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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 1979)
monday, december3, 1979 page 10 daily nebraskan u Five-guard shuffle aided Husker victory By Shelley Smith It could have been Buckingham Palace. Nebraska's version of the changing of the guards was more than enough to help the Husker basketball team down Portland State 74-52 Saturday night in front of the largest home attendance this year, A Bob Devaney Sports Center crowd of 7,815 watched the Huskers out-race and out-shuffle the Vikings-racking up their third straight victory after beating South Dakota State 100-83 Friday night. Junior center Andre Smith led the Huskers with 17 total points and eight rebounds. Junior college transfer Tim West, a forward, scored 14 points, and sophomore forward Jerry Shoecraft scored 10. But it was the five-guard shuffle which eventually broke through Portland State's zone defense and kept the Huskers alive in a game which they led by only eight points at halftime. Five of seven guards saw game action, together logging almost 92 minutes of playing time. "There's not much difference in our guards," Nebraska Assistant Coach Moe Iba explained. "We like to keep a fresh set in there, iba is lining in as neaa coacn wnne Joe Cipriano recovers from a Nov. 12 operation. SOPHOMORE GUARD Jack Moore put in the most time for the guards. While he was in Moore stole the ball five times, caused two turnovers, made seven assists and scored nine points. "I like to get into a running game. Not harem-scarem, but a controlled running game," Moore said. Controlling the running game, Iba said, was one of the problems the Huskers faced early in the first half. , It took Nebraska a little more than two minutes to score in the first half, and then almost four minutes to score in the second half. . "We had good shots but we just couldn't hit them," Moore said. "Had we come off and hit those, we could have had a strong lead early," he said. Iba said the Huskers were attempting to execute an "early offense" designed to break a defense out of zone coverage. By moving a lot, an offense can force defensive moving, he said. "We couldn't do it in the first half," he. said. "The offense was a little sluggish." HOWEVER, when Portland State broke out of their zone coverage early in the second half, the Huskers penetrated, and came up with a strong scoring drive, leading at one time by 23 points. "We're a young team and that's the first time we've faced a zone," Iba said. "It took awhile to finally get them to do what the old coach was telling them. But that's the nice thing about this club. They're going to do what you ask them to do," he said. Sophomore forward Jerry Shoecraft came to the rescue against the zone in the secqnd half. Shoecraft hit three field goals in a row to break open the game. The Huskers were also boosted by the play of Tim West. West scored 10 of his 14 total points in the second half. Iba said he was worried West wouldn't be healthy for the. weekend's game because of an injury suffered in practice last Monday. "Tim West is one of our best players. He had back spasms Monday and ' I didn't sleep for three nights," he said. WEST SAID he didn't sleep well either. "I was twisted when I went up for a layup and I landed on the wrong foot. Pain shot up both sides of my back and I couldn't breathe real deep," he said. "It kind of scared me. I didn't know what I had done, but I knew something was wrong bad," he said. West said he was afraid he aggravated a vertebra injury that kept him out a month during his junior year of high school. He said he was in a lot of pain this week, played in pain Friday night, but said it didn't bother him much Saturday night. "It was a little bjt tight, but there was almost no pain," he said. Sunday the Huskers looked at films of their opponent tonight, Eastern Washington. "It's kind of tough having three games so close like ; that and Sunday isn't really considered a day off," Moore said. v " - The Husker jayvees defeated Kearney State jayvees, 82-79, in the opener. Ken Dorrell led the Huskers with 18 points. Tonights varsity tip-off is at 7:35 in the Bob Devaney Sports Center. . atf o V my CK r '1 r m w Wj . .JT" l M l V mM urn. . Photo by Daily Nebraskan Nebraska guard Mike Naderer takes a rebound from teammate Jerry Shoecraft in Friday's 100-83 Husker win over South Dakota State. Saturday, the Huskers won their third straight game with a 74-52 win over Portland State. The Huskers are back in action tonight at the Devaney Sports Center against Eastern Washington. Women fight sickness, take third in swim invitational By Ron Powell UNL women's swimming coach Ray Huppert had more to worry about than the other seven coaches in the fourth annual Husker Swimming and Diving Invitational Friday and Saturday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Although the Huskers finished third in the meet behind national power Florida State and Big Eight power Kansas, the Huskers had to do it without the services of Jo Dea Eckstrom, the Huskers' team captain, and Carol Hall, one of the team's top sprinters, Eckstrom had the flu and Hall was out with bronchitis. "Usually we get hit with this in February," Huppert said about the illness es. "Hopefully, we'll get it all out of the way early this year." Because of Eckstrom's and Hall's abscences, Huppert said he was pleased with the Huskers' third place finish, an im provement over the fourth place finish of a year ago. "We just have better athletes this year," Huppert said. "We have a great group of freshmen doing an outstanding job. With " . l - ..... ,. "I -4" . Jo Dea and Carol sitting out, I was very pleased with finishing third place." Huppert said freshmen Sherri Hay ward, Mary Freathy and divers Carol Berger and Stacv Porter all did well. HAYWARD SET school records in the 200-yard backstroke (2:08.183) and the 400-yard individual medley. She won the 200 backstroke and the 100 backstroke. She finished second in the 400 individ ual medley, third in the, 200 butterfly and fourth in the 200 individual medley. Hay ward also joined with Melanie Jakob, Freathy and Rene Sullivan to set a school record in the 400 medley relay in a time of 4:04.621. Freathy finished fourth in the 100 butterfly, with a time of :59.83, three tenths of a second off the school record. Divers Berger and Porter finished second and fourth respectively in the one-meter diving and fourth and fifth respectively in the three-meter diving. The meet had seven meet records and three national qualifying times, times that Huppert said qualifies this meet as probab ly the fastest in the nation so far this year. "IF YOU STOPPED and asked coaches about the times here, they'd probably say 4wow," Huppert said. "They couldn't believe how fast the times are this early in the season." "I never realized the depth in this meet. Just to get in the bottom eight (consola tion finals), you had to have a fast time." Huppert said the Huskers had swimmers in almost every event setting new lifetime records, and added that he hopes that will continue through the season. "Our goal now is to stay ahead of Missouri and Oklahoma and stay close to Kansas," Huppert said. "I hope the swimmers see their hard work paying off and keep looking forward to each meet." Although the Huskers arc swimming fast times for this early in the season, Huppert said he is hoping his team won't peak too early this year. "I believe we've peaked too early the past two years" Huppert said. "At Big Eight, we just swam flat and didn't do as well as we should have. "We're not going to peak early this year. We're going to show we can swim fast in all the meets." The next action for the Huskers will be dual meets against Colorado Friday night and Colorado State Saturday afternoon. Huskers swimmers finish third Photo by Mitch Hrdlicka Husker freshman Sherri Hayward swims to a fourth place finish in the 200-yard in dividual medley Friday night in the fourth annual Husker Invitational. The Nebraska swim team finished third in the 14th annual Big Eight relays Satur day in Ames, Iowa. Kansas defended its title while Iowa State finished second. ThS Huskers won three events; the 1,500 yard freestyle, the 200 freestyle and three meter diving relays. The 1,500 relay team of Dick Conradt, David Leander, and Anders Rutqvist set a meet record with a 14:19.0 timing. Huskers Mike Hayhurst, Jim Korff, Will Douglass, and Tim Boyd were the members of the winning 200 freestyle team. The three meter diving relay team consisted of Steve Elliot and Lance Green. The next action for the swimmers will be a pair of dual meets against Colorado Friday night and Colorado State Saturday afternoon at the Devaney Sports Center.