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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 29, 1993)
SPORTS Wrestlers preparing for Big Eight competition By Tim Pearson Staff Reporter Two down, one to go. That’s the approach Nebraska' wrestling coach Tim Neumann and his Comhuskcrs have for the rest of the season. The Las Vegas Invitational has come and gone, with Nebraska taking second place. Last weekend, the Comhuskcrs took home another second at the Na tional Dual Meets Championship. Now the Huskers and Neumann are looking toward the Big Eight Championships on March 6. “We look to peak for Las Vegas, National Duals and the Big Eight,” Neumann said. “In between those, we need to work on getting ready for those meets.” Neumann said the only way to improve was through practice and the six duals the Huskers had remaining on their schedule. This Saturday, Nebraska will try to continue to improve in a dual against Wyoming at 7:30 p.m. at the Bob Dcvancy Sports Center. Neumann is not predicting an easy match, partly because of the Huskers’ new national respect. “Wyoming is a young team. They’re young but talented,” he said. “If anybody knocks us off, it’ll be a big win, but our guys are seniors. They know what they have to do.” After last weekend’s National Duals Meet, Neumann said the Husk ers were healthy going into the last part of ihe season. “This is the first time that we didn T have any injuries coming out of na tional duals,” he said. “We’re as healthy as we’ve ever been, and we have as good of an attitude as ever.” Senior Tony Purler, at 126 pounds, is healthy after injuring his big toe in the dual against Iowa Jan. 23. The only injury the Huskers have is senior Tommy Robbins, who has been bothered by a rib injury suffered at the Great Plains Invitational on Jan. 9. “(Robbins) will probably be out a couple of more weeks,” Neumann said. Neumann said that he hoped his team could learn from its performance at the National Duals. “I’m looking for improvement on the technical aspects,” he said. “Where we were weak against Iowa and Penn State is where we’ve been trying to improve in the last few days.” Neumann also said that the Husk ers needed to improve their endur ance and get in better shape to be successful at future meets. Staci McKee/DN Nebraska’s Jamar Johnson drives past Kansas State’s Deryl Cunningham in a game last weekend. The Cornhuskers, 1-3 in conference play, will play 3-0 Missouri at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Saturday. NU to face underestimated Tigers MU’s good start not surprising, coach says By Jeff Singer Senior Reporter Nebraska and Missouri, two teams expected to go in different directions, have changed courses and have gone against prescason predictions. The Comhusker men’s basketball team was ranked in the majority of preseason polls, while the Tigers were expected to falter from their usual perch among the top of the Big Eight teams. But early in the conference season, Missouri has surprised and Nebraska has faltered. The two teams will col lide at 1:10 p.m. Saturday at the Bob Dcvancy Sports Center. The game will be televised live by Raycom and is a sellout. While the Huskers arc off to a 1-3 mark in conference play, the Tigers arc undefeated with a 3-0 record after beating Iowa State, Colorado and Oklahoma Stale. And this comes after the loss of Anthony Peeler, last year’s Big Eight player of the year, to graduation. But Nebraska basketball coach Danny Nee said it shouldn’t be any shock that the Tigers were doing so VLL PROBABLE STARTERS ea mea t U3-6, 1-3) ppc rpg S F Terrance Badgett 7.4 4.2 “ F Brace Chubick 8.6 5.9 C/f C Derrick Chandler 9.4 73 Q G Eric Ptatkowski 154 5.9 QJ G laraar Johnson 103 3.4 MISSOURI Z (13-4,3-0) PPG upg 111 F Jevon Cradup 154 8.6 S F Jeff Warran 9.1 5.9 K c Chris Heier 8.2 6.1 G MeMn Booker 15.4 44 G Jed Frost 03 14 well. “I’m not surprised at all — I feel they’re a very good team,” Nee said. “Missouri always plays fundamen tally sound, they never beat them selves and they play good defense.” Nee said there shouldn’t be any question as to how good this year’s Tigers are. “I don’t know why they don’t get the respect — in the power ratings, they’re ranked 30th in the country,” he said. “They’re really good, they just have not got the respect yet.” The list of players that arc helping 13*4 Missouri gain notoriety is headed by forward Jevon Crudup and guard Melvin Booker. The junior tandem is leading the Tigers in scoring, with Crudup aver aging 15.6 