Page 4-The Michigan Daily- Sports Tuesday- January 19, 1993
by Ken Sugiura
Daily Basketball Wi
Nineteen feet, n
seem all that far. An
cialists James Voski
it probably seems a 1
Watch them in
pregame shoot, and3
most of the Wolves
threes one after anoth
But put the shot
game, and suddenl
shooting the three -
for that matter - ct
much harder shot t
ies, the pressure of
legs - whatever th
the same as in practi
Sometimes, thout
and the hoop looks
tale's mouth, and w]
finds twine.
Saturday's romp
found Voskuil as w
in such a state, whil
King had troubles g
drop.
"Right now, I'
too much when I g
learning to co
Pelinka said. The senior was errant on
triter his only attempt from three-point range
ine inches doesn't and is 0-for-1993, a collective 0-for-7
id to three-point spe- streak over five games. King, after a
uil and Rob Pelinka, solid 3-for-7 night against Indiana,
lot closer. missed each of his five three-point tries
practice, or in the Saturday.
you'll see them - and Voskuil, on the other hand, trying to
rines - knock down put behind memories of his last second-
her. miss against Indiana last Tuesday, canned
into the context of a both of his three-point attempts and added
y, something about a free throw to finish with seven points.
- or any other shot And after batting .250 against the
hanges. It becomes a Hoosiers (1-for-4), Webber connected on
D make. Flying bod- three of four three-point attempts.
the game, or heavy "I've been good on my three-pointers
e reason - it's not since the beginning of the season," Web-
ce. ber said Saturday. "In the Indiana game, I
gh, everything clicks didn't make them and people started say-
the size of Dick Vi- ing, 'That's a bad shot. You shouldn't
hatever is hoisted up take it.'
"That's not a bad shot. I can make
p over Notre Dame that shot," he continued. "I've just got to
ell as Chris Webber make them like I have been."
e Pelinka and Jimmy It sounds easy - I've just got to
vetting their shots to make them like I have been - but it ob-
viously is a little more difficult. And
n thinking about it perhaps more so, thinks coach Steve
o up for my shot," Fisher, for his two bombardiers.
unt by threes
"Sometimes when you know you're
only gonna get a limited number of
shots, you press that much harder to
make them," Fisher said following the
game. "It's human nature."
The numbers would seem to bear
Fisher out. Last season, when he aver-
aged under one three-point attempt per
game, Pelinka shot .320. In his senior
year in high school, when Pelinka was
the focus of his team's offense, he shot
207 threes - 90 more than he has shot
in his three and a half seasons at Michi-
gan.
Playing with the confidence he would
get to take plenty of shots, he hit at a 41
percent clip, 90 points higher than his
average last season. That Pelinka has re-
gressed as a shooter is not a particularly
logical explanation. To coin a phrase, a
shooter shoots, and the more he shoots,
the better he'll do.
But, as Pelinka puts it, he and
Voskuil are "there for the scraps," so the
shots don't come around as often.
"They're (Pelinka and Voskuil) prob-
ably not even going to get 10 shots,"
Fisher said. "So they've just gotta know
when they step up and it's their shot -
'Shoot it,' and don't worry about re-
sults."
But results are what count, and if the
results aren't coming, then as Fisher
says, it's human nature to press. Which
leaves us with Rob Pelinka trying not to
press and at the same time free himself
from his shooting doldrums.
"In practice he just shoots 'em all in,
so he's just gotta get on a roll," Voskuil
said.
Make no mistake about one thing,
though. If there's one thing that isn't a
problem, for either Pelinka or Voskuil,
it's confidence. Both were big scorers in
high school, and each seems to possess a
scorer's swagger that would make "White
Men Can't Jump" hero Billy Hoyle
wince.
"I felt my stroke has been going
good, against Indiana it was good and
against Kansas as well," Voskuil said.
"So I don't think my stroke's off at all. I
never did and I won't admit to it ever be-
ing off."
"I'm gonna have a hot game probably
one game or two games down the road,"
Pelinka said. "We're both great shooters
and we're gonna do fine."
The anatomy of the dunk
0
IRISH
Continued from page 1
and tried to take advantage of it as
best as I could."
Howard's play in the first half al-
lowed the Wolverines to enjoy any
sort of advantage going into the in-
termission. The 6-foot-9 sophomore
carried his struggling teammates by
scoring 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting
from the field.
"I am feeling comfortable out
there," Howard said. "Now I have
the confidence in my game. When
the guys come to me, I feel I can
score."
MacLeod had nothing but praise
for the Wolverine center who fin-
ished the contest with 18 points.
"We hoped their big men would-
n't shoot so well," MacLeod said.
"In the first half, when Juwan
Howard shot, he had great rotation.
Then in the second half, he still had
it. He got hot and then you have to
cover him and other guys get on a
roll."
While Michigan's offense was
searching for its range, the Wolver-
ines defense managed to contain
Notre Dame's most dangerous
player, Monty Williams. The senior
who was averaging 18.7 points per
game coming into Saturday scored
just two points, on free throws, in
the first stanza and finished with six
points. He left the game with a
sprained left ankle midway through
the second half.
The ineffectiveness of Williams
only seemed to magnify the Irish's
lack of depth. Yet even in defeat the
Irish gained some valuable experi-
ence, Hoover said.
"We played well in the first half
and I think that gives us a lot of
confidence for the rest of the sea-
son," Hoover said. "Hopefully we
can come back, get Monty back
healthy and see what we can do
against Butler (the Irish's next op-
ponent)."
