The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - February 6, 2006 - 5B
FASTBREAK
Men's Basketball
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Saturday's Game
NO. 23 IOWA 94 - NO. 21 MICHIGAN 66
Daniel Horton
Michigan
Brown's screen sparks
Hawkeye first-half run
The senior point guard scored a
game-high 19 points. He went 8-for-9
from the charity stripe and was the
lone Wolverine guard to shoot over
50 percent from the field.
Adam Haluska
Iowa
The Hawkeye guard paced Iowa's
long-distance clinic, going 4-for-5
from behind the arc on his way to
a team-high 18 points. He also
added five assists.
By Scott Bell
Daily Sports Editor
IOWA CITY - He may be a fan favorite in Ann
Arbor, but Graham Brown isn't making very many
friends at other Big Ten schools.
First, Wisconsin's Kammron Taylor felt the wrath
of the 6-foot-9 power forward. Then, on Saturday,
Iowa's Jeff Horner ran into the brick wall known as
Hambone.
The most recent collision occurred with just over
four minutes remaining in the first half. With his
team trailing 27-28, Brown looked to open the cor-
ner up for teammate Daniel Horton. He set a screen
on an unsuspecting Horner, who ran into Brown and
immediately crumbled to the ground. Brown then
rolled off the screen and toward the basket. He pro-
ceeded to take a Horton pass and turn it into a lay-
up, giving Michigan a 29-28 lead.
"I was just trying to get my guy open on the
wing," Brown said. "He just ran into me. It was
nothing crazy."
But just like last week - malicious intent or
not - it seemed to open the floodgates for the
other team.
The referee stopped the game after it appeared
Horner was injured. Iowa coach Steve Alford took
the opportunity to yell at the officials - seemingly
convinced the pick was illegal.
The Hawkeyes came out of the break with revenge
on their minds. They finished the half's final four
minutes on a 15-4 run. The lead Brown gave Michi-
gan was its last of the game.
"Right around that time, we had a couple turn-
overs that were key," Brown said. "There was a turn
in the game at that point ... in the second half, they
just ran away with it."
On Jan. 28, the same effect occurred against
Wisconsin. A blindside pick set by Brown sent Wis-
consin's Taylor to the floor. He reentered the game
less than a minute later and scored 13 points in the
game's final 2:17, almost leading an improbable
comeback for the Badgers.
"That was probably one of the biggest hits (I've
put on someone playing basketball)" Brown said
earlier in the week. "It was pretty good. Unfortu-
nately, his teammate didn't call the pick for him,
and he took a big blow.
"I don't necessarily feel bad when I do it, but I'm
not trying to hurt anyone."
Unlike at Crisler Arena, where his pick on Taylor
was embraced, Brown was feverishly booed for the
rest of Saturday's game.
Every time he touched the ball, checked into or
left the game, the Mio native was greeted by jeers
from the 15,550 people who packed Carver-Hawk-
eye Arena. Despite hearing decibel levels argu-
ably louder than anywhere he had played this year,
Brown maintained that the crowd had no effect on
him.
"I don't really even hear anything out there,"
Brown said.
Even after seeing the way opposing teams and
players have responded in the past few weeks after
his picks, the senior says the next time the opportu-
nity arises to set another one, he won't think twice
when it comes to making his decision.
"I won't be afraid to do it," Brown said.
WHAT DID YOU SAY?
"We played horrific today. They played
terrific today."
- Senior co-captain Chris Hunter on Saturday's blowout
loss to Iowa.
KEY STAT
The difference between Iowa and
Michigan's field goal percentages in
Saturday's game, in favor of Iowa.
23.8
SATURDAY'S GAME
MICHIGAN 66
Player
MIN
FG
M-A
FT
M-A
REB
O-T
A
F
PTS
ALEX LIALOSUbLaily
Iowa's Jeff Homer walks off the court in a daze after running into Graham Brown.
Crushing defeat on hardcourt
doesn't deter Wright's team
Scoring system:
(Last game's points, overall points, single-game wins)
coleman 32 1-11 0-2 3-5 3 3 3
Brown 17 2-4 0-0 2-6 1 3 4
Sims 27 4-6 4-7 2-6 1 2 12
Horton 31 5-10 8-9 0-0 3 2 19
Harris 32 4-10 2-6 3-3 3 3 13
Grooms 16 1-3 0-0 0-2 3 1 3
Shepherd 5 0-1 1-2 0-2 0 0 1
Harrell 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0
Petway 21 3-4 1-2 0-2 1 2 7
Hunter 12 2-4 0-0 0-0 0 3 4
TEAM 1-1
TEAM TOTALS
200 1 22-531
16-281
11-27
15
21
66
Kevin Wright
(D. Horton, J. Shepherd,
B. Petway, T. Sanchez,
P. DeVries)
(27, 405, 8)
ALEX DZIADOSZ/Daily
Senior Graham Brown fights off Iowa's Jeff Horner for the opening tip in the Wolverines' lopsided loss on Saturday.
