The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - January 13, 2003 - 5B Talkin' the talk "The difference was whether we had Daniel Horton on the floor." - Michigan coach Tommy Amaker discussing his team's ability to deal with freshman point guard Daniel Horton's foul and injury troubles. SATURDAY'S GAME _ tPenn State 53 Michigan 66 Players of the game Robert Summers (Penn State) The freshman center pounded the boards, grabbing 13 rebounds - including six offensive - to go along with 10 points. LaVell Blanchard (Michigan) Blanchard continued his spectacular season, quietly leading Michigan with 15 points and eight rebounds in 35 minutes of action. Inside game enhancing 0Blue's options By Chris Burke Daily Sports Writer The biggest question facing Michigan coach Tommy Amaker this season was how to deal with the loss of center Chris Young. Young's graduation cost the Wolverines 11.4 points and just less than six rebounds a BASKETBALL game, as well as deci- Notebook mating any low-post presence Michigan had. Or so everyone thought. As Michigan has run off its nine-game win- ning streak, one of the most pleasant surprises has been the rapid improvement of freshmen centers Chris Hunter and Graham Brown. Saturday's 66-53 win over Penn State was a showcase of how effective Michigan can be when Hunter and Brown are both on their game. Brown started the game and finished with seven points and four rebounds, while Hunter continued to gain confidence, notch- ing 10 points and seven rebounds. "The guys on the team have more confi- dence in me, and they're looking for me more," Hunter said. More importantly, the aggressiveness of the two kept Penn State center Jan Jagla in foul trouble and off his game all afternoon. Jagla played just 15 minutes, finishing with four fouls and a season-low two points. "We tried to get them in foul trouble so we could get to the line," Hunter said. "The only way you can do that is to penetrate and go to the basket." Brown agreed with his fellow center. "By being able to get the ball down low, it opens up outside shots," Brown said. "We knew that their defense was slower down low, so we got the ball down low and attacked." Both players raised their points per game average with their performances Sat- urday. Brown now stands at 5.7 points per game, while Hunter has pitched in with 5.2 per game. The two have also combined to grab more than eight rebounds a game. The left-handed Brown has used his size to pound down low, scoring at least seven points in each of Michigan's last three victories, while Hunter has found a rhythm with his jump shot and posted double-digits Saturday for the third time in the last six games. "Chris played a very solid game," Amaker said after the win. "He certainly did a better job of getting the ball around the rim and fin- ishing - he was very adamant about doing that coming in." Many of Michigan's problems during last No time for rest in conference season fAer an emotionally draining win like Michigan had over Wisconsin last week, coaches always worry about a let- down. It's something that is extremely common in all sports, but also something that can kill a team's momentum - especially if it falls to a weaker opponent. The Wolverines played hard enough to defeat Penn State on Saturday. They avoided aR costly letdown. On the bright side, Michigan succeeded in its first opportunity to show it could get a win after an emotional and dra- . matic victory. The Wolverines responded well to success, and this is a positive sign for the NAWEED current season, as well as the future. SWCORA On the other hand, the energy, passion and .on concentration that brought them back from a Blowin 15-point deficit against the Badgers was smoke nowhere to be found. Michigan was tired, and it showed on the court. Of course, there's no reason why the Wolverines shouldn't be tired. Freshman point guard Daniel Horton has been logging almost 40 minutes per game throughout the nine-game winning streak. He has done a remarkable job of running the team, but the playing time is taking a toll on his energy and health. Michigan as a whole is dressing just 10 players, three of which (Sherrod Harrell, Chuck