Solich, team look to recover from loss to Wildcats
By David Wilson
Senior staff writer
Eighteen hours removed from the
Comhuskers’ third loss this season,
first-year NU Coach Frank Solich
wandered through the sunlight that
glared on the doors of South Stadium
on Sunday.
Decked out in blue jeans and a
gray Nebraska sweatshirt, Solich
made his way up the stairs and
unlocked the glass doors that led to
his office.
He flipped on the lights and
offered the three reporters who fol
lowed a stale piece of Valentino’s
pizza left over from the night before.
He smiled.
Saturday’s loss to Kansas State in
Manhattan, Kan., marked the first
time Nebraska has lost three confer
ence games since 1977. It also gave
Solich one more loss than both Tom
Osborne and Bob Devaney had in
their NU he^d-coaching debuts.
But Solich laughed when asked
how he slepfSaturday night.
“I’m doing fine,” Solich said.
“Certainly. There’s no sense in having
your team bounce back if your coach
es can’t bounce back. I’ll bounce
back without a problem.”
The Huskers, who fell to 8-3,
dropped to 17th in The Associated
Press-poll and 19th in the USA
Today/ESPN Coaches’ Poll. NU has
n’t been ranked below 16th in the AP
poll since 1990.
But the 40-30 loss to the Wildcats
shouldn’t be pinned solely on Solich,
Nebraska senior linebacker Jay
Foreman said.
“What I really want to get across
to everyone is that this was not Coach
Solich’s fault,” Foreman said, follow
ing the loss. “He had a great game
plan. To beat a team like this, we had
to execute it to perfection.”
Still, Solich said, there is some
thing to be salvaged from this season.
Nebraska, which has an off week
before playing host to Colorado on
Nov. 27, will practice every day this
week before taking next Saturday off.
“I think the players understand
that no matter what happens, wins or
losses, you just have to come back
Monday ready to go and move for
ward,” Solich said. “I think this foot
ball team is conditioned to do that,
and I think they will do that.”
Senior rush end Chad Kelsay
agreed.
“I think there’s things I could have
and should have done for this to be a
better season,” Kelsay said. “I won’t
put blame on anyone, and I’ll take
some of it myself.
“This has been a disappointing
year, but we’re not going to lay down
and die.”
Despite the disappointments,
Solich said, the Huskers have not
given up. The fifth-year seniors this
season have been a part of three
national championship teams at
Nebraska and had lost only two
games prior to this season - both in
1996.
“I think our seniors have contin
ued to give us great leadership, even
though this has been an disheartening
season for those guys in some ways,”
Solich said. “They wanted to get
them all. That has not materialized for
them. But they’ve kept their head up
and continued to show great leader
ship. That’s appreciated by me.”
NU pulls upset over No. 21 Cats
Kubik scores
23 points in
years 2nd win
By Jay Saunders
Staff writer
Maybe the fourth time is the
charm.
In each of the last three seasons,
the Arizona women’s basketball
team has beaten Paul Sanderford.
That string includes a 68-56 loss last
year with Sanderford’s first
Nebraska team in the lnsight.com
Classic.
This season, the NU coach
finally got his revenge. The
Cornhuskers beat the No. 21
Wildcats
Nebraska 72 72-48 in
Arizona 48 ftS« ll
me duu
Devaney Sports Center to claim the
1998 CableVision Classic tourna
ment title.
“To beat them by that score,”
Sanderford said, “I never would
have dreamed it in a million years.”
“(Arizona Coach Joan)
Bonvicim had my number the last
three years, so it was nice to get a
win.”
NU (2-0) came out of the gate
early with 6-0 run and never looked
back. The Huskers never trailed, and
led by as many as 28 points in the
second half.
Arizona (1-1) ended the early*'
streak with a free throw, but didn’t
get its first basket until the 15
minute, 52 second mark in the first
half. UA had trouble shooting the
ball the entire game, making only
24 percent of their shots from the
floor.
junior guard Lisa urittitn,
Arizona’s leading returning starter,
scored just eight points on just 2-9
shooting from the floor.
“The thing I was most proud of
was our overall defense,”
Sanderford said. “We didn’t give
them many open looks.”
It was that same defense that
Sanderford said helped put the
game away. Arizona started the sec
ond half with a 4-0 run, thanks to
two Nebraska turnovers. But in the
next 10:06, the Huskers went on a
21-2 run.
“We turned up the heat, and it
really affected them,” Sanderford
said. “We got some easy baskets,
and all of a sudden they panicked.”
The run was highlighted by a
pair of Nicole Kubik 3-pointers.
The junior from Cambridge was
named the tournament’s most valu
able player.
Kubik paced the Huskers with
23 points against the Wildcats. The
guard also had a career and team
high nine rebounds. The 23-point
performance echoed her scoring
output against South Alabama in the
semifinals on Friday.
Besides the scoring, Kubik
made an attack on her career highs.
Against USA, Kubik tied her career
high with eight steals.
“I’m not looking to score, but
both teams had a little guard on me,”
Kubik said. “I felt I could shoot
right over them.”
Although Kubik shined for NU
this weekend, she was only one of
three Huskers to appear on the all
tournament team.
Junior Charlie Rogers averaged
more than 10 points and five
rebounds this weekend.
Fellow junior Brooke Schwartz
scored 13 points against Arizona,
after suffering a mild concussion in
Friday's game.
Schwartz said this is a big win
for the Huskers, even though it is
only the second game of the season.
NU kept its undefeated streak alive
at Devaney.
“I love the atmosphere,”
Schwartz said. “When the fans are
screaming, it doesn't matter what
month it is. You are going to get
hyped up.”
