Huskers lament lost ‘opportunity’

By Jan Biles     Feb 25, 2002

? Nebraska senior guard Cary Cochran was looking for redemption against top-ranked Kansas University on Sunday afternoon.

Instead, all he found was disappointment.

“I think they’ll be in the Final Four, that’s my biased opinion,” Cochran said following the Cornhuskers’ heart-stopping 88-87 defeat at Devaney Center. “This was a great opportunity for our program and our team. Unfortunately, it ended the way it did. Obviously we’re disappointed. Tomorrow we’ll wake up and it will still be a loss. I’m not in it for moral victories.

“Am I proud of the way our team played? Yeah, of course. But I don’t take any satisfaction in losing.”

After trailing by as many as six points early in the second half, the Huskers let loose a 24-6 burst to take a 67-55 lead with 13:43 remaining. The eventual 12-point comeback marked the Jayhawks’ largest of the season, and fifth-largest during KU coach Roy Williams’ 14-year tenure.

Kansas clawed back with a 13-3 run to pull within 71-70 with 9:40 to play, and the two teams traded baskets and leads until the Jayhawks surged ahead in the closing minute.

NU coach Barry Collier said he was “mad” about the one-point setback, even though the Jayhawks had pounded the Huskers, 96-57, earlier this year in Lawrence.

“I don’t subscribe to moral victories,” Collier said. “I think we had a chance to win and we lost. I think you have to check how you played. You always do that, but we didn’t make enough plays. We had a chance. The crowd was great. I think the day bodes well for our team, especially our young guys to know what’s possible, but we didn’t get it done.”

In the first meeting, Cochran was limited to two points. On Sunday he threw in three-pointers from everywhere on the floor en route a season-best 22 points. He also secured the 1,000th point of his career on his first three-pointer of the game.

“The first game I didn’t play very well. That’s basically the bottom line,” Cochran said. “Obviously, a team like this comes into your house, it gets the blood going a little bit. If a person can’t get up for a game of this magnitude, they should be in curling or something in the Olympics.”

Cochran was 6-of-12 shooting all from three-point range and combined with fellow guards John Robinson II and Brian Conklin for 56 points and 16 threes on 29 attempts. The Huskers’ 18 total treys smashed the record for Nebraska, at the Devaney Center and for KU opponents.

“Definitely three-point shooting is one of our strengths,” Cochran said. “I hate to sound like a broken record. We have players, obviously, that can shoot the three. We’ve got a bunch of weapons at the three. Like all year, that’s been a priority. We’ve shot the ball pretty well on threes.”

It was a pair of missed two-pointers, though, that sealed Nebraska’s fate.

Robinson’s attempt from the free-throw line in the closing seconds glanced off the front of the rim, and freshman forward John Turek’s follow attempt also rattled out.

Coming out of two timeouts, the Huskers wanted to get the ball to freshman guard Jake Muhleisen at the top of the key, but KU senior guard Jeff Boschee got his hand on the pass and swatted it into the backcourt, where the ball was tracked down by Robinson.

“I looked up to see how much time I had on the clock, and it was 8-point-something seconds,” Robinson said. “I just tried to hurry down and penetrate. My man backed up a little bit, so I took the shot. I was going to penetrate and dish to Cary in the corner or Jake. But he (KU senior Brett Ballard) backed up, I shot it and it just came up short.”

The Cornhuskers dropped to 12-13 overall and 5-9 in the conference. They will play host to Baylor in a Senior Night game on Wednesday.

“You have to congratulate Kansas because they came into a situation where they had to respond to stuff No. 1 teams are going to face, an underdog situation, and they did,” Collier said. “Whatever it takes to win they were going to come up with it. Our guys had a great day coming up with plays. For that I’m grateful for our team and proud of them, but I’m still mad.”

Tale of the tape
Kansas Nebraska
48.5 FG% 39.4
41.7 3ptFG% 48.6
70.8 FT% 59.1
49 Reb. 40
20 Asst. 21
9 TO 8
10 Blk 0
5 Stl. 6
Kansas (88) MIN FG FT REB PF TP
m-a m-a o-t
Drew Gooden 33 11-22 4-4 3-14 2 26
Nick Collison 22 4-8 0-0 1-7 4 8
Kirk Hinrich 23 5-7 3-4 1-6 5 14
Aaron Miles 27 3-8 6-6 0-6 1 12
Jeff Boschee 36 4-12 3-4 1-1 2 14
Brett Ballard 15 1-2 0-0 0-2 0 2
Keith Langford 19 3-5 0-3 3-3 2 7
Bryant Nash 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Jeff Carey 9 1-2 0-1 2-4 0 2
Wayne Simien 14 1-2 1-2 0-3 2 3
Team 3-3
Totals 33-68 17-24 11-49 18 88

Three-point goals: 5-12 (Boschee 3-8, Hinrich 1-1, Langford 1-1, Miles 0-1, Ballard 0-1). Assists: 20 (Miles 6, Gooden 4, Collison 4, Ballard 3, Hinrich 2, Boschee). Turnovers: 9 (Collison 3, Gooden 2, Hinrich, Miles, Ballard, team). Blocked shots: 10 (Collison 5, Gooden 3, Langford, Simien). Steals: 5 (Hinrich 3, Gooden, Miles).

NEBRASKA (87) MIN FG FT REB PF TP
m-a m-a o-t
Brian Conklin 37 5-10 0-0 1-3 3 14
John Turek 23 3-6 1-7 5-12 3 7
John Robinson 32 7-21 2-3 0-6 4 22
Cary Cochran 36 6-12 4-4 1-3 1 22
Jake Muhleisen 33 5-14 3-4 0-4 3 13
Wilson Thomas 15 0-1 2-2 1-1 3 2
Corey Simms 5 0-2 0-0 0-3 1 0
Ross Buckendahl 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Brennon Clemmons 14 2-5 1-2 0-3 2 7
Dan Heimos 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0
Team 4-5
Totals 28-71 13-22 12-40 20 87

Three-point goals: 18-37 (Robinson 6-11, Cochran 6-12, Conklin 4-6, Clemmons 2-3, Muhleisen 0-5). Assists: 21 (Robinson 6, Cochran 5, Clemmons 4, Turek 3, Muhleisen 2, Conklin). Turnovers: 8 (Clemmons 3, Robinson 2, Conklin, Thomas, Simms). Blocked shots: none.Steals: 6 (Robinson 3, Muhleisen 2, Clemmons).

Kansas 41 47 88
Nebraska 41 46 87

Officials: Tom O’Neill, Steve Welmer, Mark Whitehead. Attendance: 14,055.

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