which advanced to the NCAA finals. "The two brightens big kids who play forward (Rellford I and Butch Wade) are real unselfish, the two guards (Grant and Joubert) t both handle it and shoot it, and Tar- I pley's great." There weren't many positives on the Jayhawks' side. Only 7-1 center Greg Dreiling, who led all scorers with 21 points, was especially impressive. Neither Dreiling nor Brown would at- tribute the rout to the fact that Kansas had to play in Boulder, Colo. only 24 hours earlier. "IT HAD NOTHING to do with being tired," Brown said. "It was the way Michigan played and the way we played." "I can't speak for the guys, but I felt pretty good," said Dreiling, who drop- ped in most of his shots from two feet or less. "I was tired from last night but I don't think it affected my play." The Wolverines' 58.7 percent shooting was due in part to an invisible Jayhawk defense. Brown used both a zone and man-to-man but Michigan, which is used to the more physical Big Ten game, easily solved both. "THEIR DEFENSE was strong at first but it started breaking up when Antoine started penetrating," said Grant. "I was kind of surprised because a couple of those guys weren't even playing defense," Rellford said. "They were just roaming around out there. Antoine was wide open a lot of times." The post-game party featured a wide variety of individuals extolling Michigan with words normally reserved for Georgetown. Even the ultra-cautious Frieder dished out his share of praise. "WHAT REALLY makes me happy is that we are progressing," he said. "The maturity is there now and it's good to see them play together." "This gives us overwhelming con- fidence," Tarpley noted. "We're on a roll right now and we feel like we can't be beat." "(The victory) proves we should be in THE SHOT:' the Top Ten," Grant said. "Michigan is (30) looking a great basketball team and we just hits the mark 'lM hones 14 4 4 4 Daily Photo by DAN HABI With Jayhawk players Danny Manning (25) and Greg Dreiling on, senior Leslie Rockymore releases a half-court bomb that with time running out in the first half. 'Ln Lg e a oivy puDI iLL. Someone must have been watching Sunday because the team shot up to the 10th and 11th spots in the AP and UPI polls, respectively, ahead of such perennial favorites as North Carolina and De Paul. Watch out, national powers. Here come the Wolverines. Wish Grant-ed KANSAS MinFG/A F Manning......... 35 9/22 Kellogg........... Dreiling ........... Thompson ......... Hunter.......... Turgeon......... Pellock.......... Newton.......... Campbell.......... Piper .............. Hull ............... Team Rebounds ... 25 31 24 20 11 5 18 14 9 8 1/4 9/12 3/5 1/3 1/3 0/1 4/5 3/6 0/1 2/3 FT/A R 0/0 6 2/2 2 3/4 6 2/4 1 0/2 3 2/2 0 0/0 0 2/4 6 0/0 1 0/0 1 0/0 1 1 A 3 3 1 2 2 2 0 0 2 0 1 PF Pts 2 18 1 4 3 21 4 8 2 2 1 4 30 2 10 4 6 1 0 0 4 TOTALS...........200 33/65 11/18 28 16 23 77 MICHIGAN MinFG/AFT/A] Rellford...........27 Wade.............. 21 Tarpley ........... 26 Grant ............. 31 Joubert..........30 Henderson ........ 26 Rockymore........19 Thompson ......... 11. Stoyko ............ 7 Gibas ............. 1 DeGlopper ........ 1 Team Rebounds ... 6/10 1/3 6/8 9/12 7/14 3/6 4/6 1/1 0/1 0/1 0/1 4/6 2/2 5/5 2/2 3/6 1/2 2/4 2/2 1/2 0/0 0/0 R 6 2 9 4 4 7 5 1 1 0 0 2 A 0 1 2 8 8 0 2 2 0 0 0 PF 2 3 4 1 1 2 3 0 2 0 1 Pts 16 4 17 20 17 7 10 4 1 0 0 Daily Photo by DAN HABIB Michigan center Roy Tarpley pinsI afternoon... Calvin Thompson's shot against the glass in the Wolverines' 96-77 win over Kansas Sunday bM climbs poll; Grant honored TOTALS...........200 37/63 22/31 41 23 19 96 Halftime score: MICHIGAN 50, Kansas 35 Attendance: 12,212 UPI Top Twenty By Steve Wise Gary looking like a star .. . ... let's do some comparing G ARY! Gary! Gary!" The fans knew it. "There is only ONE freshman sensation." Their banners proclaimed it. Even my friend Jack, a basketball fan extraordinaire and Kansas student, was ready to admit it: "I've seen Gary Grant and I've seen Danny Manning. Obviously, Gary Grant was the better freshman." According to these people, and according to the first half of Sunday's bas- ketball game, Grant is indeed one of the best freshman in the nation, maybe even the best. But these people are admittedly not the most credible evaluators. The fans are biased, and Jack is about as