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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 1996)
Sports SPORTS OPINION Todd Walkenhorst Huskers need some maturity to bounce back Every single morning, I awake to hear little kids screaming and hollering at each other. I guess that’s a disadvantage of having a day care right next to my apartment. There’s nothing more obnoxious than three- and four-year-olds act ing like little children, but at least they have an excuse. Unfortunately, there is a striking similarity between day care and the Nebraska basketball team. The' problems have been well documented. Of course there is the losing, but it’s really not the losing that has Husker fans concerned. It’s some thing else. It’s a lack of maturity. During last Saturday’s loss to Iowa State, players were not pay ing attention in huddles and not playing as a team. After the loss, players were yelping and singing in the locker room. “The problem is when you start losing, it’s like a family when two brothers or sisters start fighting and disagreeing,” Coach Danny Nee said. “That’s what you heard in the locker room. That’s the problem.” Maybe it’s time for some family counseling. This team needs to mature. Five members of the team are 21 years or older, including three 23-year olds. And none of them are acting like the so-called “senior leaders” they are supposed to be. Terrance Badgett was ejected for throwing an elbow during Nebraska’s victory over Missouri on Jan.’24. Jaron Boone was sus pended in the middle of a loss to Kansas State on Jan. 31 for argu ing with Nee. He missed the Iowa State game later that week. Erick Strickland was ejected after receiv ing a double-technical foul during the Huskers' loss to Missouri on Feb. 7. “The players in the program were hand picked,” Nee said. “I’m committed to them. I’m staying with them.” The question is, will the players stick by Nee? Players on Tuesday met with Athletic Director Bill Byrne to dis cuss how to stop their losing streak. I would imagine they were told to start playing like a team and to start standing by the coach. Many people are saying Nee should be fired. Unfortunately, if he gets fired, the players will remain the same. it’s time tor the players to grow up, regardless of the coaching qual ity. They shouldn’t be playing for the coach. They should be trying to win for themselves. If they can get it iogether, the Huskers can make an exciting late season run. But if they don’t, Ne braska will not win another game this year. Wrikeakont is a seaior broadcasdag aad advertisiag major aad a Drily Ne bratkaa staff reporter Travis Heying/DN i, Kate Galligan, Anna DeForge and Cori McDill celebrate the Huskers’ win Nebraska basketball players (from left) Emily Thompson over No. 18 Colorado Wednesday night. Huskers take down Missouri By Antone Oseka Staff Reporter To Nebraska wrestling coach Tim Neumann, this entire sea son has seemed like one of those days. The top Comhusker lineup hasn’t been intact for a single dual meet. Wednesday night was no exception. But the Huskers, without sev eral of their top wrestlers, still defeated Missouri 27-9. The Ti gers started quickly. Nebraska’s Darin Giese lost to Brooks Travis 7-5 at 118 pounds. At 126, Matt Infranca dropped a 7-3 decision to Missouri’s Donnie Mitchell, giv ing the Tigers a 6-0 team lead. Ninth-rated Tony DeAnda scored the first team points for Nebraska at 134 pounds, win ning a major decision over Brent Tanney 14-6. Missouri went up v-4 behind a Matt Webster win at 142. He defeated Nebraska freshman Jake Roe 7-3. “We wanted to go out and dominate the third period in of all the matches,” Neumann said. Those were the final team points the Tigers scored. Ne braska won the next six matches and picked up the dual victory 27-9. Eighth-ranked Jason Kraft came out on fire for Nebraska at ISO pounds, defeating A1 Fonzo Castelucci 18-8 and cutting the Tiger lead to one point at 9-8. Temoer Terry returned to the mat for Nebraska after after a two-week absence because of a slight knee injury. Terry, who is See WIN on 11 NUtops Buffs in double OT By Mike Kluck Senior Reporter Valentine’s Day dates of Nebraska women’s basketball players were out of luck on hearts on the court of the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Huskers played an emotion filled game, defeating No. 18 Colo rado 83-75 in double-overtime and improving their record to 16-8 over all and 6-6 in Big Eight play. Nebraska coach Angela Beck said she was pleased with the way the Huskers played after losing two games over the weekend to Kansas State and Kansas. “The team played with tremendous heart,” Beck said. “I never felt that we weren’t going to have enough energy to finish this game. Our defense was tremendous, but our offense was pretty dang good, too.” But it was the Buffaloes (20-7 and 7-4) who almost stole the hearts of Husker fans at the end of regulation. With Nebraska holding a one-point Wednesday night, be cause the Comhuskers left their lead, Colorado’s senior guard DeCelle Thomas missed a shot with 1.8 sec onds remaining. But while fighting for position, Nebraska junior Tina McClain committed her fifth foul, sending Buffalo sophomore Jen Terry to the line for a one-and-one opportu nity. Terry, who was a perfect 3-of-3 from the line, swished her first at tempt, but after a Husker timeout, her second shot rimmed out. The Buffa loes were able to control the rebound, but they were unable to get a shot off. However, the officials called a foul on Nebraska’s Kate Galligan as the final buzzer sounded. But after a con ference it was determined the foul occurred after the hom blew. Galligan, who scored 18 points, said she fouled Colorado junior Raegan Scott, but knew it happened after the buzzer. Both Colorado and Nebraska had opportunities to win the game in the first overtime. Nebraska sophomore Anna DeForge’s shot with 34 seconds remaining was blocked by Colorado’s Erin Scholz. Buffalo sophomore LaShena Graham also missed a 3 pointer with two seconds remaining. As Nebraska headed into its first double-overtime game since a 98-88 win over Notre Dame on Feb. 25, 1982, DeForge took control. She ac counted for 10 of the Huskers’ 13 points and scored the first bucket of the second overtime, making a layup just seven seconds into the period. After Colorado tied the score at 72, DeForge found sophomore Jami Kubik with 2:02 left to give the Husk ers a 74-72 lead, which they never re linquished. DeForge finished the game with a season-high 25 points and made 10 of-11 free throws. In the two overtime periods, DeForge was 8-of-9 from the line. The Nebraska win snapped a seven-game Buffalo winning streak over the Huskers. Nebraska had not defeated Colorado since a 62-50 Husker win on Jan. 22, 1993 in Lin coln. Galligan said the Huskers could gain a lot from the victory. “I mean it’s Colorado,” she said, “and there’s no reason you can’t have emotion for Colorado because that’s just a big rivalry anyway. To have them ranked and coming into your place, if you’re not playing with emotion, then you shouldn’t be playing.” Nee makes peace with players By Trevor Parks Senior Reporter After two days of turmoil, the at mosphere surrounding the Nebraska basketball team returned to normal Wednesday. “We’ve been talking so much,” Coach Danny Nee said. “I feel we’ve got everything resolved as far as we can go.” The Comhuskers, 15-9 after losing five straight games for the first time since 1990, have had anything but a normal week. On Monday, junior forward Bo* “They want to play basketball. If they don’t want to play basketball, they can get the hell out. ” DANNY NEE Nebraska basketball coach nard Gamer and freshman guard Tyronn Lue were the only two play ers to show up for a shoot-around. It was lata* determined that the coaches had canceled the shoot-around at the request of the players. On Tuesday, the Huskers started practice more than an hour late after nine team members met with Athletic Director Bill Byrne. Practice began around 5 p.m. and lasted about an hour. Nee said the players got a chance to vent each of their frustrations to See RETURN on 11