Hockey
vs. Kent State
Tonight, 7 p.m.
Yost Ice Arena
SPORTS
Women's Swimming
vs.Indiana
Tomorrow, 4 p.m.
Canham Natatorium
Brakus
advances to
Rolex second
round
By JOSH KAPLAN
FOR THE DAILY
Michigan's Dan Brakus scored
an 'extra-large victory Thursday at
the Rolex National Indoors Inter-
collegiate Tennis Championships,
beating 6-foot-7 Ian Williams of
Texas, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
The Michigan senior fought off fa-
tigue and illness to move on to the
second round of the 32 player bracket.
As if the fact that he is suffering
a "bad cold" wasn't enough, Brakus'
slot in the draw set up his first-
round match for 8:30 in the morn-
ing.
"It's tough to get up and play first
thing like that," Brakus said.
His first set result is evidence of
that. On his first service game, the
Wolverines' No. 1 singles player was
broken by Williams.
A transfer from Harvard Univer-
sity, Williams then used hisoverpower-
ing serve to capture the-first set, 6-4.
Unable to break serve, the Michi-
gan standoutfaced an uphill battle.
"It took me a while to get adjusted
to the serve," Brakus said, "but after a
while I adjusted and started breaking
(hisserve)."
Brakus never looked back.
He held serve for the remainder of
thematch, notallowing his opponenta
chance to put the match away.
"After that first game, he didn't
even get any break points against mae,"
Brakus said.
Brakus won the last two sets easily,
and began looking to his match'today
against Laurent Orsini of Mississippi.
State.
Orsini, the No. I seed in the tourna-
ment, knocked off his first-round op-
ponent, Brigham Young's Herman Ven
DeCasteele in three sets,6-2,6-7(3-7),
6-3.
Despite his high seeding, Michigan
coach Brian Eisner believes Orsini is
beatable.
"He is the number one seed in
this tournament," Eisner said, "but
that is mainly because he won the
(SkyTel National Clay Court Cham-
pionships). That gave him a lot of
points."
Brakus is not intimidated by the
high seed either. He said Orsini is an
outdoor player, winning often on clay
courts.
The Rolex competition is held on
indoorcourts.
"He likes to play behind the
baseline," Brakus said of Orsini's
style. "He is used to the slower out-
doors play, and indoor play is much
faster."
Orsini struggled in the first round,
needing a third set to move on in the
tournament.
Brakus is confident that he can
win this match to move into the
quarterfinals.
"My game is more suited to in-
doors," Brakus said. "I feel like I have
more experience indoors than he does."
'M' hoops heads to MSU on a roll
By CHAD A. SAFRAN
DAILY BASKETBALL WRITER
While the Breslin Center has never
yielded to the soft spots in the hearts of
the Michigan men's basketball team, it
has certainly provided the Wolverines
with hard-fought victories over Michi-
gan State the past two seasons.
Two years ago, Michigan won in
overtime, and last year, managed a four-
point win, 73-69.
The No. 13 Wolverines (6-2 Big
Ten, 14-4 overall), who know plenty
about close games already this season,
get another opportunity to provide a
thrilling contest when they renew the
intrastate rivalry at 8. p.m. tomorrow
night in East Lansing.
Michigan won the first meeting be-
tween the two clubs this season, 75-64,
at Crisler Arena Jan. 5.
'[he 11-point margin of victory has
been the largest for the Wolverines in
any of their Big Ten games so far this
season, winning by the same amount
against Ohio State.
Lately, Michigan has found itself in
plenty of exciting games, especially on
the road.
The Wolverines defeated Iowa and
Purdue by a single point on shots within
the final 20 seconds of play, and addi-
tionally did not secure its four-point
win over Illinois until the final 30 sec-
onds of play.
"Jalen (Rose) and those guys thrive
on that situation," Michigan guard
Dugan Fife said. "One time Jalen told
me that if there's five minutes left, and
it's eight points either way, we're-go-
ing to win."
