Chips Go Down At Iowa For Wolverine Cagers

THE ANN ARBOR NEWS Page Fifteen

Chips Go Down At Iowa For Wolverine Cagers

Hawkeyes Have —
Incentives^ Too, i
For Big Ten Clash \

By Wayne DeNeff

. There have been times in the past when a Michigan basket-
ball team's trip to Iowa late in the season was routine. But there
is nothing routine about the trip the Wolverines are making to
Iowa City today.

A Big Ten championship will be hanging in the balance for
the Wolverines when they square off with the Hawkeyes in Iowa
Fieldhouse tomorrow night.

\iii)i; ip (io-2) needs a victory to be sure of maintaining a
pace will give it at least a share of the Big Ten champion-
ship. Ohio State (11-2) jumped a half game ahead in the stand-
ings by playing and winning at Illinois last Monday while the
Wolverine v.r-o idle.

At t" ie same time the Michigan-Iowa game is start-
ing, Ohi( will be swinging into action against Michigan
State in 1 conference game for those two teams, Michi-
gan will cuinpifle its Western Conference schedule against Pur-
due at Yost Fieldhouse Monday night.

The Michigan-Iowa game will start at 8:30 p.m., Ann Arbor
time, and will be beamed back here by local stations WUOM-FM
and WAAM. The Ohio State-Michigan State contest also will start
at 8:30 p.m.

Coach Dave Strack's Wolverines, 19-3 for the season, will be
favored to bump the Hawkeyes, 8-13 for the season and 3-9 in the
Big Ten, but there are several factors which have concerned
Michigan fans.

First of all, the Hawkeyes will be playing their last home
game for their well-liked coach, Sharm Scheuerman, and the
squad would like nothing better than to present a going-away
victory gift over the nation's second ranked team. Seller
will enter private business.

Secondly, the Hawkeyes showed remarkable ability for a
ninth-place team in tripping fifth-place Purdue, 81-74, last
Monday. Their 6-8 sophomore center, George Peoples, from
Ecorse, ripped in 22 points and rebounded with fury. Scheuer-
man also got a fine performance from his senior forward, Dave
Roach (6-6), who also scored 22 points. Sophomore Gary Olson
(6-5) and Joe Jessen (6-7) turned in a fine night's work, accord-
ing to those who saw the game.

Jimmy Rodgers, a junior who ranks just behind Roach in
scoring this season, fired in 15 points.

Iowa shot well in the second half and rebounded well through-
out the game to dump the respected Boilermakers.

Another angle favoring Iowa is the home floor. Michigan
has lost seven of its last 10 games played in the Iowa Fieldhouse.

Those are some of the angles which will make the job more
difficult for the Wolverines but they also may serve to sharpen
them for the task at hand in the first and only clash with Iowa
this season.

Iowa does not have the scoring threat which Michigan pos-
sesses in its 1-2 punch of Cazzie Russell and Bill Buntin. Although
the Hawkeyes will match the Wolverines in height along the front
line, they do not have the reputation as a rebounding powerhouse
which Michigan has gained through the efforts of Buntin, Oliver
Darden, Larry Tregoning and Russell.

Russell is averaging 24.5 points per game and Buntin is going
at a 23.2 pace. Buntin is the team's leading rebounder with 271
while Darden has 212, Russell 197 and Tregoning 157.

Michigan State carries a 13-10 season's record and 7-6 Big
Ten mark into its game at Columbus. The Buckeyes are 16-7 for
the year.

In other Big Ten games on Saturday, Wisconsin (8-15, 2-11)
will play at Illinois (11-11, 4-8), Minnesota (16-7, 9-4) will be at
Indiana (8-14, 4-8) for the regionally televised game of the week
and Purdue (10-12, 6-6) will visit Northwestern (8-11, 6-6).

Monday's windup finds Northwestern at Indiana and Iowa at
Illinois in addition to Purdue at Michigan.