4 - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, February 7, 1994


BASKETBALL NOTEBSOK
Cagers continue to
clean glass effectively
By RACHEL BACHMAN
and BRETT FORREST
DAILY BASKETBALL WRITERS
Besides beating Michigan State on the offensive end, Michigan
outrebounded the Spartans by a margin of 16. The Wolverines had 38 total
boards, and State had 22.
The Spartans, who had outrebounded 18 of their 21 opponents before
Saturday's game, were held to just three offensive rebounds for the game.
"It was a defensive game," said Olivier Saint-Jean, who had a career-high
seven rebounds against State.
One reason for Michigan's success was the return of Juwan Howard as
a force on the glass. The junior led both teams with 12 boards. It is the third
time Howard's boards have reached double figures this season, and the
second time in two games.
Howard said he doesn't like to make excuses, but a nagging back injury
had hindered his performance until recently.
With his 12 boards against the Spartans, Howard moved into 12th place
on Michigan's all-time rebounding list. He is 55 rebounds behind 11th-
place Butch Wade (1983-86), and 79 behind eighth-place Chris Webber
(1991-93).
Saturday's game marked the third consecutive contest in which the
Wolverines outrebounded the opposition. Michigan is 13-0 this season when
that happens.
MAK IN ACTION: At the last contest between Michigan and Michigan State,
Makhtar Ndiaye was in street clothes in the stands of Crisler Arena. The
freshman, who was illegally recruited at Wake Forest, was still deciding
between UCLA and Michigan during the last clash.
"I'm not new anymore," said the Wolverines' newest power forward/
center. "I'm, like, in my family right now."
When asked if he got caught up in the intrastate rivalry, Ndiaye responded,
"I'm lucky because I have nothing to do with that.
"I just go and play Michigan State, Ohio State, whoever. I can't say how
much the victory was important. If we were playing against Africa, I could say
'Oh, all right."'
FIRST TO 60 wINS: With Michigan's 59-point total in a victory, Michigan
State lost only its second game when holding the opposition under 60 points,
dating back to the 1983-84 campaign. Before Saturday's game, the Spartans
held a 56-1 record in contests in which they held their opponent to fewer than
60 points.
Michigan State had a 49-game winning streak in these contests broken Jan.
9, 1993 in a 52-39 loss to Illinois.
FISHER'S MOVIN' ON UP: With the victory over Michigan State, Wolverine
coach Steve Fisher catapulted past Dave Strack (1960-68) to move into third
place on the all-time Michigan win list. Fisher owns a 114-41 (.735) mark in
his fifth full season as head coach at Michigan.
The 43-year-old coach reached the 100-win plateau in the Nov. 26 victory
over Georgia Tech in the Tip-Off Classic. It was his 137th game as a head
coach and marked the shortest amount of time any Michigan coach has taken
to reach the milestone.
THE SERIES: Michigan owns an 83-54 advantage over Michigan State in a
series that dates back to 1909, evening their record in East Lansing to 33-33.

01

MICHELLE GUY/Daily
Freshman Makhtar Ndiaye leaps for the block attempt on Michigan State's
Anthony Miller. Ndiaye and fellow rookie Olivier Saint-Jean started for
Michigan due to the suspensions of starters Jimmy King and Ray Jackson.

