10 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, February 2, 1995
BADG ERS
Continued from page 9
verines held a 20-11 advantage.
An almost six-minute Michigan
scoring drought later in the half co-
incided with torrid Badger 3-point
shooting, allowing Wisconsin to pull
ahead by four at the break.
The Wolverines came out slowly
in the second half, falling behind
38-29 two minutes into the half. Six
minutes later, Michigan had an
eight-point lead and was headed to
victory.
: "We picked up our defense in
the second half," guard Dugan Fife
said. "We got some steals and cre-
ated some fast-break opportunities.
This was an important win because
we didn't want to lose three straight
at home."
Last night's win pushes.lichi-
gan back into a second-place tie in
the conference with Purdue. Wis-
consin dropped its fifth conference
game and remained tied for eighth
in the Big Ten standings.
The Wolverines and Badgers will
Court Griffith proves to be
dress jut another big man
By Scott Burton
Daily Basketball Writer
Wisconsin center Rashard Griffith may be a large,
intimidating man.
But for all the hoopla surrounding Griffith, he proved
two concrete things in the Badgers' 62-58 loss to Michigan:
1) Griffith is not the same player hype makes him out to be;
and 2) what the Wolverines lack in size and pounds in the
low-post, they make up for in heart and determination.
Scouts drool over Griffith's immense size (6-foot-11,
270 pounds) and sweet low-post skills. Indeed, he may very
well end up a lottery pick in a future NBA draft. But, like so
many highly-regarded centers of the past -- Yinka Dare,
Stanley Roberts, Eric Montross - he has failed to deliver
the types of games that his promise suggests he should.
This might be a unfair thing to say about aman who leads
the Big Ten in rebounding and blocked shots and who scores
a respectable 16.0 points per game. But a comparison
between his performance against Michigan and the perfor-
mance of Penn State's John Amaechi indicates how the
accolades given to Griffith are undeserved.
Michigan's low-post players give about two inches and
40 pounds to both men. And Amaechi took full advantage of
the size differential in the Nittany Lions' 73-63 victory over
the Wolverines Jan. 8. He scored 26 points, grabbed 14
rebounds, forced the overmatched Makhtar Ndiaye and
Maurice Taylor to foul out and was an all-around nightmare.
Griffith should have been equally scary, but he did little
more than shout "boo!" He put up what look like respectable
numbers -18 points and 13 rebounds - but, really, he was
a non-factor. Most of Griffith's rebounds were flatfooted,
uncontested pick-ups and eight of his points came from the
free-throw line.
In fact, it was often Michigan that terrorized Griffith. As
he loafed around the court, the Wolverines were dunking on
his basket, Taylor was shooting jumpers over his arms and
Ndiaye was slapping rebounds out of his hands.
"They (Amaechi and Griffith) are both a lot alike,"
Taylor said. "Griffith is a load but he is not as strong as I
thought he would be."
This is not to completely dismiss Griffith, of course, nor
to attribute his substandard showing to laziness or under-
achieving. The man is only a sophomore, and even Shaquille
O'Neal came up short on some nights in college.
And obvious credit must be given to Michigan's men
down low. The inexperienced low-post combination of
Taylor, Ndiaye and Baston - all 6-foot-9 -often have not
matched up well with other teams' big men. They have been
plagued by foul trouble and chronically come up soft on
defensive rebounds and offensive put-bpks.
Yet, last night, they took it to Griffith as if they were not
intimidated by his physique, which takes guts, gall and
spirit. Maybe if Michigan shared some of that formula with
Griffith, he would be worth the hype.
meet again
Madison.
in just eight days in
WISCONSIN (58)
F6 FR MM
MIN W-A MA OT A F PTS
Finley 39 2-12 5-7 1-1 3 3 10
Moore 4 0-1 0-0 0001 0
Griffith 35 5-11 8-11 4-13 1 2 18
Hoskins 26 1-4 0-0 0-0 4 5 2
Kilbride 32 2-4 0-0 1-3 2 3 6
Kelley 17 1-3 0-0 1-1 0 3 2
Mason 21 4-8 2-5 0-5 0 1 13
Daugherty 19 2-7 1-2 2-4 0 2 7
Peterson 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Nwachukwu 5 0-0 00 1-1 0 0 0
Totals 200 17-50 16-26 15-35 1020 58
FG%:.360. FT%:.750. Three-poInt goals:8-22,
.583 (Finley 1-10, Hoskns 0-1, Kilbride 2-4,
Mason 3.4, Daugherty 2-3). Blocks: 2 (Grffith 2).
