Hot-shooting Huskers beat Buffs, 84-74
By Troy and Tracy Renck
Special to the Daily Nebraskan
♦ —
BOULDER, Colo. — On Satur
day afternoon, the Nebraska men’s
basketball team received its first test
in Big Eight conference play.
It’s safe to say, if it were a final
exam, the Comhuskcrs would have
set the curve.
After a slow start, the Comhuskcrs
beat Colorado 84-74 in front of a
crowd of 6,706 people at the Coors
Events Center. Nebraska improved
its record to 12-1, 1-0 in the Big
Eight. Colorado fell to 8-5 and 0-1.
“I think we have to play .500 in the
Big Eight to get in the NCAAs,”
Nebraska coach Danny Nee said.
“Now, we only have six more to go.”
Nee was even happier with the fact
that the win came away from Lin
coln.
“The key thing is a road win,” Nee
said. “We couldn’t win here last year.
I think Colorado will beat a lot of
— II
I think we have to play
.500 in the Big Eight to
get in the NCAAs. Now,
we only have six more
to go.
Nebraska Coach Danny Nee
-—99 _
teams on this court.”
Colorado coach Joe Harrington said
he was impressed with Nebraska, which
is riding an eight-game winning streak.
“It was a good game,” Harrington
said. “I just think Nebraska’s a year or
two ahead of us. Obviously, they did
things better in the second half and
made their shots.”
Nebraska outscorcd Colorado by
14 points in the second half to over
come a four-point halftime deficit.
The Huskcrs used a strong showing
from three-point range to pull off the
win. Nebraska hit eight of 15 three
pointers for the game, four in each
half.
The Huskcrs’ proficiency from that
range1 was no surprise, according to
Colorado guard Donnie Boyce.
“We had seen them on tape, and 1
think they were averaging six three
pointers a game,” he said. “We knew
about that going in, but we just didn’t
get up in their face.”
Boyce, a freshman and the Buffa
loes’ leading scorer, led Colorado with
15 points. Poncho Hodges added 13.
Sophomore Eric Piatkowski and
senior Carl Hayes each hit three three
pointers as the two led Nebraska in
scoring with 20and 15 points, respec
tively. Piatkowski also pulled down a
game-high 13 rebounds.
“I just think wc settled down a
little bit,” Piatkowski said. “Wc were
taking our time and not forcing any
shots up.”
Colorado guard Billy Law dis
agreed.
“They hit a lot of open shots,” he
said. “But Pialkowski hit three shots
with two or three guys in his face.
There ain’t nothing you can do about
that.”
At times, Nebraska’s offense
seemed unstoppable, but it was Colo
rado’s inability to score down the
stretch that ultimately left the Buffa
loes dead in their tracks. Colorado
had entered the game last in the Big
Eight in shooting percentage.
Saturday’s performance certainly
didn’t help.
Colorado shot 43 percent from the
floor, including only six of 24 from
three-point range.
m me uuisci, nuwever, a wa> a
, different story.
Colorado came out with a full
court press and forced numerous
Husker turnovers on its way to a 26
17 lead with 8:42 left in the first half. -
The Buffaloes forced 13 Nebraska
first-half turnovers.
Nebraska managed to take better
control of the ball and, with a three
pointer by Chris Crcsswcll at the
buzzer, Nebraska trailed 46-42 at
halftime.
The dcficilcould have been worse,
Nee said.
“We fell lucky to be down by
four,” he said. “We could’ve been
down a lot more — by even 10 or 12
points.”
After escaping Colorado’s first
wave of pressure, the Huskers re
gained their composure and handled
the Buffalo press the second half.
Husker guard Jamar Johnson con
tinually broke the Colorado press,
leading to easy scoring^>ppw]umiic.s
for Nebraska. And it was Johnson
who gave the Huskers their first lead
of the game at 51-49 with a \hrcc
See OPENER on 11
Ww*mr Jg l1]! SUP1
Michelle Paulman/DN
Nebraska’s Eric Piatkowski drives past an Eastern Illinois player in action earlier this season.
Piatkowski led Nebraska with 20 points and 13 rebounds in Saturday’s 84-74 win over Colorado
in Boulder in the Big Eight opener for both teams. Nebraska’s next game is Saturday against
Missouri at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Time for yet another
post-bowl reality check
rt’s been cold outside lately,
which is normal in Nebraska
this time of year.
After the Comhuskcr football
team’s annual loss in whatever bowl
it’s lucky enough to play in, the air
gets a lot colder for many of the die
hard Husker fans.
Since construction began on the
Cook Indoor Practice Facility — a.k.a.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin — five years ago,
the Huskcrs arc 0-5 in postseason
bowl games. So much for giving
Nebraska’s players a nice warm place
to prepare for their bowl games so
those big bad Southern teams don’t
beat them.
But that’s not important. Neither
is the fact that Nebraska Coach Tom
Osborne will receive a hefty raise 10
his six-figu/c salary this spring.
It’s also not important that Ne
braska’s run-and-boot offense has
become soprcdictablc that teams like
Miami have no trouble shutting it
down, even when the Hurricanes play
one of their worst games of the sea
son.
There arc only two things that arc
really important. One is that Husker
Ians come up with excuses and de
fenses for the inevitable loss that awaits.
People already have jumped on
the bandwagon to congratulate the
Husker defense on a fine game, hold
ing the Hurricane offense to just three
yards under its season average.
Hmmm.
Unfortunately, these people
watched the Orange Bowl game
through scarlct-and-crcam glasses.
They chose to forget a few things.
Chuck
Green
The only thing that stopped Mi
ami’s offense in the Orange Bowl
was the Hurricanes’ mistakes.
Consider:
— Miami had a 70-yard touch
down run called back for holding.
— Horace Copeland, one of Mi
ami’s receivers, caught a pass over
the middle and rambled to the 2-yard
line before being shoved out of bounds/
The play was called back because
Copeland was called for illegal use of
hands.
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: .. i
,_
CJ
...'
i
— I a dedicated NU Fan
I I Dear Sports Editor,
f / I love Nebraska.
I I hate Miami.
I Tom Osborne is
I the Greatest Coach
' in the world.
Sincerely, .
A Dedicated
NU Fan
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