25 Quick-Hitters for 1991 Team?s 25th Anniversary

Huskers Host Rutgers on Legends Weekend

NU Honors Record-Breaking 1990-91 Team

Randy York N-Sider

Official Blog of the Huskers

Saturday is Nebraska Basketball’s Annual Legends Weekend and marks the 25th anniversary of the Huskers’ record-breaking 1990-91 team that won a school-record 26 games, reached as high as 11th in the AP poll, earned a No. 3 NCAA Tournament seed, averaged a school-record 87.6 points per game, featured five players who averaged in double figures and three players who made the NBA – Eric Piatkowski, Rich King and Tony Farmer. Twenty-five years ago was a magical time for Husker Hoops in the Bob Devaney Sports Center, and Friday we asked Beau Reid to help us honor that team’s Silver Anniversary with 25 quick-hitting thoughts, so sit back and take a stroll down Memory Lane:

1: “I told my wife 'This is the first time I've felt old in my life,' and it's only because it feels like yesterday, and it's 25 years. It's blowing my mind."

2. "I think that our first road win at Oklahoma (a 111-99 win on Jan. 26, 1991) in the Big Eight when we absolutely blew their doors off on their home floor is when we realized we could be really, really good.”

3. “In terms of fun stories, our trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico (for the San Juan Shootout) was a blast. I don't know that there's any one moment with that basketball team that stands out as the most fun moment.

4. “The thing I remember about that team is that we had fun every single day. We had great camaraderie. It was the first time in my career there where literally everybody hung out together and had fun and everybody had thick skin and it was a family for the first time."

5. “We had chemistry and cohesion. Losing had bred this desire to overcome the stigma of being a losing program.”

6. “I sat out my junior year (1989-90) with an injury (ACL surgery), (Tony) Farmer was sitting out as a transfer, (Eric) Piatkowski and (Bruce) Chubick were redshirting and our practices were full-scale war, but it didn't translate to victories on the court (the 1989-90 team had a 10-18 record).”

7. “When you add those pieces to the puzzle the next year, suddenly, we were 10 or 11 players deep and we were good at every position. We were big and the thing I remember most about that team was how unselfish we were and how well the ball moved.”

8. “We could really pass the basketball, more so than anybody's individual skills. I'd like to know the average assists per game of that team. My guess is it would be north of 15 assists per game (696 assists in 34 games - 20.5 assists per game) for a team.”

9. “We averaged close to 90 points per game (87.6 ppg - 2,977 points in 34 games). It was fun to be part of it. It was fun to win and be the team that was the bully and we had a style of play that we were equipped to play whatever style we had to beat you.”

10. “If we needed to pound it in the half court, we'd go 7'2" (Rich King), 6'11", 6'9" (Tony Farmer), 6'8" (Beau Reid/Dapreis Owens), 6'2" (Clifford Scales). If we had to get up and down the floor to beat you, then here comes Piatkowski and Keith Moody and Tony Farmer.”

11. “We could get up and down the floor with anybody in the country. We just had enough parts that we could win ugly and we could win in blowouts. It was fun."

12. "Late in the year, Farmer started, but earlier in the year it was Dapreis Owens who started at the four. Carl Hayes was the three, I was the two guard spot, Clifford Scales the one and Rich King the five.”

13. “We would bring Farmer and Piatkowski and Chubick and Moody and Ramos off the bench and Chris (Cresswell) played a big role down the stretch that year in a couple games.”

14. “In the Oklahoma game in the Big Eight Tournament in Kansas City, we had five players foul out and we still won (a 117-113 overtime victory on March 8, 1991)."

15. "The funniest part of that game was half to three quarters of our fans had gone outside and sold their tickets and they had to buy different seats for the next day.”

16. “We beat (12th-ranked) Kansas the next day (87-83) and played in the finals against Missouri (a 90-82 loss)."

17. “The Oklahoma game was a roller-coaster. Our fans were walking out of the gym going, 'Oh my god, I can't believe we just blew that game. We’re ranked (13th) and we blow that. All of a sudden, they'd get to a bar and the game's still on and it's in overtime, and they're going, 'What?' It was only one overtime, but we were down eight with two minutes to go, and Moody hit that shot to tie it and send it into overtime."

18. "Piatkowski and Scales and Chris Cresswell played a big role in that overtime. Those guys lit it up in the overtime. Farmer was out, King was out, I was out, Hayes was out. We had four of our five starters who'd fouled out in that game.”

19. “That might have been Piatkowski's coming out party. He had to step up and play a bigger role and he had two or three big baskets in overtime that really brought us back. He made a big, big 3 that was clutch in regulation as I recall. I think Pike ended up scoring 15 or 16 points that game and almost all of them were from the 10-minute mark in, so he played well late."

20. "Even though he was a freshman, Pike was always a good contributor to that team because we really had enough weapons, but he could truly just spot up, and if you cheated off of him to help on our big guys, he'd make you pay. We had enough slashers like Hayes and Scales. There were just a million ways we could beat you."

21. "The one thing 25 years doesn't take away is the sting of the NCAA Tournament loss (to Xavier). We go in as a three-seed. It's just one of my great regrets in my career because we didn't find a way to win that game.”

22. “We were more talented than that team, although they did have three NBA players on their team, too. We never got over the hump that day. There was a bunch of other drama going on. We didn't play until 10 o'clock at night and we just never caught our stride in that game."

23. "The Kansas team that we beat twice that year made the Final Four. We lost at KU. We should've won that game. Jose Ramos stole the ball and went in for a layup and the ref underneath the basket called a block, which would've put us up one with about 40 seconds left.”

24. "What I remember most is another ref who came running in from past half court and called it a charge. I'll never forget that. I thought Coach (Danny) Nee was going to murder him. It was not good. We ended up losing by seven."

25. “After that game, we realized, 'Hey, we can play with anybody. We're right neck-and-neck.' We didn't play out of our minds in that game in Allen Fieldhouse; we just played…and won."

N-Sider Note: Nebraska Basketball Legends Weekend is an annual celebration of former players. The Huskers welcome back the following alumni: From the 2000’s: Walter Pitchford, Trevor Menke, Cole Solomon,  Marcus Perry, Tony Wilbrand, Jake Muhleisen, Brian Conklin, Andrew Drevo, Kedrick Ford, Ryan Thomas, Craig Wortmann, Brennon Clemmons and Matt Davison. From 1980-1989: Henry Buchanan, Bernard Day, John Matzke, Dave Hoppen, Stan Cloudy, Eric Williams, Claude Renfro, Lenard Johnson and Jerry Shoecraft. From 1970-1979: Brian Banks, Terry Novak, Tom Novak, Alan Nissen, Mark Woita and Dale Von Seggern. From 1960-1969: Wayne Hester, Al Maxey. From 1950-1959: Jerry Solomon; From 1947: Gayle Lebsack.

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