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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 1991)
Sports Oklahoma, history NU foes By Jonn AOKisson Staff Reporter ~~ The last time the Nebraska men’s basketball team took the court after a loss, the Huskcrs stunned then No. 5 Michigan State, bursting into promi nence and starting a record-tying winning streak. That was 61 days ago. Now, having suffered their second loss of the season Tuesday at Colo rado, the No. 14 Huskcrs must try to gun down No. 13 Oklahoma Saturday night in a battle for the Big Eight lead. Senior guard Keith Moody said he almost forgot what it felt like to lose. “It’s a terrible feeling,” Moody said. “But now we know what we’ve got to do to prevent that from happen ing again.” "if the 16-2 Huskers are to prevent another loss, they will have to beat both Oklahoma and history'. Nebraska has not won a game at the Lloyd Noble Center since 1981, and the Sooners are riding a 24-game win ning streak at home against confer ence foes. Nebraska coach Danny Nee said the reason for the Sooners’ home court success is simple— talented athletes. “I don’t believe that it’s difficult for teams to play well at Oklahoma,” Nee said. “It’s just the players you’re playing against” Oklahoma was stunned 103-101 at home by Southwestern Louisiana Tuesday, marking the first time in Basketball standings: Oklahoma 3-1 14.4 Missouri 3-1 11-5 Nebraska 2-1 16-2 Colorado 2-1 12 4 Oklahoma.State 1-2 12-4 Kansas 1-2 12-4 Iowa State 1-2 7-^2 Kansas State 0-3 10-6 Amie DePraln/Daily Nebraskan Coach Billy Tubbs’ tenure that the Sooners have lost when scoring more than 100 points. Moody said Oklahoma’s loss caught him off guard. “(Southwestern Louisiana was) able to run on them successfully,” Moody said. “Oklahoma’s got a lot of ath letes, so it was kind of surprising to see them lose.” The Sooners, 14-4 overall, are 3-1 in llic Big Eight with wins at home over Oklahoma State, Kansas and Colorado. Their lone conference loss came Jan. 15 at Missouri, in a game punctuated by a verbal brawl between Tubbs and Tiger coach Norm Ste wart. Like Nebraska, Oklahoma uses a balanced scoring attack. Five players average in double figures, led by 6 foot, 1-inch guard Brent Price, who averages 19 points per game. Price’s best effort came against Loyola Ma rymount when he scored 56 and hit 11 three-point goals. Nee heaped praise on 6-8 forward Jeff Webster, who is averaging 18 ppg and 6 rebounds per game as a redshirt freshman. “He’s a tremendous athlete,” Nee said. “I think Webster is as fine of an offensive player as (Tubbs) has ever had.” Nebraska, 2-1 in the Big Eight, will hold a decisive height advantage. None of the Sooners are as tall as Nebraska’s 7-2 center Rich King or 6-9 forward Tony Farmer. Moody said the Huskers plan to be deliberate on offense. “Oklahoma’s not really deep,” Moody said. “We want to make them play defense most of the game, and hopefully that will wear them out on the offensive end.” The game could be a swing game for Nebraska, heading into a two game homestand next week against Missouri and Oklahoma State. “If wc play well against Okla homa,” Moody said, “it would prove to some people that the 16-1 start was not a fluke. But if we lose back-to back, it could really dampen our spir its.” Huskers try to focus for Oklahoma battle By Chris Hopfensperger Senior Reporter _ Nebraska women’s basketball coach Angela Beck isn’t looking at the numbers as she tries to focus on Saturday’s game against Oklahoma. TheComhuskcrs, 12-6overall and 3-2 in the Big Eight, will meet the Sooners, 7-11 and 1-4, in a 3 p.m. game at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Oklahoma, one of the two league teams the Huskcrs beat last season, is better than the Sooners’ record im plies, Beck said. “They arc going to come in here w ith something to prove,” Beck said. “They’re going to come in here and give us a battle.” The Sooners will be firing their guns from the outside. Oklahoma is shooting 30 percent from three-point land and leads the Lig Eight in three point average, hitting 4.6 per game. That has helped pushed the Soon ers into third in team offense, scoring 74.6 points a game. On defense, however, they arc giving up a league-worst 75.6 points. Beck said the Huskers would be focusing on their own defense after losing to Kansas, 83-63, Wednesday night. “Obviously, you’ve got to go back and recover,” she said. “(Kansas) Basketball standings: Oklahoma State 4-1 15-3 Nebraska 3-2 12-6 Kansas 3-2 12-5 Colorado 3-2 12-6 Iowa State 3-2 8-9 Kansas State 2-3 9-7 Oklahoma 2-3 8-10 Missouri 0-5 7-11 Amie DeFrain/Daiiy Nebraskan penetrated and got easy shots, so we’re going to have to crank our defense up. “You don’t win games giving up See OK on 8 A A Saturday s track meet taste or ruture By Matt Herek Staff Reporter The Comhusker track and field team will compete in a meet Saturday that will prepare it for tougher meets ahead, according to Coach Gary Pepin. The Huskers will host teams from Colorado Slate, Wichita State and Nebraska Wesleyan at the Bob Dcva* ney Sports Center. -a --- There are not a lot of great athletes in this meet from other schools. Dirksen assistant head coach --99 ~ Pepin said he expects to win the meet because the competition lacks the Huskers’ depth. NU will compete against some good individual per formers, but he said the teams arc not strong overall. Assistant head coach Jay Dirksen said the teams in the meet arc not bad teams, but the Huskers will not have