WEDNESDAY JANUARY 11,195
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
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I ____ ____ __NO
Lagers' Wins Earn Big
Ten Limelight
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.' Underdog' Wolverines
Lead Conference Race
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V
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In the span of 48 hours Michi-
ghn's basketball team has surged
s from the role of an also-ran to
a point of major contention in the
W e s t e r n Conference's young
championship race.
The Wolverines' smashing twin
triumphs over Iowa on Saturday
and previously undefeated Indiana
on Monday have caused Big Ten
coaches and scouts suddenly to sit
Up and take notice. The situation
will 'remain at least until this
Weekend when Michigan meets
two chore cage powers, Wisconsin
and Ohio State, in games away.
y, * * *
THE HOOSIERS, by every stan-
Oard, measured up to their high
national ranking which stemmed
from their record of 10 straight
Victories. They rallied magnifi-
cently in the second half to over-
come a 12 point deficit, a feat
made more difficult by the parti-
san crowd and foreign floor.
But Michigan would not be
turned back. Indiana, tried to
win by beating the guards, but
the guards would not be beaten.
Hoosier coach Branch McCrack-
1 en kept pouring fresh men into
the contest to harass Chuck
Murray and Hal Morrill with a
maddening pressing defense.
ute without relief, as did
Suprunowicz.
Mack
MURRAY PLAYED his greatest
game. Constantly he drove into '
scoring position and rang the bell
with a series of clutch baskets, in-
cluding the game breaker. He
cooly flipped in seven of eight all-
important free throws.
Morrill never played harder in
his life. He completely outfought
the visitors under their basket,
teaming with Leo Vander Kuy
to limit Indiana's potent re-
bound shots to a bare minimum.
He saved his scoring efforts for
the late stages when he struck
two telling blows with tricky
fielders.
Suprunowicz was a hero in his
own right, as the driving force be-
hind Michigan's 69 point offen-
sive and as a steadying influence
when the game was most tense.
If it had been an ordinary game,
Jim Skala would have been the
Michigan headliner. Replacing
Don McIntosh who was shackled
by an off night, he responded with
a smooth performance, displaying
none of the signs of inexperience
which have kept him out of the
lineup recently. Five times he
poised himself in midair and fired
accurate shots into the netting. In
addition he retrieved a giant's
share of rebounds.
n 4
The two Wolverine stalwarts
'rose to every occasion and fought
their hearts out to turn the tide
of battle. They played every min-
- '
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bDAILYD OUBLE
by pres holmes, sports co-editor I
THE SETTING, stage, and actors were different but the script was
basically the same. It reads something like, "An underdog team S
pulled an upset to snap an umpteen-game winning streak."
Nevertheless last Monday night's hair-raising 69-67 win over a
loaded Indiana quintet brought wild cries of excitement and frenzied
ejaculations to the effect that it was the most exciting game staged
in these parts for quite some time-and that it was.
* * * *
THE SETTING WAS perfect. Indiana boasted a winning streak
of ten straight and had been picked by expert and fan alike to make
Michigan its eleventh victim.
Nearly 8,000 people jammed into Yost Field House to see for
themselves. There was a tenseness in the air, and cheering such
as had never been heard before resounded around the 28-year-old
Field House. At halftime, with the Wolverines out in front, 33-25,
the thunder of thousands of feet stamping on the bleachers was
added to the already deafening roar of the cheering voices. The
Wolverines, and fans too, were showing little or no respect for the
Hoosiers' spotless record.
Indiana came charging back in the second half, however, and
made the Field House a dangerous place for anyone who happened
to have a weak heart. The lead changed hands four times during the
last ten minutes of play, and although Indiana was never ahead in
the last four-and-a-half minutes the clincher didn't drop through the
basket until AFTER the final horn.
Charley Murray tipped the ball up towards the basket after Jim
Skala's shot had bounded off, and while the ball was still in the air
the horn sounded. It bounded on the rim of the basket twice and
then slithered through the net, to the wonderment and ecstacy of
the Michigan camp.
Finish Recalls Memories
THIS FINISH undoubtedly brought memories back to the Indiana
followers of a game the Hoosiers played against Minnesota several
years ago. Indiana had won nine straight going into that contest,
but the Gophers were out for an upset and led at the half, 29-16.
Indiana bounced back in the second stanza of that game also,
to tie up the ball game, and then go into the lead, 44-42, with only
a minute to play. Minnesota got the ball in a scramble under
the boards and Don Carlson dumped it in to knot the count. Now
there were only 25 seconds left as Indiana dribbled down the floor.
A pass went wide and Minnesota's Willie Warhol grabbed it, dribbled
twice to mid-court, and then heaved the ball at the Hoosier basket.
The final gun sounded while the ball was in the air, and player and
fan alike waited breathlessly as the ball sailed through the hoop to
give the Gophers a 46-44 win.
'4 * * *
Home Court An Advantage
THE HISTORY OF basketball is crammed with just such incidents,
all set and staged differently and with different players, but the
punch-lineis always the same-"the end of a victory string." Just
last year the Minnesota team had the tables turned on them when
Illinois stopped a 13-game Gopher winning streak with a 45-44 win,
to add to the increasing list of streak-ending battles.
There is one unique and important feature about these con-
tests which ought to be discussed: all of them took place on the
winning team's home court.
e
Basketball enthusiasts have long agreed that there is a decided
advantage to playing at home, and some have gone so far as to state
it in so many points. Tren is the usual number, but a definite figure is
so elusive that it's safest just to say there IS an advantage to playing
at home.
THE FEW CONFERENCE games which have been played so far
this season emphatically substantiate this home-court advantage
theory. Out of the eight Big Ten games staged so far only one, a
60-58 win for Northwestern over Purdue, has been lost by the home
team, and this one was all tied up at the end of regulation play and
had to go into overtime.
The performance of a team on the road, therefore, is what
wins or loses the championship. Last year Michigan lost only one
home game, while dropping four out of six games away from
Yost Field House. The home record so far this year is spotless,
as all of Michigan's setbacks have been suffered on foreign floors.
This weekend the Wolverines play two games away from home,
one against Wisconsin Saturday night and the other at Ohio State
Monday. The showing Michigan makes in thesettwo games, then,
should serve as an indication of whether they are just unbeatable on
their home court, and no good away from home, or if they are truly a
championship ball club capable of winning on strange courts, as well
as on the Yost Field House floor.
More power to 'em!
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