Michigan coach Steve Fisher at-
tributed the success to something other
than Rose's confidence in the team.
"The experience of having played
so many close games is aplus,"Fisher
said. "You don't get quite as scared.
We've gotten some enjoyment of
somewhat silencing the road crowd."
Michigan State (5-4, 14-7) coach
Jud Heathcoate concurred with his
coachingrival.
"They're cockybut when you win
as many games as the Fab Five, now
the Fab Four, you go out feeling con-
fident, figuring you're going to win
every game," Heathcoate said. "I don't
find any fault with that."
What the Spartan coach certainly
found fault with was his team's per-
formance Wednesday at Wisconsin.
The Badgers made Heathcoate pound
his head with his fists more often than
normal as they destroyed State, 87-62.
"You never know what a loss like
this does, especially on the road," said
Heathcoate, who is now in his 18th
season in East Lansing. "I was kind of
embarrassed.
"Sometimes it'shardto get over a
game like that. If we are going to have
a bounce-back game for anyone, it
might as well be the Michigan game."
The Spartans have been as cold as
the winter of 1994 lately from the
field, connecting on fewer than 50
percent of their field-goal tries the last
four games.
The Wolverines did notexactly burs
the nets in their last contest either.
Michigan succeeded on 38.5 per-
cent of its attempts Tuesday against
Purdue but obscured that figure with its
52 rebounds, including 24 on the offen-
sive end.
"When you miss so many shots,
you get more offensive rebounds,"
Fisher said. "We battled hard and got in
position to get some rebounds."
In addition to positioning them*
selves formore boards, the Wolverines
have placed themselves in solid con-
tention for their first Big Ten title since
the 1985-86 season.
"We don't talk about it (the Big Ten
title), but I desperately want it," Fisher
said. "It's a top priority, but we can't
get so fixed that's all we think about."
Tomorrow's game marks the con-
clusion of the first half of the confer*
ence season. Of those nine games,
Michigan will have traveled to six of
them, setting up a solid home advan-
tage for the Wolverines the next six
weeks, including next Tuesday's
matchup with Indiana.
However, Juwan Howard enjoys
the challenge of a hostile environment.
"We like going against 16,000
screaming fans," Howard said. "It
makes us stronger.
"We know we can't lose any more
See MSU, Page 12
JOE WESTRATE/Daily
Juwan Howard goes up for two of his 17 points Tuesday against Purdue.
Icers look to emerge from scoring slump against Kent, Ferris
By MICHAEL ROSENBERG
DAILY HOCKEY WRITER
What's in a name?
For the Kent and Ferris State
hockey teams, a name is more than
just something drunk fans yell out at
random intervals during games. It is a
reflection of how the teams play.
The Kent Golden Flashes are just
that - a flashy, quick, skating team.
The Ferris State Bulldogs are slow
but feisty - a hardworking, tight-
checking outfit with a knack for frus-
i HOCKEY EAD
Total Points Points
David Oliver, Mich. 56
2. Dean Fedorchuk, UAF 54
Brian Wiseman, Mich. 54
Total Assists Asst.
Brian Wiseman, Mich. 44
2. Travis MacMillan, UAF 37
3. David Oliver, Mich. 35
Total Goals Goals
1. Dean Fedorchuk, UAF 33
2. Mike Knuble, Mich. 25
3. David Oliver, Mich. 21
Power-Play Goals Goals
. Mike Knubte, Mich. 18
2. Dean Fedorchuk, UAF 17
3. David Oliver, Mich. 12
Goals Against Avgerage Avg.
1. Steve Shields, Mich. 2.31
2. Aaron Israel, Harvard 2.33
3. Blaine Lacher, LSSU 2.52
trating opponents.
"Kent is a good skating team,"
Michigan coach Red Berenson said.
"Ferris is a very strong team. We have
to do a good job of forechecking
against them."
