Iricl ig n What Big Ten team has Ray Jack- son and Jimmy King of the Michi- gan basketball team never lost to? -a ,: ,;,4: 7,, ' . . , :: - i 'M' sports calendar Bach's Score Q & A Hockey Men's Basketball Women's Basketball Track Women's swimming Men's Swimming 2 3 3 4 5 6 8 8 10 7 'M' hockey falls to By Ryan White Daily Sports Editor NOTRE DAME - One week af- ter clinching the CCHA's regular sea- son championship for the second straight year, the Michigan hockey team did something that it hasn't done since the early years of the Reagan administration - lose to Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish (5-18-1 CCHA, 9-22-1 overall) beat the Wolverines 6-3 Saturday night at the Joyce Fieldhouse, claiming their first vic- tory over Michigan since the 1982-83 season. Friday night the Wolverines (20- 4-1, 25-6-1) overcame a slow start against Ferris State (9-13-4, 12-16-4) to beat the Bulldogs 6-2 in front of 6,687 at Yost Ice Arena. "It was just a sweet victory and we'll put this one in the archives," Irish coach Ric Schafer said. "And to win by three? C'mon - what would the odds be in Vegas on that?" Notre Dame center Jay Matushak scored the first of his two goals 2:37 into the first period and the Irish never trailed despite being out shot by the Wolverines. "As much as we were generating offensive chances in the first period, the puck just wasn't going in," Michi- gan coach Red Berenson said. It wasn't until after Jamie Ling put the Irish up 2-0 early in the second period that Michigan finally got on the board. Fighting Sophomore defenseman Peter Bourke's shot from the point hit Wol- verine Ron Sacka in front of the net and Sacka stuffed the loose puck past Notre Dame goalie Matt Eisler to make the score 2-1. Jamie Morshead put the Irish back up by two at 10:10 of the second when he took the puck in the slot and fired three shots before finally beating Michigan goalie Marty Turco. Michigan again pulled within one goal on John Madden's 19th goal of the season at 15:34. After taking a pass from Mike Knuble at the blue line, Madden beat Eisler with a shot from inside the right faceoff circle. The Wolverines' 3-2 deficit at the end of the second was as close as they Irish would come, however. Jeremy Coe, Tim Harberts and Matushak all scored for Notre Dame in the third. Bourke scored the Wolverines' final goal. Michigan also had two goals waved off. One for a hand pass at the Irish blue line and another for too many men on the ice while the Wol- verines were on a power play. Though Notre Dame was able to get timely goals, never allowing Michigan to tie the game up, the key for the Irish was Eisler's play. "We faded in and out with this elusive thing called momentum," Schafer said. "But we got big saves at critical times to keep us in the game. See ICERS, Page 4 - ..f~.,. - ' J k.5 DOUGLAS KMNTFR 06a ,.. 1 q, t ' i o- : Marty Turco was the losing goalie in Michigan's 6-3 loss to Notre Dame. Blue drops Illinois to gain sole possession of 3rd *Conlan key to success with fancy passes and heads-up leadership Travis Conlan does not look like he should be playing basketball at Michigan. In fact, he hardly looks old enough to be going to Disney movies without the accompaniment of an adult. Yet he could be the key to the Wolverines' success Tough defense sparks Wolverines to ninth Big Ten victory of year 41 RYAN WHITE White on Target down the home stretch of the 1994-95 season. , On a team loaded with highly touted freshman forwards, Conlan is beginning to emerge as a point. guard, a position that has been a question mark for Michigan all season. Yesterday against Illinois he scored a career-high seven points, but more impressively he led the team with five assists. He threaded a bounce pass between two Fighting Illini defenders to Maurice Taylor for a jam. He tossed a no- look ally-oop to Maceo Baston and made a number of other passes that didn't result in baskets, but did manage to electrify the Crisler Arena crowd - not always easy to do. "I like to push the ball up on the break, and coach tells me to go in and change the tempo," Conlan said. "I feel that I can pass very well and the coaches have confidence in my passing." In fact, making the big pass is what Conlan enjoys most. As a senior at Lake Shore High School in St. Clair Shores, Conlan averaged 8.2 assists per game. He made the dream teams of both The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press and finished second in voting for Michigan's "Mr. Basketball" to teammate Willie Mitchell. This season, however, did not begin as Conlan had hoped. He played sparingly throughout the Wolverines' non-conference schedule. "It's tough not to be somewhat discouraged when you're not playing," he said. "But I think my See WHITE, Page 5 By Scott Burton Daily Basketball Writer In the absence of a consistent half- court game, Michigan discovered an- other formula to score points in yesterday's, 63-51, conference victory over Illinois. Tough defense and constant pressure = turnovers and transition points. The Wolverines held the Illini to 29.5 percent shooting for the game, the sec- ond straight home game Michigan has held its opponent under 