NOTRE DAME (55)
PG FT Rb
Min. M-A M-A
Russell 30 2-4 0-0
M. Williams 28 2-9 2-2
Cozen 22 3-6 0-0
Taylor 29 3-9 0-0 1- 13 6
Hoover 33 6-14 7-8 04402
Justice 10 0-0 0-0
Jon Ross 21 3-5 0-1
Joe Ross 11 0-0 0-0 1- 12 0
J. Williams 11 1-4 0-0
Boyer 5 0-0 0-0
Rob.
O-T
1-7
0-2
0-3
1-5
0-4
0-0
2-5
1-2
0-0
_0-2__
A
3
3
0
1
4
1
0
1
0
Q_
F
2
1
1
3
0
t
4
2
1
i_
Pts.
4
6
8
6
23
0
6
0
2
_0
Tetala 200 2051 9-11 10-37 13 16 55
FG%- .392. FT%- .818. Three-point goals:
6-15.,.400 (Hoover 4.9, Cozen 2-2, M. Williams
0-3, Taylor 0-1). Team rebounds: 7. Blocks: 3
(Joe Ross, Russell, M. Williams). Turnovers: 27
(Hoover 6, Cozen 4, Russell 4, Taylor 4, M.
Williams 3, Boyer 2, Joe Ross, Jon Ross, J.
Williams, team). Steals: 5 (Taylor 2, Hoover, Joe
Ross, J. Williams). Technical fouls: none.
MICHIGAN (70)
FG
Mn. M-A
Webber 29 9-12
Voskuil 21 2-4
Howard 28 8-11
Rose 29 6-14
King 25 3-12
Pelinka 18 1-3
Riley 19 0-1
Talley 14 0-4
Fife 9 0-1
Derricks 4 0-1
Bossard 3 0-1
Dobbhins I1 f0-0
FT
M-A
1-3
1-2
2-2
2-2
1-1
0-0
0-0
0-2
0-0
0-0
0-0
M-
Rob.
O-T
2-8
1-6
1-5
0-4
1-1
2-2
2-3
0-0
0-0
0-1
0-0
0-0n
A
1
2
2
4
5
1
0
2
0
0
0
4_
F Pts.
2 22
3 7
2 18
1 14
1 7
3 2
0 0
2 0
2 0
0 0
0 0
0 Q
MICHIGAN
Continued from page 1
Wolverines' improvement, that the disruption of the
group has not hindered their success on the court.
Last year, the coherence of the five rookies seemed
vital; Michigan was struggling its way through the mid-
dle of the Big Ten schedule with a 5-4 conference
record before the switch, but only lost four more games
- including the championship loss to Duke - after the
Irish contest.
However, this installation of the group that was "like
family" in the words of Webber left several former
starters awkwardly displaced. Michael Talley, a starter
in every game in 1990, and Eric Riley, a starter in 26 of
28 contests the previous year, were both suddenly asked
to wait behind "the group," as was Voskuil. It wasn't
until late in the season, when these "other" members of
the team made key contributions to Michigan victories
- Riley's performance against Oklahoma State and
Voskuil's clutch play against Cincinnati - that it
seemed the team had been reintegrated.
This year, the Wolverines maintained their starting
lineup of the sophomores (until Jackson's injury), but
the 1993 Wolverines are much more than a five-man
show. Talley and Riley shined in the Rainbow Classic,
Pelinka plays solidly at both the small forward and
shooting guard position, Voskuil has moved from his
sixth-man post to fill in for Jackson, and even rookie
Dugan Fife contributes, with his defensive tenacity and
ball-handling skill.
History did not repeat Saturday. Instead, Michigan
put a new spin on the old cliche.
Those that learn from history ...
Are bound to improve upon it.
I
I
Totals 200 29-64 7-12 10-31 17 16 70
FG%- .453. FT%- .583. Three-point goals:
5-18, .278 (Webber 3-4, Voskuii 2-2. King 0-5.
Rose 0-4, Bossard 0-1, Pelinka 0-1, Talley 0-1).
Team rebounds: 1. Blocks: 6 (Webber 3,
Derricks, Riley, Rose). Turnovers: 13 (Rose 4,
King 3. Talley 2, Webber 2, Bossard, Voskuil)).
Steals: 10 (Rose 3, King 2, Howard 2. Derricks,
Webber). Technical fouls: none.
Notre Dame........ 29 26 - 55
Michigan ................ 34 36 - 70
At Crisler Arena; A-13,562 (paid)
0
0
Te~am
Conference
W L
Indiana
Michigan
Ohio State
Illinois
Purdue
Michigan State
Minnesota
Iowa
Wisconsin
Penn State
Northwestern
4 0
2 1
2 1
2 1
2 2
2 2
2 2
1 2
1 2
1 3
0 3
All Games
W L
15 2
13 2
9 3
9 5
11 2
10 3
10 3
12 3
8 4
6 7
5 7
KRISTOFFER GILLETTE/Da
Wolverines Rob Pelinka (3) and Dugan Fife double team Notre Dame guard Ryan Hoover in the first half Saturday.
I
BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
Webber fractures his nose;
playing status questionable
by Ryan Herrington
and Ken Sugiura
Daily Basketball Writers
Chris Webber followed his nose.
Right into Eric Riley's elbow. At
practice yesterday afternoon, the
sophomore forward suffered a frac-
tomorrow - he saw a University
doctor yesterday - he will wear'a
plastic mask to protect his honker. He
will continue to wear the mask for an
indefinite period.
If he does not play tomorrow,
Webber, who is leading the Wolver-
ing off last Tuesday's emotional one-
point defeat at the hands of Indiana,
Michigan's poor first-half perfor-
mance against Notre Dame Saturday
might have been expected.
The Wolverines came out sluggish
against the Irish in their 70-55 -vic-
explain their slow play in the opening
half.
"It wasn't tough at all to get up for
this game," Howard said. "I was ex-
cited for this game. We had a hard-
fought game against Indiana. We
were ready to come out here. Sure it
. I
I
I ~