■ ■
-X
Heather Glenboski/DN
NEBRASKA CENTER KIMANI Ffriend drives for the basket over Kansas’s
Lester Earl In the second half of Saturday nlght’d game. Ffriend finished
the game as the leading scorer with 23 points.
■ A17-2 run to end the
'first half is the difference
as Nebraska moves to 0-3
in the Big 12 Conference.
By Joshua Camenzind
Staff writer
LAWRENCE, Kan. - The
Nebraska basketball team stuck with
Kansas on Saturday night for the first
16 minutes, but succumbed to a feared
Jayhawk “run” in a 97-82 loss.
In the final 4:20 of the first half,
KU forced four NU turnovers and
turned a 32-30 lead into a 49-32 half
time advantage to seize control of the
game.
The four turnovers were part of a
16-tumover first half for the Huskers
that was caused by the Jayhawk pres
sure and a sell-out crowd of 16,300.
“I really thought that it was the
Kansas press in the first half,”
Nebraska Coach Danny Nee said.
“When we got the 16 turnovers, that
was the turning point in the game. It
was something that we can’t simulate;
they just come at you in waves and do
a great job with it.”
In the first half, near-perfect offen
sive post play sparked Kansas. Nick
Collison, Eric Chenowith and Drew
Gooden combined to shoot 8 of 8 from
the field while scoring 19 points alto
JAYHAWKS 97
HUSKERS82
gether. But Nebraska received a boost
from one of its own post players who
was coming off a disappointing per
formance against Iowa State.
Center Kimani Ffriend scored 13
of his game-high 23 points in the first
half while shooting a perfect 5 for 5.
Ffriend used his quickness to allude
Jayhawk defenders and score under
neath.
“My confidence level was down,”
Ffriend said. “I didn’t have a good
game the last game, and I just wanted
to come out here and prove I can play
at this level.”
Ffriend grabbed 14 rebounds on
the night for his second career double
double and made 11 of 19 free throws
for the night. The junior also tied a
Kansas-opponent record with six
blocks. Nee said he liked what he saw
from Ffriend.
“Kimani played just about as well
as he can,” Nee said. “I am pleased
with his progress throughout the sea
son.
Nebraska won the second half, 50
48, but KU Coach Roy William’s strat
egy to play a 12-man rotation in the
first half killed the Huskers.
“Kansas has a great program,” Nee
said. “From their one man down to
their 13th man, they have some hella
cious players. When Lester Earl
comes in as your 12th or 13th man,
you realize how deep and how many
quality players they have.”
NU used only eight players in the
first 20 minutes because of a foot
injury to starting guard Rodney Fields
and the suspension of forward Louis
Truscott for the first half of play. Nee
said Truscott sat out the first half
because of his “breaking a team rule,”
and he “forgot where the classroom
was for a day.”
Saturday night marked the first
action for the team’s newest player,
Matt Davison, who joined the team on
Monday and played his first game of
Division I basketball at Allen
Fieldhouse.
“I was very pleased with him,”
Nee said. “He did a very good job
under the circumstances.”
Davison’s line for the game was
two points, two rebounds, three assists
and one steal.
“I am not going to go in there and
start firing the ball up,” Davison said.
“If I am open, I am going to take the
shot, but I am not going to take 12,15
shots per game. I am just in there to
spell Danny and Cary, and we stayed
close in the first half.”
The Huskers were also led by
Steffon Bradford, who tallied another
double-double with 12 points and 17
rebounds, and Cary Cochran, who had
17 points on 5 of 12 shooting from 3
point range.
ISU finally wears
down Nebraska
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
What do you do when the No. 8
team in the nation busts open a tight
game on you in a heartbeat in front
of a ruthless home crowd?
“Start up the bus,” Nebraska
Women’s Basketball Coach Paul
Sanderford said. “The party’s over.”
Iowa State crashed a Nebraska
party that the Huskers carried over
from their feel-good 81-69 road win
over No. 21 Kansas on Jan. 11 and
well into the second half of their
clash with the Cyclones on Saturday.
A Hilton Coliseum crowd of
12,134-the third
largest in school
history - saw NU
go blow-for-blow
with ISU and take
a 56-54 lead with
10 minutes, 51
seconds to go.
Then the Cyclones
bolted to a 24-2
run in the next
seven minutes and
left the Huskers
feeling like they
had been blown
out, 89-66.
“I wish half of
the games we lost
were only 30 min
utes long,” NU
guard Brooke
Schwartz said of
the 7-7 Huskers,
who fell to 1-2 in Big 12 Conference
play.
“We held up with a top-10 team
for a majority of the game and had
them cm their heels. We just couldn’t
close the door. Iowa State is a team
that is going to fight until the final
buzzer.”
The fight became a lot less
bruising to ISU (12-2,4-0) after NU
center Casey Leonhardt committed
her fourth foul with 12 minutes left
CYCLONES 89
HUSKERS66
ISU sophomore center Angie Welle
took advantage of not having the 6
foot-5-inch stalwart to move around,
scoring 20 of her career-high 24
points in the second half.
“I can usually push people
around,” Welle said, “but when she
gets her position, you’re not going to
move her.”
After Charlie Rogers (16 points)
hit a jumper to give the 56-54 lead,
ISU went on a tear. Welle hit two
quick jumpers to go up 58-56 before
the Cyclones forced NU to foul on
•• We held up
with a top-10
team for a
majority of the
game and had
them on their
heels. We just
couldn’t close
the door.”
Brooke Schwartz
NU guard
tour ot its next
five posses
sions.
Two free
throws by guard
Stacy Frese put
ISU up 65-56
with 8:55 left,
and the
Cyclones never
looked back
after Sanderford
was charged
with a technical
foul 1 minute, 6
seconds later.
After a barrage
of NU misses, ;
fouls and
turnovers con
verted into ISU
points, Megan
Taylor’s jumper
with 4:01 left put ISU up 78-58.
Welle, who made nine of 14
shots and grabbed eight rebounds,
helped guards Taylor (17 points, 10
rebounds) and Frese (19 points) to
bully the overwhelmed Huskers
down the stretch. The victory was
Iowa State's eighth in a row and 41st
in a row at home in the regular sea
Please see ISU on 14
JoshWolfe/DN
PAGE SUTTON fights with ISO’S Desiree Francis for control of the ball during the second half.The Huskers stayed
with the eighth ranked Cyclones for much of the game before falling 89-66.
*
* Eg
* 9