Bailey and Colin Dill) play limited minutes (10 combined against Penn State). So who can blame the seven pri- mary players from feeling a little weary from time to time? But even though getting tired may be understandable, it certainly won't get the Wolverines far in the Big Ten. As the season continues, conference opponents will only get bigger, stronger and meaner. Michigan must learn how to deal with the mental and physical rigors of conference play if it wants to continue its impressive win- ning streak and have a successful conference season. Saturday, the Wolverines did a poor job of this, but were able to get away with it. For the first time during the winning streak, the Wolverines were outrebounded (42-35). They also allowed Penn State to grab 22 offensive rebounds to their seven. They shot just 68 percent from the charity stripe, where they ended up with a 37- 8 shot advantage. And finally, they committed 11 second-half fouls after just three in the first half. These numbers are all indica- tive of a team with a lack of concentration. Fortunately for the Wolverines, Penn State committed even more fouls and turnovers than they did, giving them a chance to main- tain the lead. The Nittany Lions also shot just 31.4 percent from the field for the game. But Penn State's performance was a poor representation of the competition level Michigan will face in the Big Ten this year. Wednesday at Ohio State, the Wolverines might face their biggest challenge yet and no matter how tired they might be, they need to be ready. Through this amazing turnaround, Michigan has built up a great deal of confidence. The Wolverines believe in themselves, each other and coach Tommy Amaker. It's almost impossible to believe that a team that began the season with six consecutive losses could ever be feeling overconfident, so I don't think that was the problem Saturday. Michigan began the Big Ten season with two consecutive wins last year, but without the talent to compete in the Big Ten it was eventually pushed near the bottom of the standings. This season, the talent is there, and Michigan has the potential to put together an impressive conference season. But will the streak continue? "You have to play extremely well in this conference," Amaker said. "It's hard to win on the road in this league. It's certainly a very difficult task. We have to be rested, healthy and prepared, and we have to play well in order to get a victory (at Ohio State)." Concentration is fragile. It can be broken very quickly and easi- ly - especially on the road. Michigan must find a way to set aside its fatigue and play with focus and concentration all the time. If the Wolverines can do this, they will move one step closer to becom- ing a force in the Big Ten. SATURDAY'S GAME Penn State (53) FG FT REB MIN M-A M-A 0-T A F PTS Riley 32 2-10 0-0 2-5 0 4 6 Egekeze 13 1-2 2-3 0-2 1 2 4 Jagla 15 1-5 0-0 0-1 1 4 2 Watkins 37 7-17 1-2 1-2 4 3 16 Chambliss 34 3-11 0-0 0-0 1 3 7 Vossekuil 8 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0 Summers 25 5-6 0-1 6-13 1 2 10 Johnson 20 2-10 2-2 5-6 0 2 6 Cameron 9 1-6 0-0 0-0 1 3 2 Mcdougald 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Fellows 3 0-2 0-0 1-2 0 1 0 Team 7-10 Totals 200 22-70 5.8 22.42 9 26 53 FG%: .314. FT%: .625. 3-point FG: 4-20_ 200 (Riley 2-6, Watkins 1-5, Chambliss 1-7, Jagla 0-1, Cameron 0-1). Blocks: 2 (Summers, Mcdougald). Steals: 4 (Riley, Jagla, Summers, Fellows). Turnovers: 17 (Watkins 4, Riley 3, Jagla 2, Johnson 2, Chambliss, Vossekuil, Summers, Cameron, Mcdougaid, Fel- lows). Technical fouls: none. MICHIGAN (66) Robinson Blanchard Brown Horton Abram Hunter Harrell Groninger Bailey Totals MIN 36 35 17 33 35 23 5 11 5 200 FG M-A 4-8 4-10 3-4 3-7 1-5 4-6 0-0 0.1 1-2 20.43 FT REB M-A 0-T 5-8 1-8 6-8 2-8 1-2 1-4 7-10 0-1 3-4 3-5 2-4 0-7 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-0 1-1 0-0 25-37 745 A 3 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 8 F PTS 2 13 4 15 0 7 4 13 2 5 1 10 00 10 0 3 14 66 FG%: .465. FT%: .676. 