Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1993)
srtfi I 'W" ' » •••. ■ vm .« Nebraskan WtdMsday, February 23,1993 Hot NU, CU teams to clash at Devaney Full-game effort vital, coach says r By Susie Arth Senior Reporter When the Colorado men’s basket ball team comes to the Bob Devaney Sports Center tonight, they will try to keep the good times rolling. The Buffaloes, who started confer ence play by losing tlfeif first eight games, will look to add to their two game winning streak tonight against Nebraska. Buffalo coach Joe Harrington said his players planned to keep the win ning streak alive by playing a solid 40 minutes. “We’ve been doing the right things all season—we’ve just not been able to do them rightover the course of the whole game,” he said. “And the last two weYve been able to do things right the entire game.” Harrington said it was difficult to keep his players motivated after their disappointing start. But the past two wins over Okla homa and Kansas State have put his team back on track. “It’sbeen tough keeping them up, he said. “But we practiced hard the whole lime and never quit trying.” Harrington said the Buffaloes’ last meeting with the Huskers could have gone either way, and that Nebraska just executed better down the stretch. The Huskers won the game at the Coors Events Center 82-67 on Jan. 25. Harrington said he expected an other close game, but that his team would have to execute in all facets in order to leave Lincoln with another Big Eight win. *'’We’re going 10 have tcrdo a whole lot of things to win,” he said. “We’ll have to shoot lights out and play good defense.” Harrington said he believed the game would be decided with several key matchups. Oklahoma game to be televised From Staff Reports ABC announced Tuesday that next year’s Nebraska-Okla homa football game in Lincoln will be televised nationally and will be moved to Nov. 26, the day after Thanksgiving. The game will be the second Eof a doubleheader, follow _ regional games beginning at 1 fa.m. Kickoff will be at 1:30 pm* f The game is the secqod-an- * mounccd televised game for Nebraska next season. Last week, ESPN announced that the Nebraska Oklahoma State game had been moved to Oct 7 as part pf the network’s Thursday night package. Robin Trimarchl/DN Nebraska’s Erick Strickland dribbles against Kansas’ Steve Woodberry earlier this year. The Comhuskers, 5-5 in the Big Eight, will play Colorado at 7:05 p.m. ; Centers Poncho Hodges and Der rick Chandler should rifStctiTip well, Harrington said. And how Buff for ward Randy Robinson plays against Eric Piatkowski should also be cru cial, he added. The play of Buffalo guard Donnie Boyce, who scored 25 points in the first meeting, could provide a spark fbr*the TO-12 Buffalbei, Hhrrirtgton said. — afc**3L-£-...; Harrington said his team would make some m inor adjustments against the Huskers. Nebraska’s depth and zone defenses could pose problems for the Buffa Iocs, he said. .»» *** oc 1 y$'h • And Hafringtori Mid he expected the Tans to see a good game. “I think Nebraska is a very good basketball team,” he said. “They are strong at all positions, and they’ve got several good players." Huskers are up for it, Nee says By Jeff Singer Senior Reporter Since Colorado won its first two B ig Eight games of the year last week, talk around the league has been about flow hot the Buffaloes are right now. But when the Buffs play Nebraska tonight, they'll be facing a team on a winning run of its own. The two teams will clash at 7:05 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Cen ter. While Colorado beat Kansas State and Oklahoma last week to improve its Big Eight record to 2-8, the Comhuskers have won five of their last seven conference games, includ ing last Sunday’s 76-75 win at Mis souri. Nebraska coach Danny Nee said he wanted to put more emphasis on the Huskers’ — and not the Buffa loes’ — recent success. “You’re not talking about our win ning streak; you’re talking about theirs — so I’m going to go from the posi tive side and say they’re playing a very hot team in Lincoln,” Nee said. Nee added that his team should feel good about playing the Buffaloes —especially after having beaten them last month 82-67 in Boulder, Colo. “They’re coming into our house, we’re confident, we feel good about them,” he said. But Nebraska, which has a 5-5 Big Eight record and is 17-8 overall, isn’t going to take the Buffaloes lightly, Nee said. “Colorado is hot — they’re com ing off of a two-game winning streak,” Nee said. “They’re playing a com plete game, and they’replaying well.” After last week’s two victories, the Buffaloes improved their overall record to 10-12. See BUFFS on 7 Huskers rally on road, trip Tigers By Derek Samson Staff Reporter The Nebraska women rallied from a 13-point deficit with 13 minutes left to del eat Missouri 65-64 and keep the hopes of another 20-win season alive. Karen Jennings and Nafeesah Brown combined for 34 points and 24 rebounds in a victory that boosted the No. 21 Comhuskers to 19-6 overall and 9-4 in the Big Eight Missouri dropped to 6-6 and 17-7 overall. “We have a chance to get another 20-win season (21 -11 last year), and the boost from this game gives us momentum entering tournament time,” Coach Angela Beck said. SaraOffringa hit three three-point ersduringa25*l 1 second half run that put the Huskers on top 61-60. Meggan Yedsena kept Nebraska ahead when she hit a layup with 1:45 left to increase the lead to 63-61. Rissa Taylor