Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1998)
~w Wednesday’s results from the Women’s Big 12 Conference Basketball Tournament in Kansas City-, Mo.: Texas Tech 80, Colorado 49 Top-seeded Texas Tech ended Colorado’s 10-game conference tournament winning streak Wednesday and advanced to the semifinal to face Oklahoma State today. For the No. 5 Lady Raiders (23 4), the g3me also provided a chance to erase the memory of last year's early exit from the tourna ment. “The most important thing for us today was to get a win,” Texas Tech Coach Marsha Sharp said. “This was a game that we have thought about for over a year now - since we had to exit so early last year.” Sharp was pleased with Tech’s execution in the first half, particu larly during an 18-0 run that turned a five-point Buffalo lead to a 26-13 Raider advantage. Tech never trailed again. Iowa State 88, Texas A&M 68 The Cyclones (24-6) jumped to a 47-34 halftime lead and never looked back as they defeated Texas A&M (9-19) Wednesday to advance to the semifinals today. ISU will face Kansas at 7:30 p.m. Iowa State was led by Jayme Olson and Stacy Frese, who both scored 21 points, as the Cyclones made 54 percent of their shots from the field. The Aggies, on the other hand, shot just 39 percent from the field and committed 16 turnovers. Kansas 50, Kansas State 46 The Jayhawks held off KSU (11-17) in a seesaw battle at Municipal Coliseum Wednesday night. Kansas improved to 20-7 and will face Iowa State tonight at 7:30. Note: The Texas Tech men’s team was in attendance during the first half of the Lady Raiders game. “I have a lot of respect and like Marsha Sharp a lot,” Tech Coach James Dickey said. “We are all a part of Texas Tech. “Marsha was very supportive of me when I was interviewing for the Tech job. I’m just so proud of what she’s done.” The Men’s Big 12 Conference Basketball Tournament begins today at Kemper Arena in - Kansas City, Mo. Today’s games: Colorado vs. Kansas State (noon) Texas A&M vs. Baylor (2:20 p.m.) Texas vs. Texas Tech (6 p.m.) Iowa State vs. Missouri (8:20 p.m.) Note: Oklahoma State Coach Eddie Sutton was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year by the confer ence coaches. In his 28th season overall, Sutton is the only mentor to have taken four different schools to the NCAA Tournament. The Coaches’All-Big 12 Team consists of Oklahoma guard Corey Brewer, Texas Tech guard Cory Carr, Kansas forward Raef LaFrentz, Nebraska guard Tyronn Lue and Kansas forward Paul Pierce. Colorado guard Kenny Price was named the Newcomer of the Year and Iowa State guard Marcus Fizer earned Freshman of the year honors. Big 12 Conference Basketball Tournament Notebook compiled by Special Projects Reporter Mike Kluck. Tobin confident for Big 12 meet By Sarah Dose Staff Reporter In his quest for a first-ever Big 12 championship, Ryan Tobin said he doesn’t feel the pressure. This Saturday, the No. 10 Nebraska wrestling team will compete in the best Big 12 Championships they’ve seen in a long time, NU Coach Tim Neumann said. The Comhuskers aren’t favored to win Saturday’s tournament in Norman, Okla., but at least four indi viduals should be in their respective championship matches, Neumann said. One of those prospects is NU senior Ryan Tobin, who is the top seed at 190 pounds. Neumann said Tobin - currently ranked fourth in the nation - was almost a lock for a championship. “Tobin is probably the most sure bet,” Neumann said. “With the guys that Ryan has wrestled, nobody in our conference has been close to him.” Because he’s beaten all the wrestlers in his weight class during the regular season, Tobin said he was con fident in his abilities. “I don’t have any plans to lose any matches from here on out,” Tobin said. “This is my first No. 1 seed in the tour nament, so I guess they expect me to win.” Tobin should win, since most of his all-around competition isn’t even in the Big 12. Because of that, he said, he’s not looking only at this weekend’s competition but also at the NCAA Championships. “I look at it like I have seven matches left in my career,” Tobin said. “Two in the Big 12, and I plan on five in the NCAAs. “Whoever steps out in front of me is just my next match.” Tobin said he doesn’t want to over look anybody but said he couldn’t help thinking about the NCAAs March 19 21 in Cleveland. If everything stays the same, Tobin will go into the NCAAs ranked fourth in the nation. “I would rather go into it ranked fourth than ranked first,” Tobin said. “I’m not the guy getting upset any more. So I don’t have any pressures going into it.” But Tobin isn’t the only Husker expected to do well in Norman. The other two top seeds in the tour nament include No. 1 Temoer Terry (158) and No. 10 Brad Canoyer (134). Terry is expected to meet up with No. 2 Hardell Moore of Oklahoma State in the finals. Terry has beaten Moore all four times they’ve met, including a tiebreaker match at the NU-OSU dual two weeks ago in Lincoln. Canoyer is also expected to battle a ranked OSU wrestler for the second time m two weeks. Canoyer got the top seed with an overtime win over No. 6 Jamill Kelly, and Neumann said he is confident in Canoyer’s position. “He’s die best in the conference at that weight class,” Neumann said. Another possible Big 12 champion is redshirt freshman Brad Vering (177). Vering had to settle for the second seed at the conference tournament after losing 4-3 to OSU’s No. 14 Mark Munoz. “I expect him to be 100 percent ready,” Neumann said. “But he’ll have to wrestle like he’s capable of wrestling.” Matt Miller/DN NU SENIOR Ryan Tobin is one of three Husker No. 1 seeds that will compete in the Big 12 Conference Tournament in Norman, Okla., Saturday. Huskers become target after wins - — - By Lisa Vonnahme Staff Reporter .An opportunity to beat