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Friday, January 12, 1996 Page 7
Mike Kluck
Wald provides
spark for NU
off the bench
It is still uncertain whether the
Nebraska basketball team will avoid
a late-scason collapse like last year
and finish seventh in the Big Eight.
Ifthey do, the Cornhuskcrs could
rally and finish in the top three of
the Big Eight and make it to the
Sweet 16, which is what some play
ers were talking about Wednesday
night after the buskers’ 79-74 win
over L.oiorauo.
Those questions remain to be
answered.
What is certain about Nebraska
right now is that no matter what the
team does the rest of the season,
Tom Wald has to be the behind
the-scenes most valuable player of
the squad. And he may be the best
sixth man in the conference.
The senior transfer from
Mankato State averages only 5.5
points and 14.3 minutes per game
but plays a huge role, not for what
he’s done on the court, but for what
he has not done off the court.
Wald, who was named to the Big
Eight’s all-bench squad a year ago,
is loaded with reasons to bring this
team crashing down after freshman
Tyronn Lue bypassed him to start at
point guard.
“I’ve got every right to be upset,
to be ticked off at the minutes I get,
like anybody else,” Wald said.
“Tyronn comes in and gets prom
ised a starting spot, and all of a
sudden, Tom gets bumped off.”
Wald said he could react in one
of two ways.
“I can make a big stink about it,
ruin this team, and just bring a lot of
people down with me. Or, I can try
to become a champion.”
Because Wald has tried to turn
the Huskers into a championship
program, he has become a better
person. And he has received recog
nition for his efforts not only from
his coaches and teammates, but also
from opposing coaches.
On Saturday against Long Beach
State, Wald’s steal with 10 seconds
remaining helped preserve
Nebraska’s 69-68 victory.
In Wald’s brief two-year career
at Nebraska, he has made either a
game-winning or game-saving play
five times. After the game, 49ers’
coach Seth Greenberg bypassed
complimenting any of Nebraska’s
starters and recognized Wald.
But for now, Wald has to be
content with coming off the bench
to provide the Huskers with a spark.
“I think the best thing I can do is
to realize that I’m not going to
start,” Wald said. “Most people,
their ego is too large to realize
they’re not needed in that way. I
think the best players are those that
realize what their roles are, no mat
ter how small.”
Luckily for the Huskers, Wald
knows his role.
Kluck Is a graduate student of Jour
nalism and a Dally Nebraskan senior
reporter.
Huskers, Sooners vie for 2-0 start
' * i
By Todd Walkenhorst
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska basketball team
stands atop the Big Eight conference
after a 79-74 victory over Colorado.
Now, the Cornhuskers prepare to
take their show on the road. Okla
homa and Nebraska will tangle Satur
day at the Lloyd Noble Center in
Norman, Okla., at 12:45 p.m.
The Sooners and Huskers are two
of four teams with a 1-0 record in the
Big Eight and tied for first place. Kan
sas and Missouri also have perfect
marks.
Oklahoma is 9-4 overall, coming
off a 64-59 victory over Kansas State
on Wednesday night in Manhattan,
Kan.
Saturday’s game is a welcome va
cation for some Huskers, who believe
that playing on the road could present
less pressure than playing at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
“We’re the kind of team t|iat goes
on a road trip and we’re real relaxed,”
“People at Nebraska
have high expectations
of us, and sometimes we
mess up. ”
JARON BOONE
Nebraska guard
senior guard Jaron Boone said. “I think
our team puts a little added pressure
on ourselves when we’re at home,
playing in front of our fans.
“We want to play good. We want to
do everything right. People at Ne
braska have high expectations of us,
and sometimes we mess up.”
Nebraska coach Danny Nee said
he was happy with the Huskers’ vic
tory over Colorado, which improved
his team’s record to 12-3 overall.
See OU on 8
Basketball Starters
Nebraska |jj| Ht. Wl Class PPG RPG
G -3yi»nn'Ijiie ''f T':H6-0 '7 165 "7A TPr. . V* 2.6 U
G Jaron Boone 6-6 195 Sr. 17.5 2.6
F Eiiick Strickland 776-3 '7 ?' 21'0:3?';:' Sri?- I 15.0 7: 4.97?
F Bernard Garner 6-7 225 Jr. 10.0 6.1
f Mikki Moore 6-11 205 Jr. 8.6 5.1
•klahoma
• G": Nate Erdtmiarl 7?;"6-5HIM210 • •• -:•«Jr, 7 • • •• 12.0 5.T!?f
G Tyrone Foster 5-11 165 Jr. 10.3 3.8
> F , :. Ryan Minor 7 ;??• .6-7' ' “ 220 ?! 20HS 6.8
F Ernie Abercrombie 6-4 240 Sr?- 14.3 9.5
C 7 Bobby Joe Evans 4.0 77
____
Sooner opponents
face Minor problem
By Gregg Madsen
Staff Reporter
Ryan Minor is big in Oklahoma.
