Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 1994)
Daily Nebraskan Twiday, February 8,1884 SPORTS Four losses fail to dampen Husker spirit Krtey Timperiey/DN Jamar Johnson and the rest of the Huskers have moved from first to sixth place in the conference. But, Huaker coach Danny Nee said, “there is no sense among the players that the season is over because we have lost four in a row.” By Mitch Sherman Staff Reporter Missouri, winners of seven straight, and Nebraska, losers of four straight, have repre sented opposite ends of Big Eight basketball over the past three weeks. The last time the Nebraska basketball team won a game, Jan. 15 against Missouri-Kansas City, the Missouri Tigers were 10-2 and tied with the Huskers for the conference’s top spot. Now, the Huskers, who are in sixth-place in the conference, find themselves five games behind Missouri, which owns a two-game lead in the conference. To top it off, the Huskers play three of their next four games on the road. Still, not all is overcast for the 12-6 and 2-4 Huskers, Nebraska coach Danny Nee said Mon day. “There is no sense among the players that the season is over because we have lost four in a row,” Nee said. After a three-game shooting slump, the shots began to fall Sunday for the Huskers. Nebraska shot 40 percent for the game, including 7-of-24 (29 percent) from 3-point range against Kansas. Although that’s not exactly “lights out” shoot ing, Nebraska had been shooting as if it was in the dark in its three previous games. Against Colorado, Missouri and Oklahoma, the Huskers shot 16 of 78 (21 percent) from behind the 3-point line. Nee said the shooting woes would vanish as long as the Huskers concentrated on the other aspects of the game. The wear and tear of suffering through a four-game losing streak, Nee said, has not affected the team to a great degree. “I don’t think the players are playing like we have a four-game losing streak,” he said. “I think they are playing with the same level of confidence they’ve played with all year. Missouri Kansas Oklahoma State Oklahoma Kansas State Nebraska Colorado Iowa State Round-up Conference AH' Games Games W L W L TO ■ 16 2 5 2 20 3 5 2 16 6 3 4 12 7 3 5 14 6 2 4 12 6 2 5 10 9 16 11 7 Weekend Results Oklahoma State 79, Iowa State 66 Colorado 67, Kansas State 61 Kansas 94, Nebraska 87 Missouri 104, Oklahoma 94 DN graphic “But it’s painstaking. It’s very hard to keep a normalcy about your preparation when there is such an urgency to win. But I am not putting that pressure on the players.” Nee said the players had not been responding in practice, which could be a cause of their poor shooting during games. “Practices have not gone the way I wanted them to go,” he said. “We haven’t practiced well. We have not been putting the ball in the basket in practice •” Nee said he was encouraged that his team was within one point of Kansas in the final minute of the game. But he said the Huskers had to learn from it and play a full 40 minutes. “I really feel that our guys did a nice job,” Nee said. “We lost but we felt that we played hard and we did the things that we wanted to do, but we didn’t get it done at the end. We can’t go out and play a 39-minute game.” Husker to start at bottom By Mitcn snerman Staff Reporter Nebraska basketball coach Danny Nee said Monday that forward Tom Best would have to make a long climb if he wanted to make it back into the starting lineup. The 6-foot-9-inch senior from South Hol land, HI., was suspended from the team for three days and missed Sunday’s 94-87 loss at Kansas because of disciplinary reasons. Best returned to practice on Monday. “I told him that he can start with a clean slate but at the bottom rung on the ladder,” Nee said. “Whatever comes his way, he is going to have to take it and work his way back up.” Best, who has started in 11 of the Huskers’ 17 games, was asked to leave practice last Wednes day after arguing with assistant coach Jeff Smith. During the last stint of home games, Best, who is averaging 4.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, also drew some negative reaction from the crowd at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Senior point guard Jamar Johnson said Best, who underwent back surgery in March of 1992, needed to be encouraged by his teammates — and the fans. “My response to what the crowd has done in response to Tom is that I could care less,” Johnson said, “because the crowd doesn’t come to practice every day at three o’clock, and the crowd doesn’t deal with Tom’s personal life. “That’s not fair for the crowd to judge him like that. That kindofupsets me when the crowd gets on a player because they don’t understand his personal life. Tom needs to realize that all that stuff isn’t important.” Best couldn’t be reached for comment on Monday. Johnson