Scoreboard MS co eoaLNATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION SMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBA LL Miami 99, TORONTO 87 No. 8 MINNESOTA 66, Iowa 51 ORLANDO 96, Milwaukee 92 No. 2 Wake Forest, No. 4 CLEMSON 62 Chicago 87, CLEVELAND 71 Memphis 64, NO.6 LOUISVILLE 58 New York 92, INDIANA 90 No. 11 ARIZONA 99, Oregon 48 HOUSTON 111, New Jersey 104 No. 16 Xavier 62, G. WA SH. 61 Home team in CAPS Friday January 24, 1997 11 Blue to go outside Big Ten to fight State By John Lerol Daily Sports Editor No Jud Heathcote. No Shawn Respert. No Fab Five. No fight for the conference title. Heck, it's not even counted as a confer- ence game. If there weren't such a heated rivalry between Michigan and Michigan State, tomorrow's 8 p.m. game in East Lansing would be nothing more than two middle- of-the-pack Big Ten teams fighting over who's not quite in the middle. Both teams are 4-3 in conference play, tied for fifth place, smack dab in the mid- dle of the Big Ten. Both are coming off gut-wrenching losses that have removed them from the Big Ten race. Still, tomorrow's game, televised by Creative Sports (Channel 7 in Ann Arbor and Detroit), promises to be an emotional one. After all, it is still Michigan vs. Michigan State. The two teams have jock- eyed for position as the state's best team for decades. "It's a special matchup," said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo who has been involved in the rivalry since he took his first job at Michigan State in 1983 - one year after Steve Fisher joined the Michigan coaching , staff. What is special is that no matter how large the talent dif- ferential between Who: No. 13 Mich the two teams, every State game is a good one. Where: Breslin Ci Last year's pair of When: Tomorrow, Michigan wins was W the first time in Why: The only thi years that the results TV: Creative Spor were lopsided. And the Breslin Center crowds, though not usually rowdy, hate Michigan with a passion unrivaled anywhere else in the country. Michigan State freshman Jason Webber's parents won't even make the 90- minute drive from Birmingham to watch the game in person. Breslin crowds were never particularly kind to their other son, Chris, when he played for Michigan. Jason isn't exactly the mar- quee player his V$, brother was. He's far from being the Spartans' leading scorer - that dis- gan vs. Michigan tinction goes to senior guard Ray ter, East Lansing Weathers. p.m. Michigan fans . .tmay remember left is pnde Weathers as being 3 (Channel 7) a rather unspectac- ular successor to Respert last year. But Weathers has improved drastically as Michigan State's go-to guy this season, averaging almost 13 points per game. Izzo's biggest threat is his deep bench. The Spartans don't exactly have a star player, but Izzo gets half a dozen points from at least 10 guys a game. Michigan State will rotate as many as 12 guys with- out losing much. And while the Spartans aren't exactly a talented squad, they are athletic and hard- working. Izzo tries to run as much as pos- sible to generate offense. Freshman point guard Mateen Cleaves has been progress- ing slowly but surely and now seems com- fortable leading the offense either in tran- sition or in half-court. Defensively is where Michigan State must win games. Before Illinois scorched them for 11 3-pointers in a 66-63 Illini victory Wednesday night, the Spartans had the stingiest 3-point defense in the confer- ence. State also boasts the Big Ten's third-best scoring defense. The Spartans aren't too shabby on the boards either - sophomore Antonio Smith is the Big Ten's sec9nd- best rebounder. Michigan State does however have a See SPARTANS, Page 13 JONATHAN LURIE/Special to the Daily Travis Conlan and the Wolverines will have to hold on to the ball against a tough Michigan State defense tomorrow night. No. 1 MICHIGAN VS. No. 10 MIAMI (OHIO) e tto ~~~~_ ~~~~~ ~-- - The logjam at the top of the CCHA Team W L T Pts. Michigan 12 1 2 26 Miami(Ohio) 13 4 0 26 Lake Superior 12 4 2 26 Michigan State 10 2 2 22 L------------- -------------------------------4 1!ni Tonight and tomorrow, Yost Ice Arena, 7,p.m. to ,Michigan and Miami will meet to decide who's tops in the CCHA Dy Mark Snyder Daily Sports Writer This weekend, the season-long leader of the CCHA visits Ann Arbor. Instead of the familiar teams from Sault Ste. Marie and East Lansing, the #Michigan hockey team must contend with a new competitor. 