Nebraska has improved to 9-2 on the season with an impresive win over the favored Golden Hurricane. Eshaunte "Bear" Jones came off the bench to lead the Cornhuskers in scoring with 12 points, and hit several key 3 pointers to keep Tulsa at bay. A big win for the Huskers, and possibly the type of performance we needed to guage whether or not we can compete with a powerful Big 12 conference. As of now, I think we are one of the top 5 teams.
Doc Sadler rolled the dice this week by holding a 4.5 hour practice at 5am on Sunday morning after the Husker performance against Jackson State left a bad taste in his mouth. It paid off, as the boys in red jumped out ahead for good after halftime. Nebraska shot 47% from the field, and 42% from the 3-point line, while out-rebounding Tulsa 30-24 despite the looming presence of potential 1st round draft pick - 7'0" Jerome Jordan.
The Huskers' Brandon Richardson held off the Tulsa charge late in the game almost single-handedly by hitting 6 of 6 free throws down the stretch. Leading by as many as 13 in the 2nd half, Tulsa mounted a furious comeback and had cut the lead to 3 with under 10 seconds left. Richardson seemed to have traveled after catching the inbounds pass, but the far side referee caught a Tulsa player tripping the sophmore guard on the play. Brandon calmly sank both free throws sealing the win, and setting up another tough battle with BYU on Wednesday.
BYU (11-1) defeated Nevada earlier in the day, and advanced to play the Huskers in the championship game of the Las Vegas Classic on Wednesday. Tipoff time will be at 8:30pm.