The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday -- Monday, March 6, 1995 - 5
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Michigan let down by defense
Hawkeyes hit 12 of 24 3-pointers in 20-point victory
I OWA CITY - Perhaps the tally today and it showed," Jackson goes, Iowa looked like the team that
strongest part of the Michigan said. "I don't think we understood wanted to play in the Big Dance more.
men's basketball team's game what this game meant. We weren't The Wolverines were off their game.
this season has been its defense. That intense enough on defense." Granted, Michigan will have a chance
was, until the Wolverines ran into Michigan was able to hold off to all but secure a tournament spot on
Iowa yesterday at Carver-Hawkeye Iowa's 3-point shooters in the first Wednesday night against Penn State,
Arena. meeting between the two teams, but while Iowa probably still needs to
Michigan came into the game al- yesterday they rained in shots from- win its last two games to get in, but the
lowing its conference opponents to all over the floor. Chris Kingsbury hit effort shouldn't have been any differ-
make only 38.5 percent of their shots 5 of 9 from 3-point range and Jim ent.
- tops in the Bartels hit 4 of 7 from behind the arc. Throughout this season, defense
league. On the Just when it seemed as if the Wolver- has won a lot of games for the Wol-
otherhand, the ines were about to get back into the verines. Yesterday against the
H a w k e y e s game, the Hawkeyes struck with a 3- Hawkeyes, Michigan's defense wilted
came into the point bomb. and Iowa took advantage of it.
contest allow-
ing opponents
to shoot 50.8
-TNEpercent from
ANTOINE the floor in
PuTTS conference
Ptts play - next to
,r._Stop_ last, ahead of
only North-
western.
Iowa turned the tables, putting the
clamps on the Wolverines at one end
of the court while shooting 52 percent
at the other. The Hawkeyes made 12
of their 24 3-point shots and became
only the second team in league to top
50 percent from the floor against the
Wolverines.
Throughout all of its troubles this
season, the Wolverines have prided
themselves on their ability to play
defense. Last Sunday, Michigan held
Illinois to 29.5 percent shooting and a
week earlier held Indiana to 29.6 per-
AP PHOTO cent. The Wolverines made every trip
The down the floor difficult for the oppo-
on nent. Yesterday's game was a differ-
ent story for Michigan, though.
"We weren't ready to olav men-
On the other side of the ball, Iowa
used its full-court press to force the
tempo. That led to 22 Michigan turn-
overs as the Wolverines were taken
right out of their game.
"We had too many turnovers, and
I say that it's our fault, but they are
also created by Iowa's defensive pres-
sure," Michigan coach Steve Fisher
said. "It was the press that created the
tempo. The stress of 40 minutes of
pressure got to us. You're not going
to win many games with 22 turn-
overs."
Michigan did have its strong de-
fensive stretches but they were only
stretches - much unlike the Wolver-
ines' play all season. Iowa was able to
play through them - hitting a triple
at an opportune time or even dumping
the ball inside for an easy hoop.
John Carter and Ryan Bowen com-
bined for 16 points off the bench for
the Hawkeyes. They were able to duck
inside and score after the Wolverines
paid more attention to the action out-
side the 3-point arc.
In a game that was crucial for both
teams ac fnr c the NCAA t inui ment
MICHIGAN (69)
FG FT Reb.
Min. M-A M-A 0-T A F Pts.
Jackson 32 4-9 2-3 3-7 4 4 11
Taylor 29 6-9 2-4 6-9 0 5 14
Ndiaye 20 1-4 0-0 2-6 0 4 2
Fife 25 3-10 0-0 2-3 3 3 8
King 36 5-15 0-0 1-2 5 2 13
Conlan 20 0-1 0-2 0-2 7 2 0
Baston 20 4-6 0-0 1-5 0 5 8
Mitchell 18 4-6 3-3 2.4 0 3 13
Totals 200 27-60 7-1217-39 1928 69
FG%- .450. FT%- 583. Three-point goals: 8-26, 308(Jack
son 1 -4. Taylor 0-1, Fife 2-9, King 3-8, Conlan 0-1, Mitchell
2-3). Blocks: 4 (Taylor, Ndiaye 2, Baston).Turnovers: 22
(Ndiaye 4, King 4, Mitchell 4, Jackson 3, Fife 3, Conlan 2:
Baston). Steals. 6 (King 2, Jackson, Conlan, Taylor.
