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 A A n ;t7 J4r. urth,arplahr"I-jtp. i h,-pt n ciiriJIii)ii I