Fast start helps KU overcome Huskers
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BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
Is this progress?
For the most part, Doc Sadler says yes.
The margin was similar to last year’s game here, but the route to Nebraska’s 79-58 loss Saturday night to Kansas was, if nothing else, somewhat more encouraging.
“I’m sitting here, and we got beat 21 points,” said Sadler, the second-year Nebraska men’s basketball coach. “As sick as this may sound, I’m not that disappointed in how we played.”
Kansas is just that good.
Brandon Rush scored a season-high 19 points to lead the third-ranked Jayhawks (16-0, 1-0 Big 12 conference). Three other Kansas players scored in double figures.
Aleks Maric had 19 points to lead Nebraska (11-3, 0-1). Ryan Anderson scored 12, but two key Huskers — Ade Dagunduro and Sek Henry — were scoreless.
Still, Sadler was pleased in several areas — most notably, ball security. The Huskers had a mere 12 turnovers against a team that forces an average of more than 20. Freshman guard Cookie Miller had just one turnover in 32 minutes.
Nebraska also held the high-flying Jayhawks to eight fast-break points.
“We can’t play any better than that,” said Sadler, who also declared success in holding KU to nine offensive rebounds.
“The score is what it is. I’m not happy about it. I’m not pleased. But I still think there were some good things about some things we did.”
Like, say, stay in the game.
A season-high Devaney Sports Center crowd of 13,099 and national ESPN television audience watched to see if the Huskers could fare any better against mighty Kansas than they did last season.
The answer, mostly, was yes.
Nebraska, which fell behind 43-8 in last year’s 76-56 loss here to Kansas, this time weathered a few first-half Kansas storms.
The Jayhawks bolted to a 14-5 lead, similar to last year’s 12-3 start. This time, Nebraska pulled within 14-10. And when KU responded to go up 10, Nebraska whittled the lead to 23-20.
Nebraska was within 29-24 with five minutes remaining before halftime. That’s when KU found breathing room.
Sadler sat Maric and Dagunduro — each had two fouls — during a short stretch where the Jayhawks scored 10 straight points and increased the margin to 15.
Two Paul Velander three-pointers kept the Huskers within striking distance at halftime, 42-30.
Nebraska cut the lead to 10 quickly, but never got closer. The margin was 12 with 11:31 remaining when the Jayhawks began to pull away, taking their biggest lead of 22 with 7:14 remaining.
Most critical for Nebraska was zero points from starters Dagunduro and Henry, who were a combined 0-of-8 from the field. Anderson’s four field goals came on 12 attempts.
“I don’t know what it was, man, I can’t call it,” Anderson said. “I’m being honest right now. I can’t call it.
“You’ve just got to make open shots. You’re going to get open shots, you’ve got to hit those.”
Sadler, whose team shot 40 percent, said his team needs more production from the likes of Anderson, Henry, Dagunduro and Steve Harley.
“You’ve got to get yourself involved,” Sadler said. “You’ve got to go make a play. If you sit back and expect the coach to make plays for you, that ain’t going to happen.”
Sadler would also like more touches from Maric, the 6-foot-10 center. Maric, who left briefly in the second half with a cut to his mouth and eye, was 7-of-12 from the field.
“We tried to run Aleks around a lot tonight … he still got 19 points in 26 minutes,” Kansas coach Bill Self said.
“I do think that they got the ball where they wanted to get it more than we would like and didn’t come away with points, so we were lucky there. They got some looks they just missed.”
But is Nebraska better than last year?
“Yeah, they’re a lot better,” Self said. “They’re tougher and their defense really bothered us for multiple stretches during the game.”
Kansas, which shot 53.8 percent, was 10-of-22 from three-point range.
“Fortunately, the game is behind us,” Anderson said. “We’ve just got to get ready for the next game at Colorado.”
That’s Tuesday night in Boulder.
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
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