UljeL jg n k130 Scoreboard NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBA LL BOSTON 107, San Antonio 83 Minnesota 96, INDIANA 91 Houston 81, CLEVELAND 78 OHIO STATE 70, Penn State 62 NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE VILIANOVA 64, Oral Roberts 46 Colorado 1, NEW JERSEY 1 CINCINNATI 74, Ala.-Birmingham 54 Detroit at DALLAS, inc. NORTH CAROLINA 85, Maryland 75 LOUISIANA STATE 88, Florida 82 Home team in CAPS Thursday January 9, 1997 #1l. Purdue awaits women s cagers BtPranay Reddy Daly Sports Writer :tne week. Seven days. 168 hours. any way you slice it, the Michigan women's basketball team was more than gteful for every free moment it had sjuc its last game. it has been a week since the Wi1verines last suited up, but that break Friday when Michigan travels to t Lafayette to face Purdue at 7:30 The Wolverines then return home Sunday to take on Illinois at 2 p.m. at Cjsler Arena. You would think Michigan coach Sue Guevara would be concerned about her siuad's lack of competition the past few days. Not quite. "We needed the week off after com- home;' Guevara said. "I'm not con- Trned at all." Prior to last Friday's 97-90 victory over Northwestern, the Wolverines had- n't played in Crisler Arena since late November. Your typical six-week road trip, not to mention the fact that the Northwestern Blue cagers to fight with Il By Alan Goldenbach Daily Sports Editor Jekyll and Hyde. Good cop, bad cop. Devil or angel. Choose your favorite cliche of opposites. Putting rhetoric aside, the Michigan men's basketball team must decide which cast of characters it wants to put on the floor tonight. The No. 16 Wolverines (1-1 Big Ten, 10-3 overall) will square off against No. 25 Illinois (1-1, 11-3) at Crisler Arena at 7:30. Will it be the team that beat Duke and Arizona - both ranked in the top 10 at the time - or the one that got embarrassed at the Rainbow Classic by 'M' ac Memphis and Pittsburgh? . Although it is early in the Il Mic season, the version of the Iin:i Wolverines that shows up WhenS To tonight, as well as Saturday Where: Cr against No. 11 Minnesota, Arena will go a long way in show- ing how its conference record might end up. Already having lost their Big Ten season-opener to Ohio State, the Wolverines can't afford to drop a pair and still expect to challenge for the title with a 1-3 start. "These next two games are definitely important,' Michigan center Maceo Baston said. "Starting the Big Ten sea- son with a loss is never good. "We need to win these two games against two good teams if we want to win the Big Ten championship. A 1-3 record would be devastating." Baston has been one of Michigan's lone bright spots the past few weeks, averaging 12.3 points and 7.8 rebounds in his last four games. Louis Bullock has also been playing some of his best basketball of the sea- son, averaging just under 20 points and chij ni :N ris hitting nearly half of his shots o er the same span. However, the Wolverines h half of those games, maeim were expected to win. ATnd sonm o e blame has fallen on the shotc o Maurice Taylor. The junior forward was expect t grab the leadership reins i ur while making his pitch for the \ lottery. As the Wolverines have lost tmre A their last five, Taylors nroduc ion ha dropped to a paltry I15 points a rebounds per game, hardly the ne of an All-American. tion Taylor, as well ae of the W olverines, hu< a g gan vs. been guilty of disanorpev nat various junctures nd ght' of the second hal± ,t st Sler LSU and the opening m - utes agarnst Memphis or example. "We still haven't put together a 40-minute eftort"I Taylor said. "It showed against Ohio sate. and we got by without doing it lonnst Northwestern). But we're aoin' ro, to (give a 40-minute effo rt ) Illinois if we want to win." Michigan's inability to n int n it s focus for an entire game might 1e blamed somewhat on its jam-cked schedule over the break. The Wolverines played five games over an eight-day span, a slate considered rocky even at the professional leel. But since then, the Wolverines had five days to relax and work on the n- damentals that made them the Ncj. 4 team in the country just three weeks ago. "With these days off, it'll be good for us," Taylor said. "We'll be able to uct our legs back:' game was the fourth #' action NhO: Michigan at 'Purdue, tomor.. row, vs. Illinois, Sunday When: Tomorrow,' 7:30 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m. Where: Tomorrow, Mackey Arena, Sunday, Crisler Arena in 12 days for Michigan. "The kids needed to get ready for school this week," Guevara said. "It was time to rest up and pre- pare for a new semester." Not to men- tion the heart of the Big Ten JOE WESTRATE/Daily The Michigan basketball team has lost three of its past four games. Jerod Ward and the rest of the Wolverines will battle Illinois tonight and at Minnesota on Saturday. The Wolverines hope to regain their success from before the New Year, the play that helped them beat Duke and Arizona, both ranked in the top 10. Currently, Michigan is 1-1 in Big Ten play after a loss to Ohio State and a victory over Northwestern. schedule. *This year's Purdue