Hockey
vs. Bowling Green
Saturday, 7:35 p.m.
Yost Ice Arena
SPORTS
Wrestling
vs. Notre Dame and Clarion St.
Saturday, 1 p.m.
Crisler Arena
The Michigan Daily Wednesday, January8, 1986 Page 9
'M'AT 14-O AFTER TWO CONFERENCE ROAD WINS
Blue bursts into
Big
Ten
By BARB McQUADE
Defense and balanced scoring
hushed any critics the Michigan
basketball team may have had, as the
4-0 Wolverines won their last seven
-games, including a pair on the road
against conference foes Indiana and
Ohio State.
Michigan had little trouble with its
' non-conference opponents, but passed
the true test by sweeping both games
on perhaps the toughest road trip of
the season. The Wolverines topped
Indiana, 74-69, and Ohio State, 78-68,
to start the Big Ten campaign..
MICHIGAN entered Indiana's
Assembly Hall with a 12-0 record, its
best start ever, but after the Hoosiers
went up 8-0 in the first four minutes,
the skeptics had to wonder if a light
.non-conference schedule had taken its
"toll.
Following a timeout, though,
Michigan center Roy Tarpley put the
Wolverines on the board with a back-
door slam to lead his team on a 17-2
scoring run.
"I think our kids were a little over-
anxious," said Michigan head coach
Bill Frieder. "We just had to calm
them down a little. The thing that
surprised me was that we got the tur-
naround so quickly."
AGGRESSIVE play by the
Wolverines sent them to the free
throw line 35 times, compared to In-
diana's 10, and proved to be the dif-
ference in the game.
Michigan received help from
everyone in the scoring department
Vith four players in double figures.
Gary Grant notched 21, Tarpley ad-
ded 20, Antoine Joubert 18 and
Richard Rellford 10.
"We got out to a quick lead, but that
Was also our undoing," said Indiana
'bead coach Bob Knight. "We got
careless after that. We got completely
away from what we wanted to do."
BUT THE Hoosier head man, who
did not escape the game without a
technical foul, took nothing away from
the Wolverines.
"Michigan made some big plays in
"the last seven or eight minutes of the
!"game," Knight said. "Michigan
played as hard as I've ever seen
Michigan play. We had a difficult
time handling them inside."
The key to Michigan's 35-27 half-
time lead was its defense, led by
Grant. The sophomore guard played
shadow to Indiana's scoring machine
Steve Alford, holding him to three
points on one-of-five shooting before
intermission.
THE DEFENSIVE handiwork
carried over to Columbus, where
Michigan was all over the Buckeyes in
the first half. Ohio State managed to
shoot just 39 percent in the first half.
"These kids have really come along
defensively," Frieder said.
Michigan's effective inside game
was also a determining factor in the
Ohio State defeat, and should play a
big role throughout the season.
"THEY'RE probably a lot
stronger than most people," said OSU
head coach Eldon Miller.
Physical strength is an asset the
Wolverines enjoy, Frieder echoed.
"We're more physical, we're not
finesse," he said.
finesse," he said. "We pound the
boards and go in there and rebound.
Rellford was a terror on the boards."
The 6-6 forward pulled down eight
caroms versus the Buckeyes, while
leading an outstanding defensive ef-
fort. Rellford held Ohio State's Den-
nis Hopson to 12 points, 13 below his
average.
GRANT sparked Michigan's offense
with 23 points. Rellford chipped in
with 18.
Brad Sellars kept the Buckeyes in
the game, scoring 25 points and rip-
ping 15 rebounds off the glass.
"It would have been a different
game if we had done what we had
wanted to do," the 7-0 forward said.
"They played good defense, but we
made a lot of mistakes."
ONE MAN who made few mistakes
was Frieder. The sixth-year coach
made effective use of his bench,
calling on senior Robert Henderson
for nine points in the contest, fresh-
man Glen Rice for six and junior Gar-
de Thompson for some solid play.