H ERMAN
Continued from page 1B
of manners.
Before tip-off, I thought it could go either way. But what-
ever way it went, a margin of victory of 28 points was not in
the realm of possibilities.
Judging from the reaction of the Iowa students, I was not
alone.
Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby gave them permission to
storm the court if the Hawkeyes prevailed. The game turned
out so lopsided, the kids decided it wasn't even worth it.
(Although it leaves me to wonder if the Maize Rage
would show such restraint in an instance where Bill Martin
gave his blessing.)
Judging from the reaction of the Michigan players, we
were not alone.
The usually jovial locker room was filled with dead
silence when the members of the media entered. Chris Hunt-
er, perhaps offering his skills to Brent Petway for a future
rap album, delivered this rhyme to describe the game.
"We played horrific today, they played terrific today."
I couldn't have put it better myself.
When Michigan left Ann Arbor and waved goodbye to
injured teammates Jerret Smith and Lester Abram, it set off
a string of bad luck Charlie Brown would be proud of.
Just about everything that could have gone wrong for the
Wolverines did.
Who would have thought that Dion Harris could pick up
two fouls in less than two minutes? And that replacement
Sherrod Harrell would pick up two of his own even faster?
Who would have thought that Iowa - 10th in Big Ten
field-goal percentage - would actually take advantage of
the zone Michigan'was forced to play?
Things went so badly for the Wolverines that Daniel
Horton missed his first foul shot of the Big Ten season,
leaving him just four shy of tying the all-time confer-
ence record for consecutive free throws made.
But despite the deficit, despite the disappointment of
HAWKEYES The onsl
Continued from page 16 Unlike in p
got out to
even thinner when Harris went to the bench. beaten out
another road loss, despite the discouragement Michigan
suffered, things must be put in perspective.
It's just one game.
It shouldn't have to be said that Big Ten road wins are
hard to come by, and Michigan already has two. This
same Iowa team lost to Michigan State - already a
victim of the Wolverines - by 30 in the Breslin Center.
No. 6 Illinois fell to Iowa in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Just this weekend in Mackey Arena, Wisconsin suc-
cumbed to a dismal Purdue team that had won just one
Big Ten game. (I'll consider Penn State's win over Illi-
nois on Saturday a statistical anomaly.)
Sure, a big road win would have been nice, but it's
far from a necessity. With seven Big Ten teams in the
top 20 of the RPI rankings, Michigan will end the
season with a solid enough strength of schedule. With
victories over two ranked teams, Michigan already has
the quality wins. True, the team's chances for a Big
Ten title have been dampened, but should that really
be its goal? In reality, this team is just a few victories
- possibly as few as two - away from earning some-
thing it hasn't had for almost eight years - an NCAA
tournament bid. FYI - in 1989, when Michigan won
its last NCAA Championship, it did not claim the Big
Ten title.
But for those who really want to see Michigan pull off
the big win away from home, there's still a chance. As the
Badgers can attest, beating an 8-13 Purdue in West Lafay-
ette might pose a challenge. And Michigan still has oppor-
tunities to topple two now-ranked opponents on the road,
oddly enough, its two biggest rivals - No. 12 Michigan
State and No. 20 Ohio State.
The Spartans are 9-0 at home this year. The Buckeyes
are 11-1.
So certainly, I won't be expecting it.
But I think you know what that means.
- Jack Herman can be reached
at jaherman@umich.edu
Jack Herman
(L. Abram, R. Coleman,
J. Smith, K. Price)
(3, 306, 4)
It feels like I write the same thing
every week, but Daniel Horton
always seems to carry the scoring
load.
But on Wednesday, he didn't
score the most points - instead, he
pushed the ball on the fastbreak. His
12 assists propelled the other Wol-
verines, including Dion Harris, to
convert open looks.
Horton took over the scoring
load for Michigan on Saturday, but
he couldn't do enough to keep the
Wolverines on pace with the red-hot
Hawkeyes.
Hmm, there's not really much
for me to say after this weekend.
After learning before the game
that both Lester Abram and Jer-
ret Smith did not make the trip, I
knew I was in trouble.
Ron Coleman was the only eli-
gible player on my team, and he
took more shots than any other
Wolverine. Unfortunately he
made just one. A late 3-pointer
prevented me from putting up the
dreaded "0."
Saturday was a disaster for the
Wolverines, but my team can take a
few positives from the game.
First,Graham Brown added anoth-
er victim to his hitlist. I'm convinced
that by season's end, opposing play-
ers will be in tears just in anticipation
of running into a Brown screen.
