Men's Basketball
vs. Ohio State
Thursday, 7 p.m.
Crisler Arena
The MichiganDaily

SPORTS

Wrestling
vs. Illinois
Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Varsity Arena

.,

Tuesday, January 16, 1990

Page 1{

Scandal spills in Champaign
The recruitment of Deon Thomas draws NCAA interest

by Steven Cohen and
Taylor Lincoln
Daily Basketball Writers
CHAMPAIGN - The Univer-
sity of Illinois is in a difficult
predicament resulting from an inves-
tigation concerning the recruitment
of forward Deon Thomas.
Shortly, after Thomas, from
Chicago's Simeon high school,
signed a letter of intent to play for
the Illini last April, he allegedly told

Iowa assistant coach Bruce Pearl
over the phone that Illinois assistant
coach Jimmy Collins had offered
him $80,000 and a Chevrolet Blazer
as an inducement to sign with Illi-
BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
nois. Pearl taped the phone call and
turned the tape over to the NCAA,
which announced July 3 that they

would conduct an investigation.
Illinois responded by removing
Thomas from the team October
14th, the day before practice started.
But Thomas threatened to sue the
University if he wasn't allowed to
play. The two parties arrived at a
compromise allowing Thomas to
practice with the team with the con-
dition that he would be redshirted
pending an investigation.
However. Thomas has nracticed

with the team sporadically and re-
cently quit practicing altogether.
Meanwhile, Collins has been re-
moved from his recruiting duties at
Illinois.
TheINCAA recently announced
that the investigation extends beyond
the Thomas incident. In December,
the NCAA interviewed former Illini
player Nick Anderson and current
players Ervin Small and Kendall
Gill..It is not known when the re-
sults of the investigation will be an-
nounced.
- In case you were wondering: no,
Bronco-mania has not hit Cham-
paign. The hundreds of spectators si-
tuated on courtside wearing Orange
Crush paraphernalia are members of
the University of Illinois' Illini
Pride, a volunteer social organiza-
tion. The club, explained Illini As-
sistant Sports Information Director
Dave Johnson, is for students who
wish to increase their participation
in Illini athletics.
The organization sends members
to all Illini sporting events, includ-
ing as many as fifty rooters to home
women's volleyball matches. But
basketball is the most prestigious
assignment. More than 400 students
interviewed for the right to sit in the
Orange Crush section at Assembly
Hall. Only 240 members of the
Pride are afforded this privilege.
200
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"" AP"" Photo
Aiming for the Pistons
Chicago Bulls guard Michael Jordan drives to the basket against New
York Knicks center Patrick Ewing during the Knicks 109-106 victory.

ILLINI,
continued from page 1
"Sean Higgins is our best
defensive player," Fisher said. "He
guarded Willie Burton last week and
did a terrific job. He's quick, has
long arms, and at 6'8" we did not
worry that Kendall Gill would not
walk around under the basket."
Also, first-year center Eric Riley,
while scoring only three points for
the game, was instrumental. On
successive trips down the floor,
midway through the second half, he
made key defensive plays, first
forcing Illinois forward Andy
Kaufmann to bounce the ball on the
floor for a turnover, then causing a
miss by back-up forward Rodney
Jones and garnering the rebound.
On Michigan's next offensive
possession, Riley drew a foul from

Jones and made one of two from the
line to stretch Michigan's lead to 65
60.
Michigan jumped out to a 131-
point lead in the first 3 minutes and
maintained a 10-point lead through.
the better part of the first half.
Illinois struggled from the field,.
shooting only 37 percent in the half..
Michigan shot 63 percent from the
field in the first half.
But Illinois was able to capitalize
on Michigan turnovers to cut the*
lead to 4 late in the half. Marcus
Liberty rebound a Kendall Gill miss,
as time experied, cutting the *
Michigan lead to 37-33 at the
intermission.
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