The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - January 23, 2006 - 5B FASTBREAK Men's Basketball Saturday's Game MICHIGAN 71-- MINNESOTA 55 Grier stifled by swarnung Michigan defense By Matt Singer and Kevin Wright Daily Sports Writers MINNEAPOLIS - Minnesota's Vincent Grier slid behind the Michigan defense and waited under the basket. That's where Minnesota guard Maurice Hargrow found him on a no-look pass from the free throw line. Grier took the pass and finished the lay-up. Little did Grier and the Williams Arena crowd know that the senior's basket with 8:30 left in the first half would be his only successful field- ., oz o° goal attempt of the game. Grier ended the night with four points. He shot 1-for-8 from the floor, including 0-for-2 from behind the arc. Coming into the game, Grier led the Gophers in scoring, averaging 16 points per game. The Wolver- ines looked to stop Grier from doing what he does best: drive. "He's a very good player," Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said. "We had different players on him. There was an awareness for No. 15. He's so good at knifing and slashing. I thought that (playing) some zone allowed us to pack it in a little bit. It didn't allow him some angles and penetra- tion that he's so very good at." Throughout the game, Michigan switched between a zone and a man-to-man defense. In the zone, the Wolverines limited Grier's driving ability by collaps- ing down on him. When Michigan played man-to-man, junior Les- ter Abram received the bulk of the responsibility of shadowing the senior to limit his contribution to the Gopher offense. "Lester was huge for us," junior Dion Harris said. "He was checking Grier, and he was the reason why Grier struggled offensively." FLY LIKE AN EAGLE: Michigan fans have seen it before. It's one of the Wolverines' favorite plays coming out of a timeout. The alley-oop to junior Brent Petway. Saturday night, Michigan ran it to perfection. Fol- lowing the first media timeout, Harris received the inbounds pass and dribbled to the right side of the court. Petway came around the backside of the Min- nesota defense and Harris lobbed the ball toward the basket. Petway snatched it out of the air and thunder- ously dunked it home. "Coach always gives me that play, so I have to give a lot of (credit) to my coach and my teammates," Pet- way said. "They always throw it up there for me when they see that it's open. When they throw it up there for me, I'm going to do my best not to let it go out- of-bounds. I'm just blessed with a God-given ability to jump high." THE WINDOW WASHERS: All season long, Michigan has kept its opponents off the glass. Coming into Saturday night's game, the Wolverines allowed oppo- nents an average of just 28 boards per game - best in the Big Ten. But against Minnesota, Michigan struggled on the boards - especially when it came to grabbing defen- sive rebounds. The Wolverines frequently failed to box out, and the Golden Gophers grabbed 16 offen- sive boards and scored 14 second-chance points as a result. Michigan's Graham Brown led the Wolverines with just five boards, but Minnesota forward J'son Stamper gave the Wolverines fits. Stamper finished with 11 rebounds, including five on the offensive glass. "We did struggle, but you give them credit," Amak- er said. "That's one of the things we were so very much concerned with coming here tonight. They've been very aggressive and athletic on the backboard, and you can see why we were concerned as coaches, because that's one of the things they do very well. We were fortunate to do other things to be able to negate that effort." NOTES: The son of Detroit Pistons coach Flip Saunders, Ryan Saunders, is a sophomore guard for the Golden Gophers. He played one minute and did not amass any statistics ... Michigan's win put it in a four-way tie for fourth place in the Big Ten. Michigan State, Illinois and Iowa are all 3-2 in the conference. PLAYERS OF THE GAME Daniel Horton Michigan Horton netted a career-high 32 points thanks in part to six