The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - January 10, 2005 - 5B WHAT DID YOU SAY? "It seems like we get somebody back and somebody else is out." - Michigan coach Tommy Amaker on his team's injuries this season. SATURDAY'S SCORE SATURDAY'S GAME PLAYERS OF THE GAME Fairfield 48 70 Deng Gai (Fairfield) The senior center was a dominant force inside, scoring 10 points and grabbing eight boards. He also swatted four Michigan shots. Ron Coleman (Michigan) Coleman continues to improve, break- ing his career-high point total again with 15 of his 18 points coming in the first half to protect Michigan's lead. M Michigan Freshman critical to success SATURDAY'S GAME Fairfield 48 Before the season started, the various college basketball magazines ranked the 11 Big Ten recruiting classes, and they all placed Michi- gan last. The writers provided a one-line blurb about each class, and for Michigan, Street & Smith's stated: "Ron Coleman ... isn't ready to replace Bernard Robinson." Athlon declared: "Ron Cole- man could be a good role player." After Saturday's career-high 18 points against Fairfield, BRIAN Coleman proved himself to be SCHICK the next in a long line of fresh- men who have been key con- Schick Happens tributors for the Wolverines. While outsiders looking at Michigan's projected starting lineup wouldn't see room for Coleman to get serious playing time, anyone familiar with Michigan over the past few years has seen how freshmen have been the barometer for the team's success. Since 2000, at least one freshman has started in four of the past five seasons. And in three of those seasons, a freshman has averaged more than 10 points per game: Bernard Robinson with 14.4 in 2001, Daniel Horton with 15.5 in 2003 and Dion Harris with 10.1 in 2004. Coleman has yet to eclipse the 10-points-per-game mark on the season. But if he keeps playing as he has been of late, it won't take long. He is averaging 6.9 points per game, but that number doesn't reflect how much he has rapidly improved this season. Since starting his first game against Providence on Nov. 26, he has averaged 9.7 points per game and is averaging 13.8 in his last five. "I think his confidence is at an all-time high right now," coach Tommy Amaker said on Saturday. "I thought his play in the first half was outstanding." His first half was impressive: 15 points on 5-for-7 shooting in 19 minutes. The freshman part of Cole- man returned in the second half, when he went just 1-for-4 from the floor. "Maybe(he was) a little too confident with some of the shots he was taking in the second half," a some- what tongue-in-cheek Amaker said. "But I was really pleased." T Freshmen becoming instant contributors has beena a common theme during Amaker's time at Michigan,' and it seems that potential recruits would love to play here. Amaker has shown that he loves to throw them right into the mix. Last year, Lester Abram gave his starting spot to Harris midway through the season, and it turned out to be the right move for that team. Two years ago, three freshmen - Horton, Abram and: Graham Brown - paced the team to a third-place finish in the Big Ten. Needless to say, Coleman has benefited from the numerous injuries this season, and his increased min- utes have allowed him to shine. He has emerged from the MASH unit of players and now is emerging as a consistent threat on offense. With Horton back in the lineup, and Harris's shots starting to fall from 3-point land, Michigan might have a formidable backcourt heading into the Big Ten season. That is a feat in itself, as Coleman isn't used to playing guard. In high school, he played forward and center, so he has had to learn a new position in thet last few months. While there was an initial learning# curve, it seems as if he has made the adjustment.y "I've had to transform into a guard," Coleman said. "I had to play center in high school, but it's been a good transition. I guard guys like Dion and Daniel in practice, so it's helped me out a lot." The one thing that might put a damper on Cole- man's play is pushing him into a crucial role too? quickly. There is a chance that freshmen hit the pro- verbial "wall" at a certain point, and, with so many players bouncing back and forth on the injured list this season, losing Coleman's scoring touch because of too much pressure might prove to be costly. Either way, he has managed to silence the "experts" n from the magazines who believed he didn't have a, chance this season. Brian Schick can be reached at JASON COOPER/Daily bschick@umich.edu. Freshman