Wednesday, February 26, 1986
Daily Nebraskan
Page 7
Spoils
CU'3
Probable Starters
Colorado (8-17, 0-12)
y Turin Williams 6-9 So.
F Matt Bullard 6-10 Fr.
C - Scott Wilke 6-9 So.
0 - Mike Rcid 6-1 Sr.
(j Michael Lee 6-4 So.
Nebraska (16-9, 6-6)
Y Bernard Day 6-5 Jr.
F John Matzke 6-7 Sr.
C Chris Logan 6-5 Sr.
G Harvey Marshall 6-3 Sr.
G Brian Carr 6-1 Jr.
By Jim Ballard
Staff Reporter
ney Sports Center.
Cornhusker seniors Chris Logan, Harvey Mar
shall and John Matzke will play at home for the
last time. Plus, during a pre-game ceremony,
Nebraska's all-time leading scorer Dave lloppen
will have his jersey retired. It will be the first
basketball jersey ever retired at Nebraska.
The last game Hoppen played this season was
against Colorado. The Huskers won, 77-60. But
the Buffaloes learned from that game, said Colo
rado assistant coach Floyd Kerr.
"Since we played them 25 minutes without
Hoppen, we have an edge in that we know how to
play them without him in there," Kerr said. "We
changed our system slightly, and we'll play the
same type of game that we did last time, hope
fully with more intensity."
Colorado, which enters the contest at 8-17
with no wins in the Big Eight, has a height
Nebraska plays its final regular season home
game tonight against Colorado in the Bob Deva-
Victory escapes
NU as Ivy's shot
fails in final seconds
advantage over the Huskers, something that
Nebraska coach Moe Iba said he worries about.
"Right now, our team's not very big and that
has hurt us in our last two games on the boards,"
Iba said. "Colorado is a good rebounding team,
and they have a number of big players they can
rotate inside that can hurt us."
Among those players are 6-10 freshman Matt
Bullard and sophomore Torin Williams. Bullard
leads the Buffs in scoring at 12.6 points a game
and rebounding at 6.5 a game. Williams chips in
with 11.8 points a game. Guard Michael Lee
averages 10.4 a game.
Kerr agrees that Colorado's height could be a
Buffalo advantage.
' "To offset that, their overall quickness is bet
ter than ours, but if we can stick to our game
plan and push it inside, it should be an interest
ing contest," he said.
Despite their 012 Big Eight record, Kerr said,
the Buffs are playing better as the season winds
down.
"We feel like we have come on in our last two
games, and we're doing things now that we
wanted to do all year long," he said. "Lately
we've had the opport unity to win games, a situa
tion we weren't in before.
"Our goal now is to win one, and then the next
one. That first one is the toughest, but if we win,
maybe we'll get some momentum going into
post-season play."
Iba said a win tonight and Saturday against
Kansas State would be important for the Huskers.
"You never know what's going to happen in
post-season play, so the more wins you have the
better," he said. "Plus, it's good to go into tour
nament play on a positive note."
Tip-off against the Buffaloes will be at 7:35
p.m. in the sports center.
By Geoff Goodwin
and Todd Aron
Staff Reporters
Nebraska's hopes for an upset win
over Colorado were dashed Tuesday
night when Maurtice Ivy's jump shot
drew iron but no net.
Colorado held on for a 68-66 victory.
Nebraska66
Miller
Ivy
Bolli
Stephens
Block
Cotello
Hill
Soulliere
21
17
8
8
4
4
2
2
Colorado 68
Carson
Tripp
Ford
Bankks
Turner
DeWitte
Holwerda
26
10
9
7
7
5
4
Nebraska still had a chance to win
after Colorado's Bridget Turner missed
the second end of a one-and-one, and
Nebraska grabbed the rebound with
only four seconds left. They were unable
to get off a shot.
Nebraska never led in the game but
refused to die.
After trailing by eight, 32-24, at the
half the Huskers made a run at the
Lady Buffs to draw within two at 42-40.
Bullard leads Buffs in scoring
Colorado made a spurt of its own,
outscoring Nebraska 15-8 to take the
lead at 57-48.
