Page Nel^raskan
^ Monday, January 23,1939
. ______ ~ —- •' I 'f
Wyoming to play taller Huskers tonight
By Steve Sipple
Staff Reporter
Wyoming basketball coach Benny
Dees said his four-guard lineup will
pose at least one problem tonight for
the taller Comhuskers.
“I'll tell you what we ll be able to
do,'’ Dees said. “We’ll get all their
bounce passes. "
Dees said that strategy may not be
enough for his Cowboys, who face
Nebraska in a 7:35 p.m., non-confer
ence game at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center.
“To be straight with you, it's
going to be a struggle,’’ he said.
“New Mexico came in w ith two big
guys and they just killed us.
New Mexico cruised to a 106-89
w in against the Cow boys in Laramie,
Wyo., on Jan. 13. New Mexico's
front line, which features 7-foot. 7
foot-1 and 6-foot-7 players, scored 45
points and hauled in 23 rebounds.
Dees said the Lobos' took advantage
of their height to defeat W yoming on
its home court.
Now Wyoming will face Ne
braska, which features a lineup that
includes 6-foot-7 guard Beau Reid,
w ho’s taller than any Cow boy starter.
“Our tallest starter is 6-6. We’re a
very’ small basketball team,” Dees
said. “I’m really worried about a
team with the kind of inside game of
Nebraska, or of any team with an
inside game"
Nebraska, w hich is now 11 -7
overall and 0-3 in the Big Eight, has
shown it can exploit shorter lineups.
The Huskers manhandled a smaller
Mary kmd-Baltimore County lineup
Jan. 17 in a 86-65 victory at the Sports
Center.
Nebraska's 6-foot^ senior for
ward Pete Manning scored 17 points
and 7-foot-2 sophomore center Rich
King added 10 points, five rebounds
and four blocked shots against the
Retrievers.
Husker coach Danny Nee said his
team's height advantage against
Wyoming doesn't translate into an
easy victory .
"A team like Wyoming - a run
and gun, aggressive, man-lo-man.
multiple defense-type team - can
present some problems," Nee said.
"We just have to make sure we
play our style of basketball. And, pan
of our game plan is to work it inside
and use our big people. "
Included among the Huskers' cast
of big people are King. Manning, 6
foot-7 junior forward Ray
Richardson and 6-foot-9 junior cen
ter Richard van Poelgeest. Manning
leads that foursome w ith an average
of nearly 12 points per game. Only
van Poelgeest has failed to average
double figure scoring totals.
Wyoming will counter the Husk
ers' attack with a lineup that includes
6-foot-3 Reggie Fox, 5-fool-II
Kenny Smith,6-foot-4 Robyn Davis,
and 6-foot-5 Tim Breaux. At 6 feet 6
inches. Reggie Slater is the Cow
boys’ tallest starter.
Decs said that when Nebraska
passes inside the lane area to its big
people, his team will collapse its
guards and try to smother the Husk
ers. He said his team will employ a
man-io-man defense the entire game.
“We’ll try to dive the post and get
them to pitch it out.” he said.
Wyoming will have to improve its
field goal shooting percentage to
defeat Nebraska, Decs said. Wyo
ming hit just 36 percent of its shots
during an 82-80 loss to Utah on Jan.
21. The Cowboys entered Saturday
night’s game against Air Force with a
44 percent average from the lield.
“On nights we shoot, we're a
fairl> good basketball team, but * hen
we don't make 'em. we're too small
to rebound 'em." Dees said.
Adding to W>oming's height
problems has been the grade prob
lems of 6-foot-8 center. Clau/ell
Williams. Dees handed W illiams a
three-game suspension for academic
problems. W'illiams will return to the
Co* boy lineup for their Jan. 28 game
against Hawaii.
Dees said Williams' absence adds
to his feeling that tonight's game
could have come at a better time. He
said because the Co* boys played Air
Force Saturday night, they will have
only Sunday to prepare for Nebraska.
“We’d rather play them during
our preseason, non-conference
schedule than in the midst of our
conference season,” he said. “I’m
sure Danny would agree.”
Nee did agree - but not totally.
“I don’t like it, but we have no
choice,” he said. “But anytime you
play a quality team like Wyoming,
it’s good.”
Nebraska guard Eric Johnson fouls Kansas State’s Reggie
Britt during the Cornhuskers 80-68 setback to the Wildcats
Saturday night.
Huskers off to worst Big 8 start m years
By Nick Hodge
Senior Reporter and
Mike Andreasen
Staff Reporter
For the first time in 20 years, the
Nebraska men’s basketball team has
lost its First three conference games.
Nebraska’s 80-68 loss to Kansas
State Saturday at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center lowered the Com
huskers’ record to 0-3 in the Big
Eight, their worst conference start
since the 1968-69 season when they
lost their first four conference games.
Before Saturday’s game, Ne
braska coach Danny Nee said that it
was not critical for the Huskers to
beat the Wildcats, but it was “very
important.”
But after losing before 14,685 fans
— the largest crowd in four years —
Nee said he was really disappointed.
“It was a tough one,” Nee said.
“We’re digging our own grave
quickly.”
The Huskers fell to 11-7 overall,
while Kansas Slate raised its record to
11-4 and 2-1 in the Big Eight
Nee said he didn’t have any imme
diate answers to solve his teams un
successful conference start.
“We just have to play belter than
we’re playing,” Nee said. “There’s
no consistency. I think the kids try -
they’re working hard. We have to
have consistency in our game and we
just don’t have it”
Such inconsistency enabled the
Wildcats to overcome a 34-24
Husker lead with 4:03 remaining in
the first half and take a 36-34
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halftime advantage.
Nee said Kansas State’s 10 point
run to close out the first half was the
turning point in the game,
'We’re digging our
own grave quickly. ’
-Nee
“We just let it slip right out of our
hands,” Nee said. “We substituted a
couple players and hit a dry spell
where we missed some easy shots
inside and missed a couple layups.”
Wildcats coach Lon Kruger said
his team’s consistency enabled Kan
sas State to take a lead it would never
relinquish.
“I think we just took care of re
sponsibi lilies a little better,” Kruger
said. “We didn’t really change any
thing. The players just did a better
job. ’
Kansas State ran its scoring streak
to 13 points when Wildcat forward
Mark Dobbins made one of his four
three-point baskets to open the sec
ond half scoring.
The Huskers battled back to lie the
score at 53-53 with 12:24 left in the
game on a dunk by center Rich King.
Wildcat guard Steve Henson
made back-to-back three-point shots
and a jumper to propel Kansas State
to a 61-53 lead with 9*44 left.
Nebraska then got no closer than
six points as Kansas State pulled
away to win the contest.
King and Nebraska guard Eric
Johnson led the Huskers with 15 and
17 points respectively.
King and forward Ray Richardson
each grabbed six rebounds to lead
Nebraska, while guard Beau Reid
contributed seven assists.
Four Wildcats scored in double
figures. Henson and forward Fred
McCoy scored 18 points, while Dob
bins and guard LaKeith Humphrey
added 14 each.
The Wildcats’ McCoy pulled
down a game-high 11 rebounds.
Nebraska had 26 fouls to Kansas
State’s 13.
The Wildcats made 15 of 18 free
throws, while the Huskers made just
one of six.
Nee credited Kansas State for
executing well and handling the ad
versity to win road games in the Big
Eight
The Huskers return to action to
night in a non-conference game
against Wyoming. Tip-off is set for
7:35 p.m. at the Sports Center.
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