believable to most of you as was Fritz Mondale talking about how to win a presidential election. Never mind that Jack watches about eight or 10 basketball games per week and reads every printed word he can find about college hoops. But if you don't believe Jack (it's o.k., I won't tell his mom), who do you believe? Conceding that Grant is a good player, Kansas coach Larry Brown hesitates to Isiah give the Wolverine point guard rookie-of- the-year honors. "I've got the best freshman in the coun- try," said Brown, of 6-11 Danny Manning, whom Grant out-scored 20-18. "I'm not looking to trade." According to Michigan's other guard (other?), Antoine Joubert, Brown can keep his marbles, bubblegum cards and his young forward. "I'm going to have to say Gary (is best)," Mage said the man whose excellent play went almost overlooked Sunday. "He's my teammate and he's a winner." Sorry guys, you sound a bit biased too. That means somebody else has to decide how good Gary Grant really is. Enter the statistical comparisons. It's much too premature to make comparisons, since most great players take some time to establish themselves. At the same time, though, recent history affords us some great players to whom comparisons can reasonably De made. Isiah Thomas, for instance, found success so quickly that he left Indiana after two years. After 17 college games, the Pistons' all-star point guard was averaging 14.1 points, 6.1 assists and 2.8 steals in 33 minutes per game. In 17 games for Michigan, Grant's numbers read 13.9, 5.0, and 1.8 in an average of 32 minutes per game. Now if you'll pardon me, Jack and the former vice president for saying so, those statistics are awfully close. The similarities go further, however. While 17 game stats aren't available for Magic Johnson, his freshman year averages were 15.7 points and 7.4 assists per contest. That's a bit better than Grant, but the 6-2 Ohio native could catch up with a couple more 20-point, eight-assist performances like Sunday's. But let's get back to exactitude, shall ,we? Michael Jordan, soon to be N.B.A. rookie of the year, didn't do quite as well as Grant. Through 17 games. the tongue-wagging Tar Heel was slightly better in scoring (14.0). 11 A 4 I From staff and wire reports Michigan broke into the top ten in the Associated Press college basketball poll this week for the first time since January of 1981 when the team was 11-1. With wins over Michigan State and Kansas, the Wolverines jumped from 18th to 10th. In the UPI poll, Michigan hit the charts at number 11. The Wolverines had been out of the UPI poll for three weeks. Michigan got more good news when freshman guard Gary Grant was named UPI Big Ten Player of the Week. In his last two games, Grant has scored 34 points and has dished out 15 assists. This is the second straight week that a Wolverine has received this honor. Center Roy Tarpley garnered the distinction for the week of January 13-20. Grant currently leads the Big Ten in assists with 44 and his 17 steals are second in the conference. He has hit 18 of 21 free throws to place him fifth. With 237 total points, Grant is second on the team in scoring behind Tarpley. 1. St. John's (31)...... 2. Georgetown (8) ..... 3. Memphis St. (1) ..... 4.SMU................ 5. Duke ............... 6. Oklahoma .......... 7. Illinois (1)......... 8. Syracuse......... 9. Georgia Tech...... 10. Tulsa............ 11. MICHIGAN....... 12. Oregon St......... 13. Nev. Las Vegas ..... 14. N. Carolina ......... 15. DePaul ............. 16. Louisiana Tech .... 17. Maryland .......... 18. Villanova......... 19. Ala. Birmingham ... 20. Kansas ............ W 15 18 15 16 14 15 17 12 15 16 14 14 15 14 13 16 16 13 18 15 Pts 592 569 518 453 351 336 307 221 180 175 157 139 120 111 110 69 65 57 55 39 4 Grant ... looking good MON PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE. Need some? FIND IT AT MSA. 11 AP Top Twenty Applications now Being Accepted for Chief Financial Officer 1. St. John's (52) ..... 2. Georgetown (10) ... 3. Memphis St. (1) ..... 4.SMU ................ 5. Illinois .............. 6. Duke ............... 7. Oklahoma......... . enowia Teh . W 15 18 15 16 17 14 15 i15 Pts 1249 1202 1130 1016 988 867 850 71R1 ALL YOU NEED IS: * Enthusiasm YOU'LL GET: " Excellent practical experience in small business management 111111 1Ill ,I I .1