?_i in physical game
Huskers fight back,
but can’t upset OU
By Joshua Camenziiid
Staff writer
In what could have been confused for a 12
round heavyweight boxing match in many
venues, the Bob Devaney Sports Center saw
another close home game slip away from the
Nebraska basketball team.
The Cornhuskers fell 62-54 to No. 19
Oklahoma in front of 7,331 fans on Monday
night. OU brought its physical game to Lincoln
and duked it out with NU for 40 minutes.
Just ask Steffon Bradford.
“It was physical,” said Bradford, who haji
five points and six rebounds. “Sometimes I was
trying to go for the offensive rebound and
(Sooner players) had me in a headlock. They
had me by my jersey, slinging me down. I like
types of games like that.”
In a similar fashion to what occurred two
nights ago against Iowa State, the Huskers fell
behind early and rallied before halftime. NU
ended the half on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to six
at 32-26. NU then opened the second half with a
4-0 run to cut the lead down to two at 32-30.
Eduardo Najera, who led OU with 13
rebounds and 10 points, stopped the run with a
jumper and the two teams exchanged blows,
both literally and physically, for the rest of the
half. Oklahoma’s lead would never grow to
more than nine. NU cut it down to one at 54-53
on a Larry Florence jumper with 1:18 left.
JTien came the knockout punch. OU’s
Kelley Newton missed a 3-pointer with 52 sec
onds remaining and Sooner Renzi Stone
rebounded die miss. He passed to J.R. Raymond
and OU looked to milk some clock.
But Raymond fired up another 3-pointer
and all but sealed NU’s fate with the make.
“You talk to the kids so much about clock
and time management,” OU Coach Kelvin
Sampson said. “I guess we need to throw that
out the back window, hi terms of shot selection,
it wasn’t the smartest shot in the world, but what
a beautiful shot”
The shot, combined with 1-4 free throw
shooting by NU and near-perfect shooting from
OU provided the final separation.
Just another one that got away.
“I feel we are going to get one before the sea- •
son is over with,” Kimani Ffriend said. “We went
out there and showed some pride but shots
weren’t falling and we weren’t making free
throws.
“They were making big shots, and we
couldn’t. We lost the game right there.”
—PWPIP—P—, _
Mike Warren/DN
KiMAM FFRIEND dunks on Oklahoma after a pass from Cary Cochran found Ffriend all alone under the
basket. Ffriend finished with six points, 10 rebounds and four blocks in a 62-54 loss to Oklahoma. "
Sampson grateful
guard made shot
- j
By Matthew Hansen
*■ . " ■ '
Staff writer
Just 48 hours after a home loss to No. 9
Oklahoma State, which Oklahoma Coach
Kelvin Sampson termed “easily the hardest of
the season,” the Sooners were back on the court
against Nebraska.
It wasn’t pretty. OU made only 6 of 23 3
pointers and shot just 34.4 percent from the field
_ but left Lincoln
SOONERS 62
HUSKERS 54 SampsonwItha
smile on his
face. He said that despite the ugliness of the vic
tory, it was a big one for his team.
“We basically played like shit,” he said. “I
mean, we played like shit. But, in the final min
utes, we still had a chance to win, and we pulled
it out. Coming off the game on Saturday, that is
absolutely huge.”
Coming into the game, Sampson already
knew things weren’t going to be pretty for OU.
“I told myself before the game that I wasn’t
going to be concerned with aesthetics,”
Sampson said. “I wasn’t interested in prettiness,
in how we shot the ball. I didn’t care about that. I
just wanted us to win the game.”
One shot Sampson was concerned with was
J.R. Raymond’s 3-pointer with only 45 seconds
remaining, just seconds after Stone had secured
an offensive-rebound, resetting the 30-second
shot clock for OU, which led by one.
Raymond, who was 2 of 9 from beyond the
arc prior, said he didn’t think twice about it.
“That shot was just a part of my game,”.
Raymond said. “I take that kind of shot a lot. A
shot like that takes a lot of courage and confi
dence on my part.”
Sampson said while he wasn’t surprised by
his guard’s shot, things may have been different
if die attempt had hit the rim instead of die bot
tom of die net.
“He misses that, and they go back down and
score...” Sampson said. “He may be hitchhiking
all the way back to Norman.”
The shot, and then the win, moved
Oklahoma back into sole position of fourth place
in the Big 12. Sampson said the win was critical
* for the Sooners.
' “We have so much left to play for this sea
son,” he said. “We’re an NCAA-toumament
team, a team that’s going to be playing in March.
And when you have a team like that, you have to
win games like this.”