Even then Nebraska refused to give
up. They chipped away at the lead,
finally cutting it to 67-66 on Angie
Miller's jumper with 53 seconds left.
Nebraska coach Kelly Hill said Ivy
was the intended shooter on the
Huskers last possession.
"That was the shot we called," she
said. "We got a good screen. We just
didn't hit it."
For Ivy it was the last shot in a
disappointing shooting night that saw
her hit 6 of 19 from the field.
But it was on defense that Ivy shone.
Hill assigned her the task of guarding
Colorado's playmaker, Bridget Turner.
Ivy held Turner to 7 points but more
importantly she forced Turner into
committing nine turnovers.
"She (Ivy) put good pressure on
Bridget," Hill said. "We wanted to
pressure the ballhandler and deny
(LeaAnn) Banks the ball."
Banks was held to seven points but
grabbed 13 rebounds to lead both
teams.
The spark for Colorado was sopho
more Erin Carson who came off the
bench to score 26 points. Colorado
coach Ceal Barry praised Carson's per
formance. "She kept the lead for us," Barry
said. "She did some good things for us
in the second half."
Hill agreed that Carson's play was a
key factor in the outcome.
"She was a big plus for them," Hill
said. "She gave us problems."
Hill said the key to Nebraska's
comeback in the second half was play
ing better defense.
"We were able to take Colorado out
of their offense," she said. "And we
worked the ball inside a little more. We
were more patient on offense in the
second half."
The win improved Colorado's record
to 18-8 and 8-5 in the Big Eight.
Nebraska fell to 1 1-15 overall ahd 4-9 in
the conference play.
CU freshman syr
By Geoff Goodwin
Staff Reporter
When Colorado freshman Matt Bul
lard started school last fall, he says, he
never expected to be a starter for the
Buffs.
"I expected to be a reserve, but I
came out here and started playing in
pickup games against some of the guys
on the team, and I started improving,"
said Bullard, 6-10. "You get better by
playing against people who are better
than you."
If
Bullard said the jump from high
school to college ball has not been
easy.
"You always have to work hard," he
said. "In high school, I was the best
player on the floor, but here everybody's
good."
Bullard, who is from West Des Moines,
Iowa, visited Nebraska on a recruiting
isit. But he chose Colorado after visit
ing Boulder.
"I liked everything," he said. "The
atmosphere, the students, the players,
the coaches. They were all great."
1
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David CreamerDaily Nebraskan
Nebraska's Shelly Block, left, cuts off Colorado's Erin Carson from going inside with a pass
during second-half action Tuesday night.
t his starter stat
Before the season started, Bullard
set three goals for himself; To average
15 points a game, 7.5 rebounds a game
and to be named the Big Eight Newcomer
of the Year.
Colorado's leading scorer has a chance
of reaching the first two, but he has
conceded the Newcomer of the Year
award to Kansas State's Norris Coleiv.an.
"He definitely deserves it," Bullard
said. "He's a tremendous player."
Bullard said he expects tonight's
game with Nebraska to be different
than the Cornhusker-Buffalo game
earlier this season in Boulder, Colo.
"We're going to use a totally differ
ent defensive scheme," he said. "Before,
we just concentrated on (former NU
center Dave) Hoppen."
Bullard praised the Huskers, partic
ularly Bernard Day, whom he guarded
in the first game.
"(Day) had a great game against us;
he was really impressive. We've got to
shut him down," he said.
Despite Colorado's 8-17 record, Bul
lard said he has no trouble getting pre
pared for games.
"It's a lot of fun just to play," he said.
In fact, Bullard said he is optimistic
about the rest of his career at Boulder,
since the Buffs will lose only three
seniors.
"I'm really looking forward to the
future," he said. "I think we're really
going to improve with Coach (Tom)
Apke here. He seems really confident.
He's one of the reasons I came here."
Bullard said that criticism of Apke
for Colorado's season is unfair.
"It's not his fault as much as every
body thinks," he said. "We've had some
close games and some breaks go against
us. Wre could have a better record."