NU sees game with
KSU as ‘needed’ win
ByAdamKunker
Senior staff writer
The Nebraska basketball team is
still looking for some firsts tonight -
the first win of the new year and the
first Big 12 Conference win of their
season.
The Comhuskers (8-7, 0-2 in the
Big 12) play host to Kansas State (12
4, 1-2) tonight at V:05 in the Bob
Devaney Sports Center, looking to
snap a two-game home losing streak
and usher in 1999 with a victory in
the conference column.
But underlying the more tangible
aspects of winning and losing in the
NU program this season, tonight’s
game also brings in a sense of
• urgency for the Huskers.
“This is a must-win,” Husker cen
ter Venson Hamilton said. “We owe it
to the fans and to ourselves to play
hard and win.”
With NU’s up-and-down play
over the last month which included
two victories and four losses,
Hamilton said a win over the
Wildcats would be crucial to helping
the Huskers find the winning niche.
' NU Coach Danny Nee agreed.
“I don’t think we’re that far away,”
Nee said. “But the bottom line is that
we’ve got to win. Inreality, we now
have to approach every game with a
sense of urgency. We ’re not looking
past anybody.”
And anybody most certainly
includes KSU.
“K-State is a formidable oppo
nent,” Nee said. “They’re a good,
solid team that’s playing well and
playing with confidence.”
In the past two seasons, the
Huskers are 1 -3 against KSU, and last
year’s 72-49 loss at home to the
Wildcats still lingers.
“For some odd reason, they come
down here and play great,” Hamilton
said. “They shoot great, and the way
they’ve been playing the last couple
of years, we’re going to have to step it
up.
And so far this season, the
Wildcats have had their hands full.
Their four losses come to No. 20
Indiana (71-70), No. 25 Clemson
(79-45), No. 21 Oklahoma State (75
69), and Missouri (78-73).
New leadership in the starting
lineup also has amounted to a surpris
ing turn events in the KSU camp.
Junior guard Cortez Groves, a
junior college transfer, leads the
Wildcats in scoring with 11.6 points
per game and is 22-54 (.407) from 3
point range.
Another juco transfer, junior for
ward Tony Kitt, is nearly averaging a
double-double with 11.4 ppg and 9.6
rebounds per game.
Kitt has replaced 1998 second
team All-Big 12 forward Manny
Dies, who now comes off the bench
for KSU to average 8.1 ppg and 6.1
rpg
With Kitt and Dies sharing time
underneath for the Wildcats,
Hamilton said he needs to bring his
game to the next level.
“I think I’m going to have to pick
my game up a lot,” he said. “Larry
(Florence)’s done his share and
Cookie (Belcher)’s done his share. I
need to start playing a lot better.”
Belcher leads the Huskers with
13.3 ppg while Hamilton is averaging
13 ppg and 10 rpg.
As a team, NU averages 64.3 ppg
while allowing opponents 64.9 ppg.
KSU is averaging 72.6 ppg and hold
ing opponents to 62.6 ppg.
“I like K-State,” Nee said. “I
think they’ve strengthened them
selves and people have played better.”
Jordan to retire Wednesday
RETIREMENT from page 9
the game that bears his indelible-mark,
leave it when he’s at the top, the way he
said he would.
Jordan did not return a message left
on his phone, and Bulls owner Jerry
Reinsdorf, reached at his Arizona
home, said: “I don’t have any reaction. I
don’t have any comments.”
Asked about Jordan’s retirement,
Bulls spokesman Tim Hallam said, “At
this particular time, I can’t comment.”
Jordan’s retirement also was report
ed by The New York Times, USA Today
and The Denver Post.
His agent, David Falk, said that
until Jordan “announces whether he is
retiring or returning, anything else is
speculation.”
And there’s been a considerable
amount of that ever since Jordan hit the
final, thrilling Shot in Game 6 of the
NBA Finals in Utah to lock up th<
Bulls’ sixth championship of th<
decade. That speculation intensify
last week, when the NBA players an<
owners reached a settlement to end th<
six-month lockout.
Jordan had vowed to leave the gan*
on top, and in private moments, h<
would confide that watching Willi<
Mays stagger under fly balls after hi:
skills faded was a powerful lesson.
There were several other factor:
that may have weighed on his decision
Jordan feuded with General Manage
Jerry Krause for years and, at the end o
the last season, when Phil Jackson sai<
he wouldn’t return, Jordan said h<
wouldn’t play for another coach.
“If he’s finished, we’re the one:
who are at a loss, the fans who enjoye<
him and the players who played witl
him and against him,” Suns owner Jerr
Colangelo said.
as
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Huskers tune up press defense
■ Nebraska looks to
bounce back from 80-75
loss to Texas with better
pressure against Kansas
State on Wednesday.
By Jay Saunders
Staff writer
This season, the race for the Big
12 conference championship in
women’s basketball looks to be up in
the air.
With the con
ference season
just starting,
teams are trying
to figure out how
to make a run for
the title. Nebr
aska Coach Paul
Sanderford has a
formula that he
said should work.
“You have to win every home
game and steal two or three on the
road,” Sanderford said.
The No. 20 Cornhuskers (13-3
overall and 2-1 in the Big 12
Conference) have taken care of busi
ness so far at home this season, com
piling an 8-0 record at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center. In fact, NU
has never lost a home game under
Sanderford.
But on Saturday, the Huskers
were in a position to win at Texas, but
came up short in an 80-75 ldss to the
Longhorns.
On Wednesday, opportunity
knocks again for Nebraska in the
form of a 7:05 p.m. game at Kansas
State.
In a Monday press conference,
several players were visibly upset
about the loss to Texas, but both the
players and Sanderford said it is
important to not dwell on the past.
“In this league, if you focus too
long on one game, you are going to
get caught in the next game,”
Sanderford said. “We are focused
totally on Kansas State.”
Against Texas, the Huskers
scored 75 points, which would have
been enough to beat all but three
opponents this season. But the 80
points given up to Texas was the sec
ond highest total this season.
NU also had a season-low four
steals and forced only 13 turnovers.
“We scored enough points to win
the ball game,” Sanderford said, “but
our lack of defensive pressure was
the difference in the ball game.”
Kansas State is hoping to contin
ue the Huskers’ defensive woes with
its half-court-style offense. The
Wildcats try to slow the game down,
which is the exact opposite of
Sanderford’s style of “Nebrasket
ball.”
The cure for a slow game,
Sanderford said, is a great deal of
pressure.
“We are going to pressure them
right out of the dressing room,”
Sanderford said. “We might even
guard them during warmups.”
The Wildcats (8-5 and 1-2) are no
strangers to pressure. KSU was
ahead by double digits at No. 7 Texas
Tech before the Red Raiders’ full
court press took over in the 73-60
win. s
“I kind of feel sorry for Kansas
State because we have a little
vengeance on our mind,” junior
Brooke Schwartz said. “But (Kansas
State) will have the same attitude.”
Kansas State, who returns almost
all its players from last year’s team, is
led in scoring by junior forward
Nicky Ramage. Ramage is averaging
14.9 points per game.
The Wildcats have added 6-foot
6 center Olga Firsova to an already
talented team. The Kiev, Ukraine,
native is averaging 11.1 points per
game and has helped KSU become
the fourth best rebounding team in
the conference.
Rebounding has been a focus for
the Huskers, and junior Charlie
Rogers said work needs to be done
even though NU outrebounded
Texas.
“We’re not getting done what we
need to do on the boards,” Rogers
said.
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