Pitchin' with Pritch: Great weekend for the Huskers and the Pritchetts
Last weekend was a really good weekend for a lot of reasons. One was the fact that the weather was good and we got to and back from Lincoln without fighting blowing snow. Although it wasn’t nice and warm, it wasn’t bitter cold either.
The first good thing, and I missed both of these, was that the PCS boys won a couple of basketball games. That has to bolster spirits a little and hopefully lead them to more wins in coming games.
For us, we were on the road Friday to Lincoln to babysit Miss Kenley Grace Pritchett and then our plans on Saturday were to watch the Huskers play Creighton.
It is always fun to babysit the grandkids and sometimes you forget how truthful they really are, because they really just call them like they see them. For example, Miss Kenley had no trouble pointing out to her grandfather that he was missing a lot of hair, and the sentence came in between a conversation that had nothing to do with hair. So Friday night was eventful to say the least.
Saturday morning we took a trip to Weeping Water to watch a junior high basketball tournament. Troy was the supervising administrator that day for that event, but I did watch the Malcolm seventh grade team and their eighth graders play some pretty good basketball.
Saturday afternoon was reserved for Husker basketball with Creighton. We had gone across Lincoln to son Travis’ and his family to stay with them and see the grandsons. Our plans changed a little and Marlene ended up babysitting Calen and Kyler because Travis had a client who invited him and Denise to come to Pinnacle Bank Arena (PBA) and watch the game from one of the suites.
The best part of that was they had parking tickets in the PBA parking lot and I only had about a 50-foot walk to the gates while Travis and Denise took the elevator to the really good seats.
Anyway, they got to where they needed to be and so did I and the game was one that every Husker fan was waiting for when it comes to Creighton.
I have said before that I have mixed feelings on this game because Coach McDermott is a friend of mine, but my season tickets are for the Huskers and this game was not a good one for Creighton. The game was exciting and there were things I finally saw from the Huskers that make them a really good team.
One thing I have never seen before was a double technical foul on the coaches for talking smack to each other. These are two guys that have been pretty good friends for a number of years but apparently Coach Miles made some comments about Creighton and their problems with the NCAA regarding recruiting. Lots of rumors, but it was pretty clear the two coaches have gone through divorce proceedings of some kind.
Anyway, the Huskers played extremely well for most of the game. They hustled the best I have seen in any team that Coach Miles has had at Nebraska. When Creighton made a run and cut a 20-plus point lead to nine, the Huskers responded and in the last few minutes stuck some 3-point daggers in the Jays and won 94-75.
If the Huskers had responded in their game against Minnesota like they did against Creighton, they probably would be 2-0 in the Big Ten, but they didn’t.
All five starters for Nebraska hit for double digits, with James Palmer getting 30 to lead the attack. The crowd at PBA had a great night. They were loud for the game but they erupted with more noise when Husker volleyball was announced and when the winning kill in the third set was shown.
But maybe the biggest blast came when the big screen flashed a picture of Coach Scott Frost, and guess what, he was in the same box with Travis and Denise. When he gets the Husker football program back to being strong, he might have to have security with him.
Matt Davidson was also with Coach Frost and he did tell Travis that he remembered when Tecumseh played PC in the state semi-finals. He was a ball boy because he was in the seventh grade but he remembered their team keyed on Ryan Terwilliger, Steve Shalla and Jeff Olson. Nice memory Matt and nice catch too!!
Plainsmen boys, Husker men’s basketball and Husker volleyball had a great weekend. Now all of them need to build on their success.
Husker volleyball getting back to the final four for the fourth straight year is an outstanding accomplishment. They probably caught a break when Oregon beat Minnesota, but at this time of a tournament, everyone left is probably capable of beating their opponent.
So now back to Minnesota to play another Big Ten foe in Illinois. The other two teams are Stanford and they play BYU. It will be difficult but that shouldn’t be a surprise to the Husker staff and squad. Good Luck Huskers!