THE WEEK (Feb. 2-8)
MIDWEST
Right smack in the middle of the action, Iowa State Coach Johnny Orr dashed onto the floor almost as if to join his team's fast break. Actually, Orr bolted off the bench to yell at the refs for not calling a foul on Missouri's 6'11" Steve Stipanovich, who had struck 5'9" Lefty Moore of the Cyclones on the head with the ball. Orr drew two technical fouls for his tirade and wound up a 70-56 loser.
Another 5'9" Moore, Nebraska's Jack, is regarded by some Big Eight observers as the niftiest point guard in the conference—quite a compliment considering Darnell Valentine's presence at Kansas. Moore, who's averaging 13.2 points and four assists a game, had 41 points, six rebounds and six assists as the Huskers grabbed a share of first place with a 62-54 defeat of co-leader Oklahoma State.
A packed house of 10,997 waved LOVE YA SHOCKERS towels as Wichita State defeated Drake 79-67 to stay atop the Missouri Valley. To win, the Shockers had to shake off the demoralizing effects of allegations in The Kansas City Times that, among other things, the coaching staff paid for an abortion for the girl friend of one of the players. Wichita State also had to find a way to stop the Bulldogs' 25.7-point-a-game scorer, Lewis Lloyd. Lloyd was finally contained by a 3-2 zone that held him scoreless for the last nine minutes after he'd tossed in 34 points.
Houston's 6'9" Larry Micheaux, upset with his shoddy play the week before, shaved his scalp in hopes that bald would be better. And it was. Unlike Samson, the shorn Micheaux was a tower of power, pouring in 36 points and getting 24 rebounds as the Cougars retained their SWC lead by upending Southern Methodist 79-64 and Texas 75-59. Houston Guard Rob Williams, the top sophomore scorer in the nation with a 25.6 average, scored 61 points in those games.
Preseason favorite Texas A&M found little consolation in a 65-52 win over Texas Tech. The Aggies, who lost one-third of their famed Wall when 6'11" Rudy Woods flunked out at midterm, have a 10-9 overall record.
WEST
"I don't know why, but when Mark Radford doesn't play well, Ray Blume does and vice versa," said Oregon State Coach Ralph Miller of his two prize guards before a pair of Pac-10 games in the Bay Area. And that's precisely how the two continued to perform. During a 69-54 victory at California, Radford played one of his worst games—he scored only eight points—while Blume, despite a bum right ankle, sore right thigh and injured right eye, poured in 26. At Stanford the next night, Blume had eight points in the first half and Radford none as the Beavers gained a narrow 21-17 lead. Following intermission, Blume was held to five points, but Radford scored 21 to lead Oregon State to a 62-57 win.
Thanks to Lafayette Lever, Arizona State narrowly avoided a loss at California. The junior guard sank an 18-foot jumper as the first overtime ended and then scored four points in the second OT to lift the Sun Devils to an 84-81 victory. Back home, Arizona State swept past Washington State 77-63.
For skipping Monday's practice so he could ponder "problems that affected my hustle and desire," UCLA freshman Center Kenny Fields was deprived of his usual starting role four days later against Southern Cal. Fields, his hustle and desire obviously intact, came off the bench to get seven rebounds and sink five of six shots as the Bruins won 76-62.
Air Force pestered both Utah and Brig-ham Young before being shot down. The Falcons' deliberate play exasperated the Utes, who survived 48-46. At BYU, Air Force pulled to within six points with less than four minutes to go, but when it was over, BYU had won the game 62-51. Danny Ainge, who pumped in 18 points in that game for the Cougars, also excelled during an 86-77 defeat of Nevada-Las Vegas, getting 27 points, nine assists, eight rebounds and three steals. UNLV put up more of a fight at Utah, leading 53-44 at the half. Then the Utes' front line took charge. Forward Karl Bankowski wound up with 28 points. Center Tom Chambers finished with 26, and Forward Danny Vranes had 20 as Utah pulled out a 95-83 victory.
Paced by Dino Gregory and Craig Dykema, who scored 22 points apiece, Long Beach State took the lead in the PCAA by beating San Jose State 60-50. Kevin Magee fired in 66 points as Irvine won two games, including a 90-78 victory over San Jose and, in one of the season's biggest shootouts, a 117-110 double-overtime triumph over Utah State.
