Men's Basketball vs. Tulane Tomorrow, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN) Crisler Arena Sl RTS Women's Basketball vs. Eastern Michigan Tonight, 7:30 p.m. Crisler Arena Women pagers face EMU short on bodies By BOB ABRAMSON DAILY BASKETBALL WRITER Trish Roberts and Paulette Stein are in the same boat, each trying to keep their teams from falling back into the bottom depths of their respec- tive conferences. Stein, Eastern Michigan's first- year head coach, inherits the reign of a team that finished 3-22 overall, and ninth in the Mid-American Confer- ence last year. Roberts, in her second year as head coach of the Wolverines, is coming off a season that saw her team dip to a lowly 2-25, and finish last in the Big Ten. The two teams square off tonight at Crisler Arena, hoping to begin the reconstruction of their programs. "We're in the process of rebuild- ing," Stein said. "I hope to mix the experience with the newcomers. We have a situation very similar to Michi- gan. The only difference is that we have a much bigger roster at this point in time." The Eagles have 15 women on their roster, seven of whom are new additions to the team. With the loss of seniors Reeshema Wood (15 ppg) and JenniferTenorio, (8.9 rpg), Eastern is forced to depend on Jean Akin. Akin, a senior guard, averaged 9.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 4:4 assists per game last season. Michigan is short on bodies com- ing into the season opener. With inju- ries to sophomore forward Jennifer Brzezinski and senior forward Yeshimbra Gray, the Wolverines have only seven players on their roster. This forces Roberts to go with a start- ing lineup of five players who will get their first taste of collegiate competi- tion. "I'm nervous, but I think we're ready to go," Roberts said. "We have had some setbacks with some injuries to some key players, but I think the freshmen are a little more focused now after playing in the exhibition game. We had 21 turnovers in that game, and to have that many young kids on the court at a given time, you're gonna make a lot of mistakes." Cagers squeak by Vikings 'M' overcomes slow start, earns 84 By RACHEL BACHMAN DAILY BASKETBALL WRITER Last night at Crisler Arena, Michi- gan survived a "little scare", over- coming an eight-point first-half defi- cit to squeak past Cleveland State, 84- 71. "We should've learned from North Carolina," Michigan guard Bobby Crawford said, referring to the Tar Heels' upset loss to Massachusetts in the preseason Big Apple NIT. Blaming the Wolverines' sluggish start- they didn't lead the entire first half and most of the second - on himself, Michigan coach Steve Fisher summed up his team's performance. "We played frustrated, they played smart. They were better prepared," he said. "I don't think you could say any- body played good, solid basketball." On his star guard's performance, Fisher said, "You got anything to say Jalen?" to which Rose replied, "Yeah, I stunk." Fisher also gave credit to the Vi- kings, one of whom, Reggie Welch, scored 22 to tie his career high. "They did a great job of finding the open man for layups in the low post," Fisher said. "You can't give up 23 offensive rebounds against a Michigan team," said Cleveland State coach Mike Boyd, a former Michigan assistant. With 24 turnovers and a meager six points from the bench, Michigan was down by as much as 10 points. "It was sloppy overall," Michigan point guard Dugan Fife said. "We never got in sync (the first half). The second half, it was just the opposite." After a lackadaisical first half, Michigan stepped up the tempo. An 8-0 second-half run, including a three- pointer by Fife, narrowed the gap to 48-44, Cleveland State. A putback dunk by transfer Sam Mitchell stopped the run, but Jimmy King's three-pointer pushed Michi- gan over the top. Another King three- pointer less than 30 seconds later made it 54-50 Wolverines. Mitchell, who spent his 1990-91 and '91-92 seasons at Michigan, played in all 29 games his freshman year. After receiving a cool welcome from the crowd, Mitchell said, "It didn't affect my play at all. They had, a better team, better athleticism, just wore us down." Juwan Howard, who said that Mitchell was "one of the reasons I came to the University of Michigan," led all scorers with 25. He brushed aside suggestions that the responsi- bility to win ultimately fell on his shoulders. "All the guys pitched in to start the run," Howard said. 1-71 victory Still, Howard proved the team's workhorse for the night, snagging forgotten rebounds and making buck- ets in heavy traffic down low. Errant passes in the first half cost the Wolverines dearly. At the 9:39 mark, a pass by Saint-Jean was saved by a dive by Fife, who tossed the ball to King from the ground. King then lofted it crosscourt past Saint-Jean and out of bounds. A stray pass by Jackson with just