Huskers dominate in record fashion
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
The biggest part of Christmas, Doc Sadler said, is putting a smile on somebody’s face.
You wonder, then, if Sadler happened to notice those youngsters having Joba Chamberlain autograph their plastic mini-basketballs during Saturday night’s game.
Hey, some of those kids dove on the floor for those balls, tossed during a timeout.
Evidently, they’d been paying attention to what Sadler’s Nebraska team was doing in another suffocating defensive performance.
The Huskers’ 71-28 victory over North Carolina Central at the Devaney Sports Center left many folks smiling — including Sek Henry, who was worried after the game about snow perhaps messing with his plans to fly home to Los Angeles.
Bad weather, though, never materialized. Neither did NCC’s offense.
“They didn’t hit shots, and we just played very good defense,” Henry said. “We’re just trying to have that attitude that we’re a good defensive team.”
Nebraska held NCC to eight first-half points — a school record and Big 12 record for fewest allowed in a half. It’s the third time this season a Husker foe has scored 16 points or fewer in the first half. The 28 points are two off the Devaney Center and Big 12 record, set in 2003 by Bethune-Cookman.
The Huskers, playing before a crowd of 7,042, improved to 9-2. Nebraska was playing its first game since upsetting then-No. 16 Oregon last weekend in Omaha. Saturday’s game also came after finals week, which included a three-day break from practice.
Sometimes, that’s a recipe for sloppy play. While the Huskers weren’t sharp — they had 20 turnovers — Sadler was mostly pleased with how his team handled another lesser foe.
“I really like our team’s focus right now,” said Sadler, whose team has two more games before its Jan. 12 Big 12 Conference opener against Kansas.
NCC, in its first year of Division I play, shot a Devaney Center record-low 19.6 percent. In trailing 35-8 at halftime, the Eagles had more turnovers (18) than shot attempts (17).
NCC (1-15) was playing its 10th straight road game and its fourth in six days. And despite the fact NCC tied a Big 12 opponent record for fewest field goals in a half (two) and game (nine), Sadler said NCC presented the Huskers with some challenges defensively.
“Even though they didn’t make shots, they do some things that are hard to guard,” Sadler said. “We made a decision to trap ball screens to try to make sure our rotation for later on was going to be good, and it exposed us. We’ve got some work to do in that.”
Henry, who led Nebraska with 15 points, earned some rare kudos from Sadler, who’s long contended that his sophomore guard is one of the team’s best offensive players.
“But for him to be as good as he can be, defensively, he’s got to get as committed to that as he does offense,” Sadler said. “I thought against Oregon he was maybe our best defender. For him to be a total player, that’s what he’s got to do.”
Henry, who’d started the previous four games, came off the bench, as Sadler changed his lineup, starting Steve Harley. Sadler experimented with various lineups and said he’ll likely do more of that in upcoming games against Alcorn State and Maryland-Eastern Shore.
Henry, who had two of Nebraska’s 14 steals, had two jams out of transition and was 3-of-5 from three-point range.
“I think Sek, right now, in the last two or three games, has been playing about as well as he can play,” Sadler said.
Center Aleks Maric was the only other Huskers in double figures with 10 points, as Sadler emptied his bench and played 14 players. Twelve scored as Nebraska shot 57.8 percent.
“We stayed focus,” Henry said. “We all told each other before the game that we’ve got to go hard and win this game, because if we go home with a loss, it’s not going to be a good Christmas.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
Most Commented news