Rice did not see the playing time he
enjoyed during the non-conference
season, but should see more and more
BySteve"Wise
Grant reverses road woes .. .
*o, new hope for '86
G ARY GRANT earned an A+ at Ohio State.
Big deal, right? You could get good grades in Columbus after your
second lobotomy.
But Gary's was a special examination. The sophomore guard didn't
simply bust the curve in one of OSU's gut courses like chemistry of
engineering. He did it in a forum more familiar to those of us studying
near the motor city, the road test.
Grant's play at Columbus, added to his game at Indiana two days
earlier, gave him the best pair of consecutive away games in his career.
His 23 points against the Buckeyes established a career high, but more
importantly, established at least the possibility that Grant can play con-
sistenly on the road.
After the Indiana game, in which Grant scored 21, Michigan coach Bill
Frieder said Grant had played "one and a half good games at Indiana."
In other words, Frieder thought Grant had not played well on the road
other than last Thursday and the final 20 minutes of last year's Hoosier
game, when the 6-3 guard tossed in 18 points.
The record, especially from big games, bears Frieder out. Against then
top-ranked Georgia Tech, Grant had a miserable oh-for-10 shooting day.
That followed his previous best on the road, a 22-point outing against
Virginia Tech.
Then there was the NCAA tournament last year. That's where Grant
set the standard for the Georgia Tech debacle with three-for-eight
shooting against Fairleigh Dickinson and (Holy deja vu, Batman) an
oh-for-10 performance in Michigan's loss to Villanova. Those two
struggles came directly after the first good half at Indiana.
So much for consistency.
On his transcript, Grant's marks from early '86 look even better:
* vs. Indiana - nine of 13 from the floor.
" vs. Ohio State - nine of 11 from the floor.
Tally it up, throw in the free throws and you get 44 points and 75 percent
field goal shooting.
The Big Ten totals also shine in comparison to what Grant
"achieved" during the non-conference season. His 12.4 points
per game were close to last year's average, but his shooting average of 46
percent was nine points below the figure he compiled last season.
Grant added to the offensive display with his usual standout defensive
play, stealing and tipping passes that led to Michigan scores.
"I remember a couple times we came down with a couple good reboun-
ds and went on the break," said Ohio State center Brad Sellers. "Next
thing I know they were bringing the ball the other way and that's because
we lost control of the ball."
Sellers said he thought the reversals resulted from sloppiness by the
Buckeyes, but Grant lent a helping hand there too. With a steal and slam
to start the OSU game, Grant set the tone for the rest of the Wolverines
and perhaps for the rest of his own Big Ten season.
"Gary Grant deserves a lot of credit," Frieder said. "He's been the
defensive glue of our team and I think he's gotten the rest of our team ex-
cited about playing defense."
As Frieder is quick to point out though, last weekend's was only a two
credit course in a semester that features eight more conference road
games and presumably another tournament.
"He's getting better," said Frieder. "But we've got'a lot more road
games to check it out."
Michigan center Roy Tarpley slams home two points with authority at In-
diana last Thursday. Tarpley's 20 points helped lead the Wolverines to a 74-
69 win.
as he gains experience. The 6-7 for-
ward showed signs of what he can do
in Michigan's 85-54 drubbing of
Illinois-Chicago when he went seven-
for-eight from the field, and in the 105-
85 runaway over Cleveland State
when he shot eight-for-ten.
In Michigan's other three victories,
it defeated the state's location
schools, knocking off Central
Michigan, 82-61, Western Michigan,
74-54 and Northern Michigan 98-76.
The Wolverines put their un-
defeated record on the line tonight
when they host 18th-ranked Illinois (1-
1 Big Ten, 10-3 overall).
Announcing the Annual
F
CUL
11
ST
FF Si
Supp-
E
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'
Published: Jan. 8th
Cost: $2.00
A limited number available
ONLY at The Michigan Daily.