The Nebraska women’s basket
ball team dropped oat of The As
sociated Press Top 25 poll after los
ing at Kansas State last Wednesday.
NU, which was ranked 23rd, re
ceived 59 votes — the most of any
unranked team. Other Big 12 Con
ference teams that are ranked in
clude No. 9 Texas, 12th-ranked
Kansas and No. 14 Texas Tech.
■
Missouri is raising funds to build
a new basketball arena by the 1999
2000 season. The 13,343-seat
Heames Center opened in 1972 but
is inadequate for the Tigers’ needs.
The arena has locker room fa
cilities that are too small, and does
not feature luxury boxes. The esti
mated price tag for the new facil
ity, which will feature a larger seat
ing capacity and luxury boxes, is
$40-50 million.
A $10 million donation by Bill
and Nancy Laurie has sped up plans
for the opening of the arena.
■
Former Texas Tech running
back Byron Hanspard is reported to
have had a 0.00 grade-point aver
age for the 1996 fall semester.
Hanspard, who rushed for more
than 2,000 yards last season as a
junior, declared himself eligible for
the National Football League draft.
■
NU Coach Danny Nee will go
for his 200th win as the
Comhuskers coach against Baylor
on Wednesday. Nee, who holds the
second longest tenure of Big 12
Conference coaches behind
Missouri’s Norm Stewart, said win
ning 200 games is no big deal.
“They’re (wins) getting harder
and harder to get,” Nee said, “but
if you stay around long enough,
even a blind squirrel can find a nut”
■
The Big 12 lost a team from The
Associated Press Top 25 men’s bas
ketball poll. Texas Tech, which was
ranked 22nd, dropped out follow
ing a 77-76 overtime loss at Baylor.
Kansas continued to hold down the
No. 1 spot with 68 of a possible 70
first-place votes. Monday night,
KU avenged its only loss by beat
ing Missouri 79-67 in Lawrence.
Iowa State moved from ninth to
seventh, and Colorado dropped
from 15th to 21st
Baylor’s Patrick Hunter, who
scored a career-high 26 points in the
Bears’ upset over Texas Tech, was
named the Big 12 men’s basketball
player of the week. Melissa
Rollerson of Texas A&M earned
the women’s honor with a 30-point,
five blocked shot effort in the i
Aggies’ first road league win of die
season at Oklahoma State.j
Rollerson tied the school record
with her five blocks.
Big 12 Notebook was com
piled by staff reporter Pete
Marhoefer. *
. . -- ' ; -
---I- - ■ - " ....
Husker women lose
in overtime to No. 9
Longhorns.
By Mike Kluck
Senior Reporter
AUSTIN, Texas — The Nebraska
women’s basketball team knew Texas
doesn’t extend much Texas-style hos
pitality at the Frank Erwin Events
Center.
After all, the Longhorns had won
nine of their 10 games at the Erwin Cen
ter this season with the lone loss com
ing in overtime to No. 8 Tennessee.
I
But Nebraska proved to be the
guest who wouldn’t leave before fall
ing 71-70 in overtime to the ninth
ranked Longhorns
Monday night be
fore a crowd of
6,762 at the Erwin
Center in Austin.
“I’m really
proud of them,”
NU Coach Angela
Beck said. “We
weren’t intimi
dated of them and
our attitude was
great. This is one
of the toughest places in the country
to play and Tennessee had to go to
overtime to beat them. If we are up
there with them, I guess I’ll take it.”
Texas Coach Jody Conradt said she
was pleased with the Longhorns’ per
formance, but she was equally im
pressed with the Huskers’ composure.
“My congratulations go to Ne
braska,” Conradt said. “I really com
mend them on how they played. This
is not one of the easier places to play
and they came in here and weren’t in
timidated.”
The Huskers (17-5 overall and 7-5
in the Big 12 Conference) gave them
selves a good opportunity to win in
overtime.
Nebraska built a 68-63 lead in the
extra period when forward Anna
DeForge hit a 3-pointer with 2:17 re
maining.
