 "Photo: Clay Lomneth")
On March 14, 2006, the Oklahoma Sooners defeated the Baylor Bears 72-61.
The victory secured the first ever perfect Big 12 Conference season. The Sooners were 16-0 in league play, but suffered four non-conference losses to finish 29-4 during the 2005-06 season.
No. 3 Nebraska will have the opportunity to become the first Big 12 team to go undefeated for an entire season on Saturday. The Cornhuskers will head to Manhattan, Kan., to finish its regular season against a 13-16 Kansas State team.
"We know going into it that we have to prepare well," Kelsey Griffin said. "We're not thinking about it as closing our season out undefeated, but we're thinking about it as we have one game."
The Wildcats are 5-10 in Big 12 play and suffered a 71-56 loss to Nebraska in Lincoln earlier this season. NU has had its struggles with KSU in the past, though. The Huskers lost the two previous meetings against Kansas State on the road.
"We still have a big game on Saturday," Griffin said. "It's March madness. Anything can happen and we want to keep our heads on our shoulders. We still have some areas we need to get better at."
The Huskers used a 77-52 victory against Kansas to move to 28-0 overall and 15-0 in the Big 12, just one victory away from a perfect regular season. Nebraska secured its first ever Big 12 regular season championship last week with a win over Oklahoma, but NU coach Connie Yori said the team has remained focused, even with an undefeated season staring them in the face.
"It's obviously in front of us," Yori said. "There is no hiding from it. The main thing we've been true to is that we have a perfect record, but we are far from perfect."
The Huskers are 8-0 against teams in the Associated Press Top 25 this season and have averaged a 21-point winning margin this season. Yori and Nebraska players have said all season they are not worried about rankings, records or stats, but even Yori said a win against Kansas State would be something to be proud of.
"It would be a rare thing," Yori said. "It's not something that happens everyday. It's something that very few teams in the country, historically, have done."
The Huskers celebrated the team's senior night Wednesday, but the emotion associated with a night like that didn't affect Cory Montgomery. The senior forward said she would miss the Devaney Sports Center and the red-clad fans that come with it.
Nebraska has locked up the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 tournament and is projected to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. With the way the Huskers are playing, a lot more basketball is yet to be played.
"As far as we know we could be playing for another whole month," Montgomery said. "Our season is far from over."
There are currently seven Big 12 teams in the AP Top 25 making it one of the toughest conferences in the country. Even if the Huskers lose in the Big 12 tournament, Yori said the team's focus will move to the NCAA tournament.
"Right now we are playing at a pretty high level," Yori said. "We are going to have to have someone play pretty well against us."
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3 comments
Way to go, Husker Ladies! Go Big Red!