BASKETBALL The Michigan Daily - SPORTSTuesday - January 21, 1997 - 58 Blue gets running game going Michigan conquers Iowa's patented press, scores in transition a + Brandun Hughes and his back- court mates did a superb job break- Ing Iowa's aggressive full- court press. The vkeyes caused Just 12 turnovers, while committing 18. As a result, Hughes led more than a handful of fast breaks, most ending In easy Wolverine bas- ',,. kets.40 , JOE WESTRATE/Daily Hoosiers fall to unranked WEST LAFAYETTE (AP) - It did- n't matter who guarded Brad Miller Saturday night. The Purdue center matched his career highwith 25 points, all from either under the basket or at the free throw line, as the Boilermakers beat No. 17 Indiana 70-53. *61was getting the ball fast and going up with it," said Miller, who had only four points in Purdue's last game and didn't find out he would start against the Hoosiers until 20 minutes before game- time.- "When I got the ball in the post, I either made a quick move or threw it back out. I just had my confidence By John Leroi Daily Sports Editor Dr. Tom Davis received his moniker for a reason. Besides being perhaps the only college bas- ketball coach with a doctorate (from Maryland), the man is a basketball genius. So whatever Davis' Hawkeyes do on the court, you can be sure Davis spent a lot of time and intellect creating it. Iowa's full-court press is no exception. While more than a handful of Big Ten teams have seen double-digit leads whither away to nothing, Michigan did such a good job han- dling Iowa's aggressive press in the Wolverines' 79-71 victory over the Hawkeyes on Sunday, Davis almost stopped using it. "They did a terrific job handling our press," Davis admitted after the game. "I don't think we caused more than two turnovers off the press all game." In fact, Michigan gave the ball away just 12 times - a superb statistic, especially given Iowa's success with the press. In return, the Wolverines forced 18 turnovers, converting most of them into transition opportunities. Both teams shot exceptionally well. The Hawkeyes hit 47 percent of their shots, while Michigan connected on 52 percent. The Wolverines took three more shots than lgwa did and made four more. A plus-six in the turnover margin will do wonders in games like this. Michigan scored at least a dozen baskets in transition. With a game this close, it's no won- der which team lost. "It's key to get transition baskets," Michigan forward Maceo Baston said. "We did a letter job of turning steals into baskets today than we ever have. "I don't know how many fast breaks Iowa had, but I can't remember more than ong, and we had a lot more than that:' Those fast breaks have been sorely missed for a while. When the Wolverines' halfrourt offense was struggling against good defensive ballclubs, they weren't turning giveaways into easy baskets at the other end. But Michigan was able to speed up the tempo of Sunday's game, partly becauseIowa's big men were crashing the boards, leaving just one or two Hawkeyes back, and partly l cause the Wolverines gave a spectacular defensive effort. . While Michigan was creating fast-break opportunities, the Hawkeyes were watching theirs literally slip past them. Louis Bullock, Brandun Hughes and Travis Conlan all did an excellent job handling Iowa's pressure. Michigan coach Steve Fisher was so impressed with the trio's execution against the press, he used all three guards for a large chunk of the game. What the Wolverines lacked in height, they more than made up for in quick- ness. If Michigan didn't get a transition basket off the press break, it almost always got into its half-court offense without any problem. "It was easier when we had three guards in the game," said Hughes, who sliced through Hawkeye defenders for 18 points and at least three beautiful assists. "That's three ballhan- dlers who usually make good decisions. "Our big guys did a great job rinning up to open spots and they did a good job passing it back to us to create fast-break opportunities. When they pressed, we wanted to turn it around and attack them, not sit back." Never mind the final score, Andre is a giant I By will Mccai Dailv Snorts Editor 1 ge~N UFERENCE Roundup going, no matter who was guarding me" Freshman center Jason Collier, unable to stop Uay p~twL'tv Heading into this season, Iowa coach Tom.)Pavis had two team leaders in mind for his squad. Senior forward Jess Settles, who had declared himself eli- gible for the NBA draft after his junior s ason, reversed his decision and decided to return 'or his senior season. But a back injury has sidelined Settles for much of this season - there is talk df him receiving a medical redshirt - and the leadedship load ho been placed squarely on the shoulders: of Davis' other candidate - senior guard Andre