Walker, Florence
hope to stop slump
By Matthew Hansen
Staff writer
- . . ; fVy.'
Long after most of their team
mates had left the Devaney Center
floor on Thursday, Huskers Danny
Walker and Larry Florence
remained, raining jumpers on
opposite baskets.
Florence and Walker had
ample motivation to put in extra
time in preparation for Saturday
afternoon’s matchup with the
Baylor Bears.
Florence, the Huskers’ leading
scorer through the nomconference
schedule, has shot only four for 28
from the field in Nebraska’s previ
ous two games against Kansas and
Texas Tech.
Walker hasn’t fared much bet
ter, with a three for 13 perfor
mance from the floor in those two
games. He failed to make a field
goal against the Red Raiders.
Walker said the time was right
to break out of his slump. But he
was wary of overconfidence
against the Bears (9-6,0-4).
“Baylor has a bunch of guys
that play hard. They have a tough
half-court trap that might give us
some problems. And they have a
physical, athletic player in Terry
Black inside, and a good shooter
and guard in Travis Stakes outside.
, We’ll have to be ready to play.”
Stakes is the Bears’ leading
scorer, averaging 17.3 points per
game. Black, a junior college
transfer, is pulling down 9.7
. rebounds per game to lead the
team while scoring 14.9 points.
The inside-outside duo, like
the Bears, prospered during the
non-conference schedule. After
demolishing Arkansas-Pine Bluff
on New Year’s Eve, the team was
the proud owner of a 9-2 record.
But the beginning of confer
ence play has brought the Bears
crashing back to Earth, and into a
place they are familiar with - the
Big 12 cellar. Four straight confer
ence losses, including three
straight defeats by at least 25
points, leaves the team at 0-4 in the
conference. BU has now lost 21
straight conference games.
Baylor’s fall from grace logi
cally could have the Huskers full of
confidence heading into
Saturday’s matchup. But Walker
said NU was taking nothing for
granted.
“We’re just trying to scrape
together some wins here,” he said.
“We have to win to get back into
the Big 12 race, so we need to
come out and play intense from the
start.”
The point guard also said,
though, that he wouldn’t mind
making quick work of Baylor.
“We’d really like to put in on
them and win convincingly. It
would send a message to the con
ference that we started slow, but
we’re here now, and we’re here to
stay.”
Walker wouldn’t go so far as to
guarantee a blowout, but he did
make one promise.
“I’m going to make some shots
on Saturday,” he said. “You can
write that down.”
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— MEN’S GYMNASTICS —
Huskers hurting for Open
By John Gaskins
Staff uniter
Francis Allen has never been mis
taken for someone who lacks confi
dence.;
The way he coaches his gymnasts,
the way he swaggers at meets, the
way he talks about his Nebraska team
year in and year out all prove his con
fidence.
When asked before a season starts
what Allen thinks his NU men’s gym
nastics team can accomplish, rarely
does anything short of “national
championship” come out of the veter
an’s mouth.
This year is no different. With two
national champions and four All
Americans returning from the
nation’s third-best team in 1999, plus
an All-American transfer joining the
squad, Allen can smell a national title
trophy coming to Lincoln for the first
time since 1994.
“I think we are going to be one of
the teams - if not the team to beat - in
the country this season,” said Allen,
who has won eight national champi
onships in his 31 years at NU.
The third-ranked Huskers will
start thdir run at a ninth NCAA title
this weekend at the Rocky Mountain
Open in Colorado Springs, Colo. No.
10 Brigham Young hosts the four
team event, which also features No. 4
Oklahoma and No. 17 Air Force.
Allen expects the same type of
showdown NU won last year to open
the season and five other times in the
last nine years. However, the Huskers
come into the event with several
injuries.
“If we don’t do well on rings, we
could easily get beat by either BYU
or Oklahoma,” Allen said. “But I
would rather get beat than get all of
my guys beat up.”
Hardabura, the 24-year-old junior
who captured both the NCAA all
around and floor exercise titles last
season, will probably not compete in
the all-around because of soreness in
his right shoulder.
Senior and 1999 NCAA horizon
tal bar runner-up, Blake Bukacek,
tore an anterior cruciate ligament in
his knee in November and will be
limited to the pommel horse. Grant
Clinton will compete in just the still
rings because of lower back and
shoulder pains. All-American Derek
Leiter (sore left hand) and Martin
Fournier (wrists) are also battling
injuries.
One Husker who is feeling fine is
1997 and 1998 NCAA parallel bars
champion Marshall Nelson, who sat
out all of 1999 with a torn ACL. NU
also added national strength to the
team by signing 1999 NCAA still
rings finalist Asher Lichterman -
who transferred to NU after New
Mexico dropped its program.
“We’ve got an experienced team,”
Allen said. “We’re looking past this
weekend a little bit. I don’t want to
push the guys too much. I would
rather have them healthy in
February.”
—TENNIS
Nikki Fox/DN I
FUNGAIT0NG00NA practices his game of tennis at the Woods Tennis Center on
Thursday afternoon.
Men s tennis team opens
season at Rice University
From staff reports
If experience truly does prove to be a
winning ingredient, Nebraska Tennis
Coach Kerry McDermott thinks his team
is cooking up a special season.
Five of the top six players return from
McDermott’s team a year ago.
Three of those players will garner
more experience this weekend as they
compete in the Rice University Indoor
Invitational in Houston, Texas.
Jorge Abos Sanchez, NU’s No. 2
player in singles, is joined by the
Huskers’ No. 3 and No. 5 players, Kai
Rieke and Juan Hamdan respectively.
McDermott said that both Sanchez
and Rieke are in the hunt for the No. 1
spot on the team and should wage war all
season, starting with the upcoming tour
nament.
“This is a good tournament for these
guys to get some good experience,”
McDermott said. “If they do well, they
could really make a name for themselves
early in the season.”
Thirteen teams will compete in the
tournament, with seven of the teams
ranked by the International Tennis
Association.
Nebraska will try to improve its No.
63 ranking in the ITA preseason rankings
in this first meet of the 2000 season.
“We have a good, experienced team
and a very good schedule. We want to
end this season ranked in the top 35,”
McDermott said.
His troops were ranked fourth in
Region V, with Abos Sanchez claiming
the No. 6 ranking in singles for the
region.
McDermott is also hoping for a mas
terful performance this weekend from
Rieke, whom the coach has labeled the
“silent assassin.”
Rieke was 12-10 last season, playing
at the No. 5 spot in singles but ended the
season with five straight victories.
— FOOTBALL —
I-back
sits atop
testing
list again
From staff reports
Once again,' - Dan
Alexander landed atop the
winter performance testing list
for the Nebraska football
team.
The list was released
Tuesday.
Alexander, a fifth-year I
back, finished with 3,063
points overall. His first-place
time of 4.50 seconds in the 40
yard dash garnered a score of
954 points, which ties the
record set by Ahman Green,
set in 1996.
Rush end Kyle Vanden
Bosch finished second with
2,710 points, while defensive
lineman Jon Clanton had
2,442 points, good for third.
Linebacker Rod Baker (2,337)
and wide receiver Scott
Aguglia (2,328) were fourth
and fifth.
In the 10-yard dash, Ben
Comelson had the fastest time
at 1.57 seconds, while
Alexander was No. 1 in the 40
yard dash. Receiver Jeremy
Bender was best in the pro
agility run at 3.88 seconds,
while defensive back Josh
Anderson had the higher verti
cal jump at 35 inches.
Vering aims for national crown in 2000
VERING from page 16
“He likes to work hard,”
Neumann said. “He likes to have a
positive attitude. He likes to com
pete, and he likes to win. He has no
negatives about him. He takes acade
mics seriously, and he takes each and
every practice seriously.”
Charles McTorry, the 184-pound
starter for the Huskers, said Vering is
a good team leader because of what
he does in the wrestling room rubs
off on everyone else, and that’s
always a good thing.
“It wouldn’t even matterif he was
labeled team captain or not,”
McTorry said. “It’s his attitude. He
doesn’t even need to be labeled
because he’s going to lead by exam
ple no matter if he’s trying to or not.”
McTorry, ranked No. 5 in the
nation, came to NU in 1996 with
Vering as part of what Vering called
one of the best recruiting classes the
Huskers have seen.
Since then, McTorry has seen
Vering mesh well with the team
because of his personality and his
leadership qualities.
“When we came here I might
have been athletic and everything,”
McTorry said.
“But Vering, skill-wise, was a
step above me. But learning from
him and competing against him was
good for me. He is a good person to
have.”
Neumann said as a team captain,
Vering must lead by example in prac
tice for the first half of the season.
Then, in the second half, he must
lead by performance on the mat to
funnel confidence down to the other
wrestlers.
“The best way for Brad to help
this team now is to win a national
championship,” Neumann said.
Doing that, Vering said, is all up
to the him, the wrestler.
“Coaches can’t make us champi
ons,” Vering said. “We have to make
ourselves champions. The coaches
can put in the time and put in the
effort, but in our minds we have to
decide that we’re going to be the ones
to do it.”