top-ranked teams had been knocking on the door of the Nebraska softball team for a long time, NU Coach Rhonda Revelle said. The Comhuskers finally were able to answer that door last weekend at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Columbus, Ga. After defeating three top-15 teams - No. 3 Michigan, No. 9 California and No. 11 South Carolina - the Huskers now will be the target when they travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Razorback Invitational Saturday and Sunday. “We’re going to have respectable teams gunning for us as opposed to us gunning for other opponents,” Revelle said. “We have to make sure we stay right on that same edge that we played all last weekend because we know what it feels like to be on the other side.” The teams looking to upset Nebraska (9-4) this weekend include Arkansas, DePaul, Northern Illinois, Creighton and Southwest Missouri State. NU jumped into the USA Today Coach s Poll Wednesday at No. 15. “I expected them to be ranked higher,” Creighton Coach Brent Vigness said. “Our girls always look for ward to playing Nebraska because there’s such an in state rivalry there.” The Huskers have been led this season primarily by shortstop Ali Viola and starting pitcher Jenny Voss. Viola, a senior, has slugged seven home runs in 13 games this season upping her career total to 38. She now ranks ninth among career homer leaders in NCAA history. After knocking four homers last weekend, Viola was named Big 12 Player of the Week. “Ali’s off to a tremendous start,” Coach Revelle said. “She’s not only hitting for average, she’s hitting in very tight situations. She’s getting us ahead early in the game.” Voss, an All-Big 12 pitcher last season, has struck out 51 batters and thrown four shutouts this season. “Last weekend was very much a team effort,” Revelle said. “Ali’s bat really spruced up the offense, and Jenny did her job with the hitters on the other side.” This week, Revelle said, the Huskers are working on their mental game in an effort to prevent an upset. “We’ve got a lot of time to think,” Coach Revelle said. “We have to stay mentally prepared. We’re going to war, and we’re not giving an inch.” oanderlord not pleased with ‘embarrassing’ loss UPSET from page 7 “We lost to them by 30 points in Lincoln, and I think they came in with a false sense of security of what we were capable of doing,” OSU Coach Dick Halterman said. But Sanderford blamed NU’s lack of defensive intensity for its slow start, calling Halterman’s assessment “baloney.” “We were defensively nonexistent in the first 10 minutes of the game,” Sanderford said. Nebraska rallied, outscoring OSU 19-8 for the remainder of the first half on the strength of a 7-0 run sparked by Cisco Gilmore. The sophomore forward was the first Husker to score other than DeForge, taking a foul underneath, making the field goal, and hitting the following free throw at the 5:26 mark. The Huskers trailed 35-26 at the half as their late run could not overcome a 30 percent shooting performance in the first half. “I was so mad at halftime, I couldn’t even think,” Sanderford said. “I think we had some peo ple who laid down on us today. No one stepped up.” The second half frustrated Nebraska even more. The Huskers cut OSU’s lead to six and seven, but the Cowgirls responded with 3-point baskets both times. Oklahoma State finished the game 10 of 16 from 3-point range (63 percent) and shot 50 per cent from the field. Four Cowgirls finished in dou ble figures with Jennifer Crow leading the way. Crow, a sophomore guard, posted 25 points and hit 4 of 7 3-point attempts. “We did a good job taking care of the ball,” Crow said. “We didn’t let them have their transition baskets and we played with the intensity we’ve been lacking.” DeForge led the Huskers with 29 points, and Nicole Kubik added 17. But they combined to con vert 12 of 41 field goal attempts. No other Huskers scored in double figures. Sanderford was especially disappointed with NU’s post players, who combined for just 15 points. “We came in like a sunny-day team,” Sanderford said. “We didn’t play with class and character. When we missed shots, we looked at the officials or tried to point the finger at someone else. I promise you things won’t be like that in the future at Nebraska.” Johnson improves skill with father’s help JOHNSON from page 7 to back-to-back state championships like my father,” Chad said. “We won two of them but not back-to-back.” It was then that Clemon helped direct Chad toward Nebraska, a college Chad said he hadn’t considered coming out of high school. “Chad was born with North Carolina blue blood in him,” Clemon said. “He wanted to play in the ACC, so he could play in front of his friends.” But when no ACC schools came courting and in-state Florida schools didn’t recruit Chad, in stepped NU assistant coach Jimmy Williams, who told Clemon he saw Chad as a player who could make an impact in the Big 12 Conference. Johnson came to Lincoln. And in first sea son, the impact has been noticeable. He’s averaging 3.4 points and 3.1 rebounds per game and has started the last six games of the season - all NU victories. Chad said the difference in his play came when he was put into the starting lineup. “I felt like I’ve played good enough that I could be in the starting lineup,” Chad said. “Coaches are telling you all the time that start ing is not liberty and you have to help your team out, and starting is where I can do that best.” Clemon said he’s happy to see Chad starting and calls after every game he sees tc give his son advice on how to make his game better. “Chad’s got to stay aggressive,” Clemon said. “He’s doing what (NU Coach) Danny (Nee) tells him to do, which is good, but every once in a while, you got to make a play on your own. I know Chad can do that.”