BASKETBALL NOTEBNK Baston's incomplete eaves Blue shorthanded The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, January 9, 1995 - 5 Michigan still searching for complete game effort By SCOTT BURTON Daily Basketball Writer UNIVERSITY PARK - When Iahktar Ndiaye and Maurice Tay- r got in foul trouble early against enn State yesterday, the Michi- an basketball team had no one on te bench to go to for help down Michigan was left shorthanded ihen freshman Maceo Baston was reed to stay in Ann Arbor in- tead of making the trip to Penn tate because of academic reasons. Baston had a grade that had not een turned in because he still had iork to complete in class. The icomplete made Baston ineligible >@he game against the Nittany ,ions. Baston is expected to be ready play Wednesday night against awa. DUNKS-A-wHOOPs: Penn State iissed two breakaway dunks in esterday's game. The most embarrassing effort ame from Pete Liscicky, who not ny bricked an uncontested tran- i* dunk with a teammate trail- ig, but also received a technical uf for hanging on the rim. "Pete is still recovering on the loor of the shower," center John maechi quipped. "People start salivating when ley get a break-away and I guess le ball slips." WHO's No. 1?: Although the c'State basketball team may ot win a national title anytime non, the football team came aw- lly close to doing so-finishing ro. 2 in both the AP and CNN/ [SA TODAY national polls. However, Michigan basketball oach Steve Fisher thinks the ittany Lions should have been hampions or at least co-champi- *Ve drove by the football sta- dium and saw "national champion, '86 national champion '82," Fisher said, "and it's awful, awful that Penn State can't say' national champs '95."' "(Nebraska coach Tom) Osborne should be a national champion coach, but so should (Kerry) Collins, (Ki-Jana) Carter and coach (Joe) Paterno." CENTER PLAY: Penn State cen- ter John Amaechi did something Arizona's Joseph Blair and Duke's Cherokee Parks couldn't - they completely dominated Michigan's big men. Amaechi, who stands 6-foot- 10, plowed home 26 points, many coming because he simply over- sized 6-foot-9 Makhtar Ndiaye and Maurice Taylor down low. More importantly, he got both men in foul trouble, sending Tay- lor permanently to the bench at the 8:14 mark of the second half. Without Baston, Fisher subse- quently was forced to stick 6-foot- 9 forward Jerod Ward and 6-foot- 8 swingman Willie Mitchell on Amaechi for the final eight min- utes of the game. In that stretch, Amaechi scored 10 points. By RYAN WHITE Daily Basketball Writer If you've been saying to yourself, "This is not a normal Michigan bas- ketball team," Ray Jackson would agree with you. "We just don't fight, and that's uncharacteristic of a Michigan team," Jackson said following yesterday's 73- 63 loss at Penn State. "Wejust haven't fought the fight." That seemed to especially be the case in the first half of the game against the Nittany Lions. After scoring the first basket of the game, the Wolverines watched Penn State open up an 18-point lead in the first half. Michigan had 14 turnovers and shot just 21 percent (6-28) in the first half. It was a disappointing performance for the Wolverines who had put to- gether their first complete game effort last Wednesday against Purdue. "We know we had to come out and play hard like we did against Purdue," said freshman Willie Mitchell who had a career high 15 rebounds. "We didn't play hard until we were down." Michigan did play once they were down. In the second half the Wolver- ines cut the turnovers down to four and raised the shooting percentage up to 42.5 percent. Unfortunately for Michigan, it was too little too late. Also, unfortunately for Michigan, it has been that way most of the sea- son. The Wolverines got blown out of -Crisler Arena in the first half of their game against Penn on Dec. 20. Michigan put up a strong second half but still lost the game on a last second shot by the Quakers' Jerome Allen. Against Arizona at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Nov. 30, Michigan trailed at halftime by just a point, 32- 31. It ended up losing the game, 78- 57, after a horrendous second half. That included nearly eight minutes at the beginning of the half without a point. The same thing happened at Penn State. According to Jackson, the prob- lem has been the team's overall effort, and the way that the team has, br more appropriately has not, come around at this point in the season. "We've got to develop as a unit," Jackson said. "Everyone has got to play hard." And Jackson knows that "every- one" includes