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." more for your money! SSIHD1 - L$179I Open 24 Hours Ope 1220 S. University Mic 747-9070 662 m DS/HD no Blue gymnasts tumble through two at Crisler IY MARK KATZ 2 It wasn't their best performance et, but the Michigan women's gymnastics team's second highest score of the season successfully kept the Wolverines' hopes for an invitation to NCAA Regional Championships alive. At a three-way meet at Crisler Arena yesterday, Michigan's point Cotal of 183.75 was only a half a point less than their team-record i84.2 achieved two weeks ago at Stanford. The score placed the Wolverines ahead of Western Mich- DETROIT-TOKYO ROUND-TRIP from $799.00 (Non-Stop) DAI-ICHI TRAVEL 353-8999 353-9089 (Japanese Desk) n7D higan -1222 ays Open 24 Hours Union 540 E. Liberty 7614539 Janne Klepek, competed in the last home meet of her college career yesterday. While the falls on beam hurt the team's final score, Michigan's per- formance on the vault and floor exercises achieved just the opposite effect. "We had the best team effort on vault and floor all year," Meyer said. The team will take it's month- long momentum to Iowa City next weekend for the Big Ten Champ- ionhins the final meet before FREE TUTORING available in all lower level Math, Science, and Engineering Courses FREE 0SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION FOR S- . ca .- .. - I I I16~ UOENI WHO NEED MONEYFOR COLLEGE Rm. East. 307 Lounge UGLi Mon,Wed,Thur BURSLEY Mon,Wed 7-11 pm 8-10 pm 8-10 pm Dining SOUTH QUAD Room Mon,Wed IAfl IXnV L ar, V I i 1 I