under6:30 left led toaDerrick Zeigler layup. He was fouled by King, then converted the three-point play. One and a half minutes later on a fastbreak, King'stwirling shake-and- bake move at midcourt was spoiled by a miscommunication with Rose when King's soft pass found the band instead of Rose's hands. The passes - along with 35 per- cent field goal and 0 percent (0 for 5) three-point shooting-translated into an eight-point halftime deficit for the Wolverines. Michigan turned the ball over 13 times in the first 20 minutes. The game's few highlights - a Ray Jackson jam to end the game and a Rose in-your-face dunk at the 4:42 mark - were overshadowed by an abysmal overall effort. "We can't start in the second half," Howard said. "We've got to start from the first jump ball in the game." CLEVELAND STATE (71) FO FT REB MIN W-A M-A OT A F PTS Hill 28 5-12 0-0 3-8 2 3 10 Welch 3410-22 0-0 4-6 3 1 22 Mitchell 27 6-11 2-4 4-5 1 5 14 Zeigler 31 2-3 1-1 3-3 2 3 5 Caldwell 39 3.8 0-0 0-1 9 3 6 Dellinger 15 2-3 0-0 0-1 0 3 4 Moore 16 2 4 0-0 0-1 1 2 4 Bolden 10 2.4 0-0 0.0 0 0 6 Totals 200 32-67 3-5 16-28 1820 71 FG%: .478. FT%: .600. Three-point goals: 4-11, 364 (Bolden 2-2, Welch 2-7, Caldwell 0-2). Blocks: 2 (Mitchell 2). Turnovers: 21 (Caldwell 6, Zeigler 4, Mitchell 3, Welch 3, Hill 2, Bolden, Moore, team). Steals: 8 (Caldwell 2, H-ill 2, Mitchell 2, Bolden, Zeigler). Technical Fouls: none. MICHiGAN (84) FQ FT REB MIN M-A M-A O4 A F PTS Jackson 30 6-11 6-6 6-9 3 3 18 King 31 4-9 5-7 3-6 3 1 15 Howard 35 12-19 1-3 7-12 2 3 25 Fife 27 1-4 0-0 1-2 3 0 3 Rose 37 5-15 7-8 2-5 3 1 17 Crawford 23 1-5 2-2 0-1 4 0 4 Derricks 5 0-1 0-0 041 0 0 0 Bossard 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 Saint-Jean 10 1-2 0-0 0-1 0 1 2 Totals 200 3066 21-26 23.42 1810 84 FG%: .455. FT% .808. Three-point goals: 3-13, .231 (King 2-3, Fife 1-3, Crawford 0-3, Rose 0-3, Howard 0-1). Blocks: 4 (Howard 3, Saint-Jean). Turnovers: 24 (Rose 7, Jackson 6, King 4, Howard 3, Fife 2, Crawford, Saint-Jean). Steals: 15 (Rose 5, Crawford 4, Howard 3, King 3). Technical Fouls: none. Cleveland State...37 34 - 71 Michiganr... A:......29 55 - 84 At: Crisier Arena; A: 12,977 (paid) *1 " 0 " Cleveland State's Sam Mitchell shoots over Michigan's Juwan Howard last night at Crisler Arena. Mitchell's Vikings lost, 84-71. FULL COURT PRESS: Despite lack of points, bench sparks Blue By TIM RARDIN DAILY BASKETBALL WRITER Among the proverbial forest of Division I col- lege basketball teams, the No. 5-ranked Michigan basketball team entered this season standing tall among its counterparts, with as solid a trunk as any tree in the country. Indeed, before the season's christening, Minne- sota coach Clem Haskins remarked that Michigan was the most talented team in the Big Ten one to four. For coach Steve Fisher's Maize and Blue tree, the foundation of Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson was not the problem. The problem was the roots, or in basketball lingo - the bench. And as everyone knows, it is the roots which are the tree's lifeline. And though it is the trunk and branches which get all the attention, the roots are what makes the tree so strong. Just ask last year's team. Primary benchees - seniors Rob Pelinka, Eric Riley, James Voskuil and Michael Talley - all started at one point or another in their careers. All of them combined to make the Michigan basketball team that reached two NCAA champi- onship games more than just the Fab Five. This year, that bench is gone. In its place- two freshmen in Bobby Crawford and Olivier Saint-Jean, an inexperienced sopho- more in Leon Derricks and a seldom-used senior in Jason Bossard. In their first game against Georgia Tech, that foursome combined for a whopping four points - count 'em - four points. Yesterday against Cleveland State, the bench had six to up the its season total to 10. Last year's seniors averaged 14.3 a game. With little help from the bench thus far, the starters have accounted for 94 percent of the Michi- gan offense. The Fab Four alone have accounted for 87 percent. But for now, maybe that's OK. The Wolverines haven't needed that bench scoring. They have won without it, and have instead gotten that spark in other ways - ways that don't really show up in the box score the next day. "When we got in the game, we kept up the intensity level," said Crawford, who had four points, four assists and four steals against Cleveland State. "I think we got the job done when we needed to." True, for now, that is what Michigan needs. But eventually it will need scoring. Eventually, Michi- gan will not be able to rely on the starters, on the Fab Four, to put the ball in the hole. "The bench is young and we don't have a lot of experience," Saint-Jean said. "But when we get that experience, we'll put up some numbers. "I think when we get better, the whole team will get better." Let's