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Huskers' 6th place showing
better than expected, Cip says
By Dave McBride
"We're getting into almost a completely
different season now," Husker basketball coach
Joe Cipriano said as his team headed into its Big
8 schedule.
"It's been a little bit up and down so far this
year, but we've given a lot of freshmen some
experience. We're definitely a better team than
last year."
Cipriano' s youthful Huskers were 7-5 as they
began their regular Big 8 conference schedule
Saturday night at Kansas.
The Christmas vacation schedule brought a
sixth place finish in the annual Big 8 holiday
tournament in Kansas City and a 66-58 loss at
Wichita State in their final contest before the
conference opener.
"I think we had a better showing in Kansas
City than I expected," Cipriano said. "I
thought we played with a lot of enthusiasm,
and we improved with every game in the
tournament, and with the exception of a bad
20 minutes, we could have easily won two
games."
The Huskers faced defending Big 8 champ
Kansas State in the opening round and suffered
through a disastrous first half that put them out
of the game early.
After trailing only 21-18 late in the half, the
Huskers gave up 16 straight points to the
Wildcats and managed only three more points
of their own before intermission. Their
offensive output in the eventual 68-47 loss was
the lowest of the year.
Nebraska came back the next afternoon to
beat Oklahoma State 69-62 in a loser's bracket
contest with sophomore guard Jerry Fort
leading the way with 31 points and eight
rebounds. The Huskers, who are connecting on
only 41 per cent of their field foal attempts for
the season, shot a season-best 50 per cent with
29 of 58 against the Cowboys.
The bad 20 minutes Cipriano spoke of was
the second half of the final round consolation
game with Kansas.
The Huskeis led at halftime, but Kansas
rallied behind forward Roger Morningstar's 28
points and a 53 per cent field goal shooting.
Combined with a defensive change, that gave
the Jayhawks a 75-66 win.
"We've been having problems with a zone
defense this year, and it's bothering us a little,"
Cipriano said. "We haven't been able to handle
changing defenses, either. Kansas started out
with a man-toman in the first half in the
tournament, and we scored 40 points on them.
They came out in the second half with a zone,
and our kids just couldn't adjust.
"It looks like we may be in a situation where
we have to go with one group of players against
a man-to-man and a different group against a
zone, and that's not good for us."
The sophomore backcourt combination of
Fort and Ricky Marsh, along with junior
forward Steve Erwin, were the only Huskers to
start each of the first 12 games. The other two
starting spots had been rotated between senior
Brendy Lee and freshmen Ron Taylor, Rickey
Harris and Mark Enright.
Cipriano said he was generally pleased with
the progress his squad has made and pointed
particularly to the play of Taylor and freshman
Bob Siegel.
Taylor scored 21 points and grabbed 17
rebounds in a 73-55 win over Northern Iowa
just before the holiday break, then came back
With a team-leading 23 points in the
tournament loss to Kansas.
Taylor was averaging 10.9 points per game
heading into the conference season, second
only to Fort's 18.1 average, and was the team's
leading rebounder.
Siegel, Cipriano said, "has been really
coming on. He's started to lose some weight
and looks like he could be one to really help us,
and I'm glad to see that."
The former Fairbury High School star had
appeared in eight games, scoring nine points
and grabbing 10 rebounds, at the end of the
vacation schedule.
After seeing the conference teams in Kansas
City, Cipriano said he foresees a five- or
possibly six- team race for the Big 8 title.
He said he feels Kansas State, Kansas and
Colorado have the best chance for the league
crown.
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monday, january 14, 1974
daily nebraskan
page IS