Coatney's Call: Oral Roberts Preview

#18 Nebraska vs. Oral Roberts
Sunday, Dec. 29, 2 p.m. (central)
Pinnacle Bank Arena (Lincoln, Neb.)
Live Video: BTN.com All-Access
Radio: Husker Sports Network
(Matt Coatney-PBP; Jeff Griesch-Analyst)
107.3 FM-KBBK, Lincoln; 93.3 FM-KFFF, Omaha; 880 AM-KRVN, Lexington; 1310 AM-KGMT, Beatrice/Fairbury; 1400 AM-KCOW, Alliance: 94.1 FM-KNEB, Scottsbluff; 1400 AM-KBRB-Ainsworth; 1340 AM-KSID, Sidney; 105.5 FM-KFMT, Fremont; 97.3 FM-KBLR, Blair; 1240 AM-KODY, North Platte
Internet: Free live audio on Huskers.com 

        

No. 18 Huskers Wrap Up Non-Conference Play with ORU
Heading into the 18th-ranked Nebraska women’s basketball team’s current five-game home stand, Head Coach Connie Yori said the Huskers needed more production off the bench. 

Since that time, several players have stepped up and in last Saturday’s 87-53 win over South Dakota, sophomore Sadie Murren played her best game as a Husker. The 5-8 shooting guard from Colon, Neb., had 11 points off the bench, made three three-pointers, and pulled down a career, team and game-high eight rebounds. 

Jordan Hooper added 19 points as Nebraska improved to 9-2 on the season.  The Huskers will close out the non-conference portion of the 2013-14 schedule Sunday afternoon at 2:05 p.m. (central) when they host the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln.

Oral Roberts returns only two starters and three letterwinners from last year’s team that won the Southland Conference Tournament and lost at Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  The key departure was three-time conference player-of-the-year Kevi Luper, who graduated as ORU’s career scoring leader and No. 14 scorer in NCAA history with 2,867 points.

The Golden Eagles were picked to finish second in both league preseason polls prior to this season.  ORU is 2-10 all-time against current members of the Big Ten Conference after falling to Northwestern 84-54 on Dec. 16.  The Golden Eagles have lost eight straight games after defeating the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma 89-68 (NAIA) to start the season. However, ORU led Marquette by 14 points in the first half in Milwaukee in their last game, but fell in overtime 79-71. Marquette, playing without their leading scorer, Katherine Plouffe, missed their first 13 field goal attempts of the game.

Christian Key, a 5-10 senior, led the Southland Conference and set an ORU program record for a single season by shooting a blistering 47.5 percent from three-point range last season.  She leads this year’s team in scoring, 12.0 points per game, and assists, but is only connecting on 28.6 percent of her long-range attempts (16-of-56).  Key had a season-high 19 points in the loss at Marquette.

Senior Sarah Shelton was named second-team All-Southland Conference in the preseason and was an honorable-mention All-SLC selection in 2012-13. The 6-3 center led the league and set an ORU-single-season record with a .655 field goal percentage last year. Shelton transferred to Oral Roberts after playing her first two seasons at SMU. She leads the team in rebounding (8.7 rpg) and blocked shots (18) and averages 6.6 points per game.

Jenni Bryan is the third ORU player who has started all nine games this season. The 5-9 junior transfer played 57 games her first two seasons at Oklahoma State. Bryan faced NU during her freshman season, playing 12 minutes and scoring five points against the Huskers in Nebraska’s 80-57 loss at Oklahoma State in 2011.  Bryan’s late father, Rick, was the 1982 Big Eight Defensive Player of the Year for the Oklahoma Sooners.  The defensive tackle owns the school record for career tackles by a defensive lineman and is OU’s eighth-leading career tackler regardless of position.  He played nine seasons in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons. Jenni averages 7.1 points and 4.2 rebounds per game for ORU.

Dorottya (dor-AH-tee-uh) Balla, a 6-1 freshman, made her first career start against Marquette and tied Key for team-high scoring honors with 19 points. She has scored in double figures in three of the last four games and is second on the team in scoring (9.9 ppg). The native of Pecs, Hungary joins her sister Bernadett on the roster.  Bernadett, a 6-2 junior, missed the first six games of the season due to a broken foot suffered in the preseason. She has started the last two games and averages 4.3 points per contest.  Bernadett Balla is a perfect 9-of-9 at the free throw line in her three games this year and had 17 points and six rebounds in ORU’s loss to Nebraska in Lincoln last season.

Second-year ORU Head Coach Misti Cussen spent 16 seasons as the school’s top assistant coach before taking the program over last season when Jerry Finkbeiner left for Utah State.  She led the Golden Eagles to the Southland Conference regular-season and tournament titles in ORU’s first season in the league. Oral Roberts was 18-13 in Cussen’s first season as head coach, and had an impressive 15-5 mark in league games, winning eight of their last 10 contests.

ORU is completing their second and final season in the Southland Conference and will return to the Summit League in all sports for the 2014-15 season.  Nebraska leads the all-time series with Oral Roberts 5-0, with all five previous meetings at the Devaney Center in Lincoln. Jordan Hooper poured in 33 points with five three-pointers in last season’s 80-67 Husker win.

I cordially invite you to join Jeff Griesch and me for Nebraska women’s basketball on the Husker Sports Network.  Our radio broadcast Sunday afternoon begins with the pre-game show at 1:45 p.m. (central) with the tip-off scheduled for 2:05 p.m. on the Husker Sports Network including KBBK (B107.3) in Lincoln, KFFF 93.3 in Omaha, KRVN 880 in Lexington, KCOW 1400 in Alliance, KNEB 94.1 in Scottsbluff, KBRB 1400 in Ainsworth, KSID 1340 in Sidney, KFMT 105.5 in Fremont, KBLR 97.3 in Blair, KODY 1240 in North Platte, and many others.  All Husker Women’s Basketball broadcasts are also available for free worldwide on the internet at www.huskers.com.  I hope you can join us.   

There are a number of ways to get enhanced information about our broadcast and Husker Women’s Basketball via social media.  You can learn more about the team on the Nebraska Women’s Basketball Facebook page or follow the team on their official Twitter page @huskerswbb.  I also invite you to friend me on Facebook (Matt Coatney) or follow me on Twitter @coatman1.

Go Big Red! 

Matt