treys. He put together two halves of at least 15 points and also grabbed four steals against the Gophers. J'son Stamper Minnesota Stamper posted a double-double against the Wolverines. The forward collected 11 rebounds, five of which were offensive, to go along with his 12 points. WHAT DID YOU SAY? "It's all part of the game, and we realize that. (But) when you see a guy go through that much, you have to feel for him." - Senior guard Daniel Horton on the hardships his teammate Lester Abram has been through. KEY STAT 4 Vincent Grier's point total for Saturday's game, 12 below his season average. SATURDAY'S GAME MINNESOTA 55 Player MIN FG M-A FT M-A REB O-T A F PTS RYAN WEINER/Daily Junior forward Brent Petway scored six points off the bench for Michigan. Stamper 29 6-10 0-0 5-11 0 2 12 Grier 36 1-8 2-2 1-4 3 3 4 Williams 13 1-3 0-2 3-3 1 0 2 Hargrow 37 5-12 4-7 2-5 2 3 16 Boone 31 0-5 1-2 0-4 5 4 1 Tollackson 17 5-8 3-4 1-1 1 2 13 Coleman 19 3-5 0-0 0-0 1 2 7 Abushamala 6 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Puchtel 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Saunders 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Tucker 10 0-2 0-0 2-2 1 0 0 TEAM TOTALS 200 21-55 10-17 14-30 14 16 55 FG%: 38.2 FT%: 58.8 3-point FG: 3-18, .167 (Hargrow 2-7, Coleman 1-3, Boone 0-4, Grier 0-2, Tucker 0-1, Abushamala 0-1). Blocks: 4 (Williams 3, Boone 1). Steals: 6 (Stamper 2, Hargrow, Grier, Puchtel, Tollackson). Turnovers: 19 (Tucker 5, Grier 4, Hargrow 3, Tollackson 2, Stamper 2, Puchtel, Abusha- mala, Coleman). Technical fouls: None. MICHIGAN 71 Horton's hot hand propels Wright to first place in both categories Scoriig system: (Last game's points, overall points, single-game wins) Kevin Wright (D. Horton, J. Shepherd, B. Petway, T. Sanchez, P. DeVries) (38, 316, 6) RYAN WEINER/Daily Michigan could be without the stingy defense of Lester Abram, who suffered a high ankle sprain on Saturday against Minnesota. SINGER Continued from page 1B Without Abram, the Wolverines simply weren't the same. Michi- gan nearly knocked off Indiana at Assembly Hall, but couldn't come up with the big bucket or key stop down the stretch. Then, the Wolverines struggled mightily against a horrendous Purdue team, squeaking by with a 68-65 victory at home. The sad fact is that consistent effort doesn't translate into guaran- teed health. Abram's injuries can't be attributed to a lack of condition- ing, physical strength or toughness. Instead, they were three random, unrelated ailments that have con- spired to keep one of Michigan's best players off the court for too much of the past two seasons. Of course, no one ever said sports were fair. "It's all part of the game, and we realize that," Horton said. "(But) when you see a guy go through that much, you have to feel for him." Although the Wolverines should empathize with Abram, they must avoid feeling sorry for themselves. On Saturday, at least, Michigan passed that test with flying colors. After Abram went down, the team didn't miss a beat, rattling off an 11-4 run and extending its lead to 17 points. Abram's backcourt mates, espe- cially, were up to the challenge. Horton was on his way to a career night before Abram's injury, and continued his torrid offensive spree afterward. Junior Dion Harris also picked up the slack, netting 13 of his 16 points in the second half. The Wolverine guards also stepped up on the defensive end. Abram shut down Minnesota's star small forward Vincent Grier for much of the first half, holding him to just two points. When Abram went down, Michigan didn't miss a beat. Using a combination of zone and man-to-man defenses, the Wol- verine guards continued to hound Grier. The Gopher failed to find a rhythm and settled for just four points on the night. Even though Michigan's other guards performed admirably for the last 17 minutes of Saturday's game, in the long term, there is no replacing Lester Abram. Now, all the team can do is hope that, in the near future, Abram will return to health - without any harassment from the