Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 1993)
Nebraskan Friday, February 19,1993 Sports Beck hopeful as NU-CU rematch nears By Derek Samson Staff Reporter As the Nebraska women’s basket ball team travels to Colorado Sunday to play the Big Eight front-runners, Comhusker coach Angela Beck said she hoped her team kept its momen tum rolling. The No. 22 Huskers, the only team to beat the Lady Buffs this season, are trailing No. 4 Colorado by two games in the Big Eight standings. Game time is 3 p.m. at the Coors Events Center in Boulder, Colo. Beck said her team, which won eight of its last nine games, was head ing into the game with a full head of steam. “I think we’re playing as good as any team in the league right now,” Beck said. “As long as we play good, it will be a positive for us that we keep the momentum going.” The two teams’ first meeting was won 62-50 by the Huskers in Lincoln. After already assuring a split with Colorado, Nebraska put themselves in a no-lose situation, Beck said. “It’s going to take another minor miracle to win, but we are optimis tic,” she said. “We don’t have a great deal of pressure on us, we just have to go in and perform well. If we do that, it’s going to be a great game.” Nebraska hoping to beat Missouri’s home court edge By Jeff Singer Senior Reporter Nebraska’s men’s basketball team is hoping history won’t repeat itself this weekend. - The Comhuskers have gone into Columbia, Mo., and left winless the past six years, but they will try to steal a victory from Missouri when the two teams meet Sunday. Tip-off will be at 1:10 p.m. at the Heames Center and will be televised live by Raycom. Nebraska coach Danny Nee said although the Huskers are 0-6 at Mis souri during his tenure, that doesn’t mean it’s time to chalk up another Tiger victory just yet. “What happened last year or two years ago or what happened the last 10 years, 1 really don’t think has any basis for what can happen,” Nee said. But Nee also doesn’t want to un derestimate the difficulty of playing at Missouri. “Playing in Columbia is no easy job—it’s going to be a tough, physi cal game,” Nee said. “If we played them in Lincoln, I’d say it’s a hard game — playing in Columbia makes it more difficult.” Nee said Nebraska has managed only a 4-17 record at the Heames Center for various reasons. “They ’re very tough on their home floor,” he said. “You’ve got the very enthusiastic Antlers and all the differ ent things that create a home-court advantage.” Sunday’s game will be a rematch following the Buskers’ 88-87 over time win over the Tigers last month at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Both teams are coming off losses, with Nebraska losing to Oklahoma State Monday, and Missouri losing 6S-50 at Iowa State Wednesday. Along with being on losing streaks, both teams are at4-5 in the Big Eight. In addition, each team has been led by an inside and outside player. While Nebraska has been paced by guard Eric Piatkowski’s 15.8 points per game and center Derrick Chandler's 10.8 points and 7.7 re bounds per contest, Missouri has a formidable tandem as well. The Tigers are led by point guard Melvin Booker, who has team-highs in points per game with 16.5 and assists with 97. Center Jevon Crudup has also been making his presence known with 14.9 point and 9.2 rebound-per-game av erages. But by playing on the road, the Huskers may have a few advantages. Nebraska has a better free-throw shooting percentage on the road and has had some of its best field-goal shooting performances this year away from home. Nee said there are a few possible reasons for the good road shooting. “We’ve shot better because I think we’ve been a little bit more poised on the road,” Nee said. “I think on the road, you have a little bit more con trol, there’s a little bit more focus.” - 44 It's going to take another minor miracle to win, but we are optimistic —Beck NU women’s coach -tt - Completing a season sweep of the Lady Buffs would be a major accom plishment, Beck said. “That would be real awesome,” she said. “It would also put us in the position to be the team to beat in the Big Eight (Tournament)/’ The Colorado-Nebraska competi tion is quickly becoming a rivalry, Beck said. “I’d like to think it was because we’re one of the best teams in the conference,” Beck said. “It’s a great attribute to our team that we’re con sidered one of the top teams.” Nebraska kept its momentum go ing last weekend by avenging an ear lier loss to Kansas and by beating Kansas State. The two victories last weekend Robin Trim archi/D N Nebraska’s Terrance Badgett goes up for a layup against Kansas. The Cornhuskers will play at Missouri Sunday. were parUy due to Nebraska’s de fense, which gave uponly 50 points to Kansas State and 52 to Kansas. Beck said her team needed the same defen sive effort if it was to be successful against Colorado. “The team has been performing very consistently, and the defense has been outstanding,” Beck said. “We need that to continue.” With only three games remaining, the 18-5 Huskers still have its goal of 20 wins well within reach. “Twenty wins is a great number,” Beck said. “Having 20 wins doesn’t thrill me as much as having 20 good wins and having the momentum.” Huskers to wrestle Wildcats By Tim Pearson Staff Reporter When the Nebraska wrestling team confronted