Women's Tennis
vs. Western Michigan
Saturday, 12 p.m.
Track and Tennis Building
The Michigan Daily
SPORTS
Women's Tennis
vs. Bowling Green
Wednesday, 2 p.m.
Track and Tennis Building
Page 11
Weary writer sick of
Monday, March 13, 1989
Doug V
Volan
Doug in Deep A
Henson 's
bellyaching
-E
DAVID LUBLINER/Daily
Michigan's Glen Rice found his last game at Crisler Arena exhausting after chasing Illinois all over the
court in the Wolverines 89-73. The loss left Michigan with a 24-7 overall record and 12-6 record in the Big
Ten for third place in the conference.
RICE COOKED IN LAST HOME APPEARANCE
Dear Illinois coach Lou Henson:
Your modesty makes me ill.
How could you just sit there in the post-game press
conference and insist that "I don't know how good this
ballclub is"?
For goodness sake, your team just took part in a
public flogging of the eighth-ranked Wolverines, 89-
73. Just three days earlier your team had cruised past
twelfth-ranked Iowa, 118-94. And this came three days
after you had brought your team into Assembly Hall
in Bloomington and buried Big Ten champion and
sixth-ranked Indiana, 70-67.
Your team's overall record is 27-4, and has won
eight of its last nine games. In addition, you've
defeated Big Ten powerhouses Indiana, Michigan and
Iowa five out of six times this season.
What more do you want?
You've certainly left quite an impression on your
victims in Ann Arbor.
YOUR GOOD BUDDY, Michigan coach Bill
Frieder, who, by the way, you still owe $500 for
betting on Michigan -the last time you played the
Wolverines, said: "With the exception of the Indiana
team in the middle seventies, they're the best
basketball team I've seen in my 16 years at
Michigan."
Even the Michigan players were impressed.
"They're awesome," center Mark Hughes said.
"They're one of the top two teams in the country."
Forward Glen Rice said: "Illinois is really good.
They've got the potential to win the National
Championship."
Indeed, after getting the top seed in the Midwest
region, everything is going your way. You've got
Final Four written all over you.
And I know you have to be pleased with Kendall
Gill's return after he missed 12 games with a broken
left foot. After all, your team had an unblemished 17-0
record before Gill was hurt.
COME ON, coach, you had to be impressed with
his 19-point effort off the bench Saturday. You
couldn't have expected him to play that well this soon
after his injury.
As Frieder put it: "If they had Kendall Gill all year
they could very well have gone undefeated."
I know, Lou, I know. You need a big guy. Your
tallest player is 6-foot-8 guard Marcus Liberty. Your
team just doesn't match up well with other top teams.
Give me a break, coach. It's not how tall you are.
It's how tall you play. And your guys play tall. Kenny,
Battle and Nick Anderson may only be 6-foot-6, but
they're two of the top inside players in the conference.
Against Michigan, Battle rattled the rims for 22
points, many of which were slam dunks or layups.-
Anderson grabbed 10 rebounds in that game, despite
going up against 6-foot-10 Terry Mills, 6-foot-9 Loy
Vaught, and 6-foot-8 Mark Hughes.
WHAT YOUR TEAM lacks in size, it certainly
makes up in quickness. All five of your starters are
between 6-foot-6 and 6-foot-8, and boy can they run!
And they're not even your two quickest players. Gill
and Larry Smith reserve that honor.
As Michigan guard Rumeal Robinson put it after
Saturday's game: "They were forcing the tempo on us:
We were just trying to get back on defense but they.
were coming back quicker. Just when we scored, here
they'd come."
Indeed, after Michigan closed the gap to three early
in the second half, your team rolled off 14 straight
points. "I don't think they came down during that
affair once and set up an offense," Robinson said.
"They just stepped out and got a lot of transition
layups."
That quickness is going to get you to the Final
Four, coach. But you know that, don't you? You just
keep playing it cool and catch your opponents off
guard. You've been doing it all year.
But coach, modesty doesn't become you. Tell us
the truth. That's what we're in this business for.