The Longhorns answered back
scoring four straight points to close
within 68-67 with 1:01 left. But the
Huskers went up by three again when
DeForge converted two free throws
with 34 seconds remaining.
On the Longhorns’ next posses
sion, Texas center Angela Jackson
missed a jumper but rebounded her
own miss and made a follow shot to
bring Texas within one with 26 sec
onds left.
DeForge was fouled on NU’s next
possession, but missed the front end
Please see LOSS on 8
Huskers
show stuff
at combine
By Sam McKewon
Staff Reporter
The off-season has seen its share
of good and bad for former Nebraska
football players
National Footba
League draft. f
The goo
came in the fon
of Mike Minte
who posted
strong showing at
the Feb. 7 and
NFL Scoutin
Combine in India
napolis.
said he impi
his draft status,
may be in line
first-round or high secona-rounu pic*..
The bad came for All-America rush
Tomich, who suffered a
stress iracture m his ankle while prac
ticing at middle linebacker last month
for the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.
Nine NU players worked out for the
scouts at the RCA Dome in Indianapo
Minter, Tomich, Damon Benning,
Micnael Booker, Jem Hesse, Eric Stok<
Adam Treu, Chris Dishman and
Wiliams. Booker, a comerback.
only Husker projecte
first-round selectu
Minter, a 5-foot-10, 190-pounder
who played rover at Nebraska, said he
was pleased with his performance at
the scouting combine. Scouts mainly
looked at him as someone who will
play in the secondary.
“I think 1 did a good job and helped
myself out, considering the condi
tions,” Minter said.
Minter said Seattle and Dallas ex
pressed the most interest in him. The >
New York Giants and New York Jets
also took a liking to Minter, he said.
“I want to go where the coaching
wants to win and the players want to
win,” Minter said, “and they want to
put that together.”
Benning, a running back who at
tended the combine but didn’t perform
in the physical testing, said he hoped
an MVP performance in the Orange
Bowl improved his stock. •
“The Orange Bowl showed some
teams what I was capable of and some
things they haven’t seen out of me in
the past,” Benning said. “It did a lot
for me.”
Benning said he has spoken with
Please see COMBINE on 8
. Jay Calderon/DN
FRANCIS COLLINS (right) and Cllffton Durham stretch before baseball practice Monday. NU plays UNK this
afternoon at Buck Beltzer Field.
Huskers swing into season
By David Wilson
Staff Reporter
A last place finish in the final
season of the Big Eight Conference
won’t haunt the Nebraska baseball
team this season.
“We weren’t very pleased with
last year,” said NU Coach John
Sanders of die Comhuskers 27-27
1 performance last year. “It wasn’t
a good year and it wasn’t a lot of
fun. That’s not typical for us. The
new guys don’t want to hear about
last year.”
The Comhuskers, who de
feated Wayne. State 6-5 on Feb. 1
in their season opener, take the
field for the first time in more than
two weeks for a 1 p.m. double
header at Buck Beltzer Field
against the University of Ne
braska-Keamey.
-C NU’s pitching staff, Sanders
said, will be the key to the Husk
ers’ survival in die first year of Big
12 baseball.
“This league is known as what
I call a nose-to-toes league,” Sand
ers said. “It’s unbutton your shirts
and rip and score runs, and who’s
Nebraska (t*0)v& UNK (0-0)
NU Starting Pitchers
No. Name Roc.
ever left standing wins. And we’re
short — big-time short. We’ve
been short for a few years as far as
depth of pitching.
“We need more pitching depth
than we’ve ever needed.”
Nebraska returns 10 pitchers
with experience, including five
seniors, and welcomes 12 new
arms to the staff.
Highlighting the first-year
Husker pitchers are transfers
Kerrick Jackson, from Bethune
Cookman and South Alabama’s
Derek Adair. Both have just one
year of eligibility left.
Sanders said NU’s three-man
starting rotation will likely include
seniors Peter Lythgoe, Steve Fish
Please see SANDERS on-8
:
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