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Road treats Blue poorly

IOWA CITY--
This just in, courtesy of the Fictional Memo Department:
To: Jack Kerouac
From: Steve Fisher
Re: On the road
Jack,
Shove it.
-- Steve

If the Michigan men's basketball coach hasn't read Kerouac's famous book, "On the Road," he likely won't anytime soon. At this point of the season, Fisher wants nothing to do with the road. It might lead to some basketball arena, where his team might have to play a game, and that just hasn't worked very well lately. Michigan has lost six of its 10 games away from home, including three of four in the conference.

"Life is tough on the road," Fisher said. "We have lost two in a row on the road. (Winning on the road) is our next challenge."

The Wolverines lost, 99-83, at Indiana Tuesday before falling, 70-61, at Iowa yesterday. In both games, Michigan had to deal with an opposing player -- or players -- having a career game. For the Hoosiers, Bryan Evans, Todd Lindeman and Neil Reed each played spectacularly. Yesterday, the Hawkeyes' Andre Woolridge scored 28 points, tying his best performance as a collegian.

The guys in the white uniforms have not been the only demons for Michigan on the road. The fans in Indiana and Iowa are among the loudest in the nation.

The Wolverines have also had problems with the officiating lately. Maceo Baston, Robert Traylor and Maurice Taylor all got into foul trouble in Bloomington, and Louis Bullock picked up four first-half fouls yesterday.

"They did some things that we couldn't do," Traylor said after the Indiana game. "They were getting away with things that we couldn't get away with. They got calls we weren't getting. But it's something you have to expect on the road."

Bullock made similar claims about his fourth foul -- a charge -- yesterday. "I should have known I would get called for that on the road," Bullock said.

Michigan's earlier road losses came against Arizona, Georgia Tech, Wisconsin and UNLV. The Arizona and Georgia Tech games were played at Madison Square Garden in New York, but the Wolverines were clearly not the fan favorite in either game. Arizona brought a large contingent of supporters, and Georgia Tech freshman Stephon Marbury -- a native New Yorker -- drew a large crowd.

The flip side of the coin is that the Wolverines have dominated at home. They have not lost since last Super Bowl Sunday against St. John's.

And the schedule is not quite so rigorous for the rest of the season. Michigan has only five remaining road games, and two of those -- at Northwestern and Ohio State -- should be fairly easy victories.

The good news for the Wolverines is that their next game is at home. The bad news is that it is against Purdue. The Boilermakers have won have two of their last three games against Michigan.

Michigan cannot afford to lose many more games if it is going to win the Big Ten title. Penn State currently leads the conference at 6-1.

Of course, the season is still young.

"I guarantee Penn State will have a hard time when they come (to Iowa) and when they go to Indiana," Fisher said. "This may be a year when 13-5 ties for the Big Ten title."