Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1999)
■ loacn says Kansas State ‘puked’ up the ball in 70-61 loss to NU. ByLisaVonnahme Staff writer In what Kansas State Coach Tom Asbury called “the worst game of the season,” the Wildcats left the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Wednesday night with their heads hanging. The Wildcats weren’t thrown any surprises by the Cornhuskers. Instead, Kansas State faced a Nebraska team that showed a stronger mentality than what they were ready for, Asbury said. The result: missed layups, missed foul shots and missed 3-pointers, which resulted in a 70-61 Wildcat loss. “The guys were just puking the ball up,” Asbury said. “It wasn’t even close. We didn’t show any kind of mental toughness at all.” Down by 10 at halftime, the Wildcats returned from the locker room and were able to pull within two points, putting the score at 41-39 at the 15 minute, 49 second mark of the second half. After a pair of jumpers from Josh Reid and Shawn Rhodes, the Wildcats were able to keep the Huskers scoreless for four minutes. In that time, senior Manny Dies was able to make two free throws. Both Reid and Rhodes responded again with a basket. Rhodes added an extra spark with a 3-pointer, closing the gap by two. “The only bright spot of the game was our run at the beginning of the second half,” Rhodes said. “We had no leadership tonight No one stepped it up.” Despite Asbury’s clear disap pointment after Wednesday’s game, he-did credit the^play of Dies and freshman Josh Kimm. Dies tied a KSU record for shooting 11 of 14 free throws. Wednesday also marked the first time since Kansas State’s season jopener in which Dies recorded dou ble figures in rebounds and points, grabbing 12 boards and racking up 19 points. Kimm added two rebounds and 7 points. “Manny and Josh showed they wanted it,” Asbury said. “But I’m not satisfied. “You don’t need street-tough fist fighteYs to have a good basketball team. But we didn’t have a single tough guy out there tonight.” Overall, Asbury was frustrated with the Wildcats’ play, especially since the team had prepared for NU’s game plan all week, f “This was embarrassing. We knew exactly what we had to do. We didn’t execute, and we can’t just show up for every other game.” NUgets needed win over KSU HOOPS from page 11 down and stepped it up a little bit and had the team follow us, and I think it really worked tonight” Throughout the game, NU (9-7 overall and 1-2 in the Big 12 Conference) kept the Wildcats guessing by mixing up zone and man-to-man defenses and half-court traps. Hamilton said the zone was a great tool all night. “They started taking bad shots, throwing the ball away. I think Coach (Danny Nee) saw that and so we played more zone.” The Husker offense also charged I into high gear behind Hamilton’s fourth consecutive double-double (17 points, 12 rebounds) and Belcher’s 15 points and four assists. “This was the kind of game that we knew we had to play to be com petitive,” Nee said. “We just tried to keep our energy level for 40 minutes and we did, and we won.” In addition, the Huskers also got strong play off the bench with Chad Johnson and Cary Cochran scoring 8 points apiece at crucial moments in the game. With 6 minutes and 3 seconds left in the first half, Cochran knocked down a 25-foot 3-pointer to start a 14-4 NU run and carry the Huskers into halftime with a 35-25 lead over KSU. “He shot the ball very well,” Hamilton said. “We need that when teams try to go to the zone and pack it down on Cookie and me. Cochran will bring us out of a lot of situations like that” The NU lead reached its apex with 4:26 remaining in the second half after a jumper by Belcher put the Huskers up 62-50. But a Hamilton foul on Manny Dies netted the Wildcats 2 points and consecutive fouls by Troy Piatkowski and Larry Florence oh Chris Griffin gave KSU another 4 points from the line, cutting the NU lead to 6. The Huskers managed to hold the Wildcats off over the final 3 min utes of the game. Dies led all scorers with 19 points, 12 of them coming in the sec ond half including 10 from the chari ty stripe. Dies was 11-14 (.786) on free throws for the game. Hamilton held Dies to 4 of 9 shooting from the field and mirrored him in rebounding - both with 7 on defense and 5 on offense. But apparently, Hamilton wasn’t able to match some of Dies’ trash talk underneath. “He’s like Godzilla down low,” Hamilton said of Dies. “He’s a real big guy and