to be as fresh and well prepared for this meet as they will for others. “There arc not a lot of great ath letes >n this meet from other schools,” See TRACK on 8 Super Bowl teams have different motivations r. U*<» nlm. Ac'*% ftnA iKn ct\A. mol'iKa nloi/nffc lhr» nnvf tu/A CPQ. TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - The Bills remember 2-14. The Giants remem ber 14-2. The Super Bowl teams used moti vational tools as different as their offensive styles this season. Buffalo’s players looked back to the bad old days of 1984 and 1985 when their playoff hopes had vanished by Octo ber and their Decembers were spent in pursuit of the top draft pick. The Giants recalled their 1986 powerhouse championship team that rolled through November, December and January to the NFL crown. “After 2-14, you’ll do anything to keep from going back to 2-14,’’ Bills guard Jim Ritchcr said. One of the benefits — the few benefits — tnal came irom inosc years and a 4-12 mark in 1986 was the hiring of Marv Levy as coach. Gen eral Manager Bill Polian made that choice. Another offshoot of the losing years were profitable drafts. The Bills se lected Bruce Smith, Greg Bell (who was a 1,000-yard rusher before being part of the three-way trade involving Eric Dickerson that brought Cornelius Bennett to Buffalo), Andre Reed, Hal Gamer, Will W'olford, Shane Conlan, Nate Odomcs, Leon Seals, Keith Me Keller and Howard Ballard in those down years “Thai’s not really a comfort when you’re losing every week,” Ritcher said. “You’re never looking that far diicau. Darryl Talley, Buffalo’s best line backer this season, envies the younger players who have gotten to “Tlic Show” so quickly. For him, it’s been an often frustrating eight-year climb. “I still remember the bad years, I always will,” Talley said. “Well, you know, ‘Knock, knock,’ ‘Who’s there?’ ‘Owen. Oh-and-ten.’” “Some of the things that drive you to be here come from the bad times. It means a lot more when you’ve been through a few down years. You really appreciate what you have now.” What the Bills have is offensive momentum after scoring 95 points in their two playoff games. They also have a big-play dctcnsc ana tnc spe cial teams have been, well, pretty special. These are the ingredients that make for a champion. They also arc the ingredients the Bills could only dream about a few years back. “It’s so gratifying,” Ritcher said. “I can really appreciate it more than the others who didn’t play on those teams. I know there arc some guys who might be in their first or second year who might think it wasn’t that hard to get here. They think it’s going to happen all the time.” The Giants can tell you how unre alistic that is. After beating Denver lor the 1986 championship, they didn’t maxc me piayous me ncxi iwo sea sons. Last year, ihcy lost their first postseason game at home to the Rams. “We had some good teams that just didn’t take that extra step,” said comerback Mark Collins, a rookie with the 1986 champs. Lawrence Taylor doesn’t want people confusing the 1990 NFC win ners with the 1986 NFL champs. “This team is different than the one four years ago,” he said. “No body could slop us, nobody challenged us that year. We ran through every one. “This lime, it was more of a struggle.” ____i_7*011 Jeff Willett/Daily Nebraskan Nebraska’s Carl Hayes goes in for a layup against Iowa State. Neumann: Wrestlers ready to bounce back By Chuck Green Senior Reporter Earlier in the week, Nebraska wrestling coach Tim Neumann said he was tired of reading about the injuries his 5th-rankcd Comhuskcrs have suffered in the last two weeks. But after tonight, when Nebraska takes on Wyoming at 7:30 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, Neumann may be hearing less about the injuries and more about comebacks. Scott Chenoweth, Nebraska’s starter and All-America selection at the 167 pound weight class, will return to the lineup after being slowed by sepa rated ribs. Neumann said his return signals the start of belter things for the Husk ers. “With Chenoweth in there, it gives me as a coach a better feeling about injuries and the direction in which we’re going,” he said. ‘‘We should have everybody back within two or three weeks.” “Everybody” includes injured start ers Dave Drocgemuellcr( 134), Corey Olson (177) and Chris Nelson (190). The Huskcrs, 6-5, have wrestled four duals in the pastcight days. Their last dual was Tuesday, a 33-9 loss to No. 8 Northern Iowa. Nebraska wrestled with only four original start ers in the lineup. “We went in there being able to read the writing on the wall,” Neu mann said. “With two weight classes forfeited and starters missing, there was net a lot of question about what would happen.” But, he said, he hopes things will change against Wyoming. “They have some excellent wres tlers,” Neumann said. “But overall, we don’t expect too much trouble.” Neumann said the top matches will beat 134, 155 and 167, where the Cowboys have their best wrestlers. Neumann said he didn’t remem ber a season with more injuries th«n this one. “Our coaching staff has coached a lot harder this year than last,” he said. “A lot of teams could have folded, but we didn’t. “That speaks well lor the charac ter of the guys on the team.” Nebraska's starting lineup: 118 — Jason Buxton (0-0-1) 126 — John Buxton (15-4-1) 134 —Jason Kelber (21-2) 142 — Matt Rempe (1-0) 150 — Layne Billings (3-4) 158 — Todd Enger (17-9-1) 167 — Scott Chenoweth (8-3) 177 — Tommy Robbins (9-10-3) 190 — Open Hwt. — Sonny Manley (10-7-1)