3-poInt FG: 1-9 (Blanchard 1- 3, Horton 0-4, Abram 0-1, Groninger 0-1). Blocks: Hunter 2. Steals: 9 (Robinson 3, Abram 3, Blan- chard, Brown, Groninger). Turnovers: 15 (Robinson 8, Horton 2, Abram 2, Blanchard, Brown, Groninger). Technical fouls: none. Penn State ..........25 28 -53 Michigan ...............29 37 - 66 At: Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor Attendance: 9,748 BIG TEN STANDINGS Team Illinois Iowa Michigan Purdue Indiana Michigan State Ohio State Minnesota Wisconsin Northwestern Penn State Conference Overall W L W L 2 0 12 1 2 0 10 3 2 0 9 6 1 0 9 3 1 1 11 3 1 1 9 5 1 1 8 5 0 1 8 4 0 2 10 4 0 2 8 5 0 2 5 8 TONY DING/Daily Graham Brown has been steady on defense all year for Michigan, but it's been his and fellow center Chris Hunter's offensive production that have helped improve the Wolverines' offense. year's abysmal season resulted from the team's inability to cope when Young would suffer a scoring drought or find himself in foul trouble. But with the Wolverines enter- ing Big Ten play in the midst of the rapid pro- gression of Brown and Hunter, Amaker, at the very least, finds himself with two options in the low post. BANGED UP BLUE: The crowd of 9,748 at Crisler Arena on Saturday held its collective breath when freshman Daniel Horton went up for a block with 17:20 left in the game and came down hard on his left wrist. Horton stayed on the ground for a moment and then walked to the Michigan bench in obvious pain. He had his wrist examined, wrapped and - much to the delight of the Wolverine faithful - returned to the game just three minutes later. But the nagging injury that Horton says has been bothering him since Michigan's win over San Francisco Jan. 2 has Amaker wor- ried about his newest star. "I'm very concerned," Amaker said. "He's not at 100 percent and we need everyone at 100 percent for this time right now." Horton isn't the only Wolverine recently banged up. Senior tri-captain Rotolu Adebiyi has not dressed for the last few games after tearing a ligament in his knee during a prac- tice over winter break. "Graham fell on my knee going for a loose ball - he didn't get off, and he's a big country boy, so it was not a good feeling," Adebiyi said. "The doctor said two-to-three more weeks." HEAT WAVE: Michigan's win over Penn State kept the Wolverines among the country's hottest teams. Only 13 teams in Division I basketball have had winning streaks of nine or longer this season. Undefeated Duke, Syracuse and Oklahoma State are the only teams that cur- rently have streaks of 10 or more. Last Saturday's results: MICHIGAN 66, Penn State 53 ILLINOIS 69, Wisconsin 63 IOWA 68, Michigan State 64 OHIO STATE 81, Indiana 69 PURDUE 82, Northwestern 68 t Tomorrow's games: Minnesota at Purdue Wednesday's games: Michigan at Ohio State Northwestern at Indiana Minnesota at Wisconsin Illinois at Iowa Saturday's games: Michigan at Northwestern Purdue at Penn State Michigan State at Minnesota Illinois at Indiana Wisconsin at Ohio State 7 p.m. 8 p.m. 7 p.m. 8 p.m. 9 p.m., 2 p.m. 12 p.m. 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 8 p.m. JAMES Continued from Page 16 Part of the reason that Harris wasn't able to get to the hoop in the second half was because of a defen- sive switch by the Fighting Irish, leaving James man-to-man on Harris. "I love Dion Harris. He is one of my real good friends who I talk to a lot. I just had him contained today," James said. "He is averaging 28 points per game and today he had 18. I hope that he continues to work hard and continues to play hard and go on to Michigan." In the third quarter, the Fighting Irish put up 26 points in what James professed to be one of the best quarters his team had played all year. The quarter was highlighted by a play in which James stole the ball at halfcourt and slammed down a thunderous dunk, sending the crowd into an uproar. Later, in a similar situation, James would lay the ball up, causing many in the stands to boo the senior for having done the unexpected - not giving them something to cheer for. "I do the unexpected," said James with a smile, indicating that he was in control. "You do the unex- pected, like last week when I went between my legs - nobody was expecting it. Today, everybody thought I was going to dunk - and I didn't." While Harris was disappointed to