Foul play Hawkeyes too much for Michigan, 83-78 Iowa 83, Michigan 78 By Mark Francescutti Daily Sports Writer IOWA CITY - Michigan knew it had its hands full with Iowa's Dean Oliver, Jacob Jaacks and Rob Griffin of Iowa. The Wolverines shut down the slasher Oliver - check. They blanked big man Jaacks in the first half - check. But Griffin, who scored 29 points against Minnesota and only six the next game at Penn State, re-discovered his shooting touch, leading Iowa to an 83-78 victory over Michigan Saturday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Griffin netted 20 points, and shot 4-for-6 from behind the 3-point arc to break the Hawkeyes' four-game losing streak. Unusual suspects Duez Henderson and Ryan Luerhsmann added 14 points to offset Michigan's shutdown of Oliver and Jaacks. "If you take care of Jaacks and Oliver you feel like you have a chance to win, but the other guys stepped up big," Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe said. Remember Minnesota? Things on Saturday began just like the early whipping Michigan received in Minneapolis. Ice-cold weather on the road spelled another ice-cold start for the Wolverines, with Iowa jumping to a quick 12-5 lead. But when Jaacks left the game with his second foul with 18:02 left in the first half, Michigan center Josh Asselin used it to his advantage. "Josh was good offensively," Ellerbe said. "We wanted to go right at Jaacks and go inside, and we still didn't do enough of it. We should have used (Asselin) up until we couldn't get anything else out of him. He should have had more than 13 attempts" from the field. Asselin finished with a season-high 22 points and 11 rebounds. But foul trouble kept the Michigan guards from complementing the inside-outside package. Freshman Jamal Crawford picked up three fouls and had to leave the with 13:02 left in the first half. Four Wolverines picked up at least two before intermission. But foul trouble in the first half didn't deny freshmen Kevin Gaines and LaVell Blanchard, as the duo helped Michigan build a 41-29 lead with 3:33 remaining in the half. Gaines hit two consecutive jumpers, followed by an eight-point, one-and-a-half minute blitz by Blanchard, completing a 12-2 run. The half wouldn't end for Michigan quickly enough, however, as Iowa cut the lead to seven before the break. Michigan tied the contest at 76 with 2:41 left in the game, thanks to two Asselin free throws. But free throws led to the Wolverines' eventual demise. Junior Brandon Smith missed two straight foul shots with Michigan down four and 42 seconds remaining, which turned out to be Michigan's last straw. The Wolverines bricked 13 of their 31 free-throw attempts on the night. Michigan converted just one field goal attempt in the final 3:53 - a token Gaines layup - while Iowa hit all its free throws the entire 11 minutes it was in the double bonus, ending the game on a 7-2 run. "We helped a good bit for sure - opportunities missed on the free throw line," Ellerbe said. "It was something where we lost poise and composure. Our young guys looked like young guys in that situation." Griffin hurt the Wolverines most in the second half by feeding his teammates. The junior passed off to Jaacks and Luehrsmann, who each hit three-pointers before Griffin hit a triple, himself, to erase Michigan's halftime lead. Iowa tried to break away midway in the second half, but couldn't build a lead larger than five points, thanks to a combined team effort by the Wolverines on offense, as seven Wolverines scored in an early nine-minute stretch. last straw. The Wolverines bricked 13 of their 31 free-throw attempts on the night. Michigan converted just one field goal attempt in the final 3:53 - a token Gaines layup - while Iowa hit all its free throws the entire 11 minutes it was in the double bonus, ending the game on a 7-2 run. "We helped a good bit for sure - opportunities missed on the free throw line," Ellerbe said. "It was something where we lost poise and composure. Our young guys looked like young guys in that situation." Griffin hurt the Wolverines most in the second half by feeding his teammates. The junior passed off to Jaacks and Luehrsmann, who each hit three-pointers before Griffin hit a triple, himself, to erase Michigan's halftime lead. Iowa tried to break away midway in the second half, but couldn't build a lead larger than five points, thanks to a combined team effort by the Wolverines on offense, as seven Wolverines scored in an early nine-minute stretch. AP PHOTO Leon Jones (0) had five points and four fouls in Michigan's loss to Iowa Saturday. The Wolverines fell to 3-2 in Big Ten play. Originally on page 1B in the 1-24-2000 issue of the Daily.