MICHELLE GUY/Daily
Juwan Howard goes up for two against Michigan State's Jamie Feick during
Saturday's 59-51 Wolverine win. Howard had a game-high 18 points.
HERRINGTON
Continued from page 3
seems that Michigan has finally gained the upper hand. Yet instead of holding
that hand up high in victory, the Wolverines have been using it more often than
not to scratch their heads in disbelief at another loss to the Hoosiers.
Now on national television, with Dick Vitale and his entourage screaming
louder than ever, with first place in the Big Ten up for grabs, Fisher must make
a choice.
Can he afford to let King, Jackson and Fields sit out another game?
Of course, while the fan in us would like to deny it, the question Fisher must
answer is whether or not he can afford not to sit the trio out at least another
game. The decision to suspend the players for Saturday's Michigan State game
was a no-brainer the second the media heard about the incident. Fisher had to
take some action. In politics it's called damage control.
But the politics of college sports is another matter. Usually when a big-
name player is suspended for a team violation, it means that he must sit out
against an opponent the likes of Division III powerhouse Northwest Palooka
State.
Indiana is no Northwest Palooka State.
Just as King, Jackson and Fields allegedly decided to go ahead and take the
beer, Fisher must now decide whether to set an example by keeping 40 percent
of his starting lineup out of the biggest game of the season.
While it will obviously put Michigan at a disadvantage, what happened at
Dairy Mart cannot be ignored simply because the Wolverines are playing
Indiana in a major Big Ten battle. Fisher must stand behind a principle and
accept the consequences.
It's a shame that Fisher is forced to be the heavy in this situation. It's not
his fault his players may have acted recklessly. And regardless of what he
decides, he will be criticized. That's just a fact he has to deal with.
So if you see Fisher today or tomorrow, don't be surprised if you hear him
mumbling.
Why? Why? Why?

Through games of February 7,

Indiana at Michigan 7:30p.m. Iowa at Indiana

Wednesday, February 9
Michigan St. at Illinois
Northwestern at Purdue
Penn State at Wisconsin
Ohio State at Minnesota

Minnesota at Wisconsin
Purdue at Michigan St.
Illinois at Northwestern

8 p.m.
8 p.m.

12 p.m.
2 p.m.
8 p.m.
8 p.m.
12 p.m.

TEAM
Michgan
Indiana
Purdue
Illinois
Minnesota
Wisconsin
.Michigan St.
Iowa
Ohio State
Penn State
Northwestern

CONFERENCE
W L
7 2
7 2
6 3
5 3
5 4
5 4
5 5
3 6
3 6
3 6
0 8

OVERALL
W L
14 4
14 4
i8 3.
12 5
15 7
14 4
14 7
9 9
10 10.
10 8
9 8

8 p.m. Sunday, February 12
8 p.m. Michigan at Ohio State



BACHMAN
Continued from page 1.
have to wear one.
But he need not fret. Like a three-
aspirin hangover, the hot-air hubbub
surrounding the three players will
mercifully fade away.
Like clothing styles, scandals fall
out of favor and end up forgotten.
Every now and then, though, op-
posing fans look for such a stink, and
unfortunately Michigan usually deliv-
ers. So they shout, make signs, and
highlight even the slightest hint of crimi-
nalbehaviorfromtherivalstothe South.
"I don't care about that. We used
to hear all kinds of things. That doesn't
bother us," Juwan Howard said.
More trouble in theJackson family.
In addition to shouting alcohol-
and theft-themed incantations, the
fans in green also excavated old dirt:
the incident in which Jalen Rose ap-
peared at an alleged crack house.
"Craaaaaack-house, craaaaaack-
house," they quipped.
Old news. The man knows.
"It didn't bother me at all," Rose
said. "I've played in the Detroit PSL.
I've heard just about anything."
Yes, it's mean and nasty. Had
Michigan been fazed by the fans'
campaign to defame, it would have
been understandable. But the inten-

SPARTANS,
Continued from page 1
fourth foul at the 8:16 mark. Miller hit
both free throws, and Michigan's lead
had shrunk to five, 41-36.
With 6:07 remaining, Michigan
State senior Kris Weshinskey hit his
first shot of the contest - a three-
pointer - to pull the Spartans within
two, 43-41.
That was as close as the Spartans
would come for the rest of the game.
"We could never get the basket or
the stop to get us over the hump,"
Heathcote said.
Michigan never got into foul
trouble, and the depleted bench made
the needed impact.
"We have confidence in each
other," Howard said. "A lot of people
have not been giving our bench credit,
but they've really been playing well
for us."
Freshman Olivier Saint-Jean
scored a career-high 11 points on 5-
of-8 shooting, and tallied seven re-
bounds.
"I'm not surprised at all by
Olivier's performance," Howard said.
"I know what Olivier can do, he knows
what he can do. Definitely nothing
surprising."
"You just focus on what (the

