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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 1999)
Sports The Big 12 Conference Player of the Week is Texas sophomore center Chris Mihm. breaking Nebraska center Venson Hamilton's two-week streak. Mihm averaged 18.5 points and 14 rebounds in wins over Oklahoma and Massachusetts, and has powered the Longhorns to first place in the Big 12 standings at 7-1. H For the second consecutive week, Missouri guard Keyon Dooling was named the league's Rookie of the Week. The freshman averaged 20.5 points in wins over Kansas State and Baylor, and earned praise from his head coach, Norm Stewart. “Even though freshmen are more susceptible to ups and downs than veterans, he seems to be relaxed,” Stewart said. “He’s fun to coach, fun to watch. He’s an exciting player.” m Stewart made a mark of his own Saturday. With the Tigers' win over Kansas State, he passed DePaul legend Ray Meyer for sev enth on the all-time NCAA Div. I coaches’ winning list with his 725th victory. Stewart is in his 31st year at Missouri, his 38th overall. m At the Big 12 season’s halfway point, there is no clear-cut favorite to win the conference. Texas is in first place, with three teams tied for second place at 6-2, one game back of the Longhorns - Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma State - each which won Saturday. Nebraska and Oklahoma are tied for fifth at 5-3. ■ For the second straight week, only two teams from the Big 12 are ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. Oklahoma State jumped two spots to No. 21, while Kansas dropped two spots to No. 22. “I think the reason why so few teams in this conference are ranked is because the league is so competitive,” Oklahoma Head Coach Kelvin Sampson said. “Everybody is beating every body else, and no one is standing out. To me, that means there are a lot of good teams in this confer ence.” n If the league’s top six teams, the Longhorns have the confer ence's easiest second-half confer ence schedule. Their remaining Big 12 opponents are a combined 25-37. Oklahoma State has had it the toughest at 37-27. Nebraska's remaining teams are a combined 30-34. ■<. Though they are in eighth place at 3-5, the Kansas State Wildcats’ five league losses have all come by fewer than 10 points. The Wildcats’ opponents in that stretch were a combined 24-8. Big 12 Notebook was com piled by sophomore staff writer John Gaskins. Coach says NU must stop turnovers Matt Miller/DN NICOLE KUBIK AND THE HUSKER WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM will try to break their five-game losing streak on the road tonight against the Missouri Tigers. NU Coach Paul Sanderford said the Huskers need to cut down on turnovers to pull out a win. By Lisa Vonnahme Staff writer With a five-game losing streak on the road staring it in the face, the Nebraska women's basketball team isn't wasting any time searching for solutions. NU Coach Paul Sanderford wants to see those results tonight at 7 p.m. when Nebraska (15-6 overall and 4-4 in the Big 12 Conference) faces Big 12 rival Missouri (9-9 and 2-6) at the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Mo. Against the Tigers, Sanderford will be looking for his answer to NU's road game woes: more rebounds and fewer turnovers. Even though the Huskers have forced 24.9 turnovers per game, they have hurt themselves by committing 20.3 turnovers per contest. Sanderford would like to see that number decreased to 12 or 13. “You can't win a game on the road if you turn the ball over 20 or 25 times,” Sanderford said. “And with 10 people get ting playing time, we should be able to get extra rebounds.” In grabbing boards, Sanderford will be depending on the play of junior Brooke Schwartz, who averages a team-high 6.9 rebounds per game. Schwartz is coming off a 20-point, eight-rebound game against Oklahoma on Saturday, leading the Huskers to an 85-62 win at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Brooke has been much more focused in the last two games,” Sanderford said. “It’s very important for her to be consis tent, not up and down.” The Tigers, who were handed an 80-54 loss to No. 16 Iowa State on Saturday, has been in the same shape as the Huskers this season with scarce road wins, Sanderford said. Nebraska dealt Missouri an 83-67 road-game loss Jan. 3. “We haven’t seen Missouri, even on tape, since we played them last month,” Sanderford said. “We’re just going to have to count on being prepared.” While Sanderford admitted NU’s diffi culty on the road has been frustrating, it hasn’t been his primary concern. “It’s tough to win on the road, and the more you talk about it, the worse it can be,” Sanderford said. “My philosophy has always been to take care of business at home, and steal a few on the road.” If the Huskers are able to leave the Hearnes Center as robbers tonight, they will have earned their 20th straight victory over the Tigers - a win that is needed for confidence in NU’s battle with Iowa State this weekend, Sanderford said. “I’m looking forward to playing at Missouri,” Sanderford said. “We’re ready to prove we can win on the road.” Husker Invite provides memories By Sam McKewon Senior editor Ask Gary Pepin about his memo ries of the first 18 Husker Invitationals he coached in, and he'll admit he does n’t have many specific ones. He mentions a few of the mile relay races, a couple of spectacular runners here and there. But what the Nebraska men’s and women’s track and field coach remem bers most about the Husker Invitational, now in its 25th year, was how small it was when he came to NU in 1980, and how big it is now. “The funds and time put into the meet is so much more today than it used to be,” Pepin said. “It’s not so much that I remember individual per formances, but that I remember the event and what it is today.” Pepin said the Invitational, which has had the name Frank Sevigne attached to it after the late NU track coach, should be about the same size as it was last year, with about 45-50 teams and more than 1,000 athletes compet ing. Pepin said teams from as far west as Washington State and far east as South Carolina come to participate. From the Big 12, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas and Kansas State will compete. Other Big 12 teams will be at the Iowa State Invitational. “It’s a coast-to-coast deal,” Pepin said. “We’ve got them from east, west and somewhere in between. We’d like to have more at the meet if Iowa State would move its meet.” Pepin did say that the size of the meet does bring some of the best teams in the country and along with them some of the best athletes. Pepin calls it the “the best collection of top-flight athletes at any Nebraska sporting a Its not so much that I remember individual performances, but that I remember the event and what it is today” Gary Pepin NU track coach event.” It wasn’t always like that. Pepin said that not only did Nebraska have to compete with the Iowa State Invite, but a meet in Oklahoma, as well. Still, the competition is so strong, Pepin said, that it’s hard for him to pick great individual moments. He does recall former NU sprinter and former Olympian Merlene Ottey, who ran the 100-meter and 200-meter dash at NU in the early 1980s and was a national champion. “I don’t remember her specific races, although I’m sure she won,” Pepin said. “I just remember the crowds that would come to see her, and how much the crowds loved to watch her run. “And she would please them. The thing about Merlene was she ran to win the event, but she’d won run to please the crowd, too. She was just a great crowd-pleaser.”
