Belcher returns in 86-76 victory
- —* _.
By Darren Ivy
Staff writer
The return of Cookie Belcher to the
Nebraska lineup provided a big boost
for the Comhuskers on Tuesday night
as they defeated Next Level Sports 86
76 before 5,046 fans at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
Belcher, who sat out the last game
with a bruised thigh, scored 15 points,
dished out seven assists, grabbed six
rebounds and made four steals in 31
minutes of action. With Belcher back in
the starting lineup, NU looked more in
sync than they did vs. Pella Windows.
“(Our starters) have good chem
istry,” Belcher said. “This is the best
chemistry we’ve had since I’ve been
here. We know there is not a star player.
We each try to play our own role.”
One key role player is senior center
Venson Hamilton. He scored 27 points,
Basketball
Nebraska
Next Level Sports
grabbed nine rebounds and made five
steals. However, he committed five
turnovers for the second-straight game.
“We need to cut down our
turnovers,” Hamilton said. “I need to
cut down my turnovers. I don’t want to
have any, but that’s not always possible.
I want not more than two.”
Snyder keeps KSU
quiet before game
By David Wilson
Senior staff writer
r MANHATTAN, Kan. - Bill
Snyder’s fair-skinned face turned
bright red in fewer than five seconds
Masked a question
Suddenly, he
smiled.
faced Kansas
Cll . „ State football
anyuer coach has kept his
Heisman Trophy candidate, quarter
back Michael Bishop, away from the
media for more than a month.
. “I don’t know how to answer that,”
ne saia.
“We do have players that can be
emotional - and I appreciate that The
game is played with a huge degree of
emotion. Obviously, it has to be tem
pered.”
Snyder put the same media restric
tions on Bishop after he called his
teammates “quitters” following last'
season’s matchup with Nebraska.
But that’s typical of the way
Snyder runs his program - high on
focus, low on distractions.
Currently ranked No. 1 in the USA
Today/ESPN Coaches Poll and No. 2
in The Associated Press Poll, the
Wildcats hold closed practices within
barbed-wire fences that surround the
stadium - despite the increased media
attention. And Snyder still generally
limits his interviews to news-confer
ence settings.
Only ESPN was granted an inter
view with Bishop this week as KSU
(9-0 overall and 6-0 in the Big 12
Conference) prepares to face
Nebraska (8-2 and 4-2) in Manhattan
on Saturday.
*
Surrounded by hype, Snyd<
yet to publicly get psyched about play
ing the 1 l^-ranked Comhuskers.
“I’m not comfortable or uncom
fortable,” Snyder said. “If we didn’t
have this press conference, I could stay
in my office and work. That would be
just fine with me. Anything else that
could become a distraction, we’d just
assume that they weren’t there.”
On more than one occasion
Tuesday, Snyder insisted he was not
trying to downplay the importance of
Saturday’s game.
The Wildcats, who won one game
in 1989 - Snyder’s first season - have
slowly improved to the point where
they now are considered national
championship contenders. However,
KSU has not defeated Nebraska since
1968. Its only loss last season came
from NU at Memorial Stadium.
“Is it important?” Snyder said.
“Why, shoot, yes. (Nebraska) is
always important to me. It’s a very sig
nificant ballgame. But there’s not a
ballgame that is going to make or
break this program.”
The game-by-game approach is
nothing new to KSU fifth-year senior
guard Jeremy Martin.
* “We were here when it was a strug
gle to win,” Martin said. “You truly
didn’t look ahead. For the guys that
have only been here a few years, it
might be a little harder.”
Snyder’s mild-mannered persona
just days before one of the biggest
games of his career doesn’t surprise
Martin either.
“I’ve seen him get angry, and I’ve
seen him upset,” Martin said, “but I
don’t think I’ve ever seen him excit
ed.”
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