He is so big that he even had his
picture in an advertisement on the
cover of the Oklahoma City phone
book.
“I was surprised
to see that they had
my picture. I didn’t
know anything
about it until some
body told me that it
was on the cover,”
Minor said at the
Big Eight Confer
ence media day in
Minor - Kansas City in Oc
tober.
“It’s been interesting to see all the
preseason publicity, but I just want to
focus on the team.”
The 1994-95 Big Eight player of
the year, Minor not only excels on the
basketball court, but also on the base
ball field.
But the 6-foot-7 preseason All
American forward hasn’t let all the
hype go to his head. He said he was
focused on basketball for right now.
Although the Sooners have
struggled early this season, Minor said
he felt good about the way they were
playing now.
“I think we are doing OK now,”
Minor said. “Before we played Kan
sas State, we were struggling a little
bit with our confidence. But it was big
to get that win on the road to open the
conference season.”
Minor has helped the Sooners to a
9-4 record and despite being double
and triple-teamed by opposing teams,
lie leads the Big Eight in scoring,
averaging 21.3 points and 6.8 rebounds
per game.
“That isreally frustratingat times,”
Minor said. “And it makes it hard to
play the way I would like to play. But
I have to work around that and get
back into rhythm.”
Nebraska will have to stop Minor’s
scoring if it wants to stop the Sooners
Dn Saturday in Norman. In his career.
Minor is 4-3 against the Huskers. Last
season, the Sooners beat Nebraska in
Norman 82-72 but lost in Lincoln 71 -
59. Minor averaged 25 points in those
two games.
But thisyear, the 12-3 Huskers will
have the advantage in experience and
in backcourt play, Minor said.
“They have great guards,” he said.
“With Strickland and Boone, I don’t
think you are going to find a better duo
in the conference. They can beat you
in a lot of ways.
“Having the experienced seniors is
going to help them a lot. They have got
players who know what they need to
Jo to win.”
Minor said that the Sooners were
having a hard time sneaking up on
teams like they did last year.
“A lot of teams were surprised by
us last season,” Minor said. “They
were ready for us this year. We didn’t
have the right frame of mind at the
beginning of the season.”
Scott Bruhn/DN
Nebraska junior center Mikki Moore and the Huskers will play
at Oklahoma Saturday night. Moore scored 16 points and
grabbed eight rebounds against Colorado Wednesday night.
Husker women’s team
aims for home win
By Mike Kluck
Senior Reporter
To be successful in Big Eight
women’s basketball, teams must be
able to win at home.
But to finish at the top of the
conference, a team must be able to
win on the road.
That problem faces Nebraska
this weekend as it plays host to
Kansas at 7 tonight at the Bob
Devancy Sports Center and Kansas
Stale at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Nebraska, Kansas and Kansas
State are comingoffspl its last week
end. Both Kansas and Kansas State
lost to Colorado on their home
courts, but defeated Missouri. On
the road, Nebraska defeated Okla
homa, but lost to Oklahoma State.
“I think you’re going to have to
go undefeated at home or maybe
lose one or two on the road, and that
is it,” Nebraska coach Angela Beck
said. “I really think three losses to
win the league would be all you
could afford. We’re going to have
to take care of business, and that’s
going to be pressure.”
Beck said she hoped the
Comhuskers would put the pres
sure on the Jayhawks and Wildcats
by playing more physically than
they did last weekend.
The physical play wi 11 have to be
directed at Kansas center Nakia
Sanford, Beck said. The 6-foot-3
freshman is averaging 8.6 points
per game and leads the Jayhawks
with 74 rebounds.
Sanford should be named the
Big Eight freshman of the year,
Beck said, but more importantly,
shecomplementsjuniorpoint guard
Tamecka Dixon. Dixon is averag
ing 18.1 points per game for the
Jayhawks and needs 24 points to
surpass the 800-point career mark.
“Dixon is probably one of the
better point guards in our league,
and it will be real difficult to con
tain her,” Beck said. “She is prob
ably one of the great players of the
game.”
But Beck said it would be more
important to see how Kansas re
sponded to its 60-59 loss to Colo
rado. In the game, the Buffaloes hit
two free throws with 7/10 of a sec
ond remaining.
“I think Kansas has probably got
one of the better teams that they
have had. They’re a tremendous
team,” Beck said.
Kansas State coach Brian Agler
said the Wildcats were looking for
ward to Big Eight Conference play
because it’s as if they were starting
a new season. But he said he knew
it would be difficult to win in Lin
coln.
“Nebraska is a really good bas
ketball team,” Agler said. “To go in
and win, we will have to do a lot of
things right. They are very explo
sive offensively.”