The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - January 30, 2006 - 5B
FASTBREAK
Men's Basketball
Saturday's Game
MICHIGAN 85 - WISCONSIN 76
Hambone's hustle electrifies Crisler faithful
By Kevin Wright
Daily Sports Editor
Eight minutes into the game, Brent Petway replaced
Graham Brown.
The substitution was nothing out of the ordinary
until the sellout crowd in Crisler
Arena rose to its feet. As Brown
walked off the court, the fans
gave him a standing ovation.
The reason?
It wasn't for his scoring.
Instead, it was for what's become
his calling card - his hustle.
Before Petway relieved the 6-foot-9 forward,
Brown preserved a Wolverine possession with his
effort in chasing down loose balls.
The senior ran to the sideline to save an errant
shot. Brown got the ball to Jerret Smith, who rotated
the ball to Dion Harris. Harris hoisted a 3-pointer
that bounced out of the cylinder, and, coming from
the sideline, Brown rushed into the lane to lunge for
the rebound. He managed to tip the ball out to Daniel
Horton, who was standing near halfcourt.
Even though the Wolverines did not convert on
their multiple opportunities to score that possession,
the crowd rewarded Brown for his effort.
"It feels great to have fans in the stands," Brown
said. "They were huge the last two games, and they
have to continue to do that."
On the afternoon, Brown finished with seven
points and 12 rebounds, but he also made an impact
away from the basket.
With more than five minutes left in the game,
Wisconsin's Kammron Taylor pressured Smith as
he brought the ball across halfcourt. Brown looked
to free Smith and planted himself just inside half-
court to set a pick. Smith dribbled past Brown
while Taylor, failing to see him, hit the forward at
full speed. Taylor fell to the floor in obvious pain.
Brown finished the play for the Wolverines when
he fed the ball to an open Courtney Sims under the
basket for a dunk.
"(The pick) just came out of nowhere," Taylor said.
"It just caught me on the blindside. I didn't even see
it coming."
After referees stopped play, Taylor remained on
the floor for a few minutes. Brown was the first player
to check on Taylor's condition.
Taylor left the game but returned less than a min-
ute later to score 13 of the Badgers' final 19 points.
"(It's in) situations like that where guys break jaws,
noses," forward Chris Hunter said. "I was just hoping
that he would be all right. He was a tough kid, came
back in and gave them a spark."
UP AND OVER: With 4:40 left in the contest, the
Wolverines had the ball and a 10-point lead. As the
shot clock ticked down to single digits, Sims took the
ball in the low block and turned to attempt a hook
shot from the baseline. The errant shot flew past the
basket without drawing iron. But Brown, in perfect
position for the rebound, tipped it out to Ron Cole-
man on the wing.
When Coleman rotated the ball to Horton at the
top of the key, the shot clock showed four seconds.
As Michigan coach Tommy Amaker rose to his feet
to alert Horton, the clock was reset.
Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan came over to argue the
call, and the referees gave Michigan the ball out of
bounds and reset the shot clock to four seconds.
On the inbounds play, Hunter couldn't find
either Dion Harris cutting to the corner or Horton
streaking to the top of the key. With both pri-
mary options covered, Hunter saw Sims sealing
his man away from the basket. Hunter lofted the
ball into the post where Sims finished with an
easy dunk.
"I just sealed (Alando Tucker) in because he had
four fouls," Sims said. "I knew if he was on me that
he couldn't really do anything."
PERFECTION: Daniel Horton turns his eyes to the
basket, bends his knees and hits the free throw.
That routine didn't change on Saturday when Hor-
ton went 10-for-10 from the free-throw line, hitting
eight in the final 44 seconds. With the perfect per-
formance from the line, the senior has yet to miss in
conference play.
In six Big Ten games, Horton has made all 38 of
his free throws.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Dion Harris
Michigan
Coming off a 1-for12 performance
against Michigan State, Harris
caught fire against Wisconsin. He
opened the game with two treys and
never let up, finishing with 23 points.
Kammron Taylor
Wisconsin
Minutes after being knocked out
by a Graham Brown pick, the Chris
Rock look-alike went unconscious.
He scored 13 points in the last
2:17, leading Wisconsin's last-ditch
comeback effort.
WHAT DID YOU SAY?
"Graham (Brown), in particular, was
setting screens for me, and as I was
coming off them, he was telling me
to shoot it. So I shot 'em. And I made
'em.
- Junior guard Dion Harris describing his season-high
and a team-high 23 points.
KEY STAT
The number of consecutive free throws
380 senior Daniel Horton has made to open
up the Big Ten season.
