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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 1991)
Sports Nee says Huskers are better than ever NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — If this were last year, or the year before, Nebraska men’s basketball coach Danny Nee would have been shocked by a victory over Oklahoma. Not this year. “Nebraska’s better,” Nee said. “I just think Nebraska’s a lot better than we’ve ever been.” The 14th-rankcd Comhuskcrs proved it Saturday night by whipping No. 13 Oklahoma, 111-99. It was Nebraska’s first victory over the Sooncrs in 10 tries and its first in Norman since 1981. The bigger, quicker Huskcrs took a 25-8 lead in the first 6 1/2 minutes and never allowed Oklahoma to get closer than seven after that. Nebraska led by as many as 22 and set a school record for most points in a Big Eight game. “I would say if they played like that in the NCAA tournament, I could sec them going an awfully long way,” Oklahoma coach Billy Tubbs said. Six players scored early as the Huskers (17-2, 3-1 in the Big Eight) grabbed the big lead, and a school record eight players wound up scor ing in double figures. Tony Farmer, who led Nebraska with 22 points and 12 rebounds, set the tone on the first basket of the night by going down the lane and dunking over a Sooner player. Farmer was called for a foul, but the play typified die way Nebraska went about things all night. “This was a great team effort,” Nee said. “I thought our defense was solid, we rebounded, we attacked the basket, we handled their pressure.” And Oklahoma didn’t. Nebraska shot 57 percent to Oklahoma’s 41 percent. The Huskers had a 44-36 rebounding edge and played well enough that 25 turnovers weren’t a factor. Both teams were coming off tough losses. Nebraska lost by 17 points Tuesday night at Colorado. That stopped a 14-gamc winning streak and had some people wondering about the Huskers. Oklahoma (14-5, 3-2) also lost Tuesday night, to unranked South western Louisiana, 103-101. “We were very concerned because Oklahoma was coming off a loss,” Nee said. “I have tremendous respect for Billy Tubbs and I know his kids always play hard. And playing here, they’re always going to be well coached, play defense, score and be aggressive. “We were just very fortunate to catch them the way wc caught them . .. Everything clicked for us and went into place.” Tubbs said his team wasn’t Hat, as it was against Southwestern Ixwisi ana. It simply wasn’t good enough to win. “There’s really not much for me to say other than I thought Nebraska played as good as I’ve ever seen anybody play in this arena,” he said. “They beat us in every phase of the game.” Nebraska picked up its second conference road victory; the Huskers are the only team to win a Big Eight road game. Nee refused to say that his team had the upper hand in the con ference race, however. “We’re not in command of any thing, guys,” he said. “I just feel we're See BETTER on 8 -41 JN U women run over Oklahoma By Chris Hopfensperger Senior Reporter The Nebraska women’s basketball team ran around, past and through Oklahoma’s defense Saturday. They ended up running the Soon ers over 95-67. Nebraska coach Angela Beck said Oklahoma had to pay for the Husk ers’ 20-point loss to Kansas Wednes day night, and pay they did. Nebraska grabbed a 17-poim lead in the first half and pulled ahead by as many as 26 to blow the Sooners away in front of a season-high crowd of 3,127 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Guard Meggan Yedsena said the Huskers’ offensive output benefitted from stressing defense after Wednes day’s loss. “Our offense is ignited by our defense,” Ycdsena said. ‘That’s where it aP starts. “When the defense is flat, every thing is flat.” The Nebraska defenders threw curves at the Sooncrs all afternoon, holding Oklahoma to 36 percent shoot ing from the field, making 12 steals and forcing 25 Sooner turnovers. That defense, and the presence of the Prime Sports Network, lit a fire under Ycdsena. Ycdsena’s family watched the game on a satellite dish as the freshman from Mahanoy City, Pa., quietly col lected 10 points, five rebounds, five steals and 12 assists, one