with all his mouth, that makes him extra big.” The Huskers now go on the road to face Baylor (6-11, 0-4) on Saturday in Waco, Texas, another game that NU feels is crucial to post season goals. “This feels real good,” Belcher said. “The pressure’s off us; now we just need to carry this with us.” UM coach hopes for another upset at Iowa By Lisa Vonnahme Staffwriter The silence of Iowa fans in Carver-Hawkeye Arena one year ago after the finals of the National Duals was deafening. It was an unusual moment for dedicated Hawkeye wrestling fans. For just the fourth time since the opening of the arena in 1983, the Hawkeyes experienced the feeling of losing a home dual. Not just any dual, though. A dual with Big 10 rival Minnesota. A dual in which Iowa was heavily favored to win. A dual in front of a National Duals record crowd of7,807. With the Hawkeyes leading 17-12 going into the final match, Iowa’s heavyweight Wes Hand faced Minnesota’s Shelton Benjamin. Minnesota needed a pin for 6 points to get the win, and at the 2:16 mark of the match Benjamin got the fall, giv ing Minnesota its first-ever National Duals title. “Beating Iowa at home was huge,” said Minnesota Coach J. Robinson, a former Iowa coach. “It’s hardly ever done. It put our mark on their map” With the Cliff Keen NWCA National Duals coming up Saturday and Sunday, again in Iowa City, Iowa, Robinson and the No. 2 Golden Gophers are looking for the same outcome as last year. However, with seven of the top eight teams at this year’s 16-team duals, Minnesota will be up against the best competition it has faced this season. Missing from last year’s National Duals is this year’s No. 1-ranked team, Oklahoma State. The Cowboys won the duals the «—-; I think we 'll face Nebraska in the second round. They ve been surprising people this year, so we 're not taking anything for granted." John Smith OSU coach I _ last time they competed in the event in 1997 in Lincoln. Even as the top-ranked team, OSU Coach John Smith said he is not looking past any opponent. “We’re looking to beat our first round team, and we’ll go from there,” Smith said. “I think we’ll face Nebraska in the second round. They’ve been surprising people this year, so we’re not taking anything for granted.” And with top wrestling schools like Iowa, Iowa State, Penn State, Oklahoma, Central Michigan, Michigan and Nebraska competing, the Golden Gophers and the Cowboys have put in extra training in preparation for the duals. One aspect important to the National Duals is the atmosphere. It’s an atmosphere that can affect the wrestling, both Robinson and Smith said. I “It’s always so loud,” Robinson said. “You’ve always got Iowa fans yelling against you. It brings the intensity up.” With Oklahoma State absent from competition last year, the Cowboys are eager to defend their No. 1 ranking. “The magnitude of this event brings out the best in our athletes,” Smith said. “We’re going in to win it.” K-State gets ahead early, then holds off Huskers BASKETBALL from page 11 Husker offense. Schwartz’s basket with 14 minutes and 3 5 seconds remaining would be the last points the Huskers would see foi seven minutes. “We did a lot of standing around,” junior guard Nicole Kubik said. “We were a little tired from making our run.’ While the Huskers were on theii heelS, KSU scored 17 straight points. Kubik scored two of her game-high 26 points .to break the scoring drought but the damage had already been done. NU made another late run, bul could get no closer than 10 points. “We could never establish any kind of rhythm,” Sanderford said. “It’s much easier to press when you’re not playing catch-up.” The Huskers attempted a season low 12 free throws and were outre bounded 37-26. The 26 rebounds were also a season low. NU has only eight offensive rebounds. “We missed enough shots to get offensive rebounds, but you have to give K-State credit,” Sanderford said. “I was very impressed with K-State’s composure.” J BOWLERS! Join the fun Join a league LeagueStarting Date & Time #Players per team Husker Doubles Monday, Jan. 25,8:00pm. 2 Big 12 Doubles Tuesday, Jan: 26,7:00pm. 2 Nite Owls Wednesday, Jan. 27,8:00pm. 4 Pin Pounders Thursday, Jan. 28,6:00pm. 4 Thursday TriosThursday, Jan. 21,8:00pm.. 3 All leagues bowl 3 games per night. Cost is $5.00 per person per night. Teams and/or individuals must pre register at the East Union Lanes N’ Games (or call 472-1751). UN-L students, Faculty, Staff, and friends are elegible. gpjf