The Colorado men’s basketball
team got off to a quick start this
week with a second-place finish in
the Big Island Invitational in Hilo,
Hawaii. The Buffaloes beat Virginia
Tech and Auburn but lost to Louis
ville 92-82 Sunday in the champi
onship game of the tournament,
which Nebraska won last season.
CU Coach Ricardo Patton said
he likes to start the season with a
quick spurt of games. “I just think
that it is good for the team to have
to play that kind of schedule early
on,” Patton said. “The field of com
petition was good. It told us a lot
about our team.”
The first two games of the Big
Island Invite and CU’s season
opener against Drake were played
without sophomore star Chauncey
Billups. The 3-1 Buffs’ leading
scorer from last year was serving a
three-game suspension. Patton said
CU will have to re-adjust its strat
egy with Billups back in the lineup
Thursday against Texas-Arlington.
m
The Big 12 player of the week
is Kansas forward Raef LaFrentz.
The 6-foot-ll junior was given the
honor for his performance in the
Maui Invitational, which the
Jay hawks won. LaFrentz also re
ceived the tournament’s most-valu
able-player award. LaFrentz is av
eraging 17.8 points and 8.6 re
bounds per game for the No. 1
ranked Jayhawks.
KU, 5-0, will play preseason
No. 1-ranked Cincinnati in the
Great Eight Tournament tonight at
8:45 in Detroit.
The Big 12 rookie of the week
is Texas’ Gabe Muoneke. The fresh
man guard is averaging 13.5 points
and 4.5 rebounds per game for the
Longhorns. Muoneke had a career
high 20 points in 2-0 Texas’ 86-69
win ova: Rhode Island.
m
The Big 12 football players of
the week are Texas quarterback
James Brown and Nebraska rush
end Grant Wistrom. Brown threw
for 336 yards Friday in UT’s 51-15
win over Texas A&M. Wistrom
became the fourth Husker this year
to be named defensive player of the
week. Wistrom, the Big 12 defen
sive player of the year, had 15 tack
les and a pair of sacks in NU’s 17
12 win over Colorado.
«!
The Big 12 became the first con
ference in college football history
* to have six 1,000-yard rasters this
season. The group was led by
2,000-yard backs Troy Davis and
Byron Hanspard and also included
Kansas’ June Henley, Oklahoma’s
D6Mond Parker, Texas’* Ricky Wil
liams and David Thompson of
Oklahoma State.
Nebraska did not have a 1,000
yard rusher this year for the first
time since 1990. Sophomore
- Ahman Green has 917 yards, but
he will not play Satraday in the Big
12 championship game.
Big 12 Notebook compiled by
staff reporter Jay Saunders.
TYRONN LUE dribbles upcourt Tuesday night in Nebraska’s 79-76 win.
Lue led all players with 25 points.
NU escapes
scare; wins
by 3 points
Lue battles a cold to
lead the Huskers with
25 points.
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
What awaited the Nebraska basket
ball team Tuesday night at the Bob
Deyapey Sports Center was a team
abotft' which the Comhuskers knew
very little..
By the time Darren Webber made
a 3-pointer to give Texas-San Antonio
a 72-71 lead frith 4:10 left, NU knew
plenty about the Roadrunners.
But the Huskers (3-1) rallied,
outscoring UTS A 8-4 in the final four
minutes to beat the Roadrunners (2-2)
79-76 in front of a season-low crowd
of 7,693 fans.
“I don't think we overlooked
Texas-San Antonio,” point guard
TjTnnpJftffiW “Thr jirt came out
gish.” *
Lue, who was battling a cold,
played well. The 6-foot sophomore
didn’t spend one minute on the bench,
making 10 of 19 shots for a game-high
25 points.
Coach Danny Nee said the Husk
ers were lucky to win despite having a
an edge in shooting percentage (53.6
to 42.2), grabbing more rebounds (44
to 28) and blocking 10 shots, compared
to just two for Texas-San Antonio.
‘Tonight’s a night that we very eas
ily could have lost the basketball
game,” Nee said. “I think they
outplayed Nebraska in a lot of areas,
except the final score.”
Mikki Moore, who had 16 points
and tied his own school-record with
seven blocked shots, said the Huskers
woke up just in time.
“We had the word respect up on the
board before we went out,” Moore
said, “but it’s just that it is hard to get
motivated and psyched up for a game
like this.” . ^ *
NU almost got pumped up too late.