Woolridge. And Woolridge has not flinched in the least, responding' to the challenge as well as Davis? could have hoped. Going into Sunday's game, he was averag- ing almost 20 points per game and dishing out 5.6 assists. He's also bombing away from beyond the arc, hitting 42 percent of his treys. And Sunday's game was no exception, as he tossed in 25 against the Wolverines. Woolridge has been the Hawkeyes' leading scor- er in 13 of their 18 games, including Sunday's con- test. Michigan coach Steve Fisher didn't mince his words about Iowa's main man. "Everybody knows Woolridge is the superstar," Fisher said."He's as good as we've played against in this league in a long, long time" Michigan guards Brandun Hughes and Louis Bullock, who drew Woolridge as their defensive assignment, said they weren't surprised by his per- formance. "You have to stay focused on him," Hughes said. "He's a good player, and you're not going to stop him from scoring:' Bullock agreed that resistance, though necessary, had proved somewhat futile. "We knew he was good," Bullock said. "We want- ed to make every shot a tough shot. "He was still making them, though." 0 CAPTAINS MY CAPTAINS: After going through the first 17 games of the season without a captain, the Wolverines now appear to have two: junior guard Travis Conlan and sophomore Miller, became the first Indiana player to foul out of a game this season. But nobody else had any luck against the 6- fdot-1l junior, either, as he added nine rebounds, five steals and three blocked shts. Purdue (3-2 Big Ten, 8-7 overall) took 2-23 halftime lead, and Miller scored 'eBoilermakers' first seven points of the second half as the lead went quickly to 14. Indiana (2-3, 154), losing for the third time in four games, never came clqser than 10 points after that. MINNESOTA 73, Omo STATE 67 On Saturday at Columbus, Minnesota (54, 16-2) rebounded from its 96-90 less at Illinois on Tuesday night. "At Illinois, we didn't play great defense and we gave up 96 points. We -nted to come in here today and do a befterjob and I think we did," said Bobby Jackson, who had 10 points and seven assists for the Gophers. Ohio State has lost three straight and four of its last five since upsetting Michigan in the Big Ten opener Jan. 2. "It's getting frustrating," Ohio State coach Randy Ayers said. "We play well for 32 to 35 minutes but we can't close:' ,ICONSIN 64, PENN STATE 45 Somebody's losing streak had to end at Madison and it was Wisconsin's. The Badgers (2-3, 9-5) had lost four of five, while Penn State now has lost five in a rayw "It appeared to be two teams that were a little bit wounded," Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett said. "It wasn't smooth. There were a lot of glitches but I thought the difference was that we played with considerable energy if not great execu- Penn State (0-5, 7-7) was led by Pete Lisicky with 22 points, almost one-half his team's output. Northwestern hadn't beaten Michigan State in 19 games. Make that 20 after Saturday's game at East Lansing. MICHIGAN ST. 75, NORTHWESTERN 62 Northwestern (0-5, 5-11) got a career- high-26 points from Evan Eschmeyer. "He's the first player to score 20 points us this year and he had a great game, but we need to sprinkle in more help from our perimeter people,' Wildcats coach Ricky Byrdsong said. It was the fourth straight conference win for the Spartans (4-2, 11-3). center Robert Traylor. "It's good," Conlan said. "If you work hard, that's when things happen. "I just tried to work hard all summer and come in here and do my best, and I'm happy because I got this reward for it." Conlan is averaging 5.3 points and 4.2 assists per game, while Traylor averages 11.9 points and 7.8 boards per contest. "At all times I'm going to be a leader and not a follower" Traylor said. Indeed, the thought of being a leader and not a follower as a sophomore didn't seem to faze him. "We all respect each other on this team. The age doesn't really make a difference." CRASHING THE BOARDS: The Hawkeyes went intr Sunday's game leading the nation in rebounding margin, out-boarding their opponents by almost 14 per game. And indeed, against the Wolverines, Iowa was once again the master of the glass, pulling down 33 rebounds to Michigan's 27. Junior forward Ryan Bowen led the Hawkeyes' effort on the boards, snatching a total of 10, includ< ing five offensive rebounds. Freshman center Guy Rucker matched Bowen's total, with three offensive boards to his credit. Michigan's leading rebounder was junior forward Maceo Baston. He grabbed six boards, three offen- sive. Bowen's rebounding total appears all the more startling when added to his scoring output: 20 points on 6-of-I 1 shooting and eight of nine free throws. BOMBs AwAY: It's hard to improve on a .521 clip from beyond the 3-point