Even Muhammad Ali would have trouble selling this as a rope-a-dope deal. Beyond a win at last-place Baylor, the Nebraska men's basketball team is 0-for-February in Big 12 Conference play. During the month, the Huskers have lost three home games and, against an Oklahoma club that had lost four of its previous five contests, got handed their most-lopsided defeat since the 2002-03 season.
Tonight, they play host to No. 4 Oklahoma State, a senior-laden club that has won six straight games and made a habit of punishing wobbly-legged opponents. The Cowboys (20-3) have 19 wins by at least 11 points, and their average margin of victory over the course of the season is a hefty 17 points.
So here's the question: How does Nebraska, looking punch drunk and ready for the end, get up for a fight with a serious NCAA Final Four contender?
"I think our energy's fine. ... I don't think anybody's mind-set is ?I hope this season gets over with,'" Jason Dourisseau said Monday. "We're going to try to finish out as strong as possible."
The Huskers enter the final two weeks of the regular season at 11-12 overall and tied with Colorado for ninth in the Big 12 at 4-8. In order to have a chance to extend their season past the league tournament, they'd have to go 3-1 against Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Colorado and Kansas State, or else produce an unlikely run of wins in the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Mo., March 10-13.
The Cyclones, winners of seven straight, have already beaten NU in Lincoln. And Kansas State, which will play host to the Huskers in the finale, has won nine of the past 10 matchups against NU in Manhattan, Kan.
"There's no doubt we feel a sense of urgency," Dourisseau said. "We can still make the postseason, but we just have to get after it these last couple weeks."
Add to the do-or-die mix the possibility that coach Barry Collier's job could be on the line, and Nebraska would seem to have a recipe ripe for distraction.
"I don't really worry about that," Dourisseau said of speculation regarding the future of NU's fifth-year coach, who is signed through the 2007-08 season. "It's out of our hands. We don't make those decisions, and coach tells us don't worry about that stuff. I would say it isn't (a distraction)."
That would be a good thing, since the Cowboys definitely require the Huskers' complete attention.
Oklahoma State is No. 3 nationally in shooting (50.8 percent), No. 2 from three-point range (42.8 percent) and 10th in free throws (75.7 percent). In 22 of their games, the Cowboys have had at least three players score in double figures.
Recently, they've also turned up the pressure on their man-to-man defense. In Saturday's 85-56 rout of Texas Tech, they held the Red Raiders to a season-low 34.9 percent shooting. Tech's Ronald Ross, who was averaging 21.5 points and hitting 60.1 percent from the field in conference games, finished with 10 points on 5-of-17 shooting. Jarrius Jackson, averaging 17.3 points, didn't score in the game's first 31 minutes.
"Their defense was as good as I've seen in a long time ? the way they pressured, the way they moved, just the way they worked," Tech coach Bob Knight said.
In its previous game, OSU limited Texas A&M, the Big 12's second-best shooting team, to 39.2 percent.
"Oklahoma State's playing as well as anybody, and I mean anybody in the country," Collier said.
Might that realization help the Huskers tonight?
"There's a readiness, probably," Collier acknowledged, "that is a little more there.
"We've got to stay strong and tough. I do think that there's a realization that we've got a few grains left in the hourglass and they're slipping out. We've talked about the sets of games that we have left ? two and two, and then the conference tournament ? trying to build. If you're trying to improve, you'd better build, versus just hang on and approach it another way."
Tonight, they play host to No. 4 Oklahoma State, a senior-laden club that has won six straight games and made a habit of punishing wobbly-legged opponents. The Cowboys (20-3) have 19 wins by at least 11 points, and their average margin of victory over the course of the season is a hefty 17 points.
So here's the question: How does Nebraska, looking punch drunk and ready for the end, get up for a fight with a serious NCAA Final Four contender?
"I think our energy's fine. ... I don't think anybody's mind-set is ?I hope this season gets over with,'" Jason Dourisseau said Monday. "We're going to try to finish out as strong as possible."
The Huskers enter the final two weeks of the regular season at 11-12 overall and tied with Colorado for ninth in the Big 12 at 4-8. In order to have a chance to extend their season past the league tournament, they'd have to go 3-1 against Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Colorado and Kansas State, or else produce an unlikely run of wins in the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Mo., March 10-13.
The Cyclones, winners of seven straight, have already beaten NU in Lincoln. And Kansas State, which will play host to the Huskers in the finale, has won nine of the past 10 matchups against NU in Manhattan, Kan.
"There's no doubt we feel a sense of urgency," Dourisseau said. "We can still make the postseason, but we just have to get after it these last couple weeks."
Add to the do-or-die mix the possibility that coach Barry Collier's job could be on the line, and Nebraska would seem to have a recipe ripe for distraction.
"I don't really worry about that," Dourisseau said of speculation regarding the future of NU's fifth-year coach, who is signed through the 2007-08 season. "It's out of our hands. We don't make those decisions, and coach tells us don't worry about that stuff. I would say it isn't (a distraction)."
That would be a good thing, since the Cowboys definitely require the Huskers' complete attention.
Oklahoma State is No. 3 nationally in shooting (50.8 percent), No. 2 from three-point range (42.8 percent) and 10th in free throws (75.7 percent). In 22 of their games, the Cowboys have had at least three players score in double figures.
Recently, they've also turned up the pressure on their man-to-man defense. In Saturday's 85-56 rout of Texas Tech, they held the Red Raiders to a season-low 34.9 percent shooting. Tech's Ronald Ross, who was averaging 21.5 points and hitting 60.1 percent from the field in conference games, finished with 10 points on 5-of-17 shooting. Jarrius Jackson, averaging 17.3 points, didn't score in the game's first 31 minutes.
"Their defense was as good as I've seen in a long time ? the way they pressured, the way they moved, just the way they worked," Tech coach Bob Knight said.
In its previous game, OSU limited Texas A&M, the Big 12's second-best shooting team, to 39.2 percent.
"Oklahoma State's playing as well as anybody, and I mean anybody in the country," Collier said.
Might that realization help the Huskers tonight?
"There's a readiness, probably," Collier acknowledged, "that is a little more there.
"We've got to stay strong and tough. I do think that there's a realization that we've got a few grains left in the hourglass and they're slipping out. We've talked about the sets of games that we have left ? two and two, and then the conference tournament ? trying to build. If you're trying to improve, you'd better build, versus just hang on and approach it another way."
