NU crowd helps keep
Huskers alive in NIT
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
Had it not been for the 8,040 fans at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center Thursday night,
Nebraska’s season would probably be over,
Comhusker coach Danny Nee said.
As it now stands, the 18-13 Huskers, who
downed Georgia 69-61 in the first round of the
National Invitation Tournament, are still breath
ing.
With the victory, Nebraska’s first postseason
win since an NIT victory over Arkansas State in
1989, the Huskers advance to play Penn State in
the second round. Nebraska officials said Thurs
day that the game would be Monday or Tuesday
night at the Devaney Center.
“I can’t say enough,” Nee said of the Husker
faithful. “Part of this belongs to them, because
they came in and they didn’t let us die. It’s not
the loudest crowd that we’ve had, but they
stayed with us.”
Nebraska guard Erick Strickland, who scored
17 of his team-high 21 points in the first half,
said the fans at the Devaney Center on Thursday
night were “true.”
“They are probably as loud as the fans that
have ever been here,” said Strickland, who left
the game for two minutes in the second half after
bruising his left leg. “That’s a tribute to them.
They were great.”
Georgia, which was led by guard Shandon
Anderson, who scored 22 points, fell to 18-10.
The Bulldogs led Nebraska the entire first half,
opening a 13-point lead with 11:50 to play
before halftime.
But the Huskers chippe'd away, eventually
cutting the lead to three points at 40-37 just
before end of the first half. Without Strickland,
who scored eight straight Nebraska points dur
ing one stretch, Nee said the Huskers could have
been blown out.
“My teammates were getting me open,” said
Strickland, who also pulled down 10 rebounds
and contributed four assists. “I was just getting
into the paint and getting rebounds. It was all
coming. I don’t think I was overlooking any
thing. It just sort of happened.”
See WIN on 8
Georgia’s Durham credits
Huskers’ transition game
By Derek Samson
Senior Reporter
Georgia coach Hugh Durham knew that it
was coming, but he didn’t know how to stop it.
Durham said the 17-4 Nebraska run at the
end of the game sealed the Comhuskers’ 69-61
win over Georgia in the first round of the Na
tional Invitation Tournament. Durham saw the
run as nothing more than inevitable.
“You’re playinga Big Eight team that’s been
to the NCAA Tournament four out of the last
five years and have a lot of experience,” Durham
said. “You have to know that they’re going to
make a run. You have to be ready for it. It’s nip
and-tuck the whole second half and then they go
on the run and we don’t do anything about it.”
Georgia jumped out to a 22-9 lead and led by
three at halftime. The Bulldogs, however, shot
only 20 percent in the second half and scored
only one point in the final 5:11.
“If you only make seven of 34 shots in the
second half, you’re going to have a tough time
winning,” Durham said. “When you never put
the ball in the basket, the defense has to regroup
on the run. When the ball goes through the net,
you’ve got a chance to get back and set up a
defense.
“Nebraska does a good job of running tran
sition and we knew that coming in. They did it
and had some success with it. But 7 of 34 isn’t
going to win many games.”
Durham said the only way Georgia stayed in
the game in the second halfwas Nebraska’s lack
of offense, which he credited to the Bulldogs
defense.
Nebraska shot 41 percent from the field for
the game, but made only 2 of 21 from 3-point
range.
“Look at their center (Mikki Moore). He’s
averaging six or seven (7.6 points a game) and
he gets 12,” Durham said. “Why is that? Tran
sition, plus the fact that we’re out there trying to
guard (Jaron) Boone and (Erick) Strickland.
See BULLDOGS on 8
Scott Bruhn/DN
Nebraska’s Mikki Moore comes down after a dunk that tied the game at 46
against Georgia. Moore scored 12points to lead the Huskerstoa69-61 winover
the Bulldogs in the first round of the NIT Thursday night.
Nebraska sets Big 8 record for stolen bases in win
Jay Calderon/DN
Nebraska’s Jed Dalton steals third base during the Huskers’ game against UNO Thursday afternoon. Dalton had four steals in the
Huskers’ 12-6 win. Nebraska as a team stole a Big Eight-record 13 bases.
By Jeff Griesch
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska baseball team ran
over UNO in a 12-6 win at Buck
Beltzer Field Thursday.
The Comhuskers, 7-6, set a Big
Eight record with 13 stolen bases
against the Mavericks.
Nebraska had stolen only six bases
in 12 games entering the game with
the Mavericks, 5-1, but the Huskers
ran on University of Nebraska at
Omaha catcher Tim Hallett’s arm all
afternoon.
Senior third baseman Jed Dalton
stole four bases to head the list of
seven Huskers with at least one steal.
Eugene Jenkins, Patrick Johnson
and Todd Sears each stole two bases,
and Alvie Shepherd, Darin Erstad and
Mel Motley added one stolen base
each.
The Huskers also pounded out 13
hits against four UNO pitchers.
Nebraska coach John Sanders said
he was glad to see the Huskers’ of
fense putting runs on the board.
“We did some good things offen
sively today,” Sanders said. “We took
advantage of their mistakes. We had
timely hits with runners on base. And
we scored some runs.”
And runs have not been easy for the
Huskers to come by so far this season.
See UNO on 8