Old school Husker basketball fans will smile when they look out on to the court at Pinnacle Bank Arena this coming season. The floor design plan was released yesterday, and in a call-back to the Danny Nee era, an outline of the state of Nebraska will surround the familiar big red N at center court. The state outline was on the floor of the Devaney Center from 1986 to 1996. Ironically, First National Bank will have their logo on the floor in the new arena named for one of their competitors.
Nebraska’s men’s basketball coaching staff may be losing a member. Reports out of Minnesota are that Ben Johnson, who just finished his first season at Nebraska, will be returning to his alma mater and serving alongside newly-hired Richard Pitino on the Golden Gopher sideline. Tim Miles would not comment on the possibility that his staff might shrink. Johnson came to Nebraska after being an assistant at Northern Iowa for four years.
Braylon Heard has found a home for the remainder of his college football career. The former Husker will be transferring to Kentucky, according to ESPN’s Joe Schad. Heard decided to depart Lincoln following this past season. The sophomore averaged 6.7 yards per carry in limited duty. A native of Youngstown, Ohio, Heard would be reuniting with former Husker graduate assistant Vince Marrow, who also left Nebraska for Kentucky.
Husker head coach Bo Pelini and senior quarterback Taylor Martinez spoke to the media in a teleconference yesterday. Pelini spoke mostly about the defense, which remains the 2013 team’s biggest question mark exiting spring practice. He eased concerns about players who missed the spring game with injury, saying that linebacker David Santos and defensive linemen Greg McMullen and Vincent Valentine would be ready to go for the fall. Pelini also said he’s hoping for a big year from senior defensive end Jason Ankrah, and that freshman linebacker Jared Afalava opened some eyes with his performance in the spring. Martinez, who rarely participates in press events, spoke highly of the talent surrounding him on the offensive side of the ball, and says he expects to pass more often and be more comfortable in Tim Beck’s offense this coming season.
The Denver Nuggets tied a team record with their 54th win of the season last night, a 96-86 defeat of San Antonio Spurs. The win is also a team record 21st in a row at home. The Nuggets fell behind 14-0 early but clawed back and went on a 13-0 run to open the fourth quarter and create enough breathing room for the win. Andre Iguodala posted a triple double in the victory – 12 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists. Wilson Chandler led the Nuggets in scoring with 29 points. The Nuggets visit the Dallas Mavericks Friday night.
It got ugly in a hurry for the Colorado Rockies yesterday afternoon. Starting pitcher Jeff Francis didn’t make it through the second inning and the Rockies offense couldn’t dent the scoreboard in a 10-0 loss to the San Francisco Giants that completed a sweep for the defending champs. Errors of the mental and physical variety put the Rockies in a deep hole early. Francis was chased from the game after allowing seven runs, three unearned, in the first two frames. The Rockies managed just seven hits in the game, two from Chris Nelson. It’s the ninth straight time the Rockies have lost to the Giants, both in San Francisco and overall. After an off-day today, the Rockies will continue their West Coast road trip in San Diego against the Padres, and hope to recapture their early-season mojo against a team they swept in Denver last weekend.
Nebraska’s baseball and softball teams have had to reschedule their games on Friday in anticipation of more inclement weather in the Lincoln area. The series opener between the Huskers and Ohio State at Hawks Field will be moved up two and a half hours and will start at 4:05. Nebraska’s softball game against Wisconsin, also a series opener for the weekend, will start two hours earlier and get underway at 4 PM.
The San Francisco Giants’ ownership of the Colorado Rockies continues. The Rockies coughed up a 6-2 lead in a 9-6 loss to the Giants in San Francisco last night for their second straight loss. A five-run second inning off of Giants starter Tim Lincecum, highlighted by Dexter Fowler’s two-run double and Josh Rutledge’s two-run single, gave the Rockies the early cushion. Troy Tulowitzki added on to the lead with a solo homer in the fifth. But the Giants tied the game with four runs in the sixth and Angel Pagan’s RBI single in the eighth produced the winning run. The Rockies will try and salvage one game in the City by the Bay tonight. A pair of lefthanders will be on the mound as Colorado’s Jeff Francis opposes San Francisco’s Barry Zito. ESPN Radio 1410 has the action with the pregame show at 8:30 and the first pitch at 9:15.
The Denver Nuggets are hoping to get one of their injured stars back to action tonight. Ty Lawson, who has missed the last four games and seven of eight with a heel injury, practiced yesterday, and head coach George Karl says Lawson might be able to see limited duty as the Nuggets host the San Antonio Spurs. Without Lawson and Danilo Gallinari, who is out for the year with a torn ACL, the Nuggets are short their two leading scorers. Tip-off is set for 9:30.
Tim Miles’ first season as head coach of the Husker men’s basketball team may not have produced a postseason appearance, or even a winning record. But Miles has brought an energy and excitement to the program, and that is being reflected in season ticket sales numbers for the 2013-2014 campaign. As the Huskers prepare to move into the sparkling new Pinnacle Bank Arena, season ticket sales are up nearly 50 percent from where they were last season in the final year of the Devaney Center. Public ticket sales for the coming season have reached 10,355, with the new arena expected to have a capacity in the neighborhood of 15,200. Nebraska basketball administrator Mike Boehm told the Omaha World-Herald that ticket sales have already exceeded expectations, and that the new goal is to sell out Pinnacle Bank Arena’s allotment of public season tickets.
