Eastern Michigan Athletics
Last Dance for Eastern Michigan: Rollercoaster Start
3/30/2021 10:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball Sweet 16 Series told by T.C. Cameron
The most successful basketball season in Eastern's 171-year history began auspiciously with wins over St. Mary's (Detroit) College and Northern Michigan University, victories that weren't so much as a blip on anyone's college basketball radar.
But Dec. 1, 1990, Bowling Green stomped No. 5 Michigan State at Anderson Arena, 98-85, and thunder and lightning crackled across the college basketball landscape. The Mid-American Conference's pre-season favorite suddenly had everyone's attention, including Michigan State coach Jud Heathcote, who angrily told reporters after the game, "I'm never coming to another MAC gym again!"
A few days later, EMU made the six-mile trip to Crisler Arena to face Michigan. Two years earlier, with then-interim coach Steve Fisher, Michigan had won 1989's national championship in Cinderella-like fashion. Most EMU observers saw this game as a significant test: a road game against a traditional Big Ten power.
I went to the game with Eric Rass. Before we made it inside the doors, we made a rookie mistake in the dark of the parking lot, paying a scalper for tickets … for Michigan's previous game against Utah. After getting ripped off outside, we watched Eastern get ripped apart in the first half. Michigan shot 59% from the field — including 4-of-4 from behind the 3-point line — while EMU made just 10 of 37 shots (27%).
At the half, it was 48-29, and in that first 20 minutes, if Coach Ben Braun had walked his team to the banks of the Huron River and asked them to kick the ball in the water, they would have missed.
But in the second half, the then-Hurons roared back. They knocked down 17 of 24 shots from the field (71%), including 5-of-8 from behind the arc. Down one, EMU forced a stop to get the ball back, and found Roger Lewis under the basket with a few seconds left in the game. Immediately, two Wolverines hammered him. Lewis would have to win the game from the free throw line.
Just one make would have tied the game, and two would have given Eastern the lead. Instead, Lewis missed both. Unable to get the rebound on the second miss, EMU fouled, Michigan split two free throws at the other end and escaped, 78-76.
The dejection was heavy. Still, the loss didn't rest on Lewis. We'd been outplayed in the first half, and out-rebounded for the game, 40-22. A few Michigan fans offered us snark on the way out, and I vividly remember Rass responding: "We'll see who has the better season. We played terribly and you barely beat us. Good luck making the NIT."
He was spot on. Michigan finished 14-15 and 7-11 in the Big Ten, forcing Fisher to recruit the Fab Five, the greatest incoming class ever assembled. Meanwhile, EMU rode a rollercoaster, result-wise, over the next few weeks. The then-Hurons defeated American to make the finals of the Mile High Tournament at Colorado, but lost the title game to the Buffaloes, 88-81.
After handling Cleveland State easily at home, Eastern lost composure in the final few minutes at the University of Detroit (another road game I attended), allowing the Titans to win, 85-81. After wins over Boston University and Evansville, EMU was 6-3, 4-3 against Division I competition.
The three losses came by an average of four points.
"Our guys didn't think we should have lost any of those games, and we probably shouldn't have," Miller says, "but because we had been tested, we were ready to handle adversity in the MAC season."
The loss at U of D occurred Dec. 15. We didn't know it then, but Eastern wouldn't lose for another 46 days.
— T.C. Cameron is the author of Miracle Maples (2019) and Navy Football: Return to Glory (2017). A 1995 graduate of EMU, he's lived in Annapolis, MD since 2009. Follow him on Twitter: @ByTCCameron.
