Oliver sees big minutes and delivers

BLOOMINGTON - Sometimes the biggest spark can come from the most unexpected places. Yesterday, it was Ron Oliver, the little backup guard with the big eyes and the bigger heart.

"He competes," Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe said. "He goes in there and hangs it all on the line. We're the last team in America that should be holding back, and Ron doesn't hold back."

His line in yesterday's 73-71 loss wasn't anything special - four points, two assists, two rebounds and one turnover - but his hustle and aggressive style of play was.

In his 17 minutes - the most he's played in a Big Ten game - Oliver was everywhere, diving for loose balls and jumping up for rebounds against guys nine inches taller than him. But his biggest contribution was on defense, where he helped stifle one of the conference's top perimeter snipers.

AP PHOTO Michael Lewis and Indiana advanced their NCAA tournament expectations by defeating Michigan at Asssembly Hall yesterday.

Drawing the task of guarding Indiana's A.J. Guyton, Oliver helped hold the guard to just 13 points. And it wasn't because Guyton was having an off day - he hit half of his shots - it was because Oliver and the rest of the Wolverines weren't letting him get open looks at the basket.

With a hand in his face the entire game, Guyton fired just eight shots. Even when he hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 2:17 to play, he did it with Oliver draped all over him.

"Certain parts of my game aren't as good as the other guys," Oliver said. "I make up for that with hard work, and that overshadows the little things. Hard work is what we need right now."

Oliver is seldomly used as extensively as he was yesterday. He averages just six minutes a game, and his four points nearly doubled his season total - he now has nine.

"I feel I can step up at any time," Oliver said. "I know what I takes to win. I lead by example, whether it's on the bench or on the floor."

So when the Wolverines quickly found themselves in foul trouble - Josh Asselin picked up his fourth foul with over eight minutes to play in the first half - Ellerbe turned to his spunky guard.

And Oliver thrived, even in pressure situations with the game on the line.

With 4:05 to play and the Wolverines trailing by just four, Oliver took a pass to the left of the hoop just outside the 3-point arc. Indiana's Luke Recker lunged for the steal, but Oliver grabbed the ball before Recker got to it and dribbled by the Hoosier's forward. He took two dribbles forward, hesitated a second, then fired the wide-open 14-foot jumper, cutting the Indiana lead to two.

"Right now, we're looking for leadership from anywhere," Oliver said. Ellerbe "called on me and I was ready."

Long-Range History: Louis Bullock is racing the clock. With just two games to play, plus anywhere from one to four more in the Big Ten Tournament, the Michigan guard is on the verge of becoming the Big Ten's all-time 3-point leader. But he can't afford to slump now.

After hitting a pair against Indiana yesterday to push his career total to 329, Bullock is just two behind Michigan State's Shawn Respert for second place and three behind Penn State's Pete Lisicky for the title.

02-22-99