The Michigan Daily - Monday, January 26, 1987 - Page 9
Rush Delivery
BY JEFF RUSH
Is Michigan tired...
.. or is it the sleeper?
Wandering through a Wisconsin weekend: MADISON
*Is anyone tiring of Michigan coach Bill Frieder'saying his players
are tired? He repeats the statement so often that it is going to replace
the white towel over his shoulder as his trademark.
*Whom was Frieder referring to when he said during Saturday's
post-game press conference, "We're a player or two away from being a
good team"? A song comes to mind (forget Frieder's threat to punish
prize recruits Terry Mills and Rumeal Robinson for speaking to the
press after being told not to):
And here's to you, Mills and Robinson
Frieder loves you more than you will know
Whoa-oh-oh
God bless you please, Mills and Robinson
Crisler is the place where you will play
We can't wait
*Think (read: salivate) for a minute about next year's team. Gone
will be Garde Thompson and Antoine Joubert, both scheduled to
graduate. But junior Gary Grant, the best NBA prospect on the team,
has already said he intends to remain at Michigan next year (and
possibly try out for the 1988 Olympic basketball team).
Sophomore Glen Rice is becoming a star, and sophomore center
Mark Hughes and red-shirt freshman center Loy Vaught are improving
' with every game. Grant and Rice already are outstanding. Hughes and
Vaught should be solid starters next year.
Add the 6-10 Mills, who has an excellent shooting touch for a man
of any size, and the physical Robinson at guard, and Frieder has the
makings of an even better team than now.
Finally, Michigan also might land Scan Higgins of Los Angeles
Fairfax, one of the top five prep players in the country. A 6-9
swingman, Higgins has been compared to Kansas' Danny Manning.
With a team that deep, Frieder better not complain next year about
his players being tired.
-For all Frieder's talk of the team being tired, have the Wolverines
really looked as if they have been playing tired? Michigan has now
won four games in a row, and five of its last. six. The team's only
loss during that stretch was an 86-85 defeat against third-ranked
Indiana. But Frieder's not yet done worrying.
"We've got Hughes, who should be the power forward, playing
center," explained Frieder after Saturday's victory. "That creates
problems. We've got Rice, who should be the small forward, playing
power forward. We've got Joubert, who should be playing at guard,
playing small forward, so it creates pressure on everybody."
Hey, it wouldn't be right if Frieder didn't worry about something.
He has to earn his salary somehow when the team is playing so well.
-Is there any way possible that Gary Grant could play better
basketball? Against Wisconsin, Grant scored 18 points on 7-of-13
shooting, grabbed eight rebounds, dished out seven assists, and stole
the ball three times.
Statistics don't do justice to Grant's court presence. Wisconsin's
Trent Jackson scored 18 points in the first half Saturday. With Grant
moving over to cover him in the second half, Jackson managed only
six more points before fouling out. Grant has similarly shut down
Indiana's Steve Alford, Michigan State's Darryl Johnson, and
Syracuse's Greg Monroe.
"Gary Grant does everything," said Frieder. "He's a helluva player,
I'm telling you. When you look at his stats he shoots, he scores, he
always defenses the best player on the other team and does a
sensational job.He gets us I don't know how many rebounds a
night."
Imagine what Grant would do if he weren't so tired.
Glen, Gary grant Blue
By RICK KAPLAN
Special to the Daily
MADISON - Glen Rice and
Gary Grant are getting into a
groove, and the record is not
missing a beat.
The Michigan basketball team,
led by Rice and Grant, ran its record
to 13-6 with an 84-78 victory over
the surprisingly competitive
Wisconsin Badgers.
The Wolverines never trailed in
the second half, but Wisconsin (10-
11 overall, 0-8 Big Ten) made
Michigan work the entire game.
Michigan's domination of the
boards and overall team quickness
proved crucial in closing minutes as
the Badgers' comeback fell short.
WOLVERINE COACH Bill
Frieder felt Wisconsin's lineup
change helped his team gain a 40-
28 rebounding edge. "They went to
a smaller lineup to match our
guards, and that allowed our inside
people to get some key rebounds,"
he said.
Rice pulled down the most
important rebound with 20 seconds
left in the game. Michigan led 81-
78, with Wolverine guard Antoine
Joubert at the free-throw line.
Joubert missed the front end of the
one-and-one opportunity, but Rice
outmuscled Wisconsin center J.J.
Weber for the ball. The sophomore
forward was fouled and hit both free
throws to clinch the win.
Rice scored 27 points and had
eight rebounds.
Michigan built its lead on short
Rice jump shots. He scored 12
points in the first 12 minutes of the
half, all on jumpers from the paint
or the foul line. "When they were
playing zone, there were a lot of
open spots," Rice said. "They
weren't stopping me from going up
the middle."