himself and fellow se- nior Jimmy King, who Jackson said have had their lapses as well this sea- son. There is a real simple reason why the Michigan basketball team is 1-1 in the Big Ten instead of 2-0. "We just didn't come out and play hard from the beginning," Mitchell said. Senior Ray Jackson and fellow Fab Fiver Jimmy King have been inconsistent at times this season, as the Wolverines have looked to them for more offense. ad white, so that the team would get entally prepared for the Spartans. he players also wore green pennies i g practice to psyche themselves vidently, the ploys worked. Michigan has gotten over the hump ow. The Wolverines needed to be- eve that they could win before they ould go out and do it. Five onconference wins boosted their con- dence; now they can carry that swag- er over into conference play. A good example of this happened k ithe Northwestern game. With 1:58 fining in the game and Michigan gad, 67-53, Shellman hit a longw ree-pointer with aplayerin her face. he shot fell and a foul came with it. hellman gave high-fives to her team- lates and started talking trash to thet pposing players.aw Talking trash? When was the last time Michigan lked trash? Evidently, they've been hing their male counterparts too; Well, maybe not, since the: omen's record differs from the men's 1, P I, y only one loss. IHWGAN STATE (75) MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily Steady guard play from freshman Akisha Franklin's emergence has keyed Michigan's surprising showing this season. Franli taes control at ont guard for Blue By RODERICK BEARD Daily Basketball Writer Among Michigan coach Trish Roberts' Christmas wishes must have been more consistent guard play for her young Wolverines. She probably deserved one. After all, her point guard from last season, Jennifer Kiefer, suffered a knee injury during the summer and is out for the year. Roberts has been scrambling all season to find someone to fill the void. She tried everything, including placing freshman Molly Murray in the spot. The problem was that Murray is a small forward. It was like trying to fit a square block into a circle - it just wasn't a good fit. Finally, Roberts found a solution. After Michigan lost to Iowa last week, Roberts noticed freshman point guard Akisha Franklin and decided to give her an opportunity. "(Iowa) put a lot of pressure on us and Mekisha (Ross) and Molly (Murray) had problems with the pressure. Akisha came in and played against a very good defensive Iowa team and really kept her composure," Roberts said. "I just decided all week that we were going to go with her at point guard. I think she responded very well." Besides her good ballhandling and added scoring punch, Franklin contrib- utes tenacious defense and hustle to the Michigan backcourt. With Amy Johnson, the Wolverines may finally have the consistent backcourt tandem they have sought all season. In her debut as a starter, Franklin tallied 11 points, five rebounds and four assists, helping the Wolverines beat state-rival Michigan State for the first time since 1989-90. She followed that performance with an outstandingall-around outing against Northwestern. Her 15 points, nine assists, five rebounds and three steals surprised Wildcats and evened Michigan's conference and overall records for the season. "She did a nice job of running the offense and did a very good job on our point guards," Northwestern coach Don Perrelli said. "She handled the point very well." Before starting Franklin, Roberts started Murray four times and Ross eight times, looking for the right mix. Roberts said that when she was trying to find a starter at the beginning of the season, she didn't think Franklin was ready to play point guard. «T A A... n'+ th,..t- h ,uaccarin~ri ni rr l, I htr th~t f ch c vn ~ur csrirl~c FO F REB MIN M-A MA T A F PTS Sanders 30 3-4 4-6 3-11 3 3 10 (. Kelley 36 8-21 1-2 3-5 2 5 17 Gray 22 5-6 3-5 1-5 0 3 13 lace 35 5-10 1-3 0-0 3 3 14 2 rs 29 6-13 2-2 0-0 5 5 16 13 1-4 0-0 1-2 21 2 wesley 5 0-2 0-0 0-001 0 Engen 8 1-2 0-0 1-2 0 0 2 Larrabee 3 0-0 1-2 0-0 0 2 1 0. Kelley 19 0-2 0-0 1-2 2 4 0 rotals 200 2964 12-20 10-32 1727 75 FG%:.453. FT%: .600. Three-point goals: 5-12, .417 (Place 3-6. Powers 2-4, Kelley 0.1, Wesley 1) Blocks: 3 (Engen 2, Sanders). Turnovers: 20 (K. Kelley 5, Sanders 5, Wesley 3, Euler 2, Gray 2, Powers 2, Place). Steals: 8 (Sanders 3, Eu2, Gray 2, K. Kelley). Technical Fouls: MICHIGAN (80) FG FT RES MIN MA N-A Q-T A F PTS Shellman 32 1-4 4-5 1-4 7 3 7 flWlacinto 14 5-7 12 1-4 1 4 11 MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily