PENING
the 1926 season with a practice tilt against
the University of South Dakota team on the
Armory floor, the Huskers took the small end
of a 20 to 19 score in a game marked by
ragged playing. A shifted lineup met the
Hillyards of St. Joseph, Missouri, in a game
played during the Christmas vacation, the
Nebraska team displaying some excellent
basketball, but were outclassed.
With the
experience of these two practice games behind
them the Nebraska quint opened its schedule
by trouncing the Creighton Bluejays, on the
Creighton floor, 20 to 15. It was a fast game
although marked by roughing tactics of both
teams. The work of Vint Lawson at guard
featured Nebraska's play. The following week
Nebraska met and defeated Grinnell in the
first home game of the season, banding the
Pioneers a 24 to 14 defeat.
Ames fell
victim to the ravages of the Husker quint in
the next week-end game. During the last week
of January the Huskers invaded Iowa, playing
return games with Ames and Grinnell and
meeting the Drake Bulldogs, one of the
Valley's speediest aggregations. Captain
Ekstrom ruined the hopes of the Grinnell
quint by caging seven field baskets during
the game. Nebraska won 39 to 18. Ames again
fell before the Huskers, 27 to 12.
In a close
game with Drake, the Huskers won their sixth
straight victory of the season, 23 to 21. At
this juncture Nebraska was generally conceded
to have a strong chance for the Valley
pennant along with Oklahoma, neither team
having lost a game, while the Kansas Jayhawks
had fallen victims to the Washington
Pikers.
Returning
home the Nebraska team lost the first game
played in the new Field House to Kansas by a
25 to 14 score. The Kansas team presented a
defense that held the Huskers to five field
goals, while an excellent offensive machine
repeatedly took the ball into Nebraska
territory for many short shots. Following the
Kansas defeat, the red-jerseyed quintet was
handed two more reverses on the home floor,
losing to the Kansas Aggies; 41 to 26 in a
ragged game, and dropping a speedy game to
the Creighton Bluejays 15 to 11.
A second
reverse at the hands of the Aggie men at
Manhattan, 28 to 21, and a defeat at the
hands of Missouri by a 2-point margin
decorated Nebraska's schedule before the
Scarlet and Cream team annexed another
victory, the Wash-