"RICE WAS sensational,"
Frieder said. "When he's open, he's
got such a nice stroke, you've got
to get it to him."
Wisconsin coach Steve Yoder
was frustrated with his team's
defensive work against Michigan's
1985 Mr. Basketball. "We don't
adjust very well on the floor to the
player that's hot on the opposing
team," Yoder said. "Rice - I don't
know how long you've got to let
the guy shoot before somebody has
enough sense to go out there and
cover him."
Having Grant cover Wisconsin's
Trent Jackson was an important
adjustment by Frieder. The Badgers'
sophomore guard scored 18 points
from long-range in the first half,
including two three-pointers. With
Grant, Michigan's defensive star
trailing him in the second half,
Jackson scored just six points (on
two triples), and fouled out with
5:08 to play.
"I went to Grant because Jackson
was killing us in the first half,"
Frieder said. "I chewed my assistant
out because we should have done it
earlier."
IN ADDITION to shutting
down Jackson, Grant played his
typical all-around game. The 6-3
junior scored 18 points, grabbed
eight rebounds, handed out seven
assists, and made three steals.
A Grant free throw began a 5-0
Michigan spurt that closed out the
0
victory
first half, putting the Wolverines
ahead 42-38 at the break. Rice
swished a 19-foot jumper with 1:06
left to give Michigan a 40-38 lead.
After a Wisconsin miss, Joubert
drive the lane for a bucket.
The Wolverines got the ball
back with six seconds to play in the
half after the Badgers' Shelton
Smith traveled. Frieder reinserted
guard Garde Thompson, who had
sat out for three minutes with three
fouls, into the lineup to take the
final shot. The senior missed a 20-
foot three-point attempt at the
buzzer, however.
The teams traded the lead in the
early going, with the Badgers
building their biggest edge at 15-
12. Michigan then ran off a 10-2
streak, led by two inside baskets by
back-up center Loy Vaught.
The Badgers got back up from
the floor with nine minutes to play
in the game. Smith, a junior guard,
sank two straight three-pointers to
cut an eight-point Wolverine
advantage to 67-65. The 9,593
Badger fans at UW Fieldhouse
raised the noise level. Two minutes
later, though, a three-point Joubert
jumper again put Michigan up by
five, silencing the fans and the
Wisconsin rally.
I
i
Rice
... hot hand
New York (Jersey) saddles the Broncos
(continued from age 1)
absolutely magnificent today. It
might be the best game a
quarterback has played in all games
this year."
Most of Simms' heroics came
after a first half in which Denver
outplayed the heavily favored
Giants, going off with a 10-9 lead
that easily could have been 20-7 or
20-9. Early in the second quarter,
New York held Denver without a
point after the Broncos had a first-
and-goal from their one. Rich
Karlis missed field goals from 23
and 34 yards for Denver - one after
the goal-line stand.
IN THE third quarter, the
Giants outgained the Broncos 163
yards to two and scored 17 points.
From the time the Broncos led 10-9
until the Giants led 33-10, Denver
was held without a first down.
New York's second-half surge
started innocently enough.
Three plays netted nine yards,
and the Giants' punting team ran
onto the field to punt from its own
46. Suddenly, the Giants shifted out
of punt formation, and Jeff
Rutledge, the second-string
quarterback, came up behind the
center.
The ball was snapped, and
Rutledge snuck for one yard and a
first down.
SIX PLAYS later, Simms hit
tight end Mark Bavaro for 13 yards,
the Giants led 16-10, and the rout
was on.
Denver, which went the entire
third quarter without calling a
running play, was forced to punt on
the next series. Phil McConkey
returned the punt 25 yards to the
Denver 36. Eight plays later, Raul
Allegre's 21-yard field goal made it
19-10.
After the ensuing kickoff,
Denver punted again, and again
New York scored. They went 68
yards in four plays with Joe Morris
scoring from one yard out
following a 44-yard flea-flicker pass
from Simms to McConkey.
Elvis Patterson intercepted an
Elway pass the next possession,
setting up a six-yard scoring pass.
V'
ill
MARC
The Medieval and Renaissance Collegium,
The German Department,
and
The English Department
announce
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* Understand the MCAT and its Purpose
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8 PM, Tuesday, January 27th
MICHIGAN LEAGUE - HUSSEY ROOM
ALL STUDENTS WELCOME - NO CHARGE
Presented by:
INQUISITION & SORCERY TRIALS
(13 -15th centuries):
PEOPLE'S VERNACULAR v.s.
THE LATIN OF THE LAW
a lecture by
PROFESSOR MADELEINE JEAY
McMASTER UNIVERSITY
January 29, 4 p.m.
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1100 S. UNIVERSITY
996-1500
Cali 763-2066 for further information
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Date: January 27, 1987
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