Nebraskan
Monday, March 14,1904
Sports
Big Eight in the bag, NU big dance bound
Team effort ropes in ‘Pokes
By Tim Pearson
Senior Reporter
KANSAS CITY, Mo.— Jamar Johnson
jumped into Eric Piatkowski’s arms.
Nebraska coach Danny Nee pumped his fists
into the air as a salute to the Kemper Arena
crowd of 14,283.
Nee and those two seniors had seen the good
and bad of Nebraska basketball.
On Sunday, they saw the best display of
Comhusker basketball yet as the Huskers dis
posed of No. 23 Oklahoma State 77-68 to take
home Nebraska’s first-ever Big Eight tourna
ment title.
“This run has been the best basketball I’ve
seen at Nebraska,” Nee said. “This is a big step
for the Nebraska basketball program.
“It was a team effort. There is not one player
on our team who did not contribute to our win.”
The fourth-seeded Huskers defeated Okla
homa 105-88behind Piatkowski’s tournament
record 42 points in the first rounds and they
downed the third-ranked and top-seeded Mis
souri 98-91 to get to the championship game.
Jaron Boone said Nebraska basketball has
reached new heights. Boone’s 15 points and
three steals Sunday helped place him on the
All-Tournament team with Bruce Chubick and
Piatkowski.
“This is one of the greatest things to happen
to Nebraska basketball since the first NCAA
appearance," he said. “This means that we’ve
accomplished two of our goals — 20 wins and
a Big Eight Tournament championship.”
But Bryant Reeves and Oklahoma State
were determined not to allow the Huskers an
easy trip to the title.
Nebraska, 20-9, countered Reeves’ size,
using its run-and-gun style of play to its advan
tage.
“What we were trying to do was run the
entire game,” Nee said. “We thought that if we
would play an up-tempo game that Big Country
(Reeves) would show some fatigue.
Reeves scored 18 points but was held to five
points in the first half. He didn’t score until the
All-Tournament
Team
Player Tournament Avg.
F Eric Piatkowski PP9 rP9
Nebraska 25.3 5.7
G Jaron Boone PP8 ®Pfl
Nebraska 15.7 3.0
Tournament MVP- Eric Piatkowski,
Nebraska
C Bryant Reeves
Oklahoma State
PP9 rpg
22.0 10.3
DN graphic
6:47 mark in (he first half.
“I got off to a rough start,” Reeves said. “In
the first half Nebraska did a better job on the
boards and outrebounded us.
“We didn’t execute well or shoot the ball
well.”
The Cowboys didn’t have their big gun
firing, but neitherdid the Huskers, as Piatkowski,
named the tournament MVP, scored 10 points
on 4-of-16 shooting.
Oklahoma State came into the game intent
on not letting Piatkowski beat the Cowboys,
guard Randy Rutherford said.
Rutherford kept the Cowboys in the game
with 21 points, 18 of those from 3-point land.
“I thought we did a good job of guarding
Piatkowski,” he said. “We tried to drive him
into the baseline.
“Their other guys stepped up and did a good
job.” at ' s
Even though Piatkowski was cold, the Husk
ers weren’t ready to fold.
See CHAMPS on 8
Huskers hope to shake Penn
By Mitch Sherman
Staff Reporter
Just 10 minutes into Nebraska, Danny Nee
knew his team was headed to New York.
On their way back to Lincoln after winning
the school’s first Big Eight Tournament cham
pionship in Kansas City, Mo., the Huskers
stopped in Nebraska City and discovered the
destination and opponent for their fourth con
secutive NCAA tournament trip.
“We pulled into a McDonald’s and a little
boy ran up to me,” Nee said, “and slobbered
something about Penn.”
The young Husker fan was referring to the
24-2 Pennsylvania Quakers. The Ivy League
champions will be Nebraska’s first-round op
ponent in the NCAA Tournament Thursday at
the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in
Long Island, N.Y.
As the No. 6 seed in the East regional, the
Huskers will probably play Thursday afternoon.
Tip-off time will be announced Monday.