then capped off the win as she hit two free throws with only 1S seconds left. The Tigers hit a three-pointer with four seconds left, but Nebraska didn’t have to inbound the ball and won the game. “This was one of the biggest come backs in our history. To come back from 13 points showed great cour age,” Beck said. “We overcame the adversity and the fatigue that was evident from the emotional loss Sun day at Colorado.” The first half had six lead changes as Missouri pulled out to a 30-26 halftime lead when Amy Fordham hit a three-pointer at the buzzer for the Tigers. Jennings scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Brown chipped in 10 points to go along with her game-high 14 rebounds. Jennings connected on nine of her 13 shots from the field. Other Huskers in double figures included Yedsena with 14 and Offringa with 11. Yedsena also had three assists and did not commit a turnover in her 38 minutes of playing time. “Meggan had a great game," Beck said. “We made some adjustments on defense and we came out in the sec mid half and played extremely hard.” Nebraska also won at the free throw line, as it hit 12 of IS from the charity stripe. The Tigers only shot six free throws, connecting on three. Missouri was led by senior center Vantrece Williams, who had 19points. Lyneue Linneman added 17 and Stacy Williams had 13 for the Tigers. Nebraska will try to carry that mo mentum in search of its 20th win against Igwa State on Sunday. The game will be the final home appear ance for four Nebraska seniors — Jennings, Taylor, Offringa and Kristi Anderson. Point guard perfectionist takes no time to smell pizza Go ahead, admit it You imagined it Sunday. When Jamar Johnson hit a free throw after stealing a pass and getting fouled at the end of Nebraska's 76-75 win over Missouri, it reminded you a bit of that Pizza Hut commercial. You know the one: A young ‘un stands alone in a playground, dream ing and dribbling. When he sees that no one is looking, he takes off toward the hole, weaving past imaginary de fenders. ' ‘“He dribbles past his big, ugly brother Wesley, he says. “He’s double-teamed, triple-teamed ^whole team teamed. Three, two, one, he shoots.. /Clank. Nothing. The tike looks around to make sure no one saw the brick. “He was fouled!” he screams as he jumps up and down. It wasn’t hard to substitute John son into that role Sunday: “Johnson steals the inbounds pass from Atkins. He dribbles past liule, quick, not-too-ugly Melvin Booker. He shoots. He misses everything. He was fouled!” And he made the free throw. The commercial could have fit last year, when Johnson nailed a three pointer over Kansas’ Eric Pauley with time running out and Nebraska down in overtime. Or it could have fit this year, when Johnson hita key three-pointer against Kansas with the shot clock running out. Heroics like Johnson’s would lead Slayers to believe they were the pepperoni, the super supreme, sp pan pizza of their basketball team. Not Johnson. The Comhpsker delivery man’s biggest problem in what he calls a disappointing season rests in another Pizza Hut commercial: He neverstops and smells the pizza. Todd Cooper Take Sunday. Moments after his game-winning free throw, he wasn’t celebrating. He was still mad about the preceding play, when forward Bruce Chubick traveled after having to bring the ball up the floor. “I was upset because I should have come back and got the ball from Bruce,” he said. ,rI was fortunate to gel the steal. But we should have never been in that position.” Such is the thinking of a point guard perfectionist. Wins a game. Gets mad because he made a bad play, a bad pass, or because his shoes weren’t quite tied right. “Jamar, if he has a problem, it's that he has such high expectations,** Husker coach Danny Nee said. **He doesn’t give himself enough credit for when h<s doing things well. “And he’s such a perfectionist; Jamar wants to be everything to ev eryone. And he can’t be.** Although he’d like to, Johnson can’t always be the trainer of Nebraska’s pack of puppies—Andre Woolridge, Jaron Boone, Terrance Badgett and Erick Strickland. He can’t always be the calming force for Der rick Chandler, Bruce Chubick, Erik Piatkowski and Amos Gregory during their down-and-up seasons. And he certainly can’t play confi dence-builder when he’s worrying about raising his field goal and three point percentage from 42 and 26 per cent, respectively. “With my shooting, it’s more or less a lack of confidence,” Johnson said. “I started thinking, ‘Boy, I hope this goes in,’ or ‘Should I shoot it?’ or Can I make it?’ "Lastyear, whether I made it or not, every time I put one up I said, 'Yeah, it’s going in.’” But last year, Johnson wasn’t double-, triple- and whole-team teamed like he has been this year. So whether the shots fall or not, this delivery man has to dish out assists and continue delivering down the stretch of tight ballgames. Over the past two seasons. Ne braska is 21-1 when Johnson has five or more assists in a game. And after Sunday’s heroics, the Huskers are 3-0 in conference play when he has the ball in the clutch. Now, the only trick is to get John son to believe those facts. “I*-ve got to look at all those things — the shots, the steal — and go back to the roots of what has made Jamar Johnson successful in the past,” he said. “If I do that, I can turn the negatives this year into positives.” Cooper Is • junior news-editorial m^jor, the Daily Nebraskan wire editor and a sports columnist.
