[Husker] Nebraska 81, Savannah State 53

[NUStLNorris at aol.com]

The Huskers actually came out a bit flat tonight as Savannah State jumped  to 
an early 10-4 lead and still led at the under-12 media timeout.  But  again 
it was Marcus Perry who came off the bench to ignite the offense as the  
Huskers eventually cruised against an out-manned squad (I think I saw they  were 5 
and 12 coming in, but ONLY lost to #15 Marquette by about 15 last  week).  
Perry had 11 at the half, then hit two relatively early in the  second half.  He 
hit five 3-pointers to finish with 17.  True freshman  off-guard Sek Henry 
continues to show improvement, leading the Huskers with  18.  Aleks Maric and 
Jamel White had 14 and zone-buster Paul Velander had  10.
 
Savannah State full-court pressed for the majority if not all of the game  
(after made baskets).  But still, NU only turned it over about 10  times.  The 
Huskers were 11 of 21 late in the game from behind the arc, and  finished over 
60 percent from the field.
 
Doc's radio show just came on and he said he was happy with the 10 and 3  
record.  He said he wasn't too happy with the first five minutes tonight,  but 
took some of the responsibility saying that he's been killing 'em in  practice 
(my words, not his).  He said something interesting last week ...  he said the 
biggest drawback to the extensive travel schedule during the month  of 
December was that it kept them from improving to the degree they needed to --  
specifically, because they'd had to sacrifice some of the regular, quality  practice 
time where he KNOWS his teams get better.  It sounds like the  games are a 
breeze compared to some of the killer practices he conducts.
 
Saturday night the Huskers should get a test at home against Western  
Kentucky (I believe I read a while back that former Husker women's coach Paul  
Sanderford is an assistant on this team).  Last I saw, Western KY was 11  and 4 on 
the season.
 
I really think this team and this coach deserve a better crowd.   They've 
done better than anyone could've expected at this point, just prior to  
conference play.  I just picked up a pair of B-level seats, front row where  the 
students usually seat (they're off on holiday break) for the Western  Kentucky game 
this weekend.  If anyone living near-by wants  an suggestion as to what to do 
on Saturday night (7 p.m. tip-off),  watching the Huskers attempt to go to 11 
and 3 in non-conference would be a good  option.
 
Nebraska again played without freshman Ryan Anderson tonight.  Doc  just said 
that he would've thought that Ryan would have been ready to go by now,  but 
that he's no closer now than he was when we traveled to Miami.
 
Dave Norris