-Daily- Page
Nebraskan 15
Thursday, February 14,1991
[Huskers wear black, bury Cyclones
AMES, Iowa (AP) - Nebraska coach Danny
Nee borrowed a page from the school’s foot
ball playbook to inspire his basketball team.
Nee recently bought a set of black road
uniforms and black sneakers, and the 17th
ranked Comhuskers wore them for the first
time Wednesday night when they defeated
Iowa State 65-57 to become the first Big Eight
Conference team to win 20 games this season.
“In our football program, the black shirts
mean defense, power, that good, hard play,”
Nee said. “We wanted to use them on an
occasion and the players chose to wear them
tonight. They were going back into the closet if
we lost.”
It was defense and steady play that carried
Nebraska. Clifford Scales converted a three
point play and Beau Reid hit four free throws as
the Comhuskers held off a second-half charge
by Iowa State.
Nebraska blew a nine-point lead in the sec
ond half, then outscored Iowa State 16-6 after
the Cyclones had gone ahead 51-49 with 3:55
left The Comhuskers (20-4,6-3), broke a six
game losing streak in Hilton Coliseum.
This is only the sixth 20-victory season in 94
years of Nebraska basketball and the Com
huskers’ first since 1986-87. They won despite
committing 28 turnovers.
“I don’t think we played our best game and
I think we made a lot of mistakes,” Nee said.
‘‘But yet we found a way to win, and I think
that’s the bottom line.”
The Comhuskers outrebounded Iowa State
39-28 and limited the Cyclones to 39.7 percent
shooting.
“They took us out of what we wanted to do,”
Iowa Slate coach Johnny Orr said. “You’ve got
to come out with a maximum effort every time.
Nebraska came in here 19-4 and we played
them as if they were 1-36. All we had to do was
play hard and we didn’t.”
Nebraska went ahead for good when Scales
got free for a basket inside, was fouled and
made the free throw for a 52-51 lead with 3:43
left. After the Comhuskers’ Rich King scored
off an inbounds play to make it 54-51, Reid
twice went to the free throw line in 1-and-l
situations and made all four. That extended the
lead to 58-52.
“This was one of our better defensive games,”
said King, who led Nebraska with 15 points.
“We consider ourselves a fast-break team when
we really get it going, and all fast-break teams
start with defense. When we play good de
fense, we get a good flow going.”
Nebraska_34 31—65
At Iowa State. 25 22 — 57
Nebraska—Farmer 3-5 3-3 9, Hayes 5-12 0-0 10,
King 6-12 3-6 15, Reid 3-4 4-4 11, Scales 3-6 3-3 9,
Owens 1-2 0-0 2, Ramos 0-0 0-0 0, Moody 0-0 1-2 1,
Piatkowski 2-7 4-5 8 Totals 23-48 18-23 65
Iowa State—Bivens 0-1 0-0 0, Pippett 3-7 0-1 7,
Alexander 8-121-317, Collins 2-9 2-4 6, Thigpen 1-71
2 3, Pearson 2 8 2-2 8, McCoy 4-6 1-3 9, Brown 0-0 0
0 0, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, Kunz 1-4 0-0 2, Doerrfeld 2-4 1
2 5 Totals 23-58 7-14 57.
3-point goals—Nebraska 1-7 (Reid 1-2, Piatkow
ski 0-3, Farmer 0-1, King 0-1), Iowa State 4-20 (Pear
son 2-8, Pippett 1 -4, McCoy 1 -3, Collins 0-3, Thigpen 0
2) . Rebounds—Nebraska 39 (Farmer, Hayes 7), Iowa
State 28 (Pippett 7). Assists—Nebraska 14 (three with
3) , Iowa State 16 (Collins 4). Total fouls (dq)—Ne
braska 18 (Hayes), Iowa State 18 Technical foui—
Nebraska bench A—14,010.
! NU drops dual, but wrestles well, coach says
I By Chuck Green
Senior Reporter
It’s not often that coaches are op
timistic after watching their team lose
— especially when few things go
their way in the process.
But Wednesday night after No. 7
Nebraska lost 23-16 to No. 13 Minne
sota, Comhusker wrestling coach Tim
Neumann was an exception.
The dual, the first oi the last three
for the Huskers before the Big Eight
championships March 3 in Colum
bia, Mo., started poorly for Nebraska.
John Buxton lost 8-6 in the 118-pound
match, the first match of the night.
Husker coaches were then infuri
ated by what Neumann called a
“questionable” refereeing decision not
awarding near-fall points in the 126
pound match between John Buxton
and Minnesota’s Shannon Ward, which
ended in a 4-4 draw.
Nebraska could not afford many
1 losses and draws because the Huskers
k had a forfeit at 142.
injuries, wnicn nave piaguea me
Huskers throughout the season, then
returned to wreak more havoc on
Nebraska’s starting lineup.