hope so. 01 Water polo comes up shy in bid for third straight title -- - Q T HOCKEY NOTEBOOK By ELISA SNEED DAILY SPORTS WRITER Sometimes you fail just one test. But it happens on your biggest test of the year. Despite an impressive season, the favored Michigan men's water polo failed to live up to its expectations in the Big Ten Championships earlier this month. "We had a tremendous season up until the last day," Michigan coach Scott Russell said. "We played against some of the best teams in the country, but we can compete with them." Michigan did indeed compete with the best all season long. Its final record was 22-9-1. Four of those losses came to Big Ten club teams. The others were at the hands of varsity squads. That record - the best in the Big Ten - gave the two-time defending champions the top seed in the Big Ten Championship tournament. But a third championship in a row was not in store for the Wolverines. In the semifinal round, Michigan was defeated, 7-2, by Michigan State, a team it hadn't lost to in four years. Prior to this contest, the offense had been averaging 14 goals per game, but against the Spartans, the ball wouldn't go in the net. "Everyone gave their best effort," Russell said. "Itjust didn't go our way." The Wolverines were not the only team to experience an unexpected loss. Northwestern, a club team the caliber of Michigan, was defeated by Ohio State in the other semifinal match. After the two teams lost in the semi- finals, the rest of their seasons were "very anticlimactic," Russell said. "(Northwestern and Michigan) were clearly expecting to play in the championship game," Russell said. "Neither team was excited about play- ing. At that point, it didn't matter, we weren't playing for first place." That lack of excitement lead to an 11-10 Northwestern victory and a fourth-place finish for Michigan. Now Michigan is looking to next season. "We expect to be very competitive next year and we'll shoot for the tourna- ment again next year," Russell said. The Wolverines will only lose one senior and all of their top performers will return in 1994. W iseman returns from injury; notches five points By ANTOINE PITTS DAILY HOCKEY WRITER AUBURN HILLS - Captain Brian Wiseman returned to the Michigan lineup Friday after missing one game with a strained knee. Wiseman was listed as doubtful for this weekend's games at the Palace but returned to record a goal and four assists in the two games. "At times you feel a twinge, but overall (the knee) held up well," Wiseman said. Wiseman's four assists against Minnesota Friday gave him 200 career points. He now ranks seventh on Michigan's all-time point scoring list. THE MAIZE AND BLUE: The Wolverines donned their maize jerseys for the first time this season in Saturday's game against Wisconsin. "We like to wear them in special games," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "We've worn them in Joe Louis (Arena). We've worn them in the NCAAs, big games in the playoffs. I think ourteam has alot of confidence when we wear them. They seem to play well with them." Michigan now has a 5-2 record while wearing maize. ON HOT ICE: The Palace ice surface did not receive any rave reviews following any of this weekend's games. "I can't say the ice was great, but it wasn't terrible either," Berenson said. The Zamboni created many of the problems itself. Before Friday's first game, the machine stalled in the middle of the ice dumping a load of water in the center ice area. The next time it went around, The Zamboni spewed smoke. The less-than-perfect conditions caused the officials in the games to use the squeegee almost as much as they used their whistles. STILL No.1: The Wolverines remain the top team in the latest WMEB college hockey poll. Michigan received 13 of 15 first-place votes and 146 total points. Michigan is one of three CCHA teams in the poll. Lake Superior State is second while Bowling Green is 10th. With Saturday's loss, the Wolverines have a 1-1-1 record against teams currently ranked in the poll. FUTURE PLANS: Next season The College Hockey Showcase will move to the St. Paul Civic Center, home of the this year's NCAA hockey championship, with Minnesota hosting. Michigan State hosts the 1995 Showcase at Joe Louis Arena, with Wisconsin getting its chance in 1996 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. BYPASS THE BOOK STORE Buy Or Sell Used Textbooks With Other Students from your College. EVAN PETRIE/Daily Michigan center Brian Wiseman skates up ice against Wisconsin at The Palace Saturday. Wiseman was listed as doubtful for the College Hockey Showcase, but returned to score five points on the weekend. Read about this weekend's clash between the top-ranked Michigan hockey team and CCHA foe Western Michigan in SPORTSMonday. All University of Michigan students, faculty, and staff fn L121". . 1.1/4 tTfth #.9A - 1