[Husker] Iowa State 88, Nebraska 75

[NUStLNorris at aol.com]

Thud.  Iowa State took it to Nebraska tonight in most every aspect of  the 
game.  Curtis Stinson put on a show for the second consecutive  year in the 
Devaney Center.  He should be everybody's all-conference  player.  Stinson scored 
28 and dished out 6 assists.  Will Blaylock  was outstanding as well.  'Clones 
were hitting just over 50 percent from  behind the arc last time I looked, 
and around 50 percent from the  floor.  They deserve all the credit for 
outplaying NU all the way around  tonight.  Dourisseau and Wilkinsen got into first 
half foul trouble which  limited their time.  ISU won the game with a 23-6 run 
(if my math was  correct) to close the first half.
 
This one hurts.  However, the Big XII this year is going to  resemble the 
Nebraska weather -- drastic changes in a matter of days.  Joe  McCray didn't play 
a second in the first half (back concerns?), but then played  most all of the 
second half after going in to the game for the first time just a  couple 
minutes into the second half.  Strange.   Back-stiffening-up-concerns?  I haven't 
heard.
 
NU's freshmen guards (Jamel White and Marcus Walker, who started in place  of 
McCray) played like freshman guards at times.  Too many  turnovers.  But then 
again, Charles Richardson had trouble with ISU's  pressure too.  ISU's 
trapping and pressing defenses were better than  Nebraska's defensive efforts.  
Eighty-eight points says it all.
 
Iowa State hit open shots and they hit contested shots.  They probably  
"needed" this one more than NU did (didn't want to go to 1 and 3 in the  league and 
"needed" a split during their Lubbock/Lincoln junket), but  Nebraska wasn't 
up to the task before the biggest crowd of the year (which still  wasn't THAT 
big and included one of the top corner sections clad in 'Clone  yellow).
 
I'm a heck of a lot more disappointed in the way NU played tonight than I'm  
letting on.  But ISU showed up and then some.  I was concerned going  in that 
they were going to be tough, and they were.  Texas could separate  from the 
rest of the league up top, and Baylor could separate at the  bottom.  Kansas 
"technically" and currently (it's still early) sits  11th in the league.  I think 
positions two through 11 are a crap  shoot.
 
Bummed at The Bob,
 
Dave Norris