Loss makes big week only bigger

"Pick your poison," said Jim O'Brien, Clem Haskins and then even Lon Kruger. All three coaches said it. O'Brien's team and Haskins's team believed it, after Michigan whipped each in turn. Kruger's team, though, decided to do something about it.

Jim Rose Rose Beef

In the most impressive defensive performance against Michigan so far this season, Illinois hounded, hawked and smothered the shell-shocked Wolverines into 33-percent shooting and a season-low 53 points yesterday in Assembly Hall. Make no mistake about it, the Fighting Illini defense made a statement yesterday in a convincing 11-point victory that not only stood up to the vaunted Michigan offense but knocked it back a few steps as well.

Illinois swarmed Robert Traylor from the opening tip, and the big man managed just 10 points. His two helpless airballs in the first half were emblematic of his frustration all afternoon. After the game, he said he was "a little under the weather," and, well, if he was feeling bad before the game, you can bet he was even worse afterward.

But up to this point, opposing teams have been burned when they committed to Michigan's inside game. Louis Bullock's and Robbie Reid's 3-point shooting has been more than adequate to power the offense in Traylor's place. But yesterday, Illinois didn't let that happen.

Bullock was 2-of-9 from behind the arc, and Reid combined with Travis Conlan to score, count 'em, zero points. And as much as the Wolverines would like to believe it was just one of those days, give credit to the Illinois defense.

"We're at our best when we play the inside-out game," Conlan said. "When we do that, we're pretty good. But, obviously, we didn't do that today."

No, they didn't. It's not that they didn't try - the Wolverines shot 18 3-pointers, making four - it was just that Illinois wouldn't let them.

And here's the kicker: yesterday was Michigan's only shot at Illinois. What previously looked like a definite scheduling blessing - the Wolverines play Illinois, Purdue and Iowa just once apiece - may now turn out to be something of a curse. The next four games for the Illini? Ohio State, Penn State, Minnesota and Wisconsin (combined Big Ten record: 5-18). And, more importantly, the Illini, tied with Michigan at 5-2 in the conference, have already beaten Michigan and Indiana.

The first game of the important three came and went, and what on paper seemed to be Michigan's best shot at stealing a road victory from a top conference team was fumbled out of bounds like a Jerod Ward dribble-drive.

So the next two games loom even larger, especially since in both cases it will be Michigan's only chance all season against the league's other leading teams. Purdue comes to Ann Arbor on Thursday, then it's off to Iowa next weekend. And Michigan better be ready, because there are no second chances with either team.

There are nine more games in the regular season and plenty more chances for the Wolverines to secure a tourney bid. But the next two loom awfully large. And if Michigan seriously wants to make some noise in the Big Ten, now is the time. And once again, we're left on the edges of our seats, wondering, no doubt, "What next with this team?"

- Jim Rose can be reached over e-mail at jwrose@umich.edu.

01-26-98