Yours Truly,
A writer sick of your complaining
iiniw
L
PY JULIE HOLLMAN
The doors of Crisler Arena
slammed shut Saturday with a
I ismal thunder after Illinois crushed
Michigan, 89-73, in the Wolverines'
dome finale.
The No. 8 Wolverines entered
ieir final Big Ten game hoping to
hit a high note before starting the
NCAA Tourna-ment and eager to
live star Glen Rice a victorious
send-off in his last home appearance.
ut their wishes never came true.
Instead, Michigan suffered its
worst home loss since the 1984-85
Season and Rice turned in a sub-par
erformance in front of 13,609
maize-and-blue fans. Seniors Mark
%ughes and J.P. Oost-erbaan also
Oxperienced the disappoint-ment of
Ising their final home game.
* "I feel down for Glen," junior
Soy Vaught said. "I wanted him to
.0out a winner, as well as Mark and
"I WANTED the last game to
tnd positively, but it didn't happen,"
$id Rice, a first team All-Big Ten
election. "So now we just have to
t~ke a different route and win the
National Champion-ship"
Coach Bill Frieder agreed that the
Wolverines will have to put the loss
behind them and not lose their
Confidence going into the
tournament.
"We got our butts kicked today,"
* lie said. "But we're not going to
dwell on it. In six years you can't
point to a situation where we
haven't bounced back after a tough
loss."
* Michigan struck first in the
hip
M'
89-73
opening minutes on five straight
points from Rumeal Robinson. The
Wolverines did not savor their lead
long, however, before fourth-ranked
Illinois got on the board with a put-
back and a dunk by Lowell
Hamilton. Michigan maintained a
slim lead until the 14:50 mark when
the Fighting Illini overcame their
hosts for the first time. But
Michigan regained its composure and
ran off six straight points, including
two jumpshots from Rice.
THE QUICK-PACED game
was marked by several steals and
turnovers, which allowed Illinois to
get easy baskets underneath. On the
defensive end, the Illini succeeded in
keeping the bigger Wolverines out
of the paint, forcing them to shoot
from the perimeter. With the period
half over, Michigan had scored all its
points, except for Robinson's
opening layups, off jump shots.
"Illinois is so quick, Vaught
said. "They keep you guessing where
they're at and they make it difficult
to get the ball into the post area."
At 12:36, Illinois' Kenny Battle
tied the score at 17 with a jumpshot
from the left side. The lead teetered
back and forth for two minutes
before Illinois seized the advantage
for good with 9:17 remaining.
Illinois dominated the rest of the half
while launching two runs of seven
and eight points to gain a
comfortable lead.
MEANWHILE, Michigan
strug-gled offensively and finished
the half trailing 43-37. Rice, by the
end of the half, had grabbed only one
rebound and scored six points, as the
team posted a .454 shooting
percentage. Robinson tried to pick
up the slack and finished the half
with 14 points, two steals, and two
assists.
"They really pressured us and we
had problems getting into our
offense," Frieder said. "(Illinois')
quickness really bottled us up."
Said Illinois coach Lou Henson.
"For 40 minutes we played excellent
defense. Today we had one of our
better defensive games."~
Michigan came back from the
locker room looking to score some
quick bas-kets, but instead it was
Illinois who led a charge. Headed by
seven points from junior Kendall
Gill, the Fighting Illini ran off 13
unanswered points to up their lead to
59-42.
VAUGHT and Robinson tried to
bring Michigan back, but the deficit
was too overwhelming. Michigan
cut a 21 point margin to 15, but
Illinois tight-ened its defense and
brought the score to 76-55.
"They did a great job on (Rice) by
not letting him have comfortable
shots," Vaught said. "Same with
me. I found myself in awkward
positions a lot."
Rice finished the game with 14
points two rebounds, while Vaught
chipped in 15 points and 12
rebounds. Robinson ended as
Michigan's top scorer with 22.
Illinois was led by Battle's 22 points
and Gill's 19.
"Michigan played well, but not as
well as we did," Henson said. "We
had one of our better ball games. We
did a lot of things right."