SATURDAY'S GAME
Wisconsin 76
Player
MIN
FG
M-A
FT
M-A
REB
O-T
A
F
PTS
i i - - i '"' "" i - , 1 1 1
Butch
17
1-6
o-o
0-3
______ I _
1L
4
5
4
Tucker
36
8-16
5-8
1-2
JASON COOPER/Daily
Senior forward Graham Brown battled through multiple Badgers to get his
game-high 12 rebounds, six of which were offensive.
chappell 32 1-5 2-2 3-7 4 4
Nixon 27 5-7 0-0 0-1 1 2
Taylor 38 10-18 4-4 2-4 1 2
Flowers 9 1-1 0-0 1-1 2 4
Gullikson 20 1-5 2-2 2-2 1 0
Krabbenhoft 21 0-2 0-0 2-6 0 4
3
21
4
13
29
2
4
0
76
BELL
Continued from page 1B
Throughout this stretch, Michigan
coach Tommy Amaker maintained that
the team was just looking for a game to
break out. That game finally came last
Wednesday. And if Saturday's game was
any indication of what this team will
do for the rest of the year, Amaker was
right. The team has broken out.
The stage was set for a team suffer-
ing from a Michigan State hangover to
drop this game. Michigan was without
Abram for the fourth time in conference
season. Daniel Horton struggled, going
2-for-10 from the field. And the two-
headed monster of Kammron Taylor and
Alando Tucker combined for 50 points
for Wisconsin.
But all this withstanding, Michigan
still won, and did so handily. It led from
the first minute onward.
The difference was depth. Outside
of Taylor and Tucker, the rest of Wis-
consin's team managed just 26 points.
Michigan had four separate players
score at least 14 points and played nine
deep. Just eight minutes into the game,
Michigan's lineup consisted of Jerret
Smith, Jevohn Shepherd, Ron Coleman,
Brent Petway and Chris Hunter - none
of whom are regular starters.
The key with this Michigan squad
isn't just its ability to get everyone on the
floor; it's what the players do on the court
that's so special. All year long, an unself- E
ishness that's rarely seen at other schools
has been on display. If one player is hav-
ing an off night, he is more than happy to
let someone else do the work. Michigan
took it one step further on Saturday.
Prior to Saturday's matchup, Horton
told Amaker that junior Courtney Sims
needed to get involved in the game
early. Since Sims had struggled through
most conference play, Horton felt it was
his duty to get him the ball early. After
the game, Sims attributed Horton's
unselfishness and determination to get Seni
him the ball down low as the reason the 13 a
center finally broke out with an 18-point show
performance. lysts
Graham Brown also did his part to Mic
get a struggling Wolverine involved. He B
continually encouraged Dion Harris to team
shoot the ball while setting screens for and
the junior guard. And it paid off. Harris this
scored a team-high 23 points. both
It's tough not to get too caught up to pi
in Michigan basketball right now. The road
campus finally seems energized, as may
evident by the second straight sellout So
of the week. The players seem excited, the g
too - the buzzword in the locker the
room is swagger, and the players are coni
BADGERS
Continued from page 1B
Singer cruises to victory thanks to
Harris's hot-shooting resurgence
Scoring system:
(Last game's points, overall points, single-game wins)
TEAM
TEAM TOTALS
0-1
13-16 11-27
200
27-60
141
25
FG%: 45.0 FT%: 81.3 3-point FG: 9-17, .529 (Taylor 5-9,
Nixon 3-5, Butch 1-1, Tucker 0-2). Blocks: 2 (Nixon, Gul-
likson). Steals: 4 (Tucker 2, Chappell, Gullikson). Turn-
overs: 10 (Chappell 3, Taylor 3, Krabbenhoft 2, Flowers,
Tucker). Technical fouls: None.
Kevin Wright
(D. Horton, J. Shepherd,
B. Petway, T. Sanchez,
P. DeVries)
(18,1361,7)
Jack Herman
(L. Abram, R. Coleman,
J. Smith, K. Price)
(4, 289, 4)
I knew when I drafted Daniel
Horton that he was the unquestioned
leader of this team.
On Saturday, Horton understood
that a victory would come from
inside, so he made a point of getting
Sims involved early.
Contrasting his performance
on Wednesday when he took the
Wolverines on his back in the sec-
ond half, Horton deferred to his
teammates against Wisconsin.
His free throw shooting in the
clutch also didn't disappoint.
After a game on Wednesday
in which he had nine points, Ron
Coleman's play at the beginning of
Saturday's win made me believe he
was poised for another big game.
He hit a 3-pointer that seemed like
it was from Ypsilanti, and, for a sec-
ond, it made me forget I was miss-
ing Lester Abram.
But Dion Harris was on fire,
and the Wolverines' post players
emerged, leaving no more points
for Coleman to score.
I've been pretty hard on Courtney
Sims during his conference dry spell.
He has passed up numerous scoring
opportunities and looked really soft
for the majority of Big-Ten play.
Saturday, he made me look like an
idiot - but I don't mind eating some
crow if it means the team will look
like it did on Saturday.
Sims was assertive, shooting early
and often, and it translated to a solid
18-point performance.
And I see the offensive fouls as a
positive: His aggression can only help.