teams were having trouble executing
their plans. The Spartans were plagued
by turnovers early in the contest,
coughing up the ball six times in the
game's opening 10 minutes.
But Michigan, shooting 30 per-
cent for the half, could not capitalize
on its numerous chances. The Wol-
verines, however, showed poise, ig-
noring the raucous Breslin surround-
ings.
"I think they did a good job to-
night of filtering out anything other
than noise," Fisher said. "We talked
to them. We said, 'Let it be noise.
Don't take anything personally. Make
all the crowd racket just noise.'
Members of the crowd taunted
Michigan, wearing empty cases of
beer on their heads and chanting
"Molson, Molson" in reference to the
suspension of King, Jackson and walk-
on Chris Fields for allegedly stealing
beer from a convenience store.
The Spartan crowd also ridiculed
Michigan junior Jalen Rose with
chants of, "crack house." Rose was
ticketed last year for loitering outside
of an alleged crack house in Detroit.
However, Rose silenced the crowd
on several occasions.
Off a Miller miss midway through
the second half, Rose grabbed a pass
from Howard on the Michigan end.
He took it down the right side and

MICHIGAN (59)
FO FT REB
MIN M"A M-A 04T A F PS
Ndiaye 22 1-6 0-0 0-2 0 4 2
Saint-Jean 34 5-8 1-2 3-7 1 2 11
Howard 37 5-16 &10 4-12 3 3 18
Rose 40 5-11 5.6 0-5 3 3 15
Fife 39 3-7 0-1 1-43.2 9
Bossard 5 0-0 0-0 1-2 00 0
Derricks 23 1-4 2-2 1-3 2 3 4
Totals 200 20.82 16-21 12-38 1217 59
F%.385. FT%: .762. Three-point goals: 3-10,
.300 (Fife 3.5, Rose 0.5). Blocks: none.
Turnovers: 17 (Howard 4, Derricks 3, Fife 3,
Ndiaye 3, Rose 3, Saint-Jean). Steals: 4
(Derricks,Fife, Howard, Saint-Jean). Technical
Fouls: none.
MICHIGAN STATE (51)
PG FTREB
MIN M-A MA OT A F PTS
Wesh'skey 32 2-9 1-2 0-2 2 3 7
Feick 14 0-0 0-2 01 1 3 0
Milner 35 3.6 4-5 0-4 0 3 10,
Snow 36 4-9 0-1 0-5 7 2 8
Respert 38 5-17 2-2 0-2 1 2 15
Garavagiia 11 1-3 0-0 1-2 0 2 2
Beathea 16 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 5 5
Polonowski 1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Brooks 17 1-3 2-2 2-3 0 2 4
Totals 2001849 9.14 3-221122 U
F0%: .367. IFT%..643. Threeipont gosls:6-20,
.300 (Respert 3-9, Weshinskey 2-7, Beathea 1-1,
Brooks 0-1, Snow 02). Blocks: 1(Brooks).
Turnovers: 15 (Respert 5, Snow 4, Brooks 3,
Miner 2. Feick). Steals: 4 (Snow 3, Miller).
Technical Fouls: none.
Michigan.........24 "35 - 59
Michlgan State .... 17 34 - 51
At: Breslin Center
A: 15.138
completed the three-point play with a
free throw, putting Michigan up by
eight, 36-28.
With these sustained efforts, the
Wolverines find themselves tied for
the Big Ten lead with No. 14 Indiana.
The two teams will meet tomorrow at
Crisler Arena.
"You can't hand the title to Michi-

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