-BIG 12 CONFERENCE
Cowboys starting to turn heads
■ A road win at Oklahoma
solidifies OSU atop the Big
12 conference standings.
By Trevor Johnson
Staff writer
The way this season has gone, it’s
been hard to pick a clear-cut favorite
in the Big 12.
■ Kansas (18-6 overall and 7-3 in
the Big 12 Conference) has played
worse than what’s expected from the
Jayhawks lately, but it’s still Kansas.
■ Iowa State (21-3 and 9-1) came
out of nowhere.
■ Oklahoma (19-4 and 7-3) has
Eduardo Najera and is getting hot with
a victory over Nebraska.
■ Texas (17-6 and 8-2) has Chris
Mihm, possibly the first player taken
in next year’s NBA draft.
■And nobody really wants to play
the young but talented Missouri (14-8
and 7-3).
But after three straight weeks of
•
five teams swapping places in the top
25 (but none in the top 10), a leader of
this conference might just be emerg
ing in Oklahoma State.
The Cowboys (20-2 and 9-1) just
got a No. 9 ranking in the coaches poll,
tops among Big 12 teams, and they are
3-0 against ranked opponents. One
might wonder why, with a 20-2 overall
record, the Cowboys aren’t ranked
higher, with the likes of No. 3 Duke
(19-3), No. 4 Arizona (21-4) or No. 5
Michigan State (18-6) - all teams that
have worse records than the Cowboys.
As Texas Coach Rich Barnes,
whose team plays the Cowboys on
Wednesday, said, “They’re a confident
team, and they’re playing as well as
any team in the country, which is what
they need to be doing right now.”
And as a team OSU can hurt an
opponent from anywhere. The Pokes
shoot 48.8 percent from the floor as a
team, with forward Desomd Mason
hitting 48.9 percent of his 3-pointers
and Brian Montonati shooting 55 per
cent from the field overall.
Guard Doug Gottleib, described
by Coach Eddie Sutton as having
“marvelouspassing instincts” is aver
aging nine assists a games, dishing the
ball to four players who average dou
ble digits.
Though they might not be given
the attention they merit, the Cowboys
are in a position for which they’ve
been grooming for years! Four of five
starters returned this year, and all are
seniors.
The seniors demonstrated their
experience in Saturday’s 74-71 win at
Oklahoma. While the leading scorer,
Mason, spent most of the second half
on the sideline with four fouls, foe
Adkins scored 21 in his absence, then
came off the bench and hit a criticapf
pointer that gave the Polora'Un’eijBfc ,
point lead with 1:42 remaining in the
game.
Oklahoma whittled the lead down,
but Montonati, also a senior, hit two
free throws with just more than seven
seconds to go, and the Cowboys
walked out of Oklahoma with a 9-1
conference record tied with Iowa State
for best in die league.
“Their maturity factor is much
better than last year,” Sutton said.
Lamb’s injury could
hurt Nebraska in dual
' - v
By Jason Merrihew
Staff writer
It seems that the cards are in the
favor for eighth-ranked Iowa State to
revenge its home loss suffered at the
hands of seventh-ranked Nebraska
earlier this year when the two teams
meet in a 7 p.m. dual at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
Last weekend, the Cyclones
eclipsed the Big 12 team record,
which was previously held by the
Huskers, by posting a score of
196.95 against in-state rivals, Iowa.
Tq make the situftion more omi
•ndus, Nebraska ’s freshman sensa
tion A. J. Lamb is only about 80 per
cent recovered from ankle injury she
sustained a couple of weeks ago at
Oklahoma.
Despite the question mark that
surrounds Lamb’s health, Coach
Dan Kendig feels his team is ready
to compete against ISU.
“We have to push ourselves to a
higher limit.” Kendig said. “Were
capable of hitting six for six on each
event.”
The role of freshman Jess Wertz
will be increased for NU’s second
home meet of the year if Lamb is
unable to compete in the all-around.
“Everybody is prepared for any
spot,” junior Amy Ringo said.
“Everybody has been training hard
enough that we feel anyone can do
the job equally as well as A. J.”
Tonight’s dual features two of the
best gymnasts in the country. Iowa
State brings junior Betsy Hamm, a
former NCAA beam champion at
Florida, against Nebraska’s senior!
All-American, Heather Brink.
Hamm, the reigning Big 12 gym
nast of the week, turned in a school
record 39.525 in the all-around last
week. Brink recorded a season high
in the all-around at Kentucky with a
39.425 performance.
Despite the circumstances,
Nebraska is confident about its
chances against Iowa State.
“Iowa State is going to come in
and challenge us.” Kendig said. “We
are up for the challenge.”
;3