EAST
When North Carolina leads by 10 points or more with, say, 11:53 to play, a Tar Heel win is a sure thing—except, it seems, when North Carolina plays Virginia. In January the Cavaliers overcame a 13-point second-half deficit to knock off Carolina, and again last week they rallied, from 16 back with that 11:53 to go, for an 80-79 overtime ACC victory. Jeff Lamp scored Virginia's final nine points in regulation time, got the first basket in the OT and ended up with 21 points. Much of the overtime scoring was taken care of by the Cavaliers' Ralph Sampson, who had seven of his 32 points during that period, and by North Carolina's Al Wood, who concluded his 33-point night with 10 in OT. Wagner then held a surprising 44-41 edge over Virginia with 12:42 left before losing 76-69 as Lamp scored 26. The Tar Heels had no such trouble with St. Joseph's, getting 20 points from Wood and breezing 87-64.
Maryland Coach Lefty Driesell ended up with the unpleasant taste of shoe leather in his mouth. Before his Terps played at Wake Forest, he said, "You know how Wake is; they always win a bunch of games early in the year and then fade." Well aware of those words, the Deacons beat Maryland 67-60. Keeping Wake from fading were Frank Johnson, who had a team-record 14 assists, and Jim Johnstone, who scored 16 points and held Maryland's Buck Williams to seven points and three-of-nine shooting. If that didn't leave Driesell speechless, perhaps a 55-54 loss at Duke did. The Blue Devils, who were down by 10 midway through the second half, got 19 points from Gene Banks and two free throws from Tom Emma with three seconds to go.
MIDEAST
Following two five-point SEC victories, Louisiana State Coach Dale Brown said, "We've lost our defensive concentration. Tonight it was a case of waiting for Macklin to do it." Durand (Rudy) Macklin rescued the Tigers against Mississippi State by scoring 29 points, 19 in the second half. Howard Carter was on target in the last half, too. He scored 18 of his 26 points after intermission as LSU prevailed 94-89. That victory was a school-record 20th straight for the Tigers, who earlier won 86-81 at Vanderbilt.
Kentucky Coach Joe Hall had his cake but couldn't eat it. Prepared in anticipation of Hall's 200th Wildcat victory, the cake wasn't presented to the coach after Tennessee upset the Wildcats 87-71. Dale Ellis had 22 points for the Vols, and Howard Wood added 17 and 10 rebounds as Hall lost for the eighth time in nine tries in Knoxville. Tennessee's speed helped topple Kentucky, whose Charles Hurt sat out most of the game because of a hyperextended knee he had sustained in practice the day before. Earlier, Hurt and Sam Bowie combined for 41 points and 19 rebounds in a 102-74 rout of Auburn. Tennessee came up short in its first outing of the week, losing 71-52 at Mississippi.
"It was a better performance than Bill Walton's in the NCAA championships," said Alabama-Birmingham Coach Gene Bartow about the play of DePaul's Mark Aguirre against the Blazers. In the 1973 NCAA finals. Walton led UCLA past Memphis State, then coached by Bartow, by sinking 21 of 22 shots. Aguirre did in the Blazers 77-66 with a more diversified performance: 30 points, 19 rebounds, eight assists. In a 69-58 victory over Detroit, the Blue Demons' Skip Dillard scored 30 points, making 15 of 23 field-goal attempts.
Four hours and 10 minutes after practicing free throws in an empty Mackey Arena. Kevin Stallings of Purdue went to the line in a one-and-one situation. Now, though, 14,123 throaty fans were present, the score was 66—all and five seconds remained in the Boilermakers' home game with Indiana. Stallings' practice paid off perfectly: he hit both shots for a 68-66 victory that dropped the Hoosiers, who had led by 10 points with 10 minutes left, into a tie for the Big Ten lead with Michigan and Iowa.
As is his style, Michigan Coach Bill Frieder gulped cup after cup of water during two home victories—79-77 over Michigan State and 71-64 over Wisconsin. Even more soothing than the drinks was the play of Mike McGee, who scored 49 points, and Marty Bodnar. For the fourth time in three seasons Bodnar sank a dramatic game-deciding shot—on this occasion a layup with two seconds left in overtime that did in the Spartans.
Iowa, outrebounded 45-31 in a 13-point loss at Illinois the previous week, turned things around in the rematch. The Hawkeyes won the board battle 44-30 and the game 72-66. "We didn't let them outmuscle us this time." said Iowa Center Steve Krafcisin, who got all of his 14 points and six of his nine rebounds in the second half.
Notre Dame overwhelmed St. Mary's of California 94-63, edged LaSalle 60-59 and lost to UCLA 51-50. Michael Holton and Rod Foster locked up the Bruin triumph with free throws in the last 15 seconds.
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PLAYER OF THE WEEK
DURAND (RUDY) MACKLIN: Louisiana State's 6'7" senior forward had 31 rebounds, converted 18 of 25 field-goal attempts and scored 49 points to lead the Tigers to victories over Vanderbilt and Mississippi State.
