NU buries loss, refocuses on Connecticut
Huskers lose 3 straight to Sooners I
By Thomas Clouse
Senior Editor
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Nebraska men’s
basketball team learned first hand Friday, what
the Oklahoma Sooners fell last year after losing
three straight games to the Cornhuskcrs.
The fourth-seeded Sooners beat the fifth
seeded Huskcrs 107-85 in frontof 16,870spec
tators at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo.
Nebraska lost all three match-ups to the No.
24 Sooners this season — 79-76 in Lincoln,
106-97 in Norman and 107-85 in the Big Eight
Tournament.
Nebraska coach Danny Nee said he was
surprised at Nebraska’s play.
“I was shocked that we didn’t play belter,”
Nee said. “But we played poorly because Okla
homa played well.
“(Oklahoma) look us out our offenses, con
trolled the boards and basically doniinahxl the
game,” he said.
Oklahoma coach Billy Tubbs said the game
was closer than the score indicated.
“It might look like we dominated, but I
never really fell comfortable,” Tubbs said.
“(Nebraska) will shoot the three-point shot.
“If they get hot, they could have turned the
game around,” he said.
Nebraska shot seven of 29 three pointers,
including three of 20 in the second half, fora 24
percent average.
Tubbs said the reason why the 21-7, 9-6
Sooners won the game was simple.
“We shoot 53 percent, (Nebraska) shoots 33
percent. That’s the ball game,” he said.
Oklahoma shot 39 of 73 from the field,
including lOof 14 from three-point range fora
71 percent average. The Sooners also hit 70
percent (19-27) of their free throws for the
See HUSKERS on 8
Basketball team prepares to go east
By John Adkisson
Senior Editor
Who’s afraid of Ihc Big Bad East?
Apparently not the Nebraska men’s basket
ball team, which learned on Sunday that it will
play Connecticut in the first round of the NCAA
Tournament.
The game, to be played Thursday at River
front Coliseum in Cincinnati, will mark the
Cornhuskers’ third-cvcr appearance in the
tournament, and the first time Nebraska has pul
together back-to-back trips.
Husker coach Danny Nee, whose team lost
a first-round game last season to Xavier, said
Connecticut, a member ol the Big East Confer
ence, is a good team from a good league.
“I think they’vegotagreat basketball team,”
Nee said. “We expect it to be a great matchup,
with the Big East against the Big Eight.”
A couple of Husker players also said they
were happy with ihcir firsl-round opponent and
site.
Nebraska senior forward Dapreis Owens,
whose hometown of Mansfield, Ohio, is just
three hours from Cincinnati, said the game will
offer him the luxury of playing before his
family and friends.
“There’s not much more you can ask for,”
Owens said. “My family and friends get to see
me play for one last lime.”
Center Derrick Chandler, who was recruited
by Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, said the
game will give Nebraska a chance to redeem
themselves alter last year’s early exit.
“It’s important for us to w in a game, to lake
that next step in building a tradition here,”
Chandler said.
Nebraska coaches and players gathered with
fans on the second floor of the Legionnaire
See NCAA on 8
/VC/1A /7ZC/C5
tournament
top seeds
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) —
Defending champion Duke, Ohio Stale,
Kansas and UCLA were made the lop
seeds Sunday for the NCAA men’s
basketball tournament.
Duke is the top seed in the East,
Ohio State in the Southeast, Kansas
in the Midwest and UCLA in the
West.
Indiana blew a chance for the top
seed in the Southeast and a share of
the Big Ten championship with Ohio
Slate by losing to Purdue 61-59 Sun
day. The Hoosiers (23-6) arc seeded
second in the West, and will play
Eastern Illinois (17-13) in the first
round.
Top-ranked Duke (28-2) will play
Big South champion Campbell (19
11) in the opening round Thursday at
Greensboro, N.C., while No. 8 UCLA
(25-4) will meet Northeast Confer
ence champion Robert Morris (19
11) on Friday in Tempo, Ariz.
