LOPER MEN MAKE UP CONTEST WITH GRIFFONS SCHEDULED:
The Nebraska Kearney/Missouri Western State men’s basketball game in St. Joseph has been rescheduled again.
The Lopers and Griffons will now meet on Thursday, Feb. 23 at 5:30 p.m. Due to COVID protocols within the MWSU program, the original date of Dec. 8 was postponed with the teams agreeing to set the game on Monday, Feb. 27. However, the MIAA Tournament starts on March 1 in Kansas City with brackets needing to be set by Feb. 25.
UNK is coming off an 85-75 home win over Mo West this past Saturday. The Lopers head to nationally-ranked Central Oklahoma and Newman this weekend.
HUSKER T&F CLIMBS IN NATIONAL RANKINGS:
The Nebraska men’s track and field team continued its climb up the national rankings as it moved up four spots to No. 6 in the USTFCCCA National Track & Field Rankings released on Monday.
The last time the Husker men were ranked as high as sixth was in the 2015 preseason poll, and the NU men are on the verge of their first top-five ranking since 2013. Washington, Texas Tech, Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia make up the top five teams.
Meanwhile, the Nebraska women entered the USTFCCCA Rankings at No. 20 on Monday. The Huskers are the highest ranked Big Ten program in both the men’s and women’s national rankings this week.
The Huskers will host the 47th annual Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational at the Bob Devaney Sports Indoor Track this Friday and Saturday.
EAGLES/CHIEFS SET UP TOP-SEEDED SUPER BOWL:
The final game of the NFL season is officially set as the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs – both No. 1 seeds in their respective conferences – punched their ticket to Super Bowl 57 with wins on Championship Sunday.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts had one of Philadelphia’s four rushing touchdowns and the Eagles soared into the Super Bowl, forcing both of San Francisco’s quarterbacks out of the game with injuries and beating the wounded 49ers 31-7 in the NFC championship game on Sunday.
The Eagles, who won the Super Bowl five years ago with a different coach and quarterback, will try to do it again behind the formidable duo of Hurts and coach Nick Sirianni.
Patrick Mahomes had a mad dash to the sideline on a bum ankle in the final seconds of the AFC Championship game at Arrowhead Stadium to setup Harrison Butker’s game winning field goal as Kansas City edged past the returning AFC Champs Cincinnati Bengals 23-20.
Kansas City will have participated in three of the last four Super Bowls after hosting five consecutive AFC Championship games.
Philadelphia will play former Eagles coach Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs.
HUSKER WRESTLING’S MANNING EARNS 300 CAREER WINS:
Behind seven wins and three bonus point victories, the Nebraska wrestling team defeated Wisconsin, 24-11, in front of 2,209 fans on Sunday afternoon at the Devaney Center.
This dual win marked Coach Manning’s 300th career win. Manning now holds a career record of 300-129-5.
Up next, Nebraska will face Illinois on Friday, Feb. 3 to kick off a three-meet road-slate.
PURDUE REMAINS UNANIMOUS No. 1 IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL:
Purdue became this season’s first unanimous No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll Monday after wins over Michigan and Michigan State last week.
More than half of Top 25 teams lost, including second-ranked Alabama, which was routed by Oklahoma in the Big 12-SEC Challenge. That allowed Purdue to grab the remaining No. 1 votes and tighten its grip atop the poll, while Tennessee jumped two spots to second and Houston held onto third.
The Boilermakers (21-1) have won eight straight since a one-point loss to Rutgers on Jan. 2.
Virginia was sixth and Kansas State, which rebounded from a narrow loss at No. 13 Iowa State by pummeling Florida on Saturday, fell two spots to seventh; the Wildcats face eighth-ranked Kansas in a top-10 showdown Tuesday night.
LOPERS EARN WINS OVER MISSOURI WESTERN SATURDAY:
It was a clean sweep of the Griffons for UNK at the Health & Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.
Redshirt junior reserve wing Meg Burns scored a career-high 15 points and No. 13/19 Nebraska Kearney sunk 15 threes to demolish No. 26/30 Missouri Western State, 91-55.
The Lopers (20-3, 13-2) reach the 20-win mark for the 21st time in school history and record a 14th consecutive home victory. UNK also broke the Griffons’ eleven game win streak.
On the men’s side, super senior forward Darrian Nebeker scored a game-high 23 points and senior forward Winston Cook added 20 off the bench to help Nebraska Kearney beat Missouri Western State, 85-75.
The Lopers (4-16, 2-12) pick up its second league win of the year while the Griffons (8-12, 4-9) drop a sixth straight game.
Both Loper squads head to Central Oklahoma on Thursday night.
