Wednesday, March 19, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Nebraska, the defending NIT champion, is already thinking ahead.
"We are going to New York," Cornhuskers coach Danny Nee said after his team beat Nevada-Reno 78-68 Tuesday night in the second round of the NIT.
Nee is looking past Nebraska's appearance at Connecticut on Friday night in the quarterfinals. UConn advanced with a 63-48 victory over Bradley.
Nee's enthusiasm was fueled in part by Mikki Moore, who had 21 points and 15 rebounds against the Wolf Pack.
Tyronn Lue added 18 points and Bernard Garner had 17 for the Cornhuskers (18-14), who never trailed before a record crowd of 11,275 at the Lawlor Events Center.
Paul Culbertson scored 17 points for UNR (21-10), and Faron Hand had 16.
Nevada coach Pat Foster said the defeat at home was especially disheartening.
"It's hard to go out like this with the tremendous fan support. Maybe we were trying too hard," he said. "When you get that kind of support, it's like you let down the fans. I'm more sorry about that than anything."
The Wolf Pack was unable to contain Moore, who scored inside on short jumpers, tip-ins and dunks. Nebraska was able to get second and third shots, while Nevada was held to one most of the time.
"When you don't hit your shots, you put a lot of pressure on your defense," Foster said. "The other night everything bounced our way. Tonight it bounced their way. They made it bounce their way."
Lue scored 14 points in the second half and sparked a run that gave Nebraska a 15-point lead with eight minutes remaining.
Lue sank two free throws, hit a short jumper and converted on a fast break during the spurt. Moore added two free throws to cap the rally that gave Nebraska a 55-43 lead with 13:15 remaining.
"We had a lot of success running the floor and we had a lot of stops on defense," Moore said.
Nebraska, seeking to become the first team to repeat as NIT champions since St. John's in 1943-44, used a 12-2 run in the first half to take a 28-13 lead. But Tim Barnett hit three 3-pointers in the final three minutes of the half to cut the Huskers' lead to 37-34 at halftime.
* NOTRE DAME 82, TCU 72: At South Bend, Ind., Notre Dame coach John MacLeod has been saying all season that his team can run. Now maybe someone will finally take him seriously. Texas Christian can run-and-gun with the best of them, but it was Notre Dame that sprinted to victory. Pat Garrity led Notre Dame with 20 points. Pete Miller, who was 5-of-6 from 3-point range, added 16 for the Irish (16-13). Notre Dame didn't give TCU (22-13) any time to set its defense, whipping passes down the court for easy layups and dunks. TCU, meanwhile, never got its offense out of neutral. The Horned Frogs, who trailed 35-23 at the half, shot only 34 percent for the game. They closed to 78-72 on a 3-pointer from Prince Fowler with nine seconds left, but it was too late.
* CONNECTICUT 63, BRADLEY 47: At Storrs, Conn., Richard Hamilton scored 24 points for UConn (16-14) and sparked a decisive 16-5 run midway through the second half. Bradley star Anthony Parker finished with 25 points, but was shut down for the final 12 minutes. Kevin Freeman added 15 points for UConn, which won the NIT in 1988.
* MICHIGAN 75, OKLAHOMA ST. 65: At Ann Arbor, Mich., Louis Bullock hit six 3-pointers and scored 28 points as Michigan (21-11) beat Oklahoma State (17-15). Bullock, a sophomore guard who already holds Michigan's career 3-point record, made a pair of 3-pointers during a 9-3 run that gave the Wolverines their biggest lead, 69-50. Chianti Roberts led Oklahoma State with 19 points.
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