'Fab'uary Former Michigan basketball player and Fab Fiver Juwan Howard has been named the NBA's Rookie of the Month for February. Howard averaged 20.1 points and eight rebounds a game for the Washington Bullets last month. He had the best game of his career Feb. 8 against Miami when he scored 31 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Page 11 Friday, March 3. 1995 Ma , .19 F Icers face ,,weakened but pesky Redskins * By Barry Sollenberger Daily Hockey Writer The Miami (Ohio) hockey team hasn't exactly blown people off the ice this season. The Redskins have won only 16 of 34 games and rank ninth in overall scoring in the CCHA (3.24 goals per game). They also give up more goals per contest than they score (3.38). By comparison, the No. 2 Michi- gan hockey team (20-4-1 CCHA, 25- 6-1 overall) leads the conference in both goals per game (5.75) and fewest goals allowed per contest (2.91). The two teams are set to tangle at the Goggin Ice Arena in Oxford at 7 p.m. tonight. Strangely, for the past two seasons, Miami (13-6-6, 16-12-6) has been a porcupine in the Wolverines' sides. Michigan is 1-3 against theRedskins nd43-6-2 againstthe rest ofthe league since the beginning of last season. "Some teams might be intimidated going into a game against Michigan," Miami coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "But that hasn't really been a problem for us because we've had some success against them in Oxford in years past." LastFebruary, the Wolverines were 27-3-1 and ranked No. 1 when they * traveled to Oxford for a two game set against the unranked Redskins. Faster than you can say "Geronimo," Michigan's No.1 ranking was history with back-to-back 5-3 losses to Miami. The Wolverines never really recov- ered and lost in the NCAAquarterfinals. The Redskin's success against a top ranked Michigan squad continued this season when they knocked off the then-No.1 Wolverines, 4-3, at Yost Ice Arena Nov.18. Michigan rebounded to defeat Miami the next night, but the Wolverines No. I ranking was gone like free pizza, again. So why do the Redskins give Michi- gan so much trouble? "It's hard to explain," Wolverine centerBrendan Morrison said. "I think they just get pumped up and play their best hockey against us." In fairness to Miami, the Redskins hardly resemble the Bad News Bears. They are currently in fourth place in the CCHA and with wins tonight and then tomorrow against Michigan State, they could vault over the Spartans and Bowl- ing Green into second. The Redskins have one of the best goalies. in the league in Chuck Thuss. The senior netminder is the CCHA's second-rated goaltender with a goals against average of 2.85. "He's been as good as any goaltender I've seen in the CCHA this year," Mazzoleni said. Sunday, Michigan travels to Co- lumbus tofaceconference dormat Ohio State (3-20-2,6-25-2) in the final regu- lar season game of the year. The con- testisslatedfora 1 p.m. startattheState * Fairgrounds. The Buckeyes are finishing their ninth straight losing season, but last month they dropped something that they hadn't lost since 1975 - their coach. After 18 years at the Ohio State helm, Jerry Welsh was fired Feb 14. John Markell is 1-3 as the Buckeyes interim head coach. NCAA Tournament hopes on line as 'M' faces Iowa By Antoine Pitts Daily Basketball Writer With Wednesday night's victory overNorthwestern,the Michigan men's basketball team accomplished some- thing it hadn't donein six weeks--win two consecutive games. Sunday in Iowa City (4 p.m., Raycom) the Wolverines (10-6 Big Ten, 16-12 overall) will try to win on the road for the first time in five weeks. The last time Michigan won away from Crisler Arena was on Jan. 24, when the Wolverines ended Indiana's 50-game home winning streak in Bloomington. Since then, Michigan has fallen at Min- nesota, Wisconsin and Michigan State. The Wolverines, now with three games remaining-two of them on the road-can geteven closer toan NCAA tournament berth with a victory. Iowa (7-8, 17-10), which is on the brink of elimination from tournament consid- eration, had won three straight before falling at Purdue Wednesday night. "We're still on the bubble," Michi- gan coach Steve Fisher said. "If we go in and win on Sunday, I think we'll get a good step inside the bubble at least for a moment. "I think they're going to take five teams from the Big Ten. We're in the hunt to be one of those five. We need to win one, maybe two more to get in." Iowa hasn't exactly struggled in conference play. The hard-luck Hawkeyes have lost fourBigTen games by just a point. Another loss came in an overtime game against Illinois. Iowa has turned it on as of late, winning four of its last six games. How- ever, two losing streaks of three games apiece have left the Hawkeyes in the bottom half of the conference stand- ings all season. Iowa has received good play from Chris Kingsbury, who is averaging 22 points per game over the last four con- tests and 16.7 ppg for the season. In the first meeting between the two teams, an 83-82 double-overtime victory for Michigan, Kingsbury scoredjust seven points. The Wolverines hope to con- tain Kingsbury once again. "We're going to have to find Kingsbury in the open floor," fresh- man guard Travis