Paqo 1G
Daily Nebrsskan
Thursday, February 9, 1S34
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Oklahoma's WEyir.cn Tisdale and Nebraska's James ?.Ioore battle for a rebour.d in the first half cf Olfs 78-67 win Wednesday nig!:t at the Eab
Devaney Sports Center.
Hoppen. gets
27,
but
NU
short
By Ward 7. Tripled; III
First, the good news. Dave Hoppen scored his
season high of 27 points against the biggest overall
front line in the Big Eight.
Now, the bad news. Wayman TSsdale scored 33
points, and Oklahoma won the basketball game 78
67 Wednesday night in front of 13,444 people at the
Bob Devaney Sports Center.
The Sooners scored more points on the Huskers
'What's in a name?' Allen asks;
finds answer in intramural leagues
Let's talk about intramural basketball, shall we?
While reading the Daily Nebraskan (I'm not proud
of that fact, but it does occasionally happen), a
couple of things caught my attention recently.
I read with interest the article "Intramural stars
led by former Huskers." (Daily Nebraskan, Feb. 8,
page 9).
According to the article, Harper Seven's open
league team is led by former Husker basketball stars
(
AMein
Claude Renfro and Lenard Johnson. According to
team spokesman (now that's organization) Pat
Albright, "We've been winning most of our games by
20 to 30 points and we haven't really been pushing."
There's an accomplishment to be proud of. Maybe
next season those guys could play in a city youth
league and beat 10- and 1 1-year olds by 0-90 points
a game and push even less. -
Now, let me get this straight, when North Carolina
Coach Dean Smith's players use up their eligibility
("graduate" is a risky word in college sports) they
play for Kansas City, Phoenix, or Los Angeles. When
UCLA players use up their eligibility they play for
Los Angeles or Portland, or they go to television
(Hill Street Blues' Officer Bobby Hill is a former
Bruin). ,
When Moe Iba's Nebraska players finish eligibility
they go to intramural basketball Hrarara.
Okay, guys, calm down. I was just having some
fun. Personally, I'm glad to see Johnson and Renfro
staying in school and trying to graduate. The pres
sures put on a college athlete make it difficult to do
well in classes, too. And many just give up after they
finish their eligibility.
Since I'm on the subject, I think the recent "Moe
must goe" personals are pretty classless. Many stu
dents are upset with the seating situation, some
thing to which Iba himself objected strenuously.
And I'm the first to comment that Nebraska Basket
ball isn't of the highest quality, but Iba and the
players work as hard as any team in the country.
Instead of classless, anonymous slams (at least I
put my name on my comments), students should
voice legitimate complaints and above all, support
the team. A good crowd can make mediocre teams
better.
The second thing IVe noticed is some of the names
for these intramural teams. Independent teams get
to choose their own names, I guess, and some of you
guys really used your imagination.
I remember when the Tigers or the Bulldogs used
to be good names for teams.'"
Thb year there are teams called The Scum of the
Earth and Yard Apes. The Yard Apes?
One group of scholarly athletes came up with
Officious Intermeddlers. They should have spent
less time thinking up a name and more time practic
ing. They lost by 10 points to the Running Rebels,
which is a decent name.
Then there's Old Style and Bud Boys. Any team
named after beer is OIC by me.
The ones that really bother me are those I can't
figure out. Take Four Jerks and A Squirt, for
instance. So far IVe taken that seven different ways.
Or the Belostomatids. I couldn't find it in the
dictionary, and frankly, I'm afraid to find out just
what a Belostomatid really is. Hopefully, they just
took the first letter of every team member's name
and formed the team name from that.
And what about Bloto's Streak. It sounds like the
name of a town in western Nebraska.
I got to the faculty and staff league and said to
myself that finally I'd find some" decent names that
students could use as examples. After all, these
people are our educators.
What I got was the Hamilton Animals, the Clowns
and the Hamilton Lunatics.
Other names that stood out as weird to me' were
Bugtussel, Peas, porridge hot, Not Ready for BB
Players, Who Knows, Cares, and Why Bother, Phi
Gamma Delta, Reckdigs, ' Iquanas and my . least
favorite of all, the Living Abortions.
One team called themselves the No Names. They
dont know how lucky they are:- . -
than any other team this year. And Tlsdale. 6-9
All-American from Tulsa, Okla., was the major cause'
of that, Nebraska Coach Moe Iba said.
"Defensively, we broke down in the first five min
utes of the second half," Iba said. "We had to front
him (Tisdale), and we were on the sides of him. If
you do that, he's going to hurt you."
Tisdale shot 12-16 from the floor and nine of 11
from the free throw line. Tisdale and two other
Sooners, Shawn Clark and Jan Pannell, played the
entire 40 minutes.
A Dave Hoppen hook opened the scoring less than
30 seconds into the game. Oklahoma scored the
next six points. The Sooners kept two and four
point leads until the JO-minute mark of the half.
Two Hoppen free-throws tied the game at 16.
Oklahoma's Calvin Pierce and David Johnson
then split seven points. The Sooners moved to a
23-18 advantage, their biggest lead of the half.
The tide soon turned. In a two-minute span, Tis
dale missed three close shots. Nebraska battled
back behind Hoppen. Two Hoppen baskets in the
lane gave Nebraska its first lead, 26-25 with 4:29 left
in the half
A Tisdale dunk off an alleyoop pass gave OU the
lead 20 seconds later. The teams traded the lead 0
seconds later. The teams traded the lead four more
times. Two free throws by Pierce gave OU a 31-30
lead at halftime. .
Tisdale began the second half with an 8-footer off
the glass.
Hoppen came back with a bank shot of his own.
Tisdale responded with a short turnaround from
the baseline. Nebraska's Stan Cloudy scored on a
drive in the lane, but picked up his fourth foul on the
play.
Tisdale scored again from the baseline. Clark hit a
long jumper. With less than two minutes gone in the
half, OU was back out on top by five, 33-34.
From there, it read like the Tisdale diet.
Tisdale from six feet Tisdale from the baseline
Tisdale on the jam Tisdale on the block.
Oklahoma soon built the lead to 63-50, helped by
Iba's first technical foul of the year.
Nebraska got no closer than nine points in the
game's last seven minutes.
Oklahoma played only six players in the game.
Freshman guard Tim McAllister did not play at all.
He had started every game.
Oklahoma Coach Billy Tubbs thought his team's
patience in getting the ball to Tisdale the second half
wsa the key tolhe win.
"A lot of times he will miss his first two or three
shots of each half, and then he gets hot," Tubbs said.
While Hoppen tied his career high score, Tisdale's
33 points were one short of the Sports Center record
of 34 by Andre Smith in 1979.