Foul trouble plagues slashing Wolverines By Chris Duprey Daily Sports Editor IOWA CITY - If the Carver-Hawkeye Arena crowd was eager to catch a glimpse of Jamal Crawford, this highly-touted freshman, then all 15,500 of them must have been sorely disappointed - because they sure didn't see much of him. Crawford was limited to 24 minutes, including just over four minutes of play in the first half. When he did play, he was tentative and inconsistent, missing the intangible do-anything part of his game - all because of early whistles. Just 2:30 into the game, Crawford picked up his second foul. He'd barely even started to sweat yet. But, following standard protocol, he found an empty seat on the Michigan bench. In Crawford's absence, Kevin Gaines was left to defend Iowa's perimeter players. Gaines also picked up his second foul quickly, with 14:05 left in the first half, unable to avoid the wrath of a Big Ten refereeing crew which took pride in blowing the whistle at any contact - even if the foul was 25 feet from the basket. Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe, to his credit, reentered Crawford with two fouls as soon as Gaines was whistled for his second. What good is your offensive turnkey sitting on the bench? But Crawford didn't last long before picking up his third. Actually, he barely lasted a minute. And with 13:02 still left in this seemingly never-ending first half, Crawford made yet another slow walk to the bench, this time done for the half. With Crawford and Gaines handicapped, Michigan's game plan underwent a major transformation. The slashing transition game that the freshman guards and Michigan have come to rely on was no longer an option. These weren't just defensive hand-check fouls being called, they were offensive charges - calls that penalized the guards' aggressiveness and made them more tentative about cutting toward the basket. Knowing this, Iowa stiffened up its defensive efforts on the perimeter, forcing Michigan into a 2-of-10 shooting funk from 3-point range in the second half. The Michigan guards "had to adjust. Everyone was in foul trouble," Michigan guard Leon Jones said. "They just had to change their game a little." While the Hawkeyes were able to press defensively in the second half - none of their key players were in serious foul trouble until the very end of the game - Michigan defenders had to toe the line between a passive defense and drawing fouls. Even playing careful, try-not-to-foul defense, the Wolverines still got trapped early in the penalty, as Iowa shot 18 second-half free throws. "I can tell you one thing that helped them - being in the double bonus with 11:50 left in the game," Ellerbe said. "There were a lot of those, I guess, to be diplomatic, could-have-gone-either-way calls." The everything-a-foul style of officiating helped Iowa guard Dean Oliver break loose from the curse of a three-foul, zero-point first half. The key to the second half for Iowa was "just getting to the free-throw line," Oliver said. He wasn't kidding. AP PHOTO Michigan center Josh Asselin soared to a double-double against the Hawkeyes, scoring 22 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. But Jacob Jaacks had the last laugh. Originally on page 5B in the 1-24-2000 issue of the Daily.