Nee said he was thrilled with the perfor
mance of the Huskers in the Big Eight tourna
ment.
— 61
We are not satisfied with
getting to the tournament.
We want to do some
damage.
— Chubick
NU men's basketball fonward
-tf -
“It’s wonderful,” he said. “It’s so gratifying
to get something you worked so hard for eight
years and when it’s so unexpected.”
Nebraska guard Jaron Boone said he was
pleased with the Huskers’ position in the tour
nament. If the Huskers beat Penn on Thursday,
they will play either James Madison or third
seeded Florida on Saturday in Long Island.
“We got a good seed,” Boone said. “If we go
in there and play the way we have been playing,
we’ll be victorious.”
Point guard Jamar Johnson said Nebraska’s
seeding didn’t matter as long as the Huskers
William Lauer/DN
Nebraska’s Bruce Chubick throws up a hook shot over Oklahoma State’s
Bryant Reeves during the first half of the Huskers’ Big Eight Tournament
win Sunday.
were able to play well.
“Personally, I was satisfied with the seed,”
Johnson said. “I don’t just want to go to the
tournament this year and turn around and get
back on the plane.”
The Huskers were in the NCAA Tournament
each of the last three seasons but lost in the first
round each time.
“I can’t explain to you how incredible this
is,” forward Bruce Chubick said to the approx
imately 5,000 fans who greeted the Huskers at
the Bob Devaney Sports Center Sunday night.
“We are not satisfied with getting to the tourna
ment. We want to win some games. We want to
do some damage.”
In order to do damage, Johnson said, a
change of attitude is necessary.
See SEED on 8
No. 1 Buckeye gymnasts ‘slip’ into win over NU men
By Mitch Sherman
Staff Raportar____
All year, the Nebraska men’s gymnastics
team had been pointing toward Sunday’s meet
with Ohio State at the Bob Devaney Sports
center.
The Cornhuskcrs con
sidered the Buckeyes, 21-0
and ranked No. 1 in the
nation coming into the meet,
their main hurdle in a run at
thcireighth national title in
the last IS years.
Nebraska couldn't over
come that obstacle — at
least not yet.
Allen
umo Slate squeaicea oy me no. l nusKcre
284.85 to 284.55.
“They were everything we thought they would
be,” Nebraska coach Francis Allen said. ‘‘We
knew, coming in, we would have to hit about 80
to 85 percent, and we only hit 75. But we handed
it to them.”
Through four of the six events, the Huskers
led 190.55 to 189.05 and were in position to
Kendig
cruise home with a victory.
But the Buckeyes came back
— aided by two Nebraska
slips on the parallel bars—
to hand the Huskers their
first loss in a home dual
since 1989.
“We hit any one of our two
misses on the parallel bars,
and we could’ve won the
meet,” Allen said. “So it
was close. We could have ran away with it it we
could have finished the parallel bars and the
high bars.”
Ohio State, led by Blaine Wilson and Drew
Durbin, outscored Nebraska, 13-3, by 1.8points
in the two events.
“We gave it away,” Allen said. “We had
them right where we wanted them, and we just
gave it to them.”
Individual and all-around medal winners for
Nebraska included Dennis Harrison, Richard
Grace, Ric KiefTer and Jason Christie.
Allen said he couldn’t remember how it felt
to lose at home.
“It has been a while,” he said. “Hopefully it
will be a while again. Those national champion
ships (in Lincoln, April 21-24) are going to be
great.”
As the Nebraska men lost, the Husker wom
en returned the favor by defeating the Buckeye
women 192.325 to 186.75.
The Nebraska women’s score was the second
highest of the season and the seventh highest in
-44
We just gave it to them.
— Allen '
NU men's gymnastics coach
tf -
school history.
Nicole Duval led the 10-5 Huskers by win
ning the all-around competition, the floor exer
cise and the vault. The junior from Lincoln also
placed third in the uneven bars and second on
the balance beam.
Nebraska coach Dan Kendig was pleased
with the Husker victory but was more excited
about their return to early-season form.
After starting the year 7-0, the Huskers
dropped to 9-5 after two meets on the road.