All-American Corey Olson, the
starter at 177 and ranked second in
the country, aggravated a tom ante
rior cruciate ligament in his knee and
lost by injury default to top-ranked
Marty Morgan.
In the next match, at 190, Ne
braska’s Chris Nelson suffered a se
vere cut above his left eye. Nelson
won the match in a 17-5 major deci
sion.
But despite all that, Neumann still
was optimistic about the perform
ance of his team.
“At this point of the season, the
duals win-loss record isn’t that im
portant,” he said. “What counts is
j who wrestles well and who doesn’t.”
Neumann said he was especially
pleased with Nelson, an All-Ameri
| can who wrestled his first match since
breaking his ankle Dec. 15.
After he received the cut over his
eye late in the third period, he re
1 turned to score two more points.
“He looked very mature and handled
Nebraska’s Todd Enger tries to put a hold on Minnesota’s Mike Marzetta during the 158 weight class in the dual Wednesday. Enger
won the match. 6-4.
the situation real well,” Neumann said.
“He wouldn’t have been an All
American (a top-eight finisher in the
NCAA championships) tonight, but
he will after four weeks of practice.
“With four more weeks of prac
tice, he can win the national champi
onship.”
Nebraska, 9-6, will wrestle its last
two duals of the year Saturday against
Indiana and Wednesday against Drake.
Both duals will be at the Bob Deva
ney Sports Center.
Neumann said he still has high
expectations for his team this season.
Results:
f "" - ™
118 — Eric Folkins (Minn.) dec. Jason
Buxton, 8-6
126 — Jason Buxton (NU) drew with Shan
non Ward, 4 4.
134 — Jason Kelber (NU) maj dec Scott
Rohrer, 16-5
142 — Damon Johnson (Minn.) won by
forfeit
150 — Willy Short (Minn ) dec Layne Bill
ings. 10-8.
158 — Todd Enger (NU) dec Mike
Marzetta. 6-4
167 — Brad Gibson (Minn) dec Tommy
Robbins, 8 4.
177 — Marty Morgan (Minn ) won by injury
default over Corey Olson, 2 18
190 — Chris Nelson (NU) maj dec Todd
Moss, 17-5
Hwi. — Sonny Manley (NU) dec Chris
Stogdill, 7-3.
---
Volleyball player shoots
for national team spot
By John Adkisson
Staff Reporter
Val Novak is no longer the best
player on her team.
Novak, who guided the Nebraska
volleyball team to a Final Four ap
pearance last season, is vying for a
position on the United States Na
tional Team and a 1992 Olympic
appearance in Barcelona, Spain.
Now in San Diego on an “extended
tryout,” Novak said the change of
pace has been tough.
“It’s like starting over again,” Novak
said. “Coming out here reminded me
of the transition you have to make
between high school and your fresh
man year of college.”
Novak left Lincoln in January al
ter U.S. National Coach Terry
Liskevych convinced her that she
would have a shot at making the team.
“(Liskevych) watched me play and
asked me if I’d like to come and try to
make the team,” Novak said. “He
finally talked me into it.”
Although most aspiring Olympi
ans have dreamed about participating
in the summer games since child
hood, Novak said the idea of being an
Olympian is relatively new to her.
“I never really thought too much
about it coming through school,”
Novak said. “But being on the na
tional team is a great way to extend
See NOVAK on 16
Huskers not Soonersjust better
When the Nebraska men s bas
ketball team ran onto the Allen
Fieldhousc court in Lawrence, Kan.,
last week, the Comhuskeis huddled
in the tip-off circle with hands raised,
then started spinning in their own
sort of rugby scrum.
A writer from the Kansas school
paper said, “What is that, a little
Oklahoma?”
Ouch. You might as well say
nothing separates Sooners and
Huskers but the difference between
crimson and scarlet. You might as
well say that “Bury” Switzer and
Tom Osborne were drinking bud
dies.
I refrained from hitting that
writer, though I should have busted
my pen and spilled ink all over him
Paul
Domeier
or something.
But he got me thinking. That is
an Oklahoma trait. Have the Husk
ers turned into the Sooners of the
north?
(I know, how distasteful, but we
journalists have to do the distaste
ful jobs, like write about 12-car ac
cidents and determ ine whether Ne
braska is turning into — ugh —
Oklahoma.)
No, I decided, Nebraska is more
civil than that, though there is evi
dence that the Huskers aren’t play
ing for intramural sportsmanship
points.
Watching Tony Farmer play post
defense is like watching a kung-fu
movie. Beau Reid, though a nice
guy off the court, is a jerk on the
court and is hated by every oppos
ing crowd in the conference. The
Huskers as a whole are almost
violently physical, from Rich King
clubbing Oklahoma Slate’s John
Potter to Clifford Scales frisking
opponents in every trap. On Wed
nesday, they unveiled road uni
forms a nice shade of badass black.
See DOMEIER on 16