Monday, February 5, 1996 Page 7
SPORTS OPINION
Trevor Parks
Floyd turns
ISU program
into winner
This isn ’t the Iowa State team of
old.
No Fred Hoiberg to chant “Go
Big Fred” at. No weird-looking
players like Loren Meyer or Julius
Michalik. No funny names like Hurl
Beechum.
No more poking fun at Johnny
Orr’s baldness and bad suits.
There is not much about the
1995-96 edition of Cyclone basket
ball to laugh at because this team is
good.
Iowa State, which should be
ranked when the polls are released
this afternoon, is taking advantage
of a mediocre Big Eight. The Cy
clones are second in the confer
ence, and Wednesday night, they
will blow into Lawrence, Kan., to
baule-Kartsas»f«p tha*teftgue lead. -***
Coach Tim Floyd has this team
— built of junior college transfers
and Conference USA escapees —
winning. After Saturday’s 75-65
drubbing of the Comhuskers, Iowa
State is 16-4 with a 5-1 conference
record.
Dedric Willoughby and Kenny
Pratt introduced themselves to
Husker fans in a flashy way on
Saturday. They combined for 44
points, and after the game they cel
ebrated in the locker room.
Pratt transferred from Chicago,
and Willoughby escaped having to
play in the conference with the worst
name in the country, following his
coach to Ames, Iowa, from New
Orleans.
ine Lyciones siari nve juniors
and bring five more off the bench.
Senior night next season might take
30 minutes, but it will certainly
come in the midst of a winning
season. Three freshmen also dot
the Cyclone roster.
Floyd has gone to the junior col
lege level to recruit. After visiting
Ames, I agree that this is the only
way possible to get recruits to Iowa
State. Floyd has made it work. No
one in his right mind would ever
want to spend four years of his life
in Ames, the coldest spot on the
face of the earth—no matter what
the time of year.
The only person open to jabs
from opposing fans Saturday was
Jacy Holloway, a 6-foot junior who
has spent three unfortunate years in
Ames. He looks as if he is barely
old enough to shave, but he scored
10 points against Nebraska.
“I said in the beginning of the
year that in one game, Jacy
Holloway would get double dig
its,” said a shocked Willoughby
after his prediction came true.
“Coach Floyd’s motto is: 'Boys
at home. Men on the road.’ And we
went out and played like a bunch of
men.”
If this team keeps playing like
men, the rest of the conference has
a lot of growing up to do.
Parks is a senior news-editorial ma
jor and a Daily Nebraskan senior re
porter.
Jay Calderon/DN
Nebraska guard Erick Strickland tries to draw a charge from Iowa State guard Kenny Pratt Saturday at the Bob Devaney Sports ’
Center during the Huskers’ 75-65 loss to the Cyclones. Pratt, a junior from Chicago, led all players with 24 points. Strickland scored
10 points on 3-of-14 shooting.
Huskers’ losing streak continues
. By Mike Kluck^ ..
*’ Senior Reporter *
With the team’s second-leading
scorer in a three-piece suit instead of
a playing uni
form, it was
important for
the Nebraska
basketball
team to start strong in its game with
Iowa State on Saturday.
Unfortunately for the Comhuskers,
that didn’t happen. Nebraska fell be
hind 12-0 in the first three minutes and
eventually lost 75-65 to the Cyclones.
Without senior guard Jaron Boone,
who was serving a suspension for dis
ciplinary reasons, the Huskers may
have lost more than just the game,
which dropped Nebraska to 15-7 over
all and 3-4 in the conference.
It was the Huskers’ confidence that
Nebraska coach Danny Nee was wor
ried about after the game, which was
played before 12,792 fans at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
“What I saw during the game was a
loss of confidence,” Nee said. “I feel
they’re starting to question themselves,
and I still think we have got a good
basketball team.
“It’s a difficult situation. But I re^
ally feel that this coaching staff, and
this team want the same thing. We just
have to keep working on it on a day
to-day basis.” ^ . .