A crowd of 3,187 saw Friday
night’s 96-39 win over South
Alabama in the semifinals. The
Huskers started with a 20-1 run and
had a 41-point lead in the second
half.
The Jaguars fell again in the
consolation game on Sunday.
Wisconsin-Green Bay beat South
Alabama 77-54 to claim third place.
NEBRASKA’S CHARLIE ROGERS, left, reaches for the ball past an Arizona Wildcat while Nebraska’s
Naciska Gilmore assists. The Nebraska women’s basketball team dominated the Wildcats with a 72-48
pounding Sunday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Arizona player’s return home
ends in 24-point Husker victory
By Christopher Heine
Staff writer
Arizona guard Reshea Bristol, a graduate of
Omaha Bryan, limped gingerly into the post-game
press conference after her team fell to Nebraska
72-48.
Bristol said she rolled her ankle after a
Comhusker shoved her in the back late in the sec
ond half of the game.
Some homecoming.
The injury to the 5-foot-10 sophomore exem
plified how the Wildcats were treated m the cham
pionship game of the CableVision Classic.
They were physically beaten by the Huskers
throughout the'game at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center.
After losing badly in front of family and
friends, one would think Bristol would be disap
pointed.
But she said the game was a good learning
experience, because the No. 21 Wildcats are a
young team.
“It hurts because it was a loss,” she said.
“Other than that, we have a young group of girls. It
was a learning experience. We weren’t ready for
their physicalness.”
Arizona junior guard Lisa Griffith agreed that
the young Wildcats got a lesson in physical play.
“In high school you don’t get bumped a lot,”
Griffith said. “Nebraska is a very physical team.
(Her younger teammates) are not used to the phys
ical contact, so it’s a big wake-up call for them.”
Bristol, a former All-Nebraska performer,
obviously was bothered by the Huskers’ body-on
body defense.
The Arizona media guide described Bristol as
a good one-on-one player and a great shooter. But
she came off the bench to make only 1 of 8 shots.
Bristol said the pressure of playing in front of
her family and friends also may have affected her
shooting.
“I had some jitters playing in front of my home
crowd,” she said. “It was pretty nerve-racking. But
I am not going to use that as an excuse for my
inconsistency.”
NU guard Brooke Schwartz, who played with
Bristol on high school all-star teams, said coming
home might have made playing poorly even worse
for Bristol.
“I think she was frustrated because she didn't
play the way she can play,” she said. “She had a lot
of pressure.”
Schwartz sounded as if she wouldn’t mind see
ing the Arizona guard transfer to NU.
“I don’t like playing against Reshea Bristol,”
Schwartz said. “I’d rather play with her. I respect
every area of her game. I think we were fortunate
tonight that she didn’t turn it on.”
Imperfect game
still results in
win for Huskers
By Adam Klinker
Staff writer
Ask Nebraska point guard Cookie Belcher how
he would best summarize his team’s personality,
and he'll give you a flat answer.
“We make a lot of turnovers,” Belcher said.
But despite 22 giveaways against North
Carolina-Greensboro on Saturday, the
Comhuskers managed to win in their first regular
season game, a 79-59 victor^ over the Spartans.
In a game where the Huskers did a lot of things
right to come out on top by 20
points, Head Coach Danny
Nee said he walked away with
the feeling that NU is still
building.
“We got what we wanted
accomplished,” Nee said. “We
played well at points during
the game, but we have a ways
to go. But overall, I was
pleased with the effort.”
> r s h Behind solid defense and
Be tetter crisp shootingfrom the field,
the Huskers were able to overcome up-and-down
play in the second half and put together a few
strong runs against the Spartans.
NU snot bZ percent from the held, including 57
percent from beyond the 3-point line.
But the Huskers were hindered by what Nee
and Belcher characterized as mental lapses, things
Belcher expects to be cleaned up by the time NU
takes to the road at the Top of the World Classic
with a first round match with Villanova in
Fairbanks, Alaska.
“Overall as a team we didn’t play as well as we
wanted to,” Belcher said.
The turnovers, especially, were a concern.
“It’s all mental,” Husker center Venson
Hamilton said. “You’ve got to focus and concen
trate on not turning the ball over.”
Going into halftime, the Huskers held a 19
point lead over UNC-Greensboro, but the Spartans
refused to give in.
After a Chad Johnson lay-up to start the second
half scoring, UNC-Greensboro keyed on several
NU turnovers
Nebraska 79 and went on a
UNC-Greensboro 59
;- to 15.
NU countered with a run of its own, putting up
21 points to the Spartans’ six, highlighted by con
secutive dunks from Brant Harriman, Larry
Florence and two slams from Belcher.
But after a Cary Cochran 3-pointer to cap off
the run with six minutes femaining in the game,
NU did not score again until the 1:50 mark while
the Spartans put up 10 unanswered points.
Tlie Huskers then scored only one more basket
in the last minute and a half as the Spartans closed
out the game in a flurry of second-chance shots and
a free throw that netted them the game’s last point.
Belcher and UNC-Greensboro center
Demetrius Cherry led all scorers with 18 points
apiece. Belcher also dished out nine assists, tying a
career best.
Hamilton added a double-double with 13
points and Lf rebounds, though he only played 23
minutes.
“I thought Cookie played great,” Hamilton
said. “I played all right. Overall, I think we need a
lot more work. We can play better.”
Hamilton also came away with three blocked
shots, and Harriman added four to an NU team
total of 13.
“Our main focus was defense,” Hamilton said.
“Our offense comes from our defense - the fast
breaks and everything, that's us.”