30 percent. The Wolverines also forced 13 turnovers, which helped negate Illinois' 61 to 41 shot advantage.. "We've struggled all year with in- consistency on the offensive end," se- nior Ray Jackson said. "We feel if we are going to win and make it to the tourna- ment, we have to do it with our defense." Michigan consequently blew the con- test wide-open in the second half, thanks to a defense that created numerous easy transition buckets. The Wolverines shot 53 percent for the game, their second- highest shooting percentage of the sea- son. "I think we are definitely the best defensive team in the Big Ten," said forward Maurice Taylor, who had two blocked shots "Our defense generates our offense. Without our defense, we probably wouldn't score." Freshman point guard Travis Conlan directed the offensive mayhem in the second-half, assisting on four transistion scores in seven minutes of game time. His ally-oop pass to Maceo Baston at 7:04 of the second half sealed a 19-3 run and gave Michigan an insurmountable 56-35 lead. "We have to make the transition game more a part of our offense," Jackson said. "If we do that, we'll beat teams." Illinois mostly shut-off the Wolver- ines transition game in the first half by monopolizing the rebounds. The Illini had a remarkable 13-0 advantage on the offensive boards, and an overall 23-18 rebounding advantage, after 20 minutes of play. Center Shelly Clark was the main capitalist of Michigan's defensive re- bounding woes in the first half. Clark collected four offensive boards, result- ing in two easy buckets down-low. The chippies that resulted from Illi- nois' offensive rebounding kept the Illini in the game early. Both Clark and Bryant Notree dropped put-backs in the last minute of the first stanza to bring Illinois to within seven, 28-21, going into the lockerroom. "I don't remember a team dominating us like Illinois did on the boards in the first half," center Makhtar Ndiaye said. "That's what kept them in the game. If they don't get those 13 boards, I think they won't score, because we know their set plays." Michigan kept Illinois more honest in the second half, outrebounding the Illini' 20-13 to close out the game. More impor- tantly, the Wolverine matched Illinois on the offensive boards, collecting five to the Illini's six. Once Michigan shut-out Illinois from the offensive glass, it challenged the Illini's shooters to beat their defense. Illinois failed to respond, with guards Richard Keene and Kiwane Garris shoot- ing a combined 5 for 23. For the game, the Illini hit only 4 of 25 three-point attempts, and 11 of 23 free throws. "First, I want to give Michigan credit, because they played very good defense," See ILLINOIS, Page 5 Ray Jackson fights for a loose ball in Michigan's 63-51 victory over Illinois yesterday. Jackson helped Michigan hold the fighting Illini to 29.5 percent shooting. Flying hgh its his wp to MiA igar Michigan continues to reign in poolat Big Tens Women take ninth championship in a row Baston neup By Antoine Pitts Daily Basketball Writer Seconds remained on the clock as Iowa came down the floor for one final chance. The see-saw affair came down to the end of double overtime with the Michigan basketball team hanging on to a one- point lead. The two teams had battled back and forth all evening but this final attempt would be the difference. Up the shot went. Out of nowhere came Maceo Baston to swat it into the stands. Victory. against the Hawkeyes, and especially the rejection at the end, was a sign of things to come. The performance came on the heel of Baston's lowest moment at Michigan: The 6- foot-9, 210-pound freshman did not make the trip to Penn State because of academic reasons. Baston had not finished all of the required work for one of his courses and had to sit at home while the Wolverines suffered a 10- point defeat to the Nittany Lions. "That was kind of disappointing because I By Marc Diller Daily Sports~ Writeir INDIANAPOLIS - Explosive! The No. 2 Michigan women's swimming and diving team captured its ninth consecutive Big Ten cham- pionship in an dynamic manner Feb. 18 at the Indiana University - Purdue University at Indianapolis Natato- rium. "I'm so excited for our whole team,"sophomore Rachel Gustin said. "Everyone - even those who didn't taper - swam so well!" The Wolverines exploded off the blocks right from the very first race. In the first event, Michigan junior Megan Gillam anchored the 200-yard freestyle relay team (freshman Kim Johnson, sophomores Melissa Stone and Dana VanSingle, and Gillam) to a new Big Ten record (1:32.21), a races and placed amongst the top- eight in every event. Unexpectedly, they scored enough NCAA qualify- ing times to likely send 18 members, a full squad, to Austin, Tex. Mar. 16- 18 for the NCAA Championship. "There were no individuals out there," Wolverine co-captain Alecia Humphrey said. "Everyone pulled for See WOMEN, Page 9 Men claim tenth consecutive title By Michelle Lee Thompson Daily Sports Writer For the Michigan men's swimming and diving team, winning the Big Ten championships this weekend was noth- ing but a warm-up for the NCAA cham- nionshin. which looms ahead a month i I