Wrestling
vs. Central Michigan and Morgan St.
Saturday, 12 p.m.
Varsity Arena
The MichiganDaily
Blue awaits rematch
with faltering Purdue
by Steven Cohen
Daily Basketball Writer
Forgive Purdue coach Gene Keady for being a little irritable these past
few weeks. Recent road losses to Illinois last week and Iowa Wednesday
night have tightened what once was a three-game Boilermaker lead in the
conference championship race.
On Sunday, Keady's blood pressure should reach boiling temperature as
eighth-ranked Michigan (20-5 overall, 10-4 Big Ten) storms into West
Lafayette to stake its claim for the Big Ten crown. The ninth-ranked
Boilermakers (20-6, 12-4), picked to finish seventh by the Big Ten's
coaches in the preseason, will not have the element of surprise in their
corner this time, though they will have the incentive of Senior Day.
Purdue's seniors, center Steve Scheffler, guard Tony Jones, and forward
Ryan Berning, all instrumental in Purdue's 91-73 shellacking of Michigan
on January 31 at Crisler Arena, will play their last home game at Mackey
Arena, in search of their third Big Ten Championship.
The Boilermakers' senior trio possesses two more Big Ten rings than
any Michigan player except Loy Vaught and Mike Griffin, who earned Big
Ten Championship rings as redshirt first-year players.
Michigan center Terry Mills will help his quest for a ring if he is able
to contain Scheffler, who leads the nation in shooting percentage with 73
percent accuracy. Illinois used three centers to accumulate fouls on
Scheffler, while Iowa effectively held him to only six points.
After that one-point defeat, in which a potential game-winning shot by
Jimmy Oliver was disallowed at the buzzer, Keady will likely welcome
the opportunity to control his own destiny. Two wins by the Boiler-
makers will earn them their fourth conference crown in the past six years.
Along with Scheffler, a prime contender for Player of the Year, Jones,
who averages 14.7 points per outing, is the steam that propels the
Boilers. Jones is not taking Michigan lightly.
"I think Michigan is a better team than Michigan State because
Michigan State does not have Manns," Jones said yesterday. "It depends
on how they do tonight. If they win, they'll really be fired up."
And Keady will be even more fidgety.
SPORTS
Friday, March 2, 1990
Women's Basketball
vs. Illinois
Tonight, 7:30 p.m.
Crisler Arena
Page 8
1st round
by Peter Zellen
Daily Hockey Writer
hosts Broncos in
The end goal is the CCHA finals
in Joe Louis Arena, but first the
Michigan hockey team must face
Western Michigan, their first round
opponent in a best-of-three series.
By finishing fourth with a 16-11-
5 record, the Wolverines have
achieved home ice for the second
year in a row, losing last year to
Bowling Green in three games.
Coach Red Berenson has never taken
a Michigan team past the first round
in his six years in Ann Arbor.
Michigan was 4-0 against the
Broncos (12-18-2 CCHA) this sea-
son, outscoring them 23-8. Howev-
er, Berenson has a guarded optimism
regarding their Kalamazoo foes.
"For us to look back at those
games means nothing," Berenson
said. "They could easily beat us
because they've got a lot to prove.
They've wanted to prove that they
can beat us on the road. It will prove
to be an interesting series."
Western coach Bill Wilkinson
reiterates Berenson's feelings. "They
beat us all four games this season
but they're not unbeatable. This is a
whole new season. Who beat whom
during the the past eight months
becomes irrelevant to who takes this
weekend."
In their last 12 games Michigan
is 7-1-4 and has allowed 38 goals in
that span. Berenson said that the
team will have to step up its defense
even more for the playoffs.
The special teams will also have
to play well as the penalty killing
units were not successful against
Miami last weekend. In all, the
Wolverines allowed seven goals in
the two games, five on Saturday.
"In parts of those games we
played well but I thought we had
some chances to bury them and we
didn't convert," Berenson said.
While the feeling around the
lockerroom is positive, the Wolver-
ines also hold a bitter memory in the
back of their minds.
Two years ago, Michigan faced
Western in the first round with the
Broncos hosting the best-of-three
series. Michigan won the first game
4-3 and lost the second 5-4. After the
close matches, Michigan collapsed
in game three, losing 10-0.
This year's Bronco squad has
some prolific scorers Michigan must
watch for. Wingers Shane Redshaw
and Jeff Green are tied for the team
lead with 59 points. They have 34
and 30 goals respectively.
However, Western will have to
play without their goalie Mike
Power. Power injured his knee last
weekend against Ferris State when
he was sent flying into the
goalposts.
"It's a hard loss for the team,"
Wilkinson said. "We felt that Mike
was coming on the latter part of the
season and was getting more
consistent in his play. But we have
confidence that Rob (Laurie) will do
a good job for us."
Laurie has a 5.05 goals against
0
Senior defender and Michigan co-captain Alex Roberts skates around a
Western Michigan player during a series between the two teams in
November. The Wolverines, who swept all four regular season games
between the two schools this season, will host the best-of-three series
this weekend.
average compared to Power's 4.83.
Each goalie had seven wins this
season.
In their careers, two Michigan
players have done well against
Western. Senior Mike Moes has 18
points in 20 games and junior Don
Stone has 16 points, including seven
goals, in 15 games against the
Broncos.
Community & Huron High School
presents
THE WOODY HERMAN
Orchestra
Read
Lincoln's Minutes
in the Michigan Daily
Tennis to tangle with Texas
byJen, u,,t
Daily Sports Writer
!cted by Frank Tiberi
Appearing At
Huron High Auditorium
V Y U
For Reservations Call:
994-2096; 994-2021
Tickets: $12
Sunday, March 4,7:30
In the coming week the Michigan women's tennis
team will find out if the legend about Texan toughness
is actually true.
A portion of the squad will travel to the Longhorn
state over spring break to compete with four top Texan
teams. Because of budget restrictions only the starting
line-up, eight of the 12 team members, will make the
trip.
Between March 6-10, the squad will take on the
University of Houston, Southern Methodist, North
Texas, and Texas Christian in an effort to continue their
current eight match undefeated streak.
"It'll be a good chance for us to see exactly how
good we are," coach Bitsy Ritt said. "We haven't really
had a chance to be tested nationally."
Continuing their winning ways may be a tall order
for the Wolverines, as two of the Southern teams pos-
sess considerable talent.
Michigan's No. 1 seed Christine Schmeidel along
with the other top singles players, Stacy Berg (No. 2)
and frosh Kalei Beamon (No. 3), should be significantly
challenged.
"North Texas right now has a record of 1-5, although
they're competitive with our top person and with most
of our players," Ritt said. "And Houston will be strong
as well, three out of their four (players) are really
tough."
Ritt feels the matches against Southern Methodist
and Texas Christian should be Michigan's easiest.
Whatever the results, the matches will give
Michigan national playing experience that will help the
team prepare for the Big Ten race beginning at the end
of March.
The Wolverines finished last in the conference last
year after a poor performance at the Championship
meet, and are hoping for significant improvement this
season. In the preseason Big Ten coaches' poll the team
was picked to finish fifth.
Ritt said: "Right now the top four teams are the
strongest and the most competitive and I would like to
think that we could get into that group."
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