leave Ohio with his fourth-straight loss to his good friend, he prom- ised that it would not be the last time they see each other on the court. "Yea, I think we will probably meet back up in the league a couple of years from now," said the typical- ly bashful Harris. UP NEXT: Naweed Sikora can be reached at nsikora@umich.edu. LIONS Continued from Page 1B and our ability to get to the line, which was tremendous, but we did not convert at the normal rate that we have been in the past." The ability to score from the foul line allowed the Wolverines to stay ahead, even though they went 10 minutes without a basket in the second half. It looked liked Penn State was applying the Hack-a-Shaq technique to the entire Michigan team after halftime as it committed 23 fouls in the second half. The result of all the whistles was that many Lions found them- selves in foul trouble, including Jan Jagla. The 7-foot center looked like he would be able to dominate inside, because of Michigan's inexperience and depth problems down low. But he was almost a non-factor in the game due to foul trouble. Jagla, who averages 10 points per game, finished with just two points and collected four fouls in just 15 minutes of play. When Jagla was forced to sit, Michigan's freshmen big men, Graham Brown and Chris Hunter, were able to be more pro- ductive on the inside. Hunter finished with 10 points, seven boards and two blocks, but he credits Brown's defense for removing Jagla. "I think Brown did an excellent job of posting him up and get- ting some quick fouls on him, and that took him out his game early;' Hunter said. AP' POTO LeBron James (left) and his teammates - well, mostly James - defeated Michigan recruit Dion Harris' Detroit Redford High School team yesterday in Cleveland. TATE The banged-up Buckeyes were sti- fled by Michigan State, but rebounded with animpressive win over Indiana Saturday. Guard Brent Darby leads the defending Big Ten champions with an average of 18.1 points per game. NEXT WEEKEND: NORTHWESTERN Perennial Big TenadoormataNorth- western is off to an 8-5 start, one of its best in recent years. The Wildcats have dropped games to Iowa and Purdue, but they are always more dangerous at home. 'M' STATS WEEKEND NOTES HOW THE AP TOP 25 FARED No. 11 FLORIDA 66, No. 20 GEORGIA 63: Florida needed all 40 minutes on Saturday to dispose of a red-hot Georgia team. Guard Anthony Roberson hit a 3-pointer - his seventh of the game - at the second-half buzzer to give the Gators a three-point victory over their SEC rival. Florida (13-2) led 58-49 late, only to watch the Bulldogs (9-4) string a rally together, led by Jarvis Hayes, who scored 25 Anthony points, including four 3-pointers in the Roberson game's final minutes. AP PHOTO The Bulldogs actually pulled ahead 63- 61 after Hayes' sixth trey of the game, Y., but David Lee dunked to tie it. ket with 2:34 left in overtime and was unable to recover. VANDERBILT 70, No. 4 ALABAMA 69: For the first time since a victory over UCLA in Nov. 1995, Vanderbilt (8-5) was able to upend a top-5 opponent. The game was nip-and-tuck all the way until the Com- modores' Russell Lakey nailed a 3-pointer with 18.8 seconds left in the second half to put Vanderbilt on top 66-61. Alabama (11-2) trailed 36-30 at the half, but was able to hang tight with the host Com- modores. The Crimson Tide were unable to pull out a crucial SEC victory. Team 1. Duke 2. Arizona 3. Connecticut 4. Alabama 5. Notre Dame 6. Pittsburgh 7. Mississippi State 8. Texas 9. Oklahoma 10. Illinois 11. Florida 12. Oregon 13. Missouri 14. Kansas Record 11-0 11-1 10-1 11-2 13-2 12-1 10-3 10-2 10-2 12-1 13-2 10-4 10-1 11-3 This weekend's results Beat No. 17 Wake Forest 74-55 Beat Washington 79-61 Beat Miami (Fla.) 83-80 (OT) Lost to Vanderbilt 70-69 Beat Seton Hall 74-64 Beat Rutgers 70-63 Lost to Louisiana State 85-72 Beat Iowa State 70-50 Beat Colorado 69-54 Beat Wisconsin 69-63 Beat Georgia 66-63 Lost to Stanford 81-57 Beat Baylor 77-69 Beat Nebraska 92-59 Player Blanchard Horton Robinson Abram Brown Hunter G 15 15 14 15 15 15 Min 31.5 34.7 31.6 30.3 19.2 18.5 A 1.0 4.4 3.1 1.0 0.5 0.6 Reb 7.3 2.7 6.2 3.8 4.7 3.7 Pts. 17.4 15.5 12.7 9.5 5.7 5.2 i