After Webber — wjto had a team
high 20 points and nfoejpbounds for
the Roadrunners—put OTSA in front
72-71, Roderic Hall extended the lead
to 74-71 with a tip-in.
Please see WIN on 8
Maser sghts
through pa’ ,
earns praise
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Staff Reporter
Stacie Maser has decided to change
her attitude after suffering through a
devastating knee injury,
and an endless re
habilitation pe
riod.
“I’m just hav
* mg fun,” said Ma
ser, a
s o p h o m
middle block
her second ye;
the Nebraska
leyball tea
That's no. _
only difference
between Maser’s freshman ana sopno
-— Tie role she has played
fen: the fourth-ranked Comhuskers —
primarily last weekend in key road vic
tories over Texas and Texas A&M —
has changed, too.
Maser was expected to earn signifi
cant playing time at middle blocker for
the Huskers in 1994, but the highly
recruited Lincoln Northeast graduate
tore her left anterior cruciate ligament
before the season began.
The injury required reconstructive
surgery, and she was forced to redshirt.
After extensive rehabilitation, Ma
ser returned for the 1995 season. She
had a successful freshman campaign,
Please see MASER on 8
\ t > i ^+ * * « • . v * * >■•■■■ >> • .
Doage rips Jays
for 19 in NU win
By Mike Kluck
Senior Reporter
OMAHA — After watching
tape of Nebraska’s game with
Creighton on Tuesday night,
Comhusker point guard LaToya
Doage might learn why her team
mates call her “race car.”
For the first 10 minutes of the
second half, the 5-foot-6 senior
raced around the court, harassing
the Lady Jays and stealing the bas
ketball.
Once Doage got the steals, she
converted them into points to help
the Huskers (5-0) dispose of
Creighton (0-3) 84-63 before a
crowd of 1,101 at Omaha’s Civic
Auditorium.
Doage finished the game with a
career-high 19 points, including 17
in the second half. She also had a
career-best seven steals.
‘Tm really not a scorer,” Doage
said. “I’m just a penetrater, and I
try to get the assist. If I can get the
. steal and easy layup, that’s my
game.”
Doage’s defense in the second
half was crucial. She scored 12 of
the Huskers’ first 14 points, six of
which came on fast-break layups
after steals.
“I just told her to worry about
her defense at halftime, and every
thing else would come around,”
Beck said. “I want her to be a de
fensive stopper.”
But it wasn’t just Doage who
stopped CU. The* Husker defense
forced Creighton into a season-high
37 turnovers.
The Lady Jays played without
point guard Holly Sivesind, an All
Missouri Valley preseason first
team selection who injured her calf
last week in practice.
“Our players didn’t show tough
ness,” Creighton Coach Connie
Yori said. “I thought we played
scared. Our players need to under
stand when you turn the ball over
37 times, it’s a complete 100 per
cent embarrassment.”
After Creighton cut the NU lead
to seven points with 16 minutes re
maining in the game, Nebraska
scored 16 of the next 18 points to
take command of the game, grab
bing a 62-42 lead.
Junior forward Anna DeForge
contributed 12 points for Nebraska
and freshmen Nicole Kubik and
Brooke Schwartz had 10 points
apiece.
“It wasn’t the prettiest game we
have played,” Beck said. “We got a
little frustrated in the first half, and
I think we were thinking a little bit
about Hawaii.”
The Huskers leave today for
Kona, Hawaii, and the Big Kona
Classic, in which they will face
Pacific on Friday and No. 10 Iowa
on Sunday.
NU 1-back
stable is
By Mike Kluck ;
Senior Reporter
With Nebraska’s top two I-backs
possibly unavailable for Saturday’s
Big 12 championship g
Comhuskers may
look to other
sources for their
yardage. *
The third
ranked Huskers
?lay Texas at
2:04 p.m. Satur
day in the inaugu
ral conference
championship
game at the Trans
World Dome in St Louis.
Nebraska will be without die ser
vices of sophomore starter Ahman
Green, who has a stress fracture in his
left foot and will not play.
The Huskers’ top backup, senior
Damon Benning* sprained his ankle
last Friday in NU?s 17-12 win over
Colorado and didn’t practice Monday
or Tuesday. Benning also was suffer
ing from the flu on Tuesday.
With the injuries, freshman I-back
-.-*
Please see I-BACKS on 8
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