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. } S I