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.”