team returns only three letterwinners from last season, but the loss may be offset by the arrival of new head coach Nell Fortner. Fortner most recently served as an assistant for the U.S. national team, and culminated her yearlong stint with a gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics. Senior Jannon Roland will be count- * on heavily by the Boilermakers this season, as the team's leading returning scorer. The forward was averaging 13.6 points per game heading into this season and hasn't missed a beat this year, putting up 17.0 ppg. With Purdue's lack of depth, Guevara anticipates a lot of zone defense from the Boilermakers and has tried to pass that along to her squad in practice. "We have been working on our tran- ,ion defense and playing against a zone,' Guevara said. "They only have seven players, and we have to exploit that." When the Wolverines head home Sunday, they will be faced with another player, like Roland, who can light it up. Illinois' Ashley Berggren led the Big Ten in scoring last season with 24.6 ppg. Despite the dominance of Berggren, uevara doesn't have time to be con- 'rned with Illinois. "I am not even thinking about Illinois?' Guevara said. "I won't start thinking about them until Friday night after Purdue." M) track teams to host tri-meet Michigan State, Indiana kick off indoor season against Wolverines °m, By Chris Farah Daily Sports Writer For most people, competing in a meet that will probably have no impact on the Big Ten or national title might seem like a complete waste of time. For the Michigan men's and women's track teams, however, Saturday's home tri-meet with Indiana and Michigan State will provide a much needed tune-up after the three- week holiday layoff. Michigan women's coach James Henry said he doesn't have high expectations for the Wolverines' per- formance after the time off, but he said the meet will be refreshing after four months of anticipation. "We've been practicing for four months, and they're tired of training," Henry said. "They got into very good shape before Christmas break, and probably 60 to 70 percent of them have probably lost a lot of the physical con- ditioning. "I would say that the whole team is anxious to get going, along with the coaches," he added. Michigan men's coach Jack Harvey said that he will take the opportunity to evaluate each Wolverines' readiness for more consequential meets. Saturday's home competition will give all of the Wolverines a chance to com- pete, including those who won't make the travelling team. "First of all, we need to see who's in shape and who's ready to run," Harvey said. "We've just come off a long break, and so we're just kind of feeling things out. An opening meet is a chance for guys to see where they are." Harvey expects relatively strong competition from the Hoosiers and Spartans. "We had a good meet with Indiana last year, and it was a close meet," Harvey said. "Michigan State is much improved on what they were the year before. All three teams have some events where they're not strong at, so it's hard to pre- dict what the scoring's going to be like, but it should be a good meet." Harvey is not, however, placing too much importance on the meet and will use it as an opportunity to rest some key Wolverines for later in the season. Shotputter Brian Wildfong is recover- ing from a wrist operation, and NCAA champion Neil Gardner will hurdle but not compete in any jumping events. "We'd like to do well, but we're not going to kill the guys in order to get a "An opening meet is a chance for guys to see. where they are. - Jack Harvey Michigan men's track coach few extra points," Harvey said. Henry said he expects the meet to be a close one, but he is mostly going to focus on effort and unity from the women's team. But he would still be pleased if Michigan got a good start to the indoor season. "(Michigan State and Indiana) are assuming that we're going to set the world on fire, and we're assuming that they're going to set the world on fire, and I think it will be somewhere in between," Henry said. "So it will be interesting to see how we come out of the block. Our first impression is very important, and that's what we want to make - a good first impression." AP PHOTO The men's and women's track teams will host a tri-meet Saturday with Indiana wnd Michigan State. The meet is the first for the Wolverines since winter break. While the Wolverines remain a threat to win the meet, Michigan men's coach Jack Harvey is approaching the competition with tempered optimism. THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN b is now registering for Winter Term: January 13- April 18, 1997 r MCAT AQUATICS Swim Conditioning Swim Instruction WSI LGI LGT DANCE Ballroom Dance Dance Hip-Hop Aerobics EXERCISE Step Aerobics Weight Training Butts & Guts Tai Chi Chuan Yoga Tae Kwan Do Also Available: Personal Training and Body Composition Assessment* Unlimited Class Cards 9 Drop In Coupons *a*self-defense seminar* Jan. 27th & 29th 7:45-9:45pm 3275 CCRB The Frinceton Review offers the best program in Ann Arbor, period. Our national average improvement is 6.1 POINTSI , ,