'The opponent is not a traditional CCHA power, but a team that has been subpar for the past few seasons - Miami (Ohio). Miami (13-4-0 CCHA, 19-7-0 over- all) has joined last season's co-champi- ons, Michigan and Lake Superior, atop the conference standings as each team has compiled 26 points entering this weekend's action. And it is games against the conference leaders which will go a long way toward determining where this season's champi- obn will hail from. With games tonight and tomorrow at 7 p.m., Michigan (12-1-2, 21-1-3) will 'challenge Miami at Yost Ice Arena, which will, for the first time this season, be the site of a "big-game weekend." 'Before the season, this series may have been viewed as a mediocre tune-up for Michigan before the CCHA stretch run to follow. Not anymore - the stretch run begins tonight. The Redskins were pegged as the CCHA's seventh-place team in the pre- season coaches' poll. But that was based on past mediocre seasons - 28-37-10 since 1994-95. Did Miami coach Mark Mazzoleni feel slighted? "I thought it was a fair pick, because *we hadn't played any games yet,' he said. "(But) I knew we had a better team (than the pick). I felt that if we could solidify our goaltending, we'd be a much improved team." Goaltending has not been a problem. Junior Trevor Prior, last season's inex- perienced netminder, has established himself as one half of the league's top tandem - a duo which has been the key to Miami's success. In his 18 contests this season, he has a 2.55 goals-against average and leads the CCHA with a .900 save percentage. Prior is joined in the net by fellow junior Adam Lord, a refugee from the disbanded Illinois-Chicago program. Lord has held opponents to 3.32 goals in his 10 games. The goalies' rotation in and out of the net has kept opponents off-guard and unbalanced all season long. And Mazzoleni is not making any guarantees for tonight either. "I'm leaning towards splitting them this weekend," he said. "Because the quality of shots they're going to face, they've each got to focus on a game." After last season's 10-22-4 record, average expectations have been replaced by big results thus far for Miami. "When you finish in seventh place and haven't done a hell of a lot, no one owes you anything," Mazzoleni said. "Even though we took some lumps last year, we were playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores, which gave them a lot of on-ice experience." Now, those players are sophomores and juniors and make up the core of the Miami roster. The offensive firepower comes from sophomore forward Randy Robitaille, who leads the CCHA in scoring for league games, and junior Tim Leahy, who has recorded seven game-winning goals. "We have some kids who can defi- nitely play," Mazzoleni said. "(In the past), we had to work really hard to get the puck to the net. Whereas now we have some guys who can step up and snap off(a shot) from 25 feet. Tim is one of those kids" Mazzoleni had compiled a subpar 22- 25-10 conference record in two seasons behind the Miami bench, and there was no reason to think this season would be any different. But with a record of rebuilding behind him, it was inevitable that Mazzoleni would build a winner. From 1988-90, Mazzoleni's Wisconsin-Stevens Point team won the Division Ill national title each season. But Michigan is hardly a Division III team, and Mazzoleni knows it. "The (Michigan) team may be one of the best teams I've ever seen in college hockey, Mazzoleni said. "When you put that with the tremendous support and enthusiasm that is generated in Yost Arena, I think that team goes to another level". With first place on the line, Michigan may need that crowd to defeat the unknown team from Oxford. FILE PHOTO/Daily Michigan put the moves on Miami (Ohio) last season. Things might be different this time against the surprise of the CCHA. For full hockey coverage read _ _ _ _ SPORTSlvonday. ru l y MINORITY HEALTHs Hour All MITCH'S PIAC T Time Monday DJ John King $1.: -5O2atit os' $1.0OO Tuesday-I ;T iyr &3Vg Live Music Cigar Night- w e e osi& Live Music IS. FAILING BLuon Be Fait ofthe Slto * .nv~ruwv fl uurcian