Ron Coleman is averaging 14 points in his last four games. MIN Maxwell 26 Bell 11 Gai 39 Todd 33 Goode 33 Van Schaick 5 Oglesby 14 O'Sullivan 20 Sogadzi 11 Cambria 1 Bentley 1 Middleton 6 TEAM Totals 200: FG M-A 2-4 1-3 4-13 6-16 1-5 2-3 1-3 2-4 0-3 0-0 0-0 1-2 FT M-A 3-5 0-0 2-2 1-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 REB 0-T 2-3 0-1 2-8 0-1 1-5 0-0 1-1 5-5 1-1 0-0 0-0 0-1 3-3 F PTS 2 7 1 2 3 10 3 15 3 2 0 4 2 2 1 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 20-566-1013-291617 48 FG%: .357 FT%: .600 3-point FG: 2-22, .097 (Todd 2-6, Gai 0-5, Goode 0-3, Sogadzi 0-3, Oglesby 0-2, Bell 0-1, Van Schaick 0-1, O'Sullivan 0-1). Blocks: 4 (Gai 4) Steals: 3 (Todd 1, Goode 1, Oglesby 1). Turnovers: 16 (Todd 4, Goode 4, Maxwell 3, Oglesby 2, O'Sullivan 2, Van Schaick 1). Technical fouls: None. MICHIGAN 70 MIN Andrews 23 Petway 36 Sims 27 Harris 34 Coleman 34 Wohl 5 Horton 17 Bell 2 Harrell 4 Brzozowicz 2 Mathis 16 TEAM FG M-A 0-2 3-6 1-3 7-13 6-10 0-0 3-4 0-0 0-1 0-0 3-4 FT M-A 2-2 1-2 2-2 1-2 3.4 0-0 2-2 0-0 2-2 0-0 2-2 R EB 0-T 1-4 1-6 1-7 0-6 1-4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0t 0-3: F PTS 2 2 3 7 1 4 0 20 1 18 0 0 4 9 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 8 Totals 20023-4315-184-301512 70 FG%: .533 FT%: .833 3-point FG: 9-18, .500 (Harris 5-8, Coleman 3-7, Horton 1-1, Harrell 0-1, Andrews 0-1). Blocks: 5 (Sims 3, Petway 2). Steals: 7 (Horton 4, Petway, Coleman, Harris). Turnovers: 15 (Sims 5, Andrews 4, Harris 2, Horton 2, Mathis, TEAM 1). Technical fouls: none. Fairfield ..........27 21 - 48 Michigan..........39 31 - 70 STAGS Continued from page 1B of-18 shooting. Harris did most of the damage, going 5-for-8 from beyond the arc. Freshman Ron Coleman also had his share of success from deep. He shot 3-for-7 from 3-point range on his way to a career-high 18 points. He scored 15 of his points in the first half, going 5-for-7 from the field in that stretch. "I knew that by working hard ins practice they were going to start falling in games," Coleman said. "Now that my confidence is there, I have my teammates telling me to take those shots." Coleman's play helped take the scoring load off of Michigan's injured interior, which may have taken another hit at the end of the game. With just over a min- ute remaining, sophomore forward Brent Petway left the game with what appeared to be a shoulder inju- ry - another affliction just when it seemed Michigan had survived the worst of the injury bug. "I'm anxious to see at whatever point we can get (everyone) back and see what kind of team we have," Amaker said. The win was Michigan's fourth in a row, its longest such streak of the season. The Wolverines return to conference play on Wednesday when they host Northwestern. "We've had a very difficult sched- ule, and it's been very challenging for our team," Amaker said. "We've had a stretch where things have been pretty tough, but I like to think that our kids have battled and put us in a good position right now." Injuries continue to haunt team At: Crisler Arena Attendance: 9,596 'M' STATS By Eric Ambinder Daily Sports Writer While the revolving door of injuries to the Michigan men's basketball team continues to spin, it may now be starting to turn in the right direction. "It seems like we get somebody back and somebody else is out," Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. "It seemed like it has been a bit of a juggling act." Guard Daniel Horton recently returned after miss- ing six games with a sprained left knee, and tri-captain Graham Brown is expected to practice today, though hernia surgery has sidelined the forward for 13 games. The Wolverines have been without last year's team MVP, Lester Abram, since December. In Michigan's 65-63 win against then-No. 14 Iowa last Wednesday, junior Chris Hunter left the game with a sprained ankle after playing just 11 minutes. Hunter, who has averaged 15.8 points per game as a starter this season, did not play against Fairfield. Amaker didn't know when the forward would return to action, but he is hopeful it will be next week. Without Hunter on the floor, the Wolverines held Fairfield center Deng Gai to just 10 points but struggled against one of the nation's best defensive big men. Gai held Michigan's frontline of Courtney Sims and Brent Petway to a combined 13 points on 4-for-9 shooting. Reserve forward J.C. Mathis matched up better with Gai's larger frame than Sims or Petway and netted eight points. Mathis may see even more playing time after Petway injured his left