said he thought of Best while play ing in Lawrence, Kan., on Sunday. “I wanted to get on national TV after the Kansas game,” he said, “and tell Tom that we miss him and we want him back. We want him to get things straightened out with the coaching staff.” Missouri showing Big Eight how to get the job done The Big Eight season has reached the halfway mark, and who would have guessed that Missouri would be in the driver’s seat? The Tigers, who were a preseason No. 3 pick, are tearing up tne confer ence. Not even preseason picks Okla homa State and Kansas look like they have the talent to knock off Missouri. During the past three weeks, the Tigers have shown that they are the cream of the the Big Eight crop this season. That title no longer belongs to the Cowboys and “Big Flathead, whom M issouri beat in Still water, Okla. And it doesn’t belong to the “rock-chuck a-brick-from-outside" Jayhawks, whom the Tigers stomped in Colum bia, Mo., for the first time in the careers of Missouri’s eight seniors. The Tigers have what no other team in the conference has—the right combination of talent and experience. And the Tigers are making it look easy. They made Kansas look like a group of lost birds that should have flown farther south for the winter. And Jevon Crudup made Bryant Reeves look more like “All-Big Gulp” than All-Big Eight. Missouri toyed with the Sooners until the last two minutes, and then the Tigers overwhelmed Oklahoma down the stretch for a 104-94 win. And who can forget the blowout of the Huskers on Big Monday a couple of weeks ago? But the Huskers’ woes started one game before the loss to the Tigers. At the time, most observers called the loss to Colorado on Jan. 19 a fluke. They said the Huskers were just looking past the team they had beaten by 39 points 11 days earlier. The Huskers have dropped four straight games in the conference and find themselves with the same num ber of conference wins — two — as Colorado. And all this began after the Husk ers looked so promising during their 11-game winning streak. Nebraska was playing with chemistry and firing on all five cylinders. But the letdown against the Buffa loes made the Huskers’ great chemis try look more like a mad scientist’s experiment gone wrong. Jeff Griesch Ami even though the Huskers looked like they might be starting to break out of their midseason slump when they played Kansas, Nebraska’s 12-6 record makes you wonder where the Huskers might be spending their time during March Maaness. Nebraska has been shooting blanks from the field, and even Danny Nee admits there is no quick fix for poor shooting. But the Huskers will have to heat up in a hurry, because their schedule is merciless the rest of the way. Nebraska has to travel to Kansas State and hope it plays well enough to escape from Manhattan, Kan., with out another one of Anthony Beane’s last-second daggers through the Husk ers’ hearts. Then Nebraska has a must-win game at home against Iowa State be fore traveling to Oklahoma and Okla homa State. The Huskers will return home for a three-game stand against the Jayhawks, the Wildcats and the Cow boys before finishing the regular sea son with those invincible-looking Ti gers in Columbia. Let’s play the coach’s counting game and give Nebraska the benefit of the doubt on the close ones. Nebraska could escape with a win against the Wildcats (victory No. 13) and a win over the Cyclones (14), but winning in Lloyd Noble in Norman, Okla. .just won ’ t happen for the Husk ers this season. Nor will they win in Stillwater. Let’s give the Huskers a home win over Kansas (15) just because the Jayhawks can’t win in Bob’s House arid another win over Kansas State (16). Let’s even grant Nebraska a win over “Big Ugly* and the Cowboys 07). But there’s no way the Huskers will beat those eight seniors at Missouri in their final home game. That would put the Huskers at 17 9 heading into the Big Eight Tourna ment. A 7-7 league mark will put Nebraska up against Oklahoma or Oklahoma State to open the tourna ment. The Big Eight, which appears to be weaker than it has been in recent years, will be lucky to get five teams into the Big Dance. Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma State are no-brainers to get into the NCAA Tournament. And unless the Sooners collapse, Oklahoma looks like a solid bet for the fourth spot. That leaves the Huskers and Wild cats fighting for the fifih spot, and with the Wildcats owning 14 wins, Nebraska will need two wins over Kansas State to stay in contention for a bid to the NCAAs. If the Huskers fall to the Wildcats Wednesday night, Nebraska will need a lot of luck to prevent an Orange Bowl rematch against Charlie Ward and Florida State in the NIT. GrWtck b a Jualor aewi-edttorlal major aad a Dally Nebnukaa tealor editor tad col ■■■tot.