Third-ranked Kansas (26-4) plays
Mid-Easicrn Athletic Conference
winner Howard (17-13) in the first
round Friday at Dayton, Ohio, while
filth-ranked Ohio State (23-5) faces
Southwestern Athletic Conference
champion Mississippi Valley Slate
(16-13) on Thursday at Cincinnati.
The Big Eight placed six teams,
the most of any conference, while the
Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East
and Big Ten had Five each. Tltc South
eastern Conference, the Pacific 10
and the Metro had four teams se
lected.
The Southeast region, which Ne
braska is in, appears to be the strong
est, with seven Top 25 teams. i
NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP 1992
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NU track teams quiet critics; finish 7th, 14th
By John Gardner
Stall Reporter
Nebraska’s track teams did their
best to put themselves on the track
and-field map this weekend at the
NCAA Indoor Championships in
Indianapolis.
After being picked to do close to
nothing, the women finished in a tic
for seventh place with 18 points. The
men tied for 14th place with 13.5.
The Arkansas men won their ninth
straight indoor title with 53 points.
For the women, Florida coasted to the
title with 50 points.
Coach Gary Pepin said both Com
husker teams could have placed higher
with a break or two.
For instance, Cris Hall placed
second in the high jump at 6-2 1/4.
Hall cleared the same height as the
winner, but finished second because
she had more misses during competi
tion.
“I thought for sure she was going
to win it,” Pepin said. ‘‘It was proba
bly one of the longest jump-offs in
national championship history, and I
think Cris just ran out of gas.
“Both jumpers were getting so tired
at the end that I doubt if they could
have jumped over a one-foot block.”
Also, Pepin said, he may have
placed Fran ten Benscl in the wrong
race. Ten Benscl placed third, with a
school-record lime of 9 minutes, 17.87
seconds in the 3,(XX)-mctcr run.
“As it turned out, I think the field
in the mile was a little easier,” Pepin
said. “Fran beat the mile champion at
the conference meet, but she ran a
hcck of a race in the 3,(XX).”
And in the 2(X), freshman Kathy
Travis was pari of what Pepin said
may have been the best field ever
assembled for thecvcnl. Travis,along
with Denise Lucas, came up short of
qualifying for the finals by only a few
hundreths of a second.
“Denise ran a better lime this year
in the 200 and didn’t even qualify,”
Pepin said. “Last season, she placed
with a slower lime. And the freshman
from UNLV who beat Kathy at ihc
Husker Invite ended up placing fourth.”
Shancllc Porter scored the other
points for the Nebraska women by
placing fourth in the 4(X) in a per
sonal-best time of 53.34.
Finally, the women’s 1,600 relay
didn’t finish the race, because Kwani
Stcwari dropped the baton.
“Kwani was all by hcrscll and had
probably run about 250 meters when
all of the sudden her quadriccp started
bothering her and she llal out dropped
the baton,” Pepin said. “I’m sure they
would have qualified and probably
scored.”
All of these factors could have
spelled a third-place finish for the
women, Pepin said.
For the men, Kevin Coleman stole
the show in the shot put. Going into
the meet, however, Track Wire maga
zine picked Coleman to place second.
Coleman won the event with a
school-record loss of 65-9 3/4. His
effort easily outdistanced Shane Collins
of Arizona State, who threw 62-8.
“It was no contest in the shot pul,”
Pepin said. “Kevin completely domi
f i
nalcd ihc competition.”
The men’s 1,6(X) relay team set an
all-time Big Eight best lime of 3:07.64
in the preliminaries. The team, made
up of Mark Jackson, Ken Waller,
Patrick Trainor and Travis Grant, came
back to place fifth in the finals at
3:09.42.
“For whatever reason, they didn’t
come back and run as well in the
finals,’’ Pepin said.
Baylor won the event in a colle
giate record time of 3:04.89 — one of
the fastest limes in the world, Pepin
said.
Petar Malcscv scored the other
points for the men. Malcscv was part
of a four-way lie for third in the high
jump with a mark of 7-3 3/4. Because
of more misses, he was awarded sixth
place.