shoulder attempting to grab a rebound against Fairfield. "I reached in for the rebound and (DeWitt Maxwell) grabbed the rebound with two hands, and he kind of ripped it back a little bit with my arm still in there," Petway said. "Smashed my arm back. So I had some- thing pop right out of place, but it popped right back in. When asked if he was okay, Petway said: "Yeah, I should be straight. I'll be straight." As Petway walked to the locker room in the waning minutes of the game, grabbing the shoulder and eyeing Maxwell, Michigan guard Dani Wohl returned to the court for the first time since playing 30 minutes against High Point on Dec. 7. Wohl injured his left elbow dur- ing a practice following the High Point game. "It felt great (to get back) out there," Wohl said. "My elbow felt great. I'm just trying to do whatever I can to help the team." Wohl's availability will ease Horton's transition back into the mix. Horton's game appears to be unaffected by his injury, but the junior admits he's still healing. "No, I'm not at 100 percent, but, I mean, who is this time of year?" Horton said. "I still try and get after it defensively like I've always done. That's what I want to do first and foremost. Whatever I do offensively, that just helps the team out because those guys have been scoring points and doing well without me." The guard added nine points against Fairfield but looked more tentative offensively than he did against Iowa, attempting just four shots in 17 minutes against the Stags., With the return of Horton and Wohl - and with Brown and Hunter expected back soon - the Wolver- ines are primed to become even more confident. "We were very disappointed in how things occurred with the some of the injuries," Amaker said. "Guys are starting to work there way back in. I think there is a renewed spirit for our team." Horton's return, in particular, has been freeing up better looks for fellow guards Ron Coleman and Dion Harris and should steadily elevate Michigan's collec- tive rhythm. "It hurts the chemistry when you have had guys that have been playing well and everybody knows how to play with them and then they go out," Harris said. "Someone else has to step in that usually doesn't get a lot of minutes. That can hurt. That can make things kind of difficult for the team. And even though Petway's status remains uncertain going into Wednesday night's game against Northwest- ern, the Wolverines have already proven to be effective jugglers. "With Brent going out, I think guys are ready to step in a role right now, and everybody is prepared for any- thing that happens," Harris said. Said Amaker: "We are hoping (the injuries) are going to make us a better, stronger, deeper team." NOTES: After its 70-48 win over Fairfield on Satur- day, Michigan extended its winning streak to a season- long fourgames ... Fairfield's Deng Gai - cousin of current Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng - declared for the NBA Draft last year but decided to return for his senior season. At the Chicago pre-draft camp, Gai played on the same assigned team as former Michigan standout forward Bernard Robinson. Gai is averaging 13.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and 4.7 blocks this year for the Stags ... Amaker and Fairfield coach Tim O'Toole both served as coaches under Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. O'Toole also served as an assistant under Amak- er at Seton Hall ... The Wolverines are 5-1 all-time against Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) teams. Michigan has a 3-0 record against Fairfield and is 2-1 against Manhattan. AP TOP 25 Player Harris Horton Hunter Sims Petway Coleman Abram Brown Andrews Harrell Mathis Wohl Ba Bell Brzozowicz G 15, 9; 14 15 15, 15 3 6 13 14 9 4 2 7 2 Min 36.9 30.6 20.5 24.9 23.6 24.1 28.7 21.0 21.1 13.1 6.6 10.3 1.0 6.6 1.5 A 3.6 4.0 0.8 0.6 1.1 1.3 1.3 1.0 2.0 0.8 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.4 0.5 Reb 3.0 2.7 3.8 6.5 6.1 3.0 4.7 6.3 2.4 1.6 1.4 0.5 0.5. 0.3 0.0 Pts 13.6 11.6 11.2 10.6 7.7 7.3 6.7 4.5 3.9 1.9 1.6 1.0 '1.0 0.0 BIG TEN STANDINGS Team Big Ten Overall Illinois Michigan State Minnesota Michigan Ohio State Wisconsin Northwestern Indiana Iowa Penn State Purdue 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 16 10 11 10 12 10 8 6 12 6 4 THIS WEEKEND'S RESULTS: MICHIGAN 70, Fairfield 48 OHIO STATE 81, Iowa 69 Illinois 68, PURDUE 59 MICHIGAN STATE 87, Northwestern 58 MINNESOTA 83, Penn State 62 INDIANA 74, Wisconsin 61 TUESDAY'S GAMES OHIO STATE AT WISCONSIN 7 p.m. PETR