Turnovers: 22 (Kilbride 5, Mason 5, Hoskins
4,Griffth 3, Kelley 3, Moore, Finley). Steals: 4
(Hoskins, Kelley, Kilbride, Daugherty). Technical
Fouls: none.-
MICHIGAN (62)
FG FT RES
MIN MA M-A 0T A F PTS
Jackson 37 7-12 &10 3-5 3 3 22
Taylor 26 6-13 0-0 2-4 2 5 12
Ndiaye 32 6-7 1-3 2-4 0 3 13
King 31 0-5 4-6 2-5 1 3 4
Fife 21 0-3 1-2 0-1 0 4 1
Conlan 16 0-0 0-0 0-3 1 0 0
Baston 22 3-7 1-2 2-10 0 2 7
Mitchell 15 1-5 1-2 2-3 1 2 3
Totals 200 23.52 16-25 14.38 8 22 62
FG%:.379. FT%: .455. Three-point goals: 0-5,
.000 (Jackson 0-1, King 0-1, Fife 0-3). Blocks: 7
(Baston 3, King, Mitcell, Ndiaye, Taylor).Turnovers:
18 (Jackson 4, Baston 3, King 3, Taylor 3, Conlan
2, Fife 2, Mitchell). Steals: 13 (Jackson 3, Baston
2, King 2, Mitchell, Ndiaye 2, Conlan, Taylor)
Technical Fouls: none.
Wisconsin..........31 27 - 58
Michigan ...A : 27 35 - 62
At:: Crisler Arena; A: 13,562.
MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
The Wolverines used a 16-0 run to overtake Wisconsin for good. Michigan
won despite shooting just 36 per cent from the field.
FOOTBALL
Continued from page 9
got," Moeller said yesterday at
SchamhPhlPr Hall. "The key now
is to fit them in with Michigan foot-
ball."
Some will do that more quickly
than others. Fullback Aaron Shea,
for example, will start immediately
to fill in the hole left by Ch6 Foster,
who made himself eligible for the
NFL draft.
Also, Moeller said at least one of
the new defensive backs will get the
chance to start. Five such players
committed to Michigan, helping
ease the loss of the NFL-bound Ty
Law and bolster a defense that gave
up the most points in school history.
Moeller called this year's effort
"the best we've ever done in the
secondary. I'm going to be very
disappointed if that isn't a very fine
group."
The quarterback position is an
area of concern, due to senior Todd
Collins' recent departure. Johnson
and San Mateo, Ca. native Tom
Brady will compete for a backup -
or possibly starting - position.
Who else will get a chance to
play? That depends on spring prac-
tice, Moeller said. He knows quar-
terbacks and offensive linemen of-
ten want to be redshirted, but
Michigan's new group will be called
upon if necessary.
"I tell everybody, 'If we need
you, we're going to play you,"'
Moeller said.
Academically, there do not ap-
pear to be any road blocks for next
year's freshman class.
"Everyone has passed the (SAT)
Thne key now is
to fit (these
recruits) in with
Michigan football. ff
Gary Moeller
Michigan football coach
test and all those things," Moeller
said.
Overall, the coach was very op-
timistic about the 1995 class.
"I think we filled some needs,"
Moeller said. "(We placed) a strong
emphasis on defensive people, par-
ticularly up front.
"This has been the best (group)
in the last 5-6 years."
Up next:
Minnesota
(5-3 Big Ten, 14-6 overall)
Michigan
(6-2 Big Ten, 12-8 overall)
at
The new Wolverines
Name
8 p.m,, Saturday, Minneapolis
I
i
Acheson, Rob
Bowens, David
Brady, Tom
Bryant, Kevin
Ford, J.R.
Frazier, Steve
Hall, James
Johnson, DiAllo
Kratus, Pat
Moltane, Eric
Potts, Jeff
Renes, Rob
Shea, Aaron
Streets, Tai
Taylor, Daydrion
Washington, Brent
Williams, Clarence
Williams, Josh
Woodson, Charles
Zeimann, Chris
Pos.
OL
ILB
QB
DB/WR
RB/DB
C
OLB
QB/DB
DE/OLB
DL
OT
MG
FB/TE
WR
DB
DB
RB
DL
DB
'DL
6-5
6.3
6-4
6.0
5-8
6-4
6-3
6-4
6.4
6-7
6-8
6-2
6-5
6-4
6-1
6.1
5-10
6-4
6-1
6-7
Wt. Yr.
265
230
215
175
165
280
245
190,
240
275
280
275
260
185
190
175
180
260
185
250
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
Fr.
HoNmetownf/HighSchool
Lowell, Mi/Lowell
Pontiac, MI/Orchard Lake St. Mary's
San Mateo, CA/Serra
Farmington Hills, MI/Harrison
Columbus, OH/Independence
Kingwood, TX/Kingwood
New Orleans, LA/St. Augustine
Detroit, MI/Orchard Lake St. Mary's
Rocky River,OH/St. lgnatius(Cleveland)
Bay City, MI/Central
Three Rivers, Ml/Three Rivers
Holland, MI/West Ottawa
Ottawa, IL/Ottawa
Matteson, IL/ThortonTownship(Harvey)
Longview, TX/Longview
Inkster, MI/John Glenn(Westland)
Detroit, MI/Cass Tech
Houston, TX/Cypress Creek
Freemont, OH/Ross
Aurora, IL/Waobonsie Valley
WGOOPI OLDBERG
MARY-LOUISE PARKER
DREW BARRYMORE
{.'
DISCOUNT
TEAM
UNIFORMS
FOR ALL
SPORTS
Action Sports Wear
663-8771
41 E. Liberoty
2 Elocks off of
State -
BOYS ON THE SIDE
Preparing Vessels of Honor
at the
Detroit Center of Theological Education
Wayne State University Campus
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