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D3ily Nebraskan
Wednesday, March 2, 1983
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Although a pair of losses last week killed their bid to
win the Big Light Conference regular season champion
ship, the Nebraska Comhuskers can regain some import
ant momentum tonight when they face Kansas in Law
rence, Kan., Assistant Coach Randy Cipriano said Tues
day. "The players have been pretty positive this week,"
Cipriano said. "If we can put a few things together,
we'll have as good a chance as anyone once the Big
Eight post-season tournament begins."
Nebraska dropped to 7-5 in league play and 16-8
overall last week, loling to Missouri and Oklahoma.
"Certainly, both losses were disappointing" Cipriano
said. "But it's no disgrace to lose to excellent teams
like Missouri and Oklahoma."
Kansas, which is 3-9 in Big Light games and 11-14
overall, has recently begun to play more cohesively and
thus will be difficult to defeat, Cipriano said.
"They've got several extremely talented players who
have matured and are starting to play more aggressively,"
he said. "They have the type of club that can beat you
anytime, anywhere if you don't keep on top of them."
The Jayhawks. however, are coming off what Kansas
Coach Ted Owens called a "horrendous" defeat Saturday
in Lawrence against Kansas State.
"I thought We were on a little bit of a roll," Owens
said. "We had been taking care of the ball and avoiding
turnovers, and some of our players had started coming
through with some big performances."
Kansas had played Missouri to a standstill in Columbia
for much of the g3tne before losing, 74-69, and had
scored upset victories over Oklahoma and at Iowa State,
before losing to K-State.
"We just reverted to our early-season form," Owens
said. "We started to .force shots, had some defensive
breakdowns and just didn't play intelligently at all."
Against Nebraska, the Jayhawks must avoid turn
overs and keep the Huskers from breaking off to an
early lead, Owens said.
"You've got to plav liigh-percentage basketball to
beat Nebraska," he said.'"l think our players will bounce
back." -1, i j
Senior guard Greg Downing was still hampered
Tuesday by a sore ankle after injuring himself Saturday
against Missouri. Cipriano said.
If Downing is unable to play, Eric Williams will re
place him in the starting lineup, he said.
Nebraska center Dave Hoppen is the lOth-Ieading
scorer in Big Eight play, averaging 16.4 points per game.
For Kansas, guard Carl Henry is the league's seventh
leading scorer, averaging 17.0 points per contest. Other
leading KU scorers are forward Kerry Boagni at 13.6
points per game, forward Calvin Thompson at 10.6,
and center Kelly Knight at 9.6.
Tipoff is at 7:35 p.m.
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Staff photo by John Zoz
Nebraska's Lenard Johnson blocks the shot of Missouri's guard Prince Bridges. Steve
Stipanovich and David Ponce look on. Johnson and his Nebraska teammates will
travel to Lawrence tonight to meet the Jayhawks.
By Tim Woods
The roller coaster ride continues for
Lenard Johnson.
Johnson. Nebraska's 6-6 senior center
forward, has had to deal with a limited
amount of playing time this season aftei
being a part-time starter in 1981-S2
"It's been tough," Johnson said Sunday.
"But I've learned a lot about myself in
dealing with it."
The Kirkwood, Mo., native started at
center for the Huskers' first 17 games last
season, but had to return to his St. Louis
area home for a funeral in late January
1982.
A blizzard that paralyzed St. Louis
forced Johnson to remain home longer
than he had expected. And the strong play
of Terry Smith, who played center during
Johnson's absence, relegated Johnson to a
substitute's role for the rest of the season.
"Terry played well at center," Johnson
said. "You can't argue about it when you
look at how well he played."
Johnson, though, contributed in spots
as the Huskers' reserve center during the
rest of the season, including a 10-point
effort against Oklahoma State in the first
round of the Big Eight Conference tourna
ment. This season, however, Johnson found
himself on the outside looking in after two
newcomers, forward Stan Cloudy and
center Dave Hoppen, won starting
positions.
With Smith becoming the backup
center, Johnson saw his playing time
dwindle, averaging only 11.8 minutes per
game, compared to Ins average of 15.1
minutes per game in 1981-82.
Doubting whether he was making any
tangible contributions to the team John
son decided after the Jan. 26 game against
Kansas State to leave the Huskers in
definitely. "I just didn't think I was helping the
team," he said. "There's no use being out
there unless you're contributing."
Johnson said he had the support of his
parents, regardless of whether he came
back to the Huskers.
"They knew what I was going through,"
Jie said. 'They were going to back me up
all the way. They said they knew I'd make
whatever decision was best for me."
After sitting out the Huskers' Jan. 29
game at Missouri, Jolinson returned to the
squad.
"I knew it would be hard to stay away
for very long," he said. "But the break gave
me a chance to look at my priorities.
"Basketball is important, but there are
other things to life, too," he said. "It had
been dominating my life to the point that
I was more worried about playing than
anything else."
Now, Jolinson is back, waiting. for a
chance to contribute to the Huskers'
stretch drive. He has had his moments,
such as the Feb. 19 game against Iowa
State, when he and Cloudy held the
Cyclones' high-scoring Barry Stevens to
nine points in Nebraska's 67-66 victory.
But he knows that his playing time from
here on in might be scarce.
"I'm ready to deal with it better,
though," he said. "I'll just have to make
the best out of whatever situation I play
in."
VocCde AdEdois leads Kansas over NebrasEsa, KM-tM
By Ward W. Triplett III
Freshman Vickie Adkins scored 32 points and col
lected 13 rebounds while Philicia Allen gathered 18
rebounds as Kansas pulled away from Nebraska to beat
the Cornhuskers 100-84 in a Big Eight Conference wo
men's game Tuesday night in Lawrence.
The loss gave Nebraska a 4-9 conference mark, and
improved the Jayhawks' record to 9-4. Kansas entered
the game tied with Missouri for second place behind Kan
sas State, who guaranteed themselves the top seeding in
the Big Eight Tournament next weekend in Norman,
Okla., last weekend.
Nebraska ran the ball well early in the game, scoring six
unanswered points to take a 15-8 lead with 15:33 to
play in the half. Kansas, while not going on any signifi
cant scoring spree, kept pace and tied the Huskers at
27-27 with 11:26 to play. Nebraska, with Kathy Hager
strom's six-for-eight shooting from the field leading the
way, exchanged leads with the Jayhawks six times before
the half ended with a 51-51 tie.
"Kathy played one of the best offensive halves I've
seen her play," Nebraska Coach Colleen Matsuhara
said. "She was feeling ill from the flu at half-time, and
she didn't play at full strength in the second half."
Kansas scored the first six points of the second half,
while holding Nebraska to seven points for the first seven
and a half minutes.
With Adkins and Allen, the former 6-1, the latter 6-6,
controlling the boards, Kansas gradually pulled away from
the Huskers, who shot 32 percent from the field that
half.
"We are without a doubt the smallest team in the Big
Eight," Matsuhara said. "We have to run. If we get into a
half-court game, we're going to lose."
Kansas' Coach Marian Washington said that keeping
the Huskers in that half-court game was the key to the
second-half domination.
i
"We knew we would have to slow them downand
make them play the half-court game," Washington said.
"Nebraska runs the floor very well, and you can't relax
and let them get into their game."
Debra Powell led Nebraska with 23 points and 13 re
bounds, while Crystal Coleman added 19 points and
eight rebounds. Hagerstrom finished with 18 for the
Huskers, who complete their regular season this Saturday
against Oklahoma State.