Page 10 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, February 2, 1987

'M'throws Rice at humbled Hawkeyes

(Continued from Page 1)
the game, and came up with clutch
free throws at the end.
"We'd struggle and get down,
then find a way to get back in the
thick of things and they'd put on a
flurry and put us away," said Iowa
coach Dr. Tom Davis.
While Michigan looked early on
as if it might blow out Iowa, the
Hawkeyes marched right back into
the game with a 23-10 run that put
them up 25-22. But Rice's base-
line jumper started a seven-point
Michigan run that put the
Wolverines in the lead for good.
IOWA SCARED the
Wolverines, however, with a nine-
point run early in the second half
that cut Michigan's lead from 51-39
to 51-48.
"When they cut that lead, I
started thinking about how they
came back on Illinois and how they
came back on Purdue," said Grant,
who scored 22 points. "I didn't
want that to happen to us."
He didn't let it. Grant stole the
ball only three times, but helped
cause 26 Hawkeye turnovers to
Michigan's 15. The junior guard
stymied the Iowa offense, drawing
three charges in the second half and
four in the game.
"Gary Grant has played eight or
nine straight great games for us,"
said Frieder. "It's a damn shame a
kid can't get credit for playing
defense. He should've gotten player-
of-the-week a couple times for his
defense, but somebody else
outscored him."
MICHIGAN responded to
Iowa's early second-half spurt by
outscoring the Hawkeyes 8-2 to
take a 59-50 lead. The closest Iowa
came the rest of the game was six

points.
Twice with a six-point
difference, Rice ended short Iowa
rallies with baskets of his own -
the first a dunk and the second a
base-line jumper.
B. J. Armstrong's layup with
3:28 left put Iowa within six again,
at 86-80, but this time Joubert
went to work. In just over a
minute, the senior swingman sunk
both ends of three one-and-one
attempts, the last with 0:53 on the
clock. Joubert hit 10 of 11 free
throw attempts during the game.
"I was mentally in the game
today. A lot of the games I haven't
been mentally in the game."
Joubert said it was the Hawkeyes
themselves who inadvertently

helped the Wolverines get up for
the game.
"When we came out to shoot
they were just sitting on the bench
like it was going to be an easy
game," said Joubert. "I think that
inspired us."
With the Big Ten season now
half through, the surprising
Wolverines are looking to the end
of the season. Rice spoke of
'maybe winning the Big Ten" and
Thompson said the Wolverines "are
definitely going to get in" the
NCAA tournament.
"If somebody had told us at the
beginning of the season that we'
be 6-3 halfway through the Big
Ten, we'd have taken it,
Thompson said.

Daily Photo by JOHN MUNSON

Garde Thompson fights off Iowa's Kevin Gamble for a rebound in the second half Saturday at Crisler Arena.
Thompson hit five pointers in Michigan's 100-92 win.

o- , Tip of the Kap
BY RICK KAPLAN
Michigan gets no respect...
...no respect at all
If Michigan's basketball team got any less respect, it would be
laughed at and ridiculed. If it went to the beach, someone might kick
sand in its face.
Respect must be earned. Coach Bill Frieder and his players
understand that. The problem is, the Wolverines have earned it, but
obtaining it from the basketball public has been tougher than finding a
bikini in Iran.
Michigan has taken over fourth place in the Big Ten, the undisputed
roughest conference in the nation. The three teams ahead of the
Wolverines - Indiana, Purdue, and Iowa - are ranked in the top four
in the country. Illinois, currently in fifth place, and coming off a four-
point win over Colorado (Ooooh!), is in the top 10.
But Michigan is nowhere to be found in the polls. Not in the
Associated Press, United Press International, or ESPN Top 20s. Not in
the CNN/USA Today Top 25.
The Sporting News rankings are even more embarrassing. In the
magazine's top-40 listing, Michigan is noticeably absent this week.
Yet such basketball powerhouses as New Orleans, Tulsa, and Louisiana
Tech qualify. How many top-10 teams has Tulsa beaten this year?
After last week's action, the
new polls ought to finally give
the Wolverines the respect their
play has warranted. Michigan
(15-6 overall, 6-3 Big Ten)
dumped Iowa 100-92 Saturday,
its second win over a top-five
opponent in two weeks. "I'll bet
no other team in the country has
beaten two of the top five," said
Wolverine guard Garde
Thompson.
Add a six-game winning t
streak, a furious comeback in a /
loss to Indiana, and three
impressive performances on
national television, and the
makings of a feared power appear (rant
in place. But outside of the Big
Ten, Michigan remains possibly .. . ignored
the best anonymous squad in the country.
At the halfway point of the conference. season, Frieder and his team
are greatly outperforming everyone's expectations. The seventh-year
coach has been criticized for years for being a good recruiter but a poor
bench coach. His work so far this season is smashing the stereotype.
Frieder has taken a team with no frontcourt and an inexperienced bench
and made it a winner.
Also being unfairly overlooked is junior Gary Grant. Arguably the
most talented two-way guard in college, Grant controls games with his
defense, paces the team on offense, and generally raises the team's level
of play. But The Sporting News does not list him among a dozen
candidates for All-America status at guard. Playing the best defense in
the conference, scoring 23 points, making five assists, grabbing five
rebounds, and nabbing three steals a game must not be good enough.
The forwards would be eaten alive in the Big Ten, the season
previews said. But sophomore Glen Rice is leading the conference in
rebounding, and centers Mark Hughes and Loy Vaught have begun to
assert themselves under the glass. The trio has won respect in the Big
Ten.
The win over Iowa should give Michigan the national respect it
deserves. "They should (respect us)," said Rice. "If they don't, we're
just going to have to keep proving it to them."
Even if that means kicking sand back in the bullies' faces.
Sleepy'M' swimmers
blow out Illini 7734

By ALLEN GELDERLOOS
The biggest challenge for the'
men's swim team against Illinios
Friday was trying to stay awake.
The Wolverines outmatched the
Illini 77-34 in a combined women's
and men's dual meet that lasted
three hours.
"The meet was so long I thought
we would be there until Saturday
morning's workout," said
sophomore Bill Kopas.
The meet's length, however, did
not affect the Wolverines'
swimming times, as two swimmers
turned in personal season bests.
Sophomore Dan Dewhirst dropped

winners Dave Kerska in the 50 and
100 freestyles (20.8 and 46.0) and
Jan-Erick Olsen in the 200-yard
individaul medley and 200-yard
breaststroke (1:54.6 and 2:05.5).
Michigan is now focusing all of
its attention on this weekend's dual
meet against Big Ten rival Iowa.
The Wolverines (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten]
are riding a three-year dual meel
winning streak, but coach
Urbanchek is concerned about this
meet.
"They are better than we are on
paper," said the five-year coach,
"We had three of our key sprinters
sick this weekend and our distanc