short of the school record. The Huskers, led by sophomore Karen Jennings’ 18 points and nine rebounds, displayed an unusual bal ance with five players scoring in double figures. The Sooncrs scored 27 of their points on three-point goals, but hit only nine of their 22 long-range shots. Beck said she would like to sec a few more three-pointers out of the Huskers, who shot 16 of 23 shots from within 10 feet of the basket. Nebraska traded baskets with the Sooncrs for the first 4 1/2 minutes of the game. Leading 13-11, the Husk ers went on a 21-6 run that helped them take a 44-27 halftime lead. See RAN on 8 11, ill— ii i i .. Michelle Paulman/Daily Nebraskan Nebraska freshman Shelley Pendiey concentrates on the vault Sunday. Pendiey scored 9.15 on the event and 36.85 overall. U neven bar event proves to be Tigers’ downfall By Erik Unger Staff Reporter Nebraska coach Rick Walton an ticipated the turning point in the women’s gymnastics meet Sunday, but not the result. Walton said the uneven bars would be the weakest event for the Com huskers because of injuries and inex perience, but the bars proved to be Missouri’s downfall instead. Missouri scored 44.35 points in the event, and the Huskcrs had 45.6. Nebraska opened up a two-point lead in the vault and bars and went on to win with 185.25 points to Missouri’s 182.65 at the Bob Dcvaney Sports Center. Although Walton said he was happy with the victory, he added that the Huskers would have to increase the difficulty of their routines to get to the mid-190s and be competitive in the bigger meets. Walton said the team’s perform ance was better than last week’s and that it would only continue to im prove. He said his gymnasts hit their routines better and cut down on mis takes. Sophomores Shane Foster and CeCe Occl returned from injuries to com pete in three and four events, respec tively. Nebraska was led by all-around winner Lisa McCrady with 38.15 and freshman all-arounder Dcbbi Bryan, who placed third with 37.2. The Cornhuskers handed the Ti gers, thought to be Nebraska’s big gest challenger in the Big Eight, their first loss of the season. Nebraska is 2 0. Giants keep ball, hold off Buffalo TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The New York Giants left the Buffalo Bills no time for the no-huddle offense. Controlling the ball on touchdown drives at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second, the Giants won their second Super Bowl by beating the Bills 20-19 when Scotl Norwood missed a 47-yard licld goal with 8 seconds left. The winning points in the closest Super Bowl in history came on Mail Bahr’s 21-yard field goal with 7:20 left in the game. But the game really was won by New York’s ball control offense, which moved the ball 87 yards to a touch down just before the half to cut a 12 3 deficit to 12-10, then held the ball for nearly 10 minutes at the start of the second half to take a 17-12 lead. The Giants had the ball for 40:33, leaving the Buffalo offense on the field for only 19:27. One hero of the game in which the lead changed hands four times was 33-ycar-old Oltis Anderson, who picked the most important game of his career to notch his first 100-yard game this season—21 carries for 102 yards. He went in from the 1 -yard line for a touchdown to cap the third quar ter drive. Anderson was selected the game’s most valuable player. Another hero was Jeff Hostetler, the backup quarterback who directed the New York offense almost impec cably, running his career record to 7 0 as a starter. He completed 20 of 32 for 222 yards and a 14-yard touch down pass to Stephen Baker. The Giants held the Bills without a first down on Buffalo’s opening pos session, only die fourth time in the last 13 games the Bills had been held without a touchdown on their first possession. Injuries fail to stop NU track teams By John Gardner Staff Reporter The Nebraska men’s and women’s track and field teams used victories in all but seven events to post easy wins at the University of Nebraska Quad rangular at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Saturday. The Nebraska men won with 100 points, followed by Colorado State with 36 points, Wichita State with 15 and Nebraska