NFL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME RESULTS:
SUNDAY:
NFC – #1 Philadelphia Eagles 31-7 #2 San Francisco 49ers
AFC – #1 Kansas City Chiefs 23-20 #3 Cincinnati Bengals
Local Results & Schedules:
THIS WEEK IN LOCAL SPORTS:
MONDAY:
- HASTINGS COLLEGE:
- JV Men’s Basketball: @ Concordia – 7 PM
- KGFW Sports Schedule:
- High School Coaches Show (5 PM – 6 PM)
- Sports Nightly (6 PM – 8 PM)
TUESDAY:
- KEARNEY HIGH:
- Swimming & Diving: @ Grand Island Dual @ YMCA – 4:30 PM
- Girls Basketball: v. Lincoln Pius X @ Kearney High School – 5:15 PM
- KGFW Pregame at 5 PM
- Boys Basketball: v. Lincoln Pius X @ Kearney High School – 7 PM
- KGFW Pregame after KHS GBB
- KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
- Swimming & Diving: @ Grand Island Dual @ YMCA – 4:30 PM
- Girls Basketball: v. Sandhills Valley – 5:30 PM
- Boys Basketball: v. Sandhills Valley – 7:30 PM
- UNK:
- N/a
- HASTINGS COLLEGE:
- N/a
- KGFW Sports Schedule:
- Kearney Girls Basketball v. Lincoln Pius X (5 PM – 7 PM)
- Kearney Boys Basketball v. Lincoln Pius X (7 PM – 9 PM)
WEDNESDAY:
- KEARNEY HIGH:
- Collegiate Signing Day @ CHaT – 4 PM
- KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
- N/a
- UNK:
- N/a
- HASTINGS COLLEGE:
- Women’s Basketball: v. Doane – 6 PM
- Men’s Basketball: v. Doan – 7:45 PM
- KGFW Sports Schedule:
- Sports Nightly w/ MBB Head Coach Fred Hoiberg (6 PM – 8 PM)
THURSDAY:
- KEARNEY HIGH:
- Swimming & Diving: v. Norfolk @ Kearney High School – 4 PM
- Wrestling: @ Grand Island – 7 PM
- KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
- Girls Basketball: v. Adams Central – 6 PM
- UNK:
- Women’s Basketball: @ Central Oklahoma – 5:30 PM
- Men’s Basketball: @ Central Oklahoma – 7:30 PM
- HASTINGS COLLEGE:
- N/a
- KGFW Sports Schedule:
- Sports Nightly (6 PM – 7 PM)
- Nebraska Women’s Basketball v. Michigan State (7 PM – 10:15 PM)
FRIDAY:
- KEARNEY HIGH:
- N/a
- KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
- Wrestling: @ Arcadia-Loup City Invite – 2 PM
- UNK:
- Softball: v. Colorado Springs @ Lubbock, TX – 11 AM
- M/W T&F: @ Concordia Classic – 12 PM
- Softball: v. Eastern New Mexico @ Lubbock, TX – 3 PM
- Women’s Tennis: v. Midwestern State – 4 PM
- M/W T&F: @ Husker Invitational @ Lincoln, NE – 4:30 PM
- Wrestling: v. Fort Hays State @ Health & Sports Center – 7 PM
- HASTINGS COLLEGE:
- M/W T&F: @ Concordia Classic – 1 PM
- KGFW Sports Schedule:
- Sports Nightly (6 PM – 8 PM)
SATURDAY:
- KEARNEY HIGH:
- Swimming & Diving: Kearney High Diving Invite @ Kearney High School – 10 AM
- Girls Basketball: v. Lincoln Northeast @ Kearney High School – 3:30 PM
- KGFW Pregame at 3:15 PM
- Boys Basketball: v. Lincoln Northeast @ Kearney High School – 5:15 PM
- KGFW Pregame after KHS GBB
- KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
- Swimming & Diving: Kearney High Diving Invite @ Kearney High School – 10 AM
- Girls Basketball: v. Columbus Scotus Catholic – 2 PM
- Boys Basketball: v. Columbus Scotus Catholic – 4 PM
- UNK:
- M/W T&F: @ Husker Invitational @ Lincoln, NE – 12 PM
- Softball: v. Southwestern Oklahoma State @ Lubbock, TX – 11 AM
- Women’s Basketball: @ Newman – 1:30 PM
- Wrestling: v. Central Missouri @ Health & Sports Center – 2 PM
- Softball: @ Lubbock Christian @ Lubbock, TX – 3 PM
- Men’s Basketball: @ Newman – 3:30 PM
- HASTINGS COLLEGE:
- Softball: @ Ottawa, KS – 1 PM
- Women’s Basketball: @ Mount Marty – 2 PM
- Softball: @ Ottawa, KS – 3 PM
- Men’s Basketball: @ Mount Marty – 3:45 PM
- KGFW Sports Schedule:
- Kearney Girls Basketball v. Lincoln Northeast (3:15 PM – 5:15 PM)
- Kearney Boys Basketball v. Lincoln Northeast (5:15 PM – 7:15 PM)
SUNDAY:
- KEARNEY HIGH:
- N/a
- KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
- N/a
- UNK:
- Women’s Tennis: v. Hastings – 8 AM
- HASTINGS COLLEGE:
- N/a
- KGFW Sports Schedule:
- Nebraska Men’s Basketball v. Penn State (2:30 PM – 6:15 PM)
