Wednesday, March 18, 1987
Daily Nebraskan
Page 9
NU smashes through NIT detour;
Huskies next tournament roadblock
Andrea HoyDaily Nebraskan
Nebraska's Bill Jackman pulls up for a jump shot as Andrew
Lang of Arkansas looks on. Nebraska won 78-71.
Trip could pair NU
with 1 0 ranked teams
By Rich Cooper
Staff Reporter
Nebraska Softball coach Ron Wol
forth said the Cornhuskers' annual
spring break trip to Texas and Cali
fornia should indicate how good the
squad is.
The Huskers, ranked No. 4 nation
ally, will play in the Houston Classic
Thursday through Sunday. Nebraska
will face No. 3 Texas A&M in a dou
bleheader on Monday and then travel
to California to play Cal - Berkeley in
a double hitter next Wednesday.
The Huskers will finish the road trip
with the San Jose Invitational March
27 through 29.
Wolforth said it's going to be a
"tough" road trip in which the
Huskers will see 10 of the top 20
teams in the nation.
"The good thing about this road
trip is that by the time the Big Eight
Conference schedule rolls around,
the players have been in just about
every pressure situation that a player
could encouter in a big game," Wol
forth said. "The team is either going
to learn how to win or real quickly
learn how to lose."
At the Houston Classic, four top
10 teams will compete. The top
ranked team at the tournament will
be No. 3 Texas A&M. The Aggies."
were 17-1 in the fall. Their only loss
came to Nebraska.
Wolforth said Texas A&M will be
looking to beat the Huskers since
the teams have a "very big" rivalry.
"I will have no problem getting
our team up to play Texas A&M
because in the fall we were the only
team to beat them," Wolforth said.
"Their coach said we won the game
because they made some errors, but
when I looked in our stat book, it
showed that Texas A&M didn't have
any errors."
"A&M though is a solid team, but
w hat their coach said had an effect
on some of the players on this team.
We have some Texas girls on this
team, and they have a lot of pride."
The other teams that will play in
tbe Houston Classic are No. 5 Loui
I
siana Tech, No. 7 Arizona, No
9
Arizona State and No. 19 Kansas.
The Huskers finished third last
year at the Houston Classic. Wol
forth said the key to Nebraska's
success will be consistent hitting
from the bottom part of the batting
order.
In the second part of the road
trip, Nebraska will first play No. 1 1
California. Wolforth said the Golden
Bears are a solid team and could
give the Huskers some problems.
"California can really hit the
ball," he said. "We would have
played them at the Roadrunner
Classic March 5 through 8, but they
lost to Fresno State in the quarter
finals of that tournament. I think
against Fresno State, California might
have been looking ahead to playing
us. They will be ready this time."
At the San Jose Invitational, Ne
braska will be the second-ranked
team in the tournament. UCLA,
ranked No. 2, will be the team to
beat, Wolforth said. But, as with
Texas A&M, Wolforth said, he will
have no problem getting his team
up for a game with the Bruins.
"Just the name UCLA should get
our team up. They have traditionally
always had a good team," Wolforth
said. "The girls on the team are
really looking forward to this trip.
They've worked hard in the off
season and I think the excitement
of these games will carry us through
this long trip."
Five ranked teams will be playing
at San Jose. They are Arizona State,
California, Kansas, No. 12 North
western, and No. 14 Central Michi
gan, one of the only teams to defeat
the Huskers this season. The Huskers
lost to Central Michigan 2-1 in 10
innings at the Roadrunner Invita
tional. Wolforth said the only thing he is
worried about is his pitchers' health.
If one of the pitchers happens to get
hurt, he said, the Huskers could be
in trouble.
Nebraska's pitching staff had an
ERA of .29 last fall and only gave up
four earned runs in 14 games.
By Mark Derowitsch ,
Staff Reporter
Nebraska men's basketball Coach
Danny Nee almost had his spring break
plans detoured by the Arkansas Razor
backs in the second half last night, but
the Cornhuskers prevailed for a 78-71
win.
Nee's spring break plans include a
trip to his hometown, New York City,
where the Huskers have a chance to
play in the National Invitation Tour
nament final four at Madison Square
Garden. The Huskers need one victory
to reach Nee's homecoming trip after
holding off a Razorback rally.
The next roadblock will be the Uni
versity of Washington. Nebraska will
play the Huskies in the third round of
the NIT at 1:30 p.m. at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center.
"I'm really proud of this basketball
team," Nee said. "I don't think that
we're the prettiest basketball team in
the country but we're still playing and
finding a way t o win. I think it's a credit
to the players."
Nebraska took a. 31-12 lead into the
locker room at halftime thanks to 15
Razorback turnovers and 20 percent
shooting from the field. Arkansas hit
only three of 15 shots in the first half
but connected on six of nine free
throws. Arkansas' 12 first half points
Nebraska's Dill Jackman puts
block.
set a sports center record. The previous
mark was 13 set by South Dakota State
and Southwest Missouri State.
At the start of the game, Arkansas
coach Nolan Richardson said he thought
the Razorbacks started slow because of
fear.
"We got off on the wrong foot,"
Richardson said. "We had 15 turnovers
and hit only three shots, so that's very
scary. We had fear of shots, fear of
The numbers
Arkansas 71
Ratliff 7
Moore 2
Credit 4
Wilson 3
Huery 10
Freeman 9
Lang 4
Hutchinson 2
McKellar 9
Whitby 2
Scott 17
Baker 2
Nebraska 78
Vick 18
Day 19
Jackman 2
Buchanan 1 1
Carr 6
Bailous 20
Neubert , 2
'('
Doug CarrollDaily Nebraskan
up a second hslf shot as Arkansas' Keith Wilson goes for the
1 lh- : .; ..k, r, the
, : situation d'':otal
fear."
Arkansas came '.ut in !! :.!
half and traded Una bu with the
Huskers until it '.eoledo'H i Ju straight
points lo cut the lead to 14 with 15: Hi
left in thegar.u . ikiiul Vi k bio!. ihe
scoring run sii it a lay up. v u k .... - ii Ui
of his' IS poin! in llie second half.
Anthony Bailous led N. bra.sk a with "JO
points.
Arkansas' Tim Scott started on a leii
streak in the second half by hilling a
three point shot, cutting the Husker
lead to 48-35. But once again it was
Vick who ansuem! for Nebraska, this
time with a dunk It- put Nebraska back
up by 15.
Scott hit two iiim- three-point shots
within a minute to pull the Razorbacks
to within three, 53-50. with 7:12 left to
play. But that was the closest the
Razorbacks would come as the Huskers
advanced to the third round of the NIT
Tournament.
"I told our team in the dressing room
(during halfime) to forget about all the
things that happened during the first
half," Richardson said. "I think the
second half we just came out and
played extremely hard. We thought we
saw them hit the panic button with
four or five minutes to go. We had a
couple of chances that didn't happen."
'J.
movement, le.u
first ! -i!'v.. Vvi-;