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Page 4 - The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - December 4, 1989
Griffin
swishes over
Iowa St.
Somebody forgot to tell Mike Griffin that he is not Glen Rice's
replacement. For a while during Saturday's 101-78 pounding of Iowa
State, it sure looked that Griffin might be Rice's heir as he nailed shot
after shot and had Crisler Arena's 13,501 fans buzzing over this
unexpected offensive display.
You see, Griffin is not the type of guy expected to be at the center of
attention - especially offensively. He's the type of player who blends
into the woodwork. If Griffin was a wall, he would certainly be panelling
- nice to have around, sorely missed, but lacking any neon lights. Just
kinda there.
But Saturday, this wall changed to pastel color paints.
Griffin from 16 feet. Swish.
Griffin from 16 feet. Swish.
Griffin left side jumper, 15 feet. Swish.
Finally, the capper. Griffin wrestles the ball away
Mike from two of Johnny Orr's finest, passes it, gets it
Gill back, and shoots from three-point land. Yes, you
guessed it - Swish.
"That was unbelievable," Terry Mills said.
What's going on here? Nine first half points -
that's more than Rumeal Robinson -- four for five
shooting - and then finishing the game with 11?
That's not the Mike Griffin Ann Arborites have come
to know. It's been nearly three years since Griffin last
hit double digits.
The Mike Griffin everyone knows is a guy who
gets the ball, looks around, then passes it. "Shoot,"
is not a highly used vocabulary word in the Griffin
household. But what really has been Griffin's mark
since he came from Leyden High School in
Rosemont, Illinois is his gutty play on defense.
"London Bridge is Falling Down" must have been his favorite nursery
school game because Griffin has a knack for finding himself on the floor.
If it's not for taking a charge, it's for scrambling to get a loose ball.
Trainer Dan Minert better make sure he has some disinfectant around for
scabbed knees.
The senior guard's defensive game still remained Saturday, to go with
his offensive shot.
"I commented to (assistant coach) Mike Boyd about how well I thought
Griffin was playing," coach Steve Fisher said. "Obviously, he was taking
and making shots, but it was more than that. He was all over the floor, he
was always in the right place and that's catchy also - that's infectious."
Mills did not let the Griffin's defensive game go unnoticed either.
"Griffin does so many things for us defensively. I can count numerous
times where he's saved my butt out there on the court where I was in the
wrong position and I turn around and there's Grif right there taking the
charge. You have to give him a lot of credit defensively even though he
shot the ball."
But after this weekend, Griffin should have more shooting confidence
to go with his ball handling. Confidence to look over all the other
Wolverine players and let it fly. With defenses now having to guard
against Griffin's shooting, the whole court should open up." "(Griffin
shooting) opened everything up," Mills said. "I heard them out there on
the court where once Griffin hit a couple shots they said, 'Hey, that's not
in the scouting report.' They had to adjust their defense and everyone had a
lot of freedom."
Robinson concurred: "Now it's a five-on-five kind of game. I know
Mike can shoot the ball and he did today. Hopefully, he'll have the
k
h4
t4
JOSE JUAREZ/Dai y
Iowa State coach Johnny Orr, former coach of Michigan, nervously
paces the sidelines during Iowa State's 101-78 loss to the Wolverines.
Orr's bac
Former coach doesn't
feel blue about leaving
by Taylor Lincoln
Daily Basketball Writer
Nearly a decade has passed since former Michigan coach Johnny Orr
last paced the Crisler Arena hardwood, but Orr denies that his
homecoming was an emotional experience.
"No, it wasn't very emotional," Orr said. "It's emotional to me, coach,
when you give me a $20,000 raise - that really gets me emotional."
The $20,000 raise is probably a reference to the salary that Iowa State
used to lure Orr from Michigan in March of 1980. At Michigan, Orr
earned slightly less that $34.000. The Cyclones offered him a base salary
of over $54,000, plus fringe benefits which more than tripled his income
as Michigan coach.
"I love it down there. They're great people, super duper people," he
said. "I'm going to retire out there, I'm going to stay there. I really enjoy
it... I still love Michigan but those people have been so great to me -
it's unbelievable."
Orr coached twelve seasons at Michigan, winning 248 games - still a
Michigan record. He guided the team to Big Ten championships '74 and
'77, and received at-large bids to the NCAA tournament in '75 and '76 as
well. The '76 team lost to Indiana in the NCAA finals.
When Orr departed for Iowa State, there was speculation he left because
Michigan will always be a football school. Saturday's crowd at Crisler
seemed to affirm that things haven't changed. Despite the national
championship and having a high-caliber opponent, empty seats were still
scattered throughout the arena.
"It never was noisy here, never was," Orr said. "That's why everybody
could hear what I said."
At Iowa State, Orr has made basketball an institution. He inherited a
sub-.500 team and has turned it into a Big Eight contender.
The Cyclones drew only 6,470 fans per game the year prior to Orr's
arrival. For the past five years Iowa State's Hilton Coliseum has been
sold out on a season ticket-basis, averaging over 13,000 fans.