It was a beautiful sight for a fanta-
sy team owner to behold. Dion Harris
and Chris Hunter weren't just light-
ing up the score sheet - they were
doing it together. At times on Satur-
day, especially in the second half, the
Harris-Hunter two-man game was
the focal point of Michigan's offense.
I doubt Tommy Amaker is actively
scheming to impove my fantasy stats.
But the Hunter-Harris combo put up 60
points in Michigan's two victories over
ranked teams. My unbiased advice:
Keep feeding Dion and Chris the ball.
Player
MIN
FG
M-A
FT
M-A
REB
O-T
A
F
Coleman 30 1-2 0-0 1-4 2 2 3
Brown 26 3-3 1-3 6-12 3 3 7
Sims 15 8-10 2-2 1-3 0 4 18
Horton 31 2-10 10-10 0-5 5 4 14
Harris 37 8-12 2-2 2-4 1 1 23
Smith 18 0-2 1-2 0-0 3 0 1
Shepherd 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Petway 14 2-2 0-1 1-2 0 2 4
MICHIGAN 85
Hunter
TEAM
25
4-10
6-7
1-3
0-3
4
15
+1 i4 i I
_--i
TEAM TOTALS 200
28-51
22-27
12-36
21
16 85
FG%: 54.9 FT%: 81.5 3-point FG: 7-21, .333 (Harris 5-9, Cole-
man 1-2, Hunter 1-5, Smith 0-1, Horton 0-4). Blocks: 4 (Cole-
man, Horton , Petway, Sims). Steals: 5 (Horton 2, Hunter 2,
Petway). Tumovers:18 (Coleman 4, Horton 3, Hunter 3, Sims
3, Harris 2, Smith 2, Brown). Technical fouls: None.
Wisconsin........ 27
Michigan.......... 38
49 - 76 At: Crisler Arena
47 - 85 Attendance: 13,751
PTS
'M' STATS
Player
GP
Min
Pts
R
A
Horton 18 34.0 16.5 2.8 5.4
Sims 18 24.4 12.9 6.2 0.7
Abram 14 29.4 12.1 3.1 1.4
Harris 18 31.2 11.4 3.4 2.9
Hunter 18 16.9 6.4 3.4 0.4
Brown 18 24.7 5.5 7.7 1.4
Petway 7 14.9 5.3 3.1 0.3
ior forward Chris Hunter had an offensive resurgence in the last week, going for
nd 15 points, respectively, against Michigan State and Wisconsin.
Scott Bell
(C. Sims, G. Brown,
S. Harrell, A. Brzozowicz)
(25, 335, 3)
Coleman
18
15.5
4.3
2.
Smith 16 15.8 2.6 1.i
4
0
1
2
2.
4
Shepherd
16
9.0
1.7
1.
D.6
.2
D4
.3
D.1
wing a lot of that. And even ana-
s like Phelps are getting behind
higan's cause.
ut before fans start thinking this
n is invincible, it's time to step back
take a deep breath. Yes, both wins
week were huge, but they were also
at home. The Wolverines have yet
ick up a big conference win on the
1, and before that is accomplished,
be this attention isn't warranted.
o before we dub our buddy Digger
greatest prognosticator in the world,
Wolverines - just 1-2 on the road in
ference play - need to consistently
prove themselves on the road.
This week poses a great opportu-
nity, with road contests against Penn
State - which nearly upset Michigan
State in East Lansing on Saturday
- and Iowa, which will be looking
to notch its 15th straight home win.
If Michigan can play team basketball
like it did Saturday, then another 2-0
week shouldn't come as a shock.
And maybe Digger won't look so
crazy after all.
Grooms 9 2.4 0.6 0.1 o
Harrell 8 1.4 0.5 0.5 0.
Ba
9
1.9
BIG TEN STA
Big Ten Overall
0.3 0.2 0
NDINGS
SATURDAY'S RESULTS:
ILLINOIS 76, Purdue 58;
Team
Illinois 5-2 19-2
Michigan 5-2 15-3
Iowa 5-2 16-5
Wisconsin 5-2 15-5
Ohio State 4-3 14-3
Mich. State 4-3 16-5
Indiana 4-3 12-5
Northwestern 3-4 10-8
Penn State 2-5 10-8
Minnesota 1-6 10-8
MICHIGAN STATE 69, Penn
State 60;
IowA 67, Ohio State 62;
MICHIGAN 85,
Wisconsin 76;
SUNDAY'S RESULT:
MINNESOTA 61, Indiana 42
- Scott Bell can be reached
at scotteb@umich.edu
Matt Singer
(D. Harris, C. Hunter,
A. Ba, H. Grooms)
(38, 329, 4)
Purdue
1-7
7-12
final tally of 8-for-12 shooting allowed him to
record his highest point total this year.
Even more impressive was the play
have spread their "swagger" and confidence
throughout the rest of the team.
To the seniors like Brown, Horton and
time this conference season, played without
Lester Abram. Even better for a team that won
a total of four Big Ten games last year.
MONDAY'S
GAME
Florida A&M at Ohio State, 8 p.m.