Also, Courtney Sims played
a decent game.nYes, pretty much
anything is better than a 1-for-6
shooting performance like he had
on Wednesday, but he was only one
of three Wolverines to reach double
figures (12).
On a day when the rim seemed
awfully small for Michigan's outside
shooters, it was nice to see Dion Harris
still stroking it from outside. He went
3-for-7 from beyond the arc and fin-
ished with 13 points. After some seri-
ous inconsistency earlier in the season,
it appears that Harris is settling into his
role as Michigan's No.2 option.
Meanwhile, Chris Hunter continues
to be an enigma. When he's on, he's
as explosive a scorer as anyone on the
team. But when he's off, it's not pretty.
We saw that on Saturday.
None.
Iowa 94
Player
MIN
FG
M-A
FT
M-A
Brunner 27 5-7 7-9 2-9 3 4 17
Hansen 22 3-5 2-3 4-4 0 3 8
Haluska 33 5-6 4-5 0-2 5 2 18
Horner 35 5-10 2-3 0-4 6 1 14
Henderson 29 4-6 0-2 0-2 4 3 11
Thompson 13 3-4 0-0 0-3 1 2 7
Freeman 16 3-4 2-2 0-2 4 1 10
Wieck 3 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 0 0
wessels 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 1 0
Thomas 14 2-4 0-0 1-6 1 4 4
Reed 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 3
Gorney 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 2
TEAM 0-1
TEAM TOTALS 200 32-49 17-24 7-34 27 22 94
FG%: 65.3 FT%: 70.8 3-point FG: 13-19, .684 (Haluska
4-5, Henderson 3-3, Freeman 2-3, Horner 2-5, Reed
1-1, Thompson 1-1, Wieck 0-1) Blocks: 2 (Hansen,
Thompson). Steals: 7 (Brunner 2, Freeman 2, Haluska,
Horner, Henderson). Turnovers: 18 (Horner 5, Haluska 3,
Brunner 3, Freeman 3, Henderson 2, Hansen, Thomas).
Technical fouls: None.
FG%: 41.5 FT%: 57.13-point FG: 6-22, .273 (Harris 3-7,
Grooms 1-2, Horton 1-4, Coleman 1-6, Shepherd 0-1, Hunter
0-2). Blocks: 2 (Petway 2) Steals: 9 (Coleman 3, Horton 2,
Harris 2, Sims, Grooms). Turnovers: 16 (Sims 4, Grooms 4,
Coleman 3, Brown 2, Horton 2, Petway). Technical fouls:
RES
O-T
A
F
PTS
Michigan........
Iowa..............
34 32 - 66
42 52 - 94
At: Carver-Hawkeye
Arena
Attendance: 15,550
Player
GP
Min
Pts
R
A
Horton 20 33.7 16.5 2.7 5.7
Sims 20 23.9 12.3 6.2 0.7
Harris 20 31.5 12.1 3.4 2.8
Abram 15 27.5 11.5 2.9 1.3
Hunter 20 17.0 6.4 3.3 0.4
Brown 20 24.5 5.6 7.6 1.4
Petway 9 15.8 5.3 2.9 0.4
coleman 20 17.1 4.6 2.5 0.7
Smith 17 15.8 2.5 1.2 2.3
Scott Bell
(C. Sims, G. Brown,
S. Harrell, A. Brzozowicz)
(16, 361, 3)
Shepherd
Grooms
18
10
8.4
3.8
1.6
0
Harrell 9 2.0 f0
.8
.4
.3
1.1
0.3
0.4
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.1
0
Ba
9
1.9
0
BIG TEN STANDINGS
Team
Big Ten Overall
Matt Singer
(D. Harris, C. Hunter,
A. Ba, H. Grooms)
(20 379 5)
Iowa 7-2 18-5
Illinois 6-3 20-3
Michigan 6-3 16-4
Ohio State 5-3 16-3
Mich. State 5-3 17-5
Indiana 5-3 13-6
Wisconsin 5-4 15-7
Penn State 3-6 11-9
Northwestern 3-6 10-10
Purdue 2-8 8-13
Minnesota 1-7 10-9
SATURDAY'S RESULTS:
Connecticut 88, INDIANA
80;
OHIO STATE 67, Minnesota
53;
IOWA 94, Michigan 66;
Michigan State 77,
NORTHWESTERN 66;
PURDUE 70, Wisconsin 62;
Penn State 66, ILLINOIS 65
aught extended into the second half.
revious games where the Wolverines
quick second-half starts, they were
of the blocks by Iowa on Saturday.
shot less than 50 percent from the field. The
Hawkeyes had entered the game as the second-
worst shooting team in the Big Ten, averaging a
dismal 41 percent field-goal percentage.
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