"They're great fans," Orr said. "You can't even hear the whistles. It
just goes. They come 30-40 minutes before the game and they don't leave
until an hour after the game."
BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
Vaught and Mills take
control under boards
by Mike Gill
Daily Basketball Writer
Michigan's inside game showed signs of old during Saturday's 101-78
win over Iowa State. Terry Mills and Loy Vaught dominated inside
snagging 13 and 12 rebounds respectively.
Mills is in the best shape of his career. He has lost weight and has been
most impressive.
"Terry is a good player," Michigan coach Steve Fisher said. "Terry's just
got a mindset that he's going to be better than good. He's going to have
some good games where he's going to play great and other games that he
plays good. So we're counting on him to give us that senior play."
In the Tipoff classic, Mills starred in limited playing time due to foul
trouble. Vaught had trouble finding a rhythm. Both fouled out. However,
against Johnny Orr's team, the opposite happened, as Iowa State found itself
in early foul trouble inside.
"You always look better when your shots go in and we were making
shots," Fisher said. It was as much the type of shots we were getting that
were important to us. Loy and Terry especially dominated inside at both
ends I thought and established inside superiority. Part of it was they (Iowa
State) got in early foul trouble. Now they're a little tentative and they're big
guys are on the bench. That helps us."
HIGGINS, CALIP RECEIVE RAVES: Both Demetrius Calip and
Sean Higgins had big games. Higgins scored 11 points and ran the floor
well while Calip hit on seven of nine shots from the field to total 14
points. Fisher was pleased.
JOSE JUAREZ/Da1y
Mike Griffin goes head to head against Iowa State on Saturday.
Griffin uncharacteristically scored 11 points vs. the Cyclones.
'I heard them out there on the court where
once Griffin hit a couple shots they said,
'Hey, that's not in the scouting report.' They
had to adjust their defense and everyone
had a lot of freedom.'
-Terry Mills
confidence to do that."
While sitting in a bar last summer in New York City, a man
approached the 6-foot-7 senior. "You know," he said, "you look a lot like
Mike Griffin, the guy on the Michigan Wolverines basketball team."
"I am Mike Griffin," came the reply.
With a few more games like Saturday, would there be any doubt?
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IOWA STATE
Continued from page 1
dominated inside and established an
inside superiority," said Fisher.
Vaught added: "It just seemed like
(the Cyclones) were slow to block
us out. They went straight for the
glass instead of looking for the
ball."
Griffin, who is not known as an
offensive threat, hit four for five
from the floor in the first half to
provide a pleasant surprise for the
offense.
"I can count numerous times
where he (Griffin) has saved my butt
out there on the court," Mills said.
"I heard them (Iowa State) out there
on the court where once Griffin hit a
couple of shots they said 'Hey,
that's not in the scouting report."'
The Cyclones were simply
outmatched. Noticeably ineffective
was 6-foot-9 all-Big Eight center,
Victor Alexander. Alexander, who
was averaging 25 points and 8.5
rebounds per game, was held to 11
points and 5 boards.
"I was very disappointed inmy
team the second half, (and) I'm just
as disappointed in my big men," Orr
said. "They didn't run the floor and
they looked like something was
wrong with them, but maybe that's
because of the way Vaught and Mills
played. Usually when you're bad its
because somebody else is good."
Fisher returned the compliment:
"Iowa State is a good basketball
team. They got in early foul trouble.
Alexander had two quick ones and
they were a little tentative. That
helped us."
I
14
JOSE JUARt/uaiy
Michigan guard Rumeal Robinson cuts inside for the score during the second half of Michigan's victory over
Iowa State. Robinson's 22 points and 7 assists were a considerable force in the 101-78 win.
Oregon State upsets second-ranked Arizona
Oregon state handed second-
ranked Arizona their worst defeat
since Lute Olson became Wildcats
coach in 1983, getting 25 points
from Gary Payton in an 84-61
victory Saturday.
Arizona (1-2), which lost to
Oregon 68-63 Thursday night, is off
to an 0-2Pac-10 Conference start for
the first time in five years. Oregon
Staite (3-0.2-O) iumned to ai 20l-roint
the first half, and built a 38-18 lead
before settling for a 38-21 lead at
halftime.
Louisville 84, Notre Dame 73
At Indianapolis, LaBradford
Smith scored 20 points, and Jerome
Harmon, coming off the bench,
added 19 as No.13 Louisville broke
away in the second half and beat
No.19 Notre Dame in the Big Four
free throws be Felton Spencer put
Louisville ahead for good, 46-44.
Harmon started the winning streak
with a driving slam dunk and
finished it with another basket with
five minutes to go, putting the
Cardinals ahead, 76-61.
Indiana 71, Kentucky 69
At Indianapolis, Pat Grahan
made a pair of three-pointers an(
T - - ..,.-.. ..1. I --LS S -_
in the second half, pulling ahead 48-
37 with 6:12 remaining on two John
Pelphrey free throws.
Georgetown 114, Florida,
International 67
Freshman reserve Antoine
Stoudamire scored 24 points,
including 13 straight to spark a first-
half run, and Alonzo Mourning added
17 points as No.3 Georgetown (3-0)