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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 11, 1999)
Sports Cornhuskers slow down Runnin’ Rebels ■ UNLV started out fast but the NU zone defense worked its charms in the second half. By Darren Ivy Senior staff writer As the Nebraska men’s basketball team entered its locker room following an 68-55 NIT first-round win over Nevada Las Vegas Nahraclra ftft Wednesday night, sev iigui aoiva DO eral players were hum UNLV 55 ming the NU fight song. Others were whooping and hollering. Not the reaction one expected after an NIT win? Think again. The Comhuskers didn’t want to be back in the Bob Devaney Sports Center again this season, but they made the most of the friendly confines. With the win before 6,022 loud fans, NU moved on to the second round to face Texas Christian, a 72-71 winner over Kansas State. “I was pleased finding a way to get a win,” Coach Danny Nee said. “I think UNLV has some very talented, quick athletes ” NU neutralized the athletic Running Rebels with a 2-3 zone and 1-3-1 zone. The Huskers did n’t go to the zone defense right away though. It took the Huskers five minutes to switch to a zone. By that time, NU was down 13-6. “We decided not to play zone the entire game because our main staple is man-to-man,” Nee said. “We wanted to get aggressive on them. It was real obvious with their quickness and penetration (that we couldn’t stay in man-to-man). I thought we would play 70 percent or 60 percent zone. We played closer to 90 percent. It worked. It helped us.” After NU switched to a zone defense in the first half, it held UNLV to 16 points. Junior guard Cookie Belcher led the charge with five steals. His steals moved him into first on NU’s all-time charts with 258, passing Erick Strickland. Senior center Venson Hamilton, also con tributed three blocked shots. Those blocks moved Hamilton out of a tie with Mikki Moore for first place on the career blocked shot charts. The zone really bothered the Rebels in the sec ond half. It took UNLV more than three minutes to get a bucket. In the meantime, NU rattled off 10 unanswered points. “We riddled them with our zone defense,” said forward Andy Markowski, who had a game-high 11 rebounds. “They didn’t know what was going on.” On offense, NU struggle to find Hamilton. Hamilton, the Big 12 Conference Player-of-the Year, scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds, way below his averages of 15.8 and 10.3. Markowski said the up-tempo took Hamilton out of the game. “He didn’t get a lot of touches and when he did, he usually scored or got fouled,” Markowski said. “Give Venson credit, he had a lot of assists. He’s willing to do that for the team. He sacrificed for the team and we got the win.” With Hamilton struggling offensively, Belcher u We riddled them with our zone defense. They didn’t know what was going on.” Andy Markowski NU forward and senior Larry Florence stepped up. Belcher had 17 points and Florence had 16, with 14 coming in the second half. Nee was disappointed with the 22 turnovers. But Markowski said the turnovers were due to NU not playing an up-tempo style offense in a while. “We played sloppy,” Markowski said. “They kind of lulled us into die up-tempo and we hadn’t played that way in a while. We threw it in a lot of places it shouldn’t have been thrown. We’re all ngto. “It was a fun game to play. It may not have been UK Coach says SEC helps team ■ Kentucky benefits from playing in the nation’s toughest conference. By Jay Saunders Staff writer Some will tell you playing in the toughest conference in the country will prepare a team for the NCAA tourna ment. Or, at least that's the philosophy Kentucky Women’s Basketball Coach Bernadette Mattox is buying into. The Wildcats battled through a rig orous Southeastern conference regular season schedule, and came out with a No. 6 seed in the West Region. UK will play No. 11 seed Nebraska in the first round Saturday. That game will be played at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles at 8:15 Saturday night. “We have played on the road a lot and have played a lot of top teams,” Mattox said. “That will help us throughout this tournament.” Kentucky finished the conference season with an 7-7 record. That is the same percentage of conference wins Nebraska had in the Big 12, which was the second-highest rated conference this season. Leading the Wildcat attack is a pair of guards. Juniors Erica Jackson and Tiffany Wait combine to average just over 25 points per game. Sophomore forward Laura Meadows averages 12 points per game, and is the team’s second leading rebounder. During a press conference Tuesday, Mattox had nothing but praise for what her starting back-court has accom plished this season. “(Tiffany) is a tremendous leader for this basketball team,” Mattox said. “Erica is the neutralizer on the floor that keeps our team at bay. Everyone on the team has so much confidence is her.” Although these two teams haven’t played this season, UK is no stranger to the Huskers’ style of play. The two teams hooked up last year in Lincoln, and NU Coach Paul Sanderford coached for 15 years at Western Kentucky. In fact, one of the offensive sets Please see UK on 10 Matt Miller/DN NU GYMNAST Derek Leiter is part of a Nebraska gymnastics team that hosts No. 1 Penn State this weekend. Leiter hopes to win a national championship before his career ends with the Cornhuskers. u He s about zero for infinity around here when it comes to wrestling. He hasn't beaten anybody ” Blake Bukacek NU gymnast on Derek Leiter Husker gymnast lives for chance at the NCAA title By John Gaskins Staff writer When trying to talk to Nebraska junior gymnast Blake Bukacek about his teammate Derek Leiter’s gymnas tics, it’s tough to squeeze much out of him. Talk to Bukacek about Leiter as a person, and it’s a different story. His eyes open wide and his mouth runs rampant, smug smirk and all. “Derek’s just different, all right?” Bukacek says. “He’s just weird. “For one thing, the guy doesn’t stop talking about his fish. He gives us daily updates on his fish! He’s a picky eater, too. All he eats is chicken. Chicken this, chicken that. If it’s not chicken, he’s not eating it.” Bukacek pauses. Then, the flood gates open again. “And another thing about Derek,” Bukacek says. “He’s about zero for infinity when it comes to wrestling around here. He hasn’t beaten any body.” Leiter approaches and interrupts. “What is he saying about me?” he says. “Whatever it is, don’t listen to him. He’s probably lying. No, really, what did he say?” “I’m telling the truth. I’m telling him how you never win at wrestling,” Bukacek replies. Bukacek then yells to his teammates, about four of them sit ting together on the other side of the gym. “Hey, guys, what’s Derek’s record in wrestling down here?” “About zero for infinity,” they yell back. “See, what’d I tell you?” Bukacek says as Leiter shakes his head. Such treatment isn’t exactly what you would expect for someone who has Please see FISH onlO