MSU wins CCHA over Lakers, 4-1:
BY MIKE GILL
SPECIAL TO THE DAILY
DETROIT - Bobby Reynolds's two goals at the
4:29 and 8:46 mark of the second period gave
Michigan State its sixth Central Collegiate Hockey
Association playoff championship yesterday with a 4-1
victory over defending NCAA champion Lake Superior
State.
Reynolds put the Spartans on the board when he
slapped in a shot from between the circles soon after
the faceoff that slowly passed LSSU goaltender Bruce
Hoffort. Reynolds tallied the game winner with his
35th goal of the year when he backhanded Chris
Loungo's rebound from the circle to the right of the
goal, past Hoffort.
"Bobby Reynolds was unbelievable in the second
period" Lake Superior coach Frank Anzalone said.
"State played great in the second. That's all there is to
it."
Said Reynolds: "At most I have four games left, so
every goal I get or every win we get is a little more
special."
With the win Michigan State received a bye in the
first round of the NCAA tournament while Lake
Superior will host St. Cloud next weekend. The
committee announced the pairings during the game and
said that the winner would receive the bye.
Lake Superior came back in the third period when it
was given a 5-3 powerplay advantage with 9:47
remaining. Dan Kezmer's shot was wide of the:
Michigan State net, but bounded off the boards straight
to Anthony Palumbo who banged it in.
Superior threatened numerous times but was shut
down by tourrtament MVP, goalie Jason Muzzatti,
who tallied 37 saves - 16 in the final period.
Kip Miller iced the game with his 30th goal and
CCHA Rookie-of-the-Year Rod Brind'Amour added an
empty netter.
Oklahoma upset in Big 8 tourney
KANSAS CITY (AP)- Byron Irvin scored 29.
points and Doug Smith had 22 points and 14 rebounds
as 10th-ranked Missouri won the Big Eights
Tournament championship Sunday with a 98-96
victory over No. 2 Oklahoma.
Gary Leonard scored 16 points and Lee Coward 15
as the Tigers, 27-7, dominated the game from the start.
Missouri, which has won two of three from the
regular-season champion Sooners this season, will be
the No. 3 seed at the Midwest Regional in Dallas
where they will play Creighton in the first round.
Despite the loss, Oklahoma received the No. 1 seeding,
in the Southeast Regional in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Sooners, 28-5, will play East Tennessee State in
the first round.
Stacey King, who played poorly in a 14-point effort
against Iowa State in Saturday's semifinals, scored a
tournament-record 38 points Sunday.
savier
Continued from Page 1
} "I hope we can run into them,"
Prieder said. "I'd love to play them
in Lexington (the site of the third
found). I think our kids would be
more than ready to play them."
"I got my wish - I get to go to
Atlanta," Rumeal Robinson said. "I
like the heat and we want to meet
Carolina again to settle the score."
TWO GROUPS who will not be
able to share the Atlanta excitement
are the Michigan band and cheer-
leaders. Both groups have accom-
panied the team in previous seasons,
but will not join the Wolverines
unless they make it as far as Lexing-
ton, due to financial considerations.
"These kids do a great job for us
and we appreciate their efforts," said
Bob DeCarolis, who is the Assistant
Athletic Director in charge of
finance. "But the money it costs to
send them can be turned around and
put into sports that need them."
DeCarolis said it cost the
department $30,000 to send the
groups to the tournament last year,
and "you can do a lot of other things
for our program with $30,000."
He said Michigan would look
into hiring a band for this weekend's
games.
"A lot of places, you can rent a
band," DeCarolis said. "You dress
them un in Michigan uniforms, have
them cheer for us, and they have a
good time."
Ticket Information
There will be no public sale of
NCAA tournament tickets, but
students who wish to purchase
tickets should call 764-0247.
Michigan receives 250 tickets for the
first two games, but according to
Assistant Athletic Director Bob
DeCarolis, "we always try and buy
extra."
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2 It wasn't their best performance
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At a three-way meet at Crisler
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While the falls on beam hurt the
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The team will take it's month-
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