points per game and Booker posting 15.4. Crudup is also leading the team in rebounds, averaging 8.6 per game. Conversely, the Huskers arc com ing off of their first Big Eight win last Monday at Colorado. In the win over the Buffaloes, Nee continued to use a different starting lineup than he had used earlier in the season. Freshman Terrance Badgctl has been gelling ihc starling nod at for ward, with Erie Piatkowski, Nebraska’s leading scorer with 15.8 points per game, as the Huskers’ start ing shooting guard. Nee said he is happy wilh the new lineup,one that gives Nebraska a little more height among the five starters, even though it docsn ’ t make that much of a difference who gels the starting nod. “I’m always satisfied with my start ing lineup; if I wasn’t pleased with the starting lineup I’d change it — and I’m not changing it,” he said. “But I don’t think the starting lineup is going to make the game or break the game.” Nebraska forward/ccnter Amos Gregory said he is hoping the new lineup will produce more conference wins for the Huskers. “1 think we’re in a situation now that we have to win every game,” Gregory said. “We have to go out and play teams hard like we did against Colorado.” He said he hopes the effects of starting league play at 0-3 have worn off, and that it’s lime for Nebraska to start a Big Eight winning streak. “Some of the games we lost we should’ve won, and that kind of frus trates the team because we know we can play better,” Gregory said. “Bui after that game with Colorado, I think we’re on our way up the mountain.’ Unbeaten gymnastsface first road meet of season By Phil Carter Staff Reporter __ The Nebraska men’s gymnas tics team hasn’t been tested on the road this season — until now. This weekend, the Comhuskcrs will travel to Columbus, Ohio, for one of their biggest meets of the season against Ohio State. “They’ve got a good team to gether, but most importantly it should be a tremendous test for our kids on the road,” Nebraska coach Francis Allen said. “We’ve been scoring very well lately and the Ohio State meet should help our younger kids as we get a chance to go on the road.” After three meets this season, ihc Huskcrs remain unbeaten and arc on pace to break a school and NCAA scoring record they set a year ago. Last weekend, the Huskcrs scored 280 points in a win against Oklahoma and Iowa Slate at the Bob Devancy Sports Center. “With the exception of the high bar last weekend, we would have scored 282,”Coach Allen said. “By scoring big points this early in the season, we want to send a message to other teams around the country." The Huskcrs as a team are send ing the message, but individually, the Husker men want to send a message of their own. See ALLEN on 8 Track teams get ready for meet following one of best starts ever n.. /ni : _ a a_i ^ ^ ■ «•<» • « * a • <■ uy v*ima naui Staff Reporter __ When ihc Nebraska track teams compete in the Illinois Quadrangular on Saturday, they will be coming off one of their bcst-cvcr performances to start a season. The Huskers will travel to Champaign, III., to compete against Illinois, Indiana and Purdue in their first scored meet of the season. Cornhuskcr coach Gary Pepin said his main concern is not scoring but preparing for next month’s Big Eight Championships. If last weekend’s Nebraska Open is any indication, the Huskers arc right where they should be. Pepin said the men turned in more than 40 indoor personal bests, and — •• The men are a lot better in the short sprints than we thought. —Pepin NU track coach ---ft - both the men and women turned in a number of NCAA qualifying marks. “It was certainly one of, if not the best, indoor meets we’ve ever started off with,” Pepin said. Junior Shancllc Porter, freshman Paulette Mitchell, freshman* Riley Washington and senior Kevin Coleman all turned in either provi sh>imi quaiiiyuig ui quaiuy ing marks. “As a whole, the meet was a good start,” Pepin said. “The men arc a lot better in the short sprints than we thought.” Pepin also said his team is healthy one week into the season. The women’s team will also pick up senior dual-sport athlete Cris Hall for the first lime at 111 inois. Hal I m issed the Nebraska Open last weekend, at tending “Cris Hall Days” in her home town of Chanute, Kan. Saturday’s quadrangular will give the Huskers a chance to compete against teams and athletes they don’t normally face. One athlete the Husk ers will face is Illinois sprinter and T hurdlerTonja Buford, who wasa 1992 Olympian in the 400-meter hurdles.