then-No. 8 Minnesota two weeks ago, Comhusker coach Tim Neumann said the Huskers would have to be at their best to defeat the Golden Gophers. They were at their best, and now they must do it one more time. The 8-2 Huskers will travel to Northwestern to face the Wildcats this Sunday in a 1 p.m. dual in Evanston, 111. Neumann said the Wildcats fielded a team similar to Minnesota, a team Northwestern tied earlier in the sea son. “They tied Minpesota, and they matched up really well with them,” Neumann said. “They also match up well with us. I’m not just blowing hype when I say this is going to be a tough match.” Northwestern, with a dual record of 6-6-1 this season, is no stranger to big matches, Neumann said. Just two years ago, the Wildcats finished ahead of the Huskers at the NCAA Championships. The Huskers are as healthy as they’ve ever been at this point in the season, Neumann said. “We are completely 100 percent right now,” he said. “I don’t know what’s the matter. Usually we have some devastating injuries at this point each year.” The only major injury Nebraska has had this season was to senior Tommy Robbins, who is now fully recovered from a rib injury which kept him out for almost a month. Coach says another win likely From Staff Reports For the fourth time this season, the Nebraska men’s gymnastics team will sauare off against Iowa State and Oklahoma. This time, the meet is at Ames, Iowa, but Nebraska coach Francis Allen said the outcome would likely be the same — another win for the top-ranked Comhuskers. “Oklahoma is getting healthy again,” Allen said. *TWe just need to stay on top and have a good meet and get ready for Penn State.” The meet is at 2 p.m. Saturday. The three previous wins against Oklahoma ana Iowa State have'come with relative ease for NU. In the last meeting between the three schools in Lincoln, Nebraska upended Okla homa 280.65 to 268.6,0 with Iowa Slate finishing third at 219.40. According to Allen, Oklahoma could provide the Huskers with more opposition than in the three previous meetings. “(Oklahoma) is healthy again and they have competitive athletes,” Allen said. “Iowa State isn’t on the same level as a Nebraska or Oklahoma. Not quite yet.” The Huskers are coming off two of their biggest wins of the season with a win at No. 2 Ohio State and last weekend’s win against No. 4 Minne sota in Lincoln. "It’s hard to fool college guys into thinking it is a tough meet and be able to see what they can do under real pressure,” Allen said. “What this team needs to do is reach its peak when everyone else is on.” Gymnasts anticipate two-meet weekend From Staff Reports This weekend, the Nebraska women’s gymnastics team will get a shot at redemption. bound from a second-plac< Southeast Missouri State in a triangu lar last weekend. After competing in Ames, Iowa, against Iowa State Friday, the Husk ers will to travel to East Lansing, Mich., to battle Michigan State Satur day afternoon. The Comhuskers will “The challenge for us is to com pete Friday night, fly to East Lansing, get up Saturday and try to get going at 2,” Husker coach Rick Walton said. Walton said the Iowa State match was important because the Cyclones were conference foes. “You go to win every conference meet,” Walton said. “You don’t want a conference loss.” Walton said the team would be shooting to win Friday against the Cyclones. He said Saturday’s rou tines against Michigan State wouldn’t be as difficult. “We’ll probably tone down some routines on Saturday,” he said. Walton said the team had had great meets in every event, but the team hadn’t put together a complete meet. “The bad news is we can’t get things done on one night,” Walton said. “The good news is we’re still ranked No. 11 in the country.” Past wins should give confidence, coach says By Susie Arth Senior Reporter The Nebraska women’s tennis team has completed its warm-up and is headed for the real thing Sunday in a match against Drake. Cornhusker coach Scott Jacobson, whose team is 2-0, said victories over Creighton and North ern Illinois last weekend provided his team with confidence, and now they were ready to move on to face tougher competition. “The girls have stepped up to the plate and done well,” he said.. “This past weekend should give us a lot of confidence.” Jacobson said he was pleased with the way the lineup wonted last weekend, and he planned to make only minor adjustments. “I’m satisfied with the lineups we used last weekend, and I think we will stick with basically the same thing except for a spot or two down low,” he said. But Jacobson said he expected the quality of tennis to change for the better this weekend. Drake defeated the Huskers in two dual meets last year, and has one of the nation’s No. 1 singles players, Jacobson said. Jacobson said he believed the Husker’s No. 1 player, Zarina Galvan, would be competitive. The Drake lineup begins to slide after the No. 1 position, Jacobson said. “I think there is quite a bit of drop off from their one to two players,” he said. “But Drake is definitely a step up in caliber.” Jacobson said his team would need to give 100 percent effort in order to win. Although Jacobson said he could not predict a win, he said he could predict a close meet. “It’s going to be be a dogfight," he said. “From what I can tell we should be relatively comparable teams.”