friday, february29, 1980
page 10
daily nebraskan
Mmker cagevs to meet Wildcats in semifinals
By Paul Martin
The Nebraska Cornhusker basketball team, which has
surprised its critics all year, will attempt to do it again
Friday night in the semifinals of the Big Eight post -season
tournament at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City.
The Huskers will face the Kansas State Wildcats who
reached the semifinals after blasting Iowa State, 101-87,
at Manhattan Tuesday night.
Although most "experts" picked the Huskers to finish
anywhere from fifth to last place in the conference, they
finished in a second place tie with KSU.
, Although both teams had identical 8-6 conference re
cords, the Wildcats were awarded the tournament's second
seeding as a result of splitting their games with conference
champion Missouri during the regular season. Nebraska
was defeated twice by the Tigers.
Husker center Andre Smith, who was named to both
the UPI and AP All Big Eight teams, said he never had any
doubts about UNL's potential.
Never quit
"We had some people last year who I knew could play
but didn't because of seniority," Smith said. "All the
critics looked at was who we had lost from last year. They
didn't look at what we had coming back. These guys never
quit," he said. .
One of "these guys" is 5-9 guard Jack Moore, who
ignited the Huskers at the start of the second half in their
7558 opening round win against Oklahoma.
Moore scored 10 of his game high 21 points in the first
eight minutes after intermission, helping the Huskers gain
a 16-point lead that the Sooners never overcame.
While the Huskers split with KSU during the regular
season, they may be facing a Wildcat team that only
slightly resembles the one they split with.
Kansas State, who had averaged 63 points a game in
Big Eight play, set a new tournament record for most
points scored in a single game in their 101 point explosion
against Iowa State. The "offensive point production
problem" that Head Coach Jack Hartman described earlier
in the year appears to have vanished.
Double figures
Rolando Blackman, the only unanimous selection to
both the "AP and UPI's All Big Eight teams, scored 22
points against the Cyclones to lead a parade of five Wild
cats scoring in the double figures. -
Playing Kansas State in Kansas City is no easy task,
according to acting UNL Head Coach Moe Iba.
"When you go to K.C. you're playing KSU on their
home ground," Iba said. 'They are tough down there.
They have a good team. Well have to be ready "he said.
The NU-KSU winner will meet the winner of the
Missouri-Kansas game in the Championship game , sche
duled for 8:10 p.m. Saturday night at the Kemper Arena.
Missouri and Kansas are the only teams the Huskers did
not split with during the regular season. The Tigers defeat
ed Nebraska twice while the Huskers did the same to
Kansas' Jayhawks.
The tournament's champion is assured of a spot in the
NCAA tournament, which begins its regional playoffs on
March 6.
a Although Iba felt his Huskers showed a lot of character
in defeating OU after losing to them by 18 in their regular
season final, he said it was important that his team did not
get satisfied. " . . . m
"We have gotten satisfied with what we have, done
some times this year," Iba said. "We have got to get them
(Husker players) mad.
LSU crowd could aid gymnasts
By Ron Powell
Although traveling to Baton Rouge, La. Sunday for a
dual meet against LSU is not the same as competing in the
Bob Devaney Sports Center, UNL men's gymnastics
Coach Francis Allen would probably agree it is more
friendly than New Haven, Conn., the home of Southern
Connecticut State College,
Last Friday night, Southern Connecticut, currently
tied for fifth with Oklahoma in the nation's gymnastics
rankings, stunned the top-ranked and defending NCAA
champion Huskers 279.70-278.30. And Allen said the
"very rowdy" crowd of 3,480 was a factor in Southern
Connecticut's outstanding performance.
"At one point in the meet, one judge gave one of our
performers a 9.2 and another judge gave him a 9.6 and
somebody yelled 'shoot the judge' and the crowd went
crazy," Allen said. "One of our judges, John Scheer (who
has judged in three NCAA championships and the 1979
World Games) said he was getting a little nervous."
But Baton Rouge should provide a friendlier atmos
phere for the Huskers. It will be the team's first visit to
LSU since winning the national championship there in
1979.
Allen said there was a crowd of 10,000 at the Mardi
Gras Invitational earlier this month at LSU in which
Husker all-arounders Jim Hartung and Phil Cahoy finished
first and second respectively, He added that he expects a
good crowd for Sunday's meet which also will feature a
Husker-LSU women's dual.
"The LSU crowd is a pretty good one," Allen said.
"The crowds down there love Jim (Hartung) and Phfl
(Cahoy). They did very well down there in some meets
when they were in high school and the crowd really took
to them."
Continued on Page 1 1
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Photo by Mitch Hrdlfcka
Ray Collins (12) shoots over Oklahoma's Aaron
Curry (10) in the Huskers 75-68 win over the Soon
ers last Tuesday night.
d
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Coach: consistency needed
for Big Eight track victory
By Joni Kramer
Entering the Big Eight meet with a
third-place Big Eight ranking in the
coaches' poll, the Nebraska men's track
team will have to "get on all cylinders" to
take the title, according to Coach Frank
Sevigne,
Nebraska will be host for the Big Eight
men's track meet at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center this weekend. Preliminaries
begin tonight at 7:30, with field event
finals beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday and
afternoon and track events starting at 2
pjn..
According to Sevigne, the meet could
turn out many different ways, depending
on team performances. Kansas is picked as
the favorite in the Big Eight coaches' poll,
but Sevigne says the meet could go to
Kansas State, Oklahoma, Iowa State,
Nebraska or Missouri.
"Kansas looks the best on paper "said
sevigne, "Dut that doesn't always hold
1 in 'I
up.
Photo by RStch HrrfJicki
Husker Jon ones, a freshman from St. Andrews, Jamaica, leaps to a win In long
jump competition in the Husker Invitational.
The Huskers are led by co-captain Scott
Poehling, who is the defending Big Eight
champion in the 880-yard run and is to run
two events Saturday. He has set Nebraska
indoor records in the 600-, 880-and 1000
yard runs and in the mile, two mile and
distance medley teams. However, Sevigne
says he's not sure which two events
Poehling will run Saturday ,
Other top performances should come
from Charles Lawrence in the 300-yard
dash, Everton DaCosta in the 600-yard
dash and Randy Raymond, who's already
cleared 16-8 in the pole vault, Sevigne said.
'These individual performances, if at
their top level, if combined with
consistently good team scoring should give
us a good showing at the Big Eight,"
Sevigne said.
Ve have a good mental attitude,"
Sevigne said. "It's strong and should help
us if it s carried through the whole season:1
After three meets, the team has a 2-1 re
cord. Its only loss was to Kansas. ,
The Big Eight meet is the highlight of
the team's schedule, and according to
Sevigne the Huskers need to maintain
consistency to win.
"Well have to perform at a better than
or average level consistently Sevigne said. ,
Scoring will have to come from many
events, not just one area.M
"3