Mitchell). Technical Fouls: none.
IOWA (89) FG FT Reb.
Mn. M-A M-A 0-T A F Pts.
Murray 29 5-8 1-3 3-3 0 1 12
Settles 28 6-11 5-6 2-5 3 4 19
Barls 30 5-10 4-4 1-8 3 2 18
Woolhdge 26 0-3 1-4 0-2 10 0 1
Kingsbury 34 5-10 4-4 0-4 3 1 19
Carter 12 3-5 3-3 0-2 0 3 9I
Skillett 11 1-3 0-0 1-1 0 0 2
Glasper 19 0-0 2-6 1-1 3 2 2
Bowen 11 3-4 1-2 1-3 1 0 7
Totals 200 2s-54 21-32 9-30 23 13 89
FG%- .519. FT/- .656.Three-pont goals: 12-24, .5
(Murray 1-2, Settles 2-4, Bartels 4.7; Woolridge 0-1iJr
Kingsbury 5-9, Boweno-1). Blocks: 1 (Bowen).Turnovers
12 (Settles 4, Woolidge 3.Kingsbury 2, Bartels, Carter)
Steals: 11 (Murray 3, Woolndge 2, Settles, Bartels~
Kingsbury, Carter, Skillett, Glasper). Technical Fouls: Non
Michigan.....................30 39 e- 9
Iowa............................36 53 -89
Carver-Hawkeye Arena; A-15,500
Michigan's Maceo Baston and Maurice Taylor double-team Iowa's Jess Settles in Big Ten action yesterday.
Wolverines defense was lacking, however, as the Hawkeyes shot 52 percent from the field. Michigan takes
Penn State Wednesday night in a crucial contest.
IOWA
Continued from page 1
inbounds the ball, and the Hawkeyes
zone-defense made it nearly impos-
sible at times for the Wolverines to
get the ball inside.
"They were sagging in a lot and
it's tough to get the ball inside when
they're sagging," Taylor said.
And with its inside game cut off,
Michigan resorted to the outside
shots that haven't fallen for most of
the year.
"We shot too many open shots,"
Taylor said. "As soon as we got an
open shot we took it instead of work-
ing it around."
Iowa's pressure and Michigan
trying to force the ball inside re-
sulted in 22 Wolverine turnovers
and a number of easy baskets for the
Hawkeyes.-
"We had too many turnovers,
and I'd say that it is our fault,"
Fisher said.
"We weren't really throwing
hard passes and not really making
good passes," King said of the Wol-
verines turnovers.
Michigan must now wait until
Wednesday night against Penn State
to try for the 17th win that they feel
will get them in the tourament, but
Taylor admits that a win still isn't a
gaurentee.
"It's not just whether we win,"
he said. "Now it's how we win and
how we play."
BASKEIBALL NOTEB00K
Baston plays through
ankle and rib injuries
BIG TEN STANDINGS
Records through March 5
Team W
Michigan St.
Purdue
13
13
10
10
Michigan
Minnesota
L
3
3
6
6
7
8
8
9
By Antoine Pitts
Daily Basketball Writer
IOWA CITY - The injury bug
continues for freshman center Maceo
Baston.
In practice Friday, Baston fell vic-
tim to another injury. During a drill,
Baston was undercut, falling to the
ground and injuring his ribs. The prac-
tice was Baston's first since twisting an
ankle in last Wednesday's game against
Northwestern.
In yesterday's game against Iowa,
Baston wore padding around his ribs
but it did not shield all of the pain.
"I got bumped on it and it kind of
hurt," Baston said.
Baston missed double figures for
the first time in four games, scoring
eight points.
SHINING RAY: Yesterday's game
marked the 100th career start for senior
forward Ray Jackson. He has come a
long way from that first start in Feb.
1992 when coach Steve Fisher made
him the final member of the "Fab
Five" recruiting class to make the
starting lineup.
Over the years, Jackson's numbers
have improved to where he is the team
leading in many statistics.