However, Kent (5-13-2 CCHA,
10-15-2 overall) and Ferris State (9-
10-1, 10-15-1)have one thing in com-
mon - they aren't very good hockey
teams.
That's the good news for Michi-
gan, which plays the Golden Flashes
tonight and the Bulldogs tomorrow
night at Yost Ice Arena.
The top-ranked Wolverines (20-1-
1, 25-2-1) have been struggling as of
late, especially on the offensive end.
Michigan has scored just 16 goals in
its last five games, well below its sea-
son average of 5.36 goals per game.
This figures to be a good weekend
for Michigan to break out of its offen-
sive doldrums. Ferris and Kent are
ninth and 10th, respectively, in goals-
against average in the CCHA. Kent's
goaltending tandem of Scott Shaw
and Mario Lacasse has been ineffec-
tive this season.
The Golden Flashes have given
up more than twice as many goals as
the Wolverines. Michigan still leads
the nation in power-play percentage
(.333) and has scored 64 times with
a man-advantage.
Can the Wolverine power play be
stopped?
"That's the million-dollar ques-
tion," Ferris State coach Bob Daniels
said. "I don't think really you can stop
their power play. The best way to stop
Michigan's power play is not to take
any stupid penalties. Once they get on
the power play, you may get lucky
and stop them once or twice, but even-
tually they are going to beat you.
"One thing that I think may help
us is that we have really cut down on
our penalties in the last ten games."
See HOCKEY, Page 12
Women cagers primed for first conference win
Wolverines host 10th-place Illinois in battle of cellar dwellers
By ..L. ROSTAM-ABADI
DAILY BASKETBALL WRITER
Overcoming inexperience and a
lack of depth, the Michigan women's
basketball team now faces a prime
opportunity to overcome the looming
zero in the conference win column
through the first half of its Big Ten
schedule.
The Wolverines (0-6 Big Ten, 3-12
overall) are starving for their first Big
Ten victory, and their appetite may just
be appeased when the Fighting Illini
(1-7 , 6-11) journey to Crisler Arena
for a 7:30 p.m. battle with Michigan.
Currently 10th in the Big Ten,
Illinois gives the 1Ith-place Wolver-
ines their best chance of victory in the
Big Ten this season.
"This is a game we definitely need
to win to help our team," Michigan
freshman guard Jennifer Kiefer said.
"Right now we really believe we can
beatIllinois."
Leading the Illinois squad is a trio
of talented players.
Junior forward Kris Dupps is the
top scorer at 17.1 points per game,
good for seventh in the Big Ten. Se-
nior guard Mandy Cunningham fol-
lows close behind with 16.9 a game,
ranking third in conference free throw
shooting at 81.1 percent. She is cur-
rently second all-time in Big Ten ca-
reer three-pointers with 151.
Sophomore forward/center Anita
Clinton rounds off the threesome.
Clinton is the Illini's leading rebounder
with an average of 8.4 boards per game,
placing her seventh in the Big Ten.
"We're really not adjusting our game
around (Dupps, Cunningham and
Clinton)," Kiefer said. "We'rejust go-
ing to be more conscious of the way
we're playing. Obviously we're not
going to leave Clinton wide open."
Illinois's strong point is unquestion-
ably its 72 percent team free throw per-
centage, which ranks second in the Big
Ten.
Last Sunday, the Fighting Illini were
asizzling 11-for-13(84.6 percent) atthe
line against Purdue. Still, this was not
enough to pull off a victory, as they fell
to the 13th-ranked Boilermakers, 84-
57.
"We're aware of their success at
the foul line," Kiefer said. "What we
need to do is get inside down low,
stay strong with Clinton and draw the
foul.
"We need to be more aggressive,
attack the basket, draw the fouls and god
to the free throw line."
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ELIZABETH LIPPMAN/Daily
Silver Shellman pushes the ball up the floor against Ohio State earlier this
season. The Wolverines are looking for their first victory in the Big Ten.
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