arc, but Iowa's Kent McCausland did exactly that in Sunday's game. McCausland hit five ofthe six shots he took from 3-point land, adding up to an 83-percent success rate. The sophomore guard was perfect in the first half, draining all four treys he took. He finished with 12 points, two above his season average. In just two years at Iowa, McCausland has already moved into 10th place on the Hawkeyes' career 3-pointer list. Against Michigan, he passed Mon'ter Glasper to snag the spot, and is only 27 threes behind senior guard Andre Woolridge. The Iowa career record is 226, held by Chris Kingsbury, who passed up his final year of eligibil- ity before this season to enter the NBA draft. GOLDEN BACH Continued from Page 1B lead, 16-15. But Woolridge re-entered and the bat- tle with Iowa's top gun resumed. And at this stage, it was time to bring out all the stops. Hughes gave the crowd a highlight that ended his scoring for the day, but he did so in a most spectacular fashion. Driving past Woolridge toward the hole, Hughes soared above the other nine players, flicked the ball out of his right hand and in for two, leaving his team- mates - particularly backcourt partner Louis Bullock - in utter disbelief. "He probably gets nosebleeds every once in a while, he gets up so high," Bullock said. But the play didn't faze Woolridge, who came right back with eight points. Hughes clamped down after that, holding Woolridge scoreless in the game's final two minutes. Everyone knew who Iowa was getting the ball to. Woolridge. And everyone knew who was guarding him. Gre4t players are hard to intimidate. Hughes' strip of Woolridge with just more than a minute left sealed the deal for Michigan. Woolridge missed every- thing on a desperation 3-pointer because Hughes was right in his face. Final score: Michigan 79, Iowa 71 Woolridge 25, Hughes 18. "It was a tough 25'"Woolridge said. "I worked for every shot I got" JOE WESTRATE/Daily One thing became perfectly clear about Iowa on Sunday: Andre Woolridge is a great player. Michigan guarded him pretty well, and he still scored 25 points, displaying just why he is an NBA prospect. HAWKEYES Continued from Page 1B the Hawkeyes to collapse on him when he touched the ball. But his lim- ited movement with and without the ball cut down on his touches and turn- around jumpers. "(The Hawkeyes) historically play a lot of zone ... and they did not want our big people to beat them, so they made it difficult for us to get it inside," Michigan coach Steve Fisher said. "I think 24 threes, which I believe is what we took, is probably too many. We got to get our post players touches. It starts with me, then goes to Mo, Rob and Maceo and then it goes to the guards." While the Wolverines' big men struggled, the perimeter players picked up the slack and took advan- tage of Iowa's zone. Bullock, Conlan and Hughes combined for 44 points, a whopping 56 percent of Michigan's offensive output. Coming off the bench, Hughes lit up the court and was one of the only Wolverines who successfully broke down the zone and penetrated the lane regularly. He finished with 18 points and three assists. After the Wolverines amassed a 36- 35 lead with 1:40 remaining in the first half, Hughes hit a jumper from the left side with 44 seconds remain- :*-r Ua ha:hit nnn ar ff4hl-nr unconscious for most of the second half, finishing with 25 points. The Hawkeyes were still in the game until the waning seconds of the game. With 3:09 remaining, Woolridge hit an off-balance 3-point- er - one of his five treys on the day - cutting Michigan's lead to 75-71. Traylor stepped to the line with 1:50 remaining and missed both free throw attempts. On Iowa's next possession, Hughes knocked the ball away from Woolridge, one of the bigger defen- sive stops of the game. Woolridge had one last chance to bring the Hawkeyes to within one point. He looked for a screen that did- n't materialize, yet heaved another 3- pointer that clanked off the rim. Bullock grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 21.1 seconds remaining. Subsequent trips to the line for Bullock sealed the game. IOWA (71) FG FT RES MIN M-A M-A O-T A F PTS Bowen 31 6-11 8-9 5-10 0 0 20 Koch 24 1-2 1-1 0-3 0 4 3 Rucker 34 3-11 2-2 3-10 0 3 8 Woolridge 35 9-19 2-5 0-1 4 1 25 McCausland32 5-6 0-0 0-0 1 4 15 Robinson 6 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0 Moore 25 0-2 0-0 0-1 1 1 0 Bauer 13 0-0 0-2 1-2 3 2 0 Totals 200 24-5113-1912-339 16 71 FG%: .520. FT%: .667. 3-point FG: 10-18, .875 (Bowen 0-1, Koch 0-1, Woolridge 5- 10, McCausland 5-6). Blocks: 2(Bowen 1, Koch 1). Steals: 7 (Bowen 3, Woolridge 3, Moore 1). Technical Fouls: none. Tonight's game Who: No. 13 Michigan vs. No. 19 Indiana Where: Assembly Hall, Bloomington L M When: 7:30 p.m. TV: E$PN Tickets: Yeah, right. am . .. ;