Jackson is Michigan's leading
scorer at 15 points per game, leads in
assists with 3.1 a game, and leads the
team in free throw pereentange at 77
percent. With 5.4 rebounds per game,
Jackson trails Baston by just percent-
age points for tops in that category.
If Jackson can finish as the top
Wolverine in points, rebounds and
assists, he will be the first Michigan
player to do it since assists were first
kept in 1971. Also, it looks as if
Jackson will be the first frontcourt
player to lead the Wolverines in as-
sists since Thad Garner did it in the
"79-'80 season.
SWTCHED ROLES: The Michigan-
Iowa series over the past couple of
years has produced some tight games
over the past few years, especially at
Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Last year, the Wolverines came
from nine points behind with over
four minutes left to take the victory.
Jimmy King hit a 3-pointer with
seven seconds left to give Michigan
a 71-70 win.
A year earlier, the Hawkeyes won
an emotion-filled game 88-80. That
year's meeting at Iowa was the first
game following the death of Hawkeye
forward Chris Street.
In King and Jackson's freshman
season, the teams battled into overtime
with the Wolverines prevailing, 80-77.
At the same time the games at
Crisler Arena have been lopsided.
This season's games went against
that trend with Michigan taking a
double-overtime thriller, 83-82, ear-
lier in Ann Arbor and yesterday's
Iowa blowout in Iowa City.
"It seems like this year's Michi-
gan-Iowa games were in the wrong
buildings," Fisher said.
Indiana
Illinois
Iowa
Penn St.
Wisconsin
9
8
8
8
7
2
1
Ohio St.
Northwestern
15
16,
Maurice Taylor Is blocked by Iowa's Jess Settles In Iowa City yesterday.
The Wolverines were beaten by the Hawkeyes 89-69.
Big Ten teams unsure about tournament bids
r
FORREST
Continured from page 5
were rumblings that the sophomore
was illegally recruited away from
Michigan. Yet Fisher, who prob-
ably believed Saint-Jean would have
abandoned hopes of a U.S. college
education had he not been allowed
to transfer, turned a blind eye. Could
you see Bob Knight doing the same?
In two nights Michigan plays its
final home game in the Fab Five era.
How special it would be if Juwan
Howard, Jalen Rose and Chris
Webber were at courtside as the
Wolverines took on Penn State?
It probably won't happen,
though, as the three NBA players
have loaded dockets. But it's just as
well.
Fisher has proven that he can get
along fine without them.
By Ryan White
Daily Basketball Writer
IOWA CITY - Following his
Wolverines' 89-69 loss to Iowa at
Carver-Hawkeye Arena yesterday,
Michigan coach Steve Fisher echoed
the sentiments of most Big Ten coaches
these days.
"I talked to Tom (Davis, Iowa's
coach) and I told himthat I hope both of
us play in the NCAA Tournament,"
Fishersaid. "Ithink Iowa made astrong
case to be in the tournament."
In what has been a backwards year
for college basketball all around the
sort the mess out, the Big Ten is leaving
that task up to the final week of its
regular season.
Michigan senior Ray Jackson has
played in the tournament every year
he's been a Wolverine, but he doesn't
remember a year in the conference
quite like this one.
"We've hadalotbetterteams (in the
conference),"Jackson said of years past.
"But never a year where so many aver-
age teams have deserved to get in.
Only three teams, with one week
remaining on the schedule, know for
,znn. that thev'll heat the hasll when the
they should be in the tournament.
Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana
and Wisconsin all have had big wins
this season and have looked, at least for
some period of time, like they deserve
to go. And although both Illinois and
Indiana lost this weekend, they are still
on the tournament bubble.
Michigan is the closest thing to a
lock after the first three. However, the
Wolverines still need to win at least
one of their remaining two games to
be playing in two weeks.
If Michigan makes the tournament,
So, who should go?
"I hope all of them," Jacksonjoked.
"I think five or six, but that really
depends on this last week, where all
of the games are so important."
In that final week Michigan has two
more chances to make its case for a
tournament berth. Wednsday the Wol-
verines face Penn State atCrisler Arena
and Sunday they travel to Purdue for a,
game that could mean the Big Ten title
for the Boilermakers.
Iowa likewise has two games to
convince the selection committee that
it dAc . .rto A nnn.a