Wesleyan with 13. The Nebraska women had 93 points, beat ing Wichita Slate with 23, Colorado Stale with 19 and Nebraska Wesleyan with 18. Coach Gary Pepin said he was pleased with his teams’ performances. “Just like any meet, there were some good parts and some not so good parts,” Pepin said. “But it’s early in the season.” The men won 11 of the 15 events without injured sprinters Tam as Molnar and Stephen Golding. Phouphet Sing bandith pulled out of the triple jump because of an injured right knee after winning the long jump with a 22-foot, 5-inch jump. Pepin said none of the injuries were serious. He said he wished Sing bandith could have competed to gain some confidence and consistency. Last week at the All-Comers Meet, the freshman had a winning jump of 49 9. “I was hoping Phouphet could have consistently jumped 50 feet today,” Pepin said. “But his knee was really bothering him, so he scratched.” Senior Jerry Marscc led the Com husker men with a victory in the 600 meter dash (1 20.65) and ran a leg on the winning 1,600 relay team. Sophomore sprinter Travis Grant won the 200 with a time of 21.8, placed second in the 55 with a time of 6.40 and took third in the long jump with a leap of 22-2 1/4. For the women, Kim Walker cap tured three of her team’s 11 first place finishes, getting victories in the 55 (6.97), the 200 in a provisional national qualifying time of 24.22 and ran a leg on the winning 1,600 relay team. Freshman Shanelle Porter won the 400 in 55.15 and also competed on the winning 1,600 relay team. Next week, Nebraska will play host to another quadrangular with Washington, Rice and Kansas State. In two weeks, the Huskers will com pete in the Frank Sevigne Husker In vitational. Other Nebraska individual winners: Men: Tyson Smith, high jump, 6-11; Rick Schwiegcr, 55 hurdles, 7 71; Ken Waller, 400, 48.05; Jeff Hooper, shot putt, 53 9; Anthony Adkison, 55, 6 33; Andrew Mittan, pole vault 15-8 1/4; Chad Muma, triple jump, 46-2 1/2; 1,600 relay team (Marsee, Mark Jackson. Keith Makell, John Gerber), 3:1928 Women: Tina Hergott, shot put, 44-8 3/ 4; Fran Ten Bensel, mile, 4:51.17; Kwani Stewart, 55 hurdles, 8,07; Meredy Porter, high jump. 5-8 1/2; Lisa Graham, 600, 1:33.80; Becky Lund. 3,000, 10 26 77; Joanne Gomez, triple jump. 39-9 3/4; 1.600 relay team (Waiker, Porter, Tranquil Wilson, Ximena Restrepo) 3:49 96 NU swimmers pound Tigers The members of the Nebraska men’s swimming and diving team broke away from their regular events and pounded Missouri on Satur day. The Comhuskers defeated Mizzou 170-54. Nebraska coach Cal Bentz said numerous swimmers, swimming in different events, had their best times ever. “William Campbell, among many, was excellent in all his events, Bentz said. Bentz attributed the wide point spread to a rebuilding Missouri team. Diving coach Jim Hocking said his team looks like they’re back on track, competing officially against one Missouri diver. “It’s really you against you,” Hocking said. “Diving is a mental game, so we weren’t just compet ing against Missouri.” — Vicki Burge « ^ • • Women swim past Missouri Nebraska women’s swimming coach Ray Huppert wanted to give his team members a taste of dual competition, and he got his chance Saturday against Missouri. The No. 20 Comhuskei s moved their dual record to 5-1 and confer ence record to 2-0 with the 149-74 thrashing of the Tigers at the Bob Devrney Sports Center Saturday afternoon. “It was an overall good meet because everyone swam well, and our No. 4 and 5 swimmers got some valuable meet experience,” Huppert said. “I was pleased, be cause we swam aggressive consid ering we were performing tired.” Nebraska co-captain Kristin Neucnfeldt said that despite the strong win, the Huskers didn’t perform near their potential. “Our performance could’ve been stronger, but we’re beginning to see what we’re capable of doing,’’ Neucnfeldt said. “Our season is almost over, and the big meets arc yet to come.” Nebraska won nine of 13 events, but the Huskers had some of their strongest performers competing in exhibition meets to give some other swimmers that experience. Nebraska had exhibition scores that would have won the other four events. — Benji Greenberg