injury bug. - Matt Singer can be reached at mattsing@umich.edu Jack Herman (L. Abram, R. Coleman, J. Smith, K. Price) (9, 276, 4) Daniel Horton once again showed me why I took a chance and picked him with the No. I pick. t This past week, he came off a low-scoring game against North- western to torch Minnesota for a career-high 32 points. Whenever Michigan needs someone to step up, Horton always answers. On another high note, Brent Petway brings the energy off the bench that always seems to spark the Wolverines. Once again, Lester Abram is hurt, and, once again, my fantasy hopes hinge on his status. After he missed the first two Big Ten games with a toe injury, I was thrilled to see Abram back in the lineup against the Illini. I was even more excited when he put up 20 points against Northwestern in his first Big Ten start. Now, I can only hope he returns to action soon. But, on the bright side, things could be worse. I could have Court- ney Sims on my team. Sherrod Harrell: nice guy, good leader and great dresser. But let's be honest: He should never outscore Courntey Sims. Ever. Especially if Harrell has just two points. Sims outdid himself again this weekend, going 0-for-6, not reaching the free throw line and committing four turnovers. He was also blocked numerous times by a freshman. If we want any shot at beating Sparty on Wednesday, something needs to click with Sims, and fast. For the first 30 minutes or so of Sat- urday's game, Dion arris was content to sit around and watch Daniel Horton scorch the nets at Williams Arena. But after Minnesota made a small run, cutting the lead to seven, Harris finally got involved. He scored 13 sec- ond-half points, including two treys. I doubt Harris will score consis- tently enough to allow me to compete for the overall-points title. But if he can get hot for a few games, I think Team Singer can move up in the sin- gle-game standings. Player Brown 27 3-6 0-0 2-5 3 3 6 Sims 14 0-6 0-0 1-4 2 2 0 Smith 21 0-2 0-0 0-2 3 3 0 Horton 36 8-16 10-10 1-3 1 3 32 Harris 26 6-9 1-1 1-4 4 4 16 Grooms 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 Petway 26 3-5 0-0 0-4 1 0 6 Coleman 16 1-1 1-1 0-1 2 1 3 Hunter 11 0-2 0-0 1-1 0 2 0 Abram 19 3-5 0-0 1-4 1 0 6 Ba 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Harrell 1 1-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 2 Shepherd 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 TEAM TOTALS 200 25-53 12-12 7-29 18 18 71 FG%: 47.2 FT%: 100.0 3-point FG: 9-21, .429 (Horton 6-10, Harris 3-5, Abram 0-2, Smith 0-2, Hunter 0-1, Pet- way 0-1). Blocks: 5 (Petway 2, Brown, Harris, Horton). Steals: 10 (Horton 4, Petway 2, Abram, Brown, Harris, Hunter). Turnovers: 15 (Horton 6, Sims 4, Hunter 3, Harrell, Harris). Technical fouls: None. Michigan.......28 43 - 71 At: Williams Arena Illinois.............. 22 33 - 55 Attendance: 13,112 'M' STATS MIN FG M-A FT M-A REB OT A F I PTS Player GP Mtn Pts R A Horton 16 34.1 16.3 2.6 5.5 Sims 16 25.4 13.1 6.6 0.7 Abram 14 29.4 12.1 3.1 1.4 Harris 16 30.4 10.8 3.5 3.0 Petway 5 15.4 5.8 3.4 0.4 Hunter 16 15.9 5.5 3.3 0.4 Brown 16 24.4 5.1 7.4 1.3 coleman 16 13.8 4.1 2.3 0.5 Smith 14 16 2.9 1.1 2.3 Shepherd 14 9.5 1.9 1.1 0.5 Grooms 9 2.4 0.6 0.1 0.3 Harrell 8 1.4 0.5 0.5 0.1 Ba 9 1.9 0.3 0.2 0 BIG TEN STANDINGS Scott Bell (C. Sims, G. Brown, S. Harrell, A. Brzozowicz) (8, 296, 3) Team Big Ten Overall DO YOU LIKE FREE PIZZA? HOW ABOUT LOTS OF BEER? UNFORTUNATELY, OUR MASS MEETING WILL HAVE NEITHER OF THOSE TWO, BUT YOU SHOULD COME ANYWAY. JOIN DAILY SPORTS. Indiana 4-1 12-3 Wisconsin 4-1 14-4 Ohio State 4-2 14-2 Michigan 3-2 13-3 Mich. State 3-2 15-4 Iowa 3-2 14-5 Illinois 3-2 17-2 Penn State 2-3 10-6 Northwestern 2-4 9-8 Purdue 1-5 7-10 Matt Singer (D. Harris, C. Hunter, A. Ba, H. Grooms) (16, 269, 3) SATURDAY'S RESULTS: North Dakota State 62, WISCoNSIN 55; MICHIGAN STATE 85, Iowa 55; Ohio State 75, PENN STATE 64; INDIANA 62, Purdue 49; Illinois 58, NORTHWESTERN 47; Michigan 71, MINNESOTA 55 Indiana at Iowa, 9 p.m. Minnesota 0-5 9-7 TUESDAY'S GAME y r " . t c t