Conlan said. "He's a good shooter and we're going to have to step up our defense." Jess Settles, last year's Big Ten Freshman of the Year, is the Hawkeyes' second-leading scorer at 15.8 ppg. Settles has been in and out of the lineup this season with a nagging back injury. "We've improved over the past month," Iowa coach Tom Davis said. "We're playing more mature and healthier. Kingsbury has been playing huge, and you can't underestimate Settles' return. (Andre) Woolridge has become a very solid point guard." Maceo Baston, who suffered a mild ankle sprain late in Wednesday's game, did not practice yesterday but is ex- pected to be back in the Michigan lineup Sunday. Big Ten Men's Basketball Standings Team: Won Lost 1. Michigan State 12 3 (tie) Purdue 12 3 SgTsdEsPIEnhGRsACLIM/Daily Michigan outlasted Iowa at Crisler Arena the first time the two team met. Last chance for women 's hoops Spartans await Wolverines at first-ever Big Ten tourney By John Lerol Daily Basketball Writer The Michigan women's basket- ball team will have its hands full at the first annual Big Ten tournament this weekend. The eleventh-seeded Wolverines (3-13 Big Ten, 8-18 overall) will have to climb moun- tains to make any noise in the inau- gural tourney at Hinkle Field House on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, Ind. With emotion and effort as its only grappling hooks, Michigan will face a challenge every step of the way, begin- ning with a first-round matchup with Michigan State tonight at 6 p.m. The winner of tonight's game will face Wisconsin, who received a first-round bye with a third-place Big Ten finish, tomorrow at 9 p.m. The Spartans (8-8, 14-11) just missed receiving a first-round bye, finishing in a fifth-place tie with Indi- ana. The Hoosiers get the night off due to a better overall record. Michigan State finished its season on a two-game skid after winning six straight, including a 70-65 victory over the Wolverines, Feb. 19. All-Big Ten forward Kisha Kelley scorched Michigan for 22 points and pulled down five boards in the Spartans' vic- tory. Kelley leads Michigan State in scoring, averaging over 17 points a game. The two-time Big-Ten Player of the Week became the Spartans' all- time leading scorer Feb. 24 against Penn State. Freshman Bella Engen has come on strong lately, notching a career- high 18 points and nine rebounds against the Wolverines. The Hoenfoss, Norway product is currently leading the conference in field goal percent- age. Michigan coach Trish Roberts said that Engen's play against the Wolver- ines was the key to Michigan State's victory. "I don't really see any difference between (the Spartans' 70-65 victory and Michigan's 80-75 win over Michi- gan State Jan. 6), except for the play of Bella Engen," she said. Junior power forward Zareth Gray has played well off the bench for Michigan State. Spelling Engen and Paula Sanders, Gray is averaging double figures in scoring over the last five games. Senior point guard Chris Powers will lead the Spartan attack. Michi- gan State's all-time assist leader is averaging almost eight points a game and is ranked fourth in the Big Ten in assists. Michigan beat the Spartans' in their first meeting this year behind 21 points and 14 rebounds from Jennifer Brzezinski. Michigan State has won nine of the last 10 meetings and holds a 35-7 all-time series lead. Despite losing their last five games, the Wolverines do not expect a repeat performance of Michigan State's win in East Lansing. "We're happy that we get to play (Michigan State) again," forward Molly Murray said. "We're really excited and we feel we gave a great shot of beating them." Brzezinski is currently pacing the team in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots. In Michigan's loss to Michigan State in East Lansing, Brzezinski was held to only five points on 2-for-8 shooting in her worst game of the season. Compared with her career performance against the Spar- tans in Crisler, it doesn't take a Rhodes Scholar to figure out that how Brzezinsksi goes, so go the Wolver- ines. Should Brzezinski and newly- crowned Big Ten Freshman of the Year Akisha Franklin lead Michigan over the Spartans, they will face a Wisconsin squad that trounced them, 80-64, last Sunday behind 31 points from All-Big Ten forward Barb Franke. The tournament runs Friday through Monday with the championship game at 6 p.m. Monday evening. Big Ten Tournament Michigan State Michigan 8-8 Big Ten 3-13 Big Ten DUGLAS KVANJI TR/aily Michigan was 3-13 in the Big Ten's regular season. J I I great research... Kaplan spends over $3 million annually developing products and researching the tests. We've proved that we know the tests inside out. In 1992, Kaplan predicted the elimination .. of an LSAT question type and changed our course in anticipation of the change. In 1993, the ETS was forced to ":"""0-withdraw a GRE question type because Kaplan "broke the code." In 1994, Kaplan research brought to light ,1 security flaws in the computer-based GRE tests. As a result, the ETS temporarily pulled the test. great results. -1 I I Then don't miss the Summer Job Fair Tuesday, March 7 Noon - 4:00 pm Michigan Union S E.Wi ng too.MVgo ' Stop by and see a Jostens representative I