Page 10 -The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, January 23, 1991 F COURT 0LL PRESS by Phil Green Daily Basketball Writer Billy Douglass set. up Wisconsin's offense from the top of the key. He drove left. Michael Talley shadowed his every move. Douglass forced a pass inside to Willie Simms. Simms spun toward the baseline, but Kirk Taylor stood firmly in his path. Simms swung a pass cross-court toward Patrick Tompkins, but Eric Riley's long arms picked it off. Michigan had just completed a successful stint of team defense. Team defense - all the good teams play it: Georgetown, Duke, Indiana, and UNLV. It's been quite some time since the Wolverines actually won a game because of their defense. In past seasons, the team's explosive offensive capabilities and awesome individual talents often overcame a lacking team defense. However, this year's players can't rely on individual ability to create opportunities. They need as many easy baskets as possible in order to win. Tough defense leads to turnovers which create fast breaks, and that normally equals two points - except of course for the occasional missed dunk. Saturday, due to an exceptional defensive second half, minus the miscues, that's exactly what the Wolverines did. As ususal, Saturday's first half saw Michigan give up too many easy lay-ups and open jumpers. Every time one of the Badgers blew past a Wolverine. defender (which happened frequently), nobody rotated over toj help. Sometimes, a second player would arrive, but it was usually too late. The result: a foul, the potential for a three-point play, and an exuberant cheer from the Badger faithful. During the second half, the defense tightened, creating easy baskets for Michigan instead. There are two main reasons for the improvement. The first is somewhat obvious: walk-on junior Freddie Hunter, while not much of an offensive threat, lives defense. "I look to the Pistons," Hunter said, "and my favorite player, 'The Worm,' (Dennis Rodman). I try to do what he does, just not the hand waving." Unlike Mike Griffin, Michigan's most recent defensive specialist, Hunter is a super athlete. Although a little shorter than his listed height, 6-foot-5, he's been able to use quickness, desire and court savvy to make up for a lack of strength and size. His efforts don't always show up in the box score, but on defense, he always seems to appear in the right place at the right time. Secondly, and probably more importantly, this team finally appears to be learning its capabilities and is beginning to gel. The players are talking and playing help defense better than before. And during Saturday's second half, they utilized this team concept over the entire floor with a tenacious full-court press. A successful press needs quickness and a shot blocker serving as a last line of defense - the Wolverines' two greatest assets. Michigan's strength is its guards. Talley and Demetrius Calip create a formidable back-court tandem while the rotation of Taylor, Hunter, and Tony Tolbert provide the perfect compliment to patrol mid-court and complete traps. And Riley is the shot blocker. His presence at the back of the press allows the guards a little extra freedom to gamble - because if they're beat, he can wipe out the mistake tI A M.lc. \ ll JA 1a 61i a a^ del hl f f% e"\ __A L- Blue reaps benefits of quality team D' 41 41 a a s e BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK Big Ten squads long for home, sweet home 0 with a rejection, or force the opponent to slow its pace and establish its half-court offense. And during the second half Saturday, getting into the half-court offense didn't prove very beneficial for the Badgers. The Wolverines have shown flashes of solid defense earlier in the season, but none were as prolonged or successful as in Madison. To continue winning, Michigan must sustain the same defensive intensity for forty minutes every game. by Phil Green Daily Basketball Writer Big Ten basketball has always been known for its physical nature, but it's also developing a reputation as a conference where it's extremely tough to win on the road. Ohio State's 93-85 victory over Indiana in Bloomington marked only the eighth conference road victory out of 27 games for any Big Ten ,teams this season. And the Buck- eyes, who won only three on the road all of last season, already own two others with impressive victories in Ann Arbor and Evanston. "One of our goals this year was to be a better road team," Ohio State coach Randy Ayers said. "I think we're starting to learn from experience. In this conference it never gets easier. Next is Minne- apolis, and Williams Arena has never been an easy place for Ohio State to play." Wisconsin's Steve Yoder, whose teams have traditionally performed better at home, feels that he is not alone in his difficulties. "Most teams struggle more on the road than they do at home unless they're a great basketball team," he said. This kind of thinking agrees completely with Michigan State's Jud Heathcote: "It's the old adage: if you win your games at home and steal a few on the road, you win the conference." At this point, Ohio State remains the only team to have proven itself away from home. Following Heathcote's reasoning, they appear to be the conference's obvious leaders. However, with much of the season still remaining, none of the coaches are ready to hand the Buckeyes the title quite yet. The Lions Are Coming: Penn State won't officially join the Big Ten in men's and women's basket- ball for two more years, but the Nit- tany Lions may appear on schedules as early as next season. "We've talked to Bruce Parkhill (Penn State's coach) about playing," Ayers said. "And if things can be worked out, we would play them before the Big Ten schedule. I think he's doing everything he can do about getting Big Ten teams on his schedule." However, Penn State is already pretty busy and it might be a little* difficult for Big Ten teams to get on the Lions' schedule. "I approached them to play in our tournament, but they declined;" Purdue coach Gene Keady said. "Maybe next year." A New Rivalry: When Iowa visits Illinois Monday, tempers could run a little high. An Iowa assistant coach helped begin the famed investigation of Illinois' Deon Thomas which resulted in probation for the Illini. "After what has taken place over the last year, you can't help but have hard feelings," Illinois coach Lou Henson said. "The hard feelings between the Illinois and Iowa fans will take a long, long time to heal." Back-to-Back: Last week Michigan State's Mike Peplowski@ garnered Big Ten Player-Of-The- Week honors. This week, fellow Spartan Steve Smith earned the honor. Smith averaged 34 points in Michigan State's two wins and connected on all 23 of his free throws. Big Ten Through Jan. 22,1991 Men's Basketball Standings Michigan's Demetrius Calip (13) and Freddie Hunter battle Wisconsin's Damon Harrell for the rebound Saturday. I U Conference Games All Games Want to feel this great about your first job? Exciting opportunities exist at IBM! IBM is recruiting Co-op and Summer Intern Candidates for openings in Programming and Engineering. TEAM Ohio State Michigan State Indiana Illinois Purdue Minnesota Wisconsin Iowa Michigan Northwestern w 6 5 4 2 2 L 0 1 1 3 3 PCT. 1.000 .833 .800 .400 .400 w 16 12 16 12 10 9 8 13 9 5 L 0 4 2 6 5 6 7 5 7 10 PCT. 1.000 .750 .889 .667 .677 .600 .533 .722 .563 .333 2 3 .400 0, 0 2 2 2 0 3 4 4 5 .400 .333 .333 .000 JOSTENS GOLD RING SALE IS COMING! 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