What confidence Nebraska Had
before the game was snuffed out in the
first four minutes as the Huskers
Iowa State 75
Nebraska 65
missed their first six shots and com
mitted five turnovers.
During that same period, the Cy
clones, 16-4 overall and 5-1 in the
conference, were using their full-court
press to build a 12-0 lead before Ne
braska freshman Venson Hamilton
scored on a layup.
“I thought we set the tone in the
first three minutes with our tough de
fense,” Iowa State coach Tim Floyd.
“Our press really helped early in the
game.”
Iowa State was led by guard Kenny
Pratt, who scored 24 points, and Dedric
Willoughby, who added 20 points.
Bernard Gamer scored 16 points and
grabbed 13 rebounds for Nebraska.
Hamilton led the Huskers with a ca
reer-best 19 points.
Nebraska senior guard Erick
Strickland, who finished the game with
10 points, said he knew the Huskers
weren’t in right frame of mind before
the game.
“I was just hoping we could play
out of it,” Strickland said. “I was hop
ing we’d get a run or something.”
Strickland and Nee were both
pleased that the Huskers didn’t give
up after the Cyclones’ quick start.
Nebraska responded by outscoring
Iowa State 10-2 to cut the lead to four
points on a Strickland basket with
13:23 remaining in the half. The Cy
clones came back with a 7-0 run, how
ever,:io push the lead back to 11.
The Huskers responded again and
cut Iowa State’s lead to four when
Jay Calderon/DN
Jaron Boone watches from the sidelines Saturday during
Nebraska’s loss to Iowa State. Boone, who was suspended for
disciplinary reasons, alsomissedthe second half of Nebraska’s
loss to Kansas State last Wednesday.
Hamilton made a layup with 2:21 re
maining in the half. Hamilton was 7
for-7 from the field in the first half and
finished the game 9-for-9, tying a
Husker record set by Chuck Jura and
Dave Hoppen for the most consecu
tive field goals made in a game.
But the Cyclones came back with \
an 8-1 run to close out the half and \
take a 40-29 lead.
“I thought that was really the turn- j
ing point,” Nee said. “It went back to
11 with about a minute and a half left.
That’s a back-breaker.”
The .Cyclones’ final first-half run
was cruciafNee said, because iff
Huskers had been down only ,.fo|
, points at the half, they wbuklftaveha
\ an^sier tim^gaining seco?.d-ha
^^ee^suor
By Jason Brunz
Staff Reporter
With two conference wins at
home, the Nebraska women’s bas
ketball team showed this weekend
that it was
still a Big
Eight con
tender.
The
Comhuskers, 15-6 overall and 5-4
in the Big Eight, defeated 19th
ranked Oklahoma State 53-43 on
Friday at the Bob Devaney Sports
Nebraska 71
Oklahoma 52
Center. On Sunday, the Huskers
beat Oklahoma 71-52.
Against Oklahoma State, Ne
braska was led by junior forward
Tina McClain, who scored 20
points, and sophomore forward
Anna DeForge, who added 14
points.
McClain also grabbed 11 re
bounds against Oklahoma State.
The Huskers shot 13-for-21 from
the free-throw line. They were also
2-for-5 in 3-point shooting.
McClain said Nebraska’s intensity
in the second half was the deciding
factor.
“We decided that we had to come
out and take control,” McClain said.
“Our momentum carried us through
the rest of the game.”
Nebraska coach Angela Beck
made changes in both the lineup
and the defense in an attempt to
wear down the Cowgirls.
Trying for a smaller, quicker
defense, the Huskers came out start
ing sophomore Jami Kubik instead
of senior Pyra Aarden. Nebraska
See WINS on 9
Huskers can't
come back to
beat No. 30SU
By Antone Oseka
Staff Reporter
Before Sunday, the last time Ne
braska squared off against Oklahoma
State, a winner couldn’t be decided.
The Comhuskers and Cowboys tied
at 18 in the Reno Challenge on Jan.
13. On Sunday, the No. 2 Huskers
would have been lucky to get the same
results.
See LOSS on 8