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THIS PAGE | E-MAIL THIS PAGE Tuesday, January 27, 1998 Dickey hoping Missouri doesn't break road jinx
in Lubbock By CRAIG HORST AP Sports Writer KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - It was hope against hope when James
Dickey took his Texas Tech team into Kansas on Saturday. Maybe, just maybe, the law of averages would catch up with
the Jayhawks. Maybe after 55 straight wins in Allen Field House, the Jayhawks
could finally be beaten. Well, it didn't happen. It didn't happen big time. Dickey left with one of the worst beatings in Tech history. Now the Red Raiders face another streak. Missouri comes to Lubbock on Wednesday having lost 18 straight
road games. "That scares me," Dickey said Monday during the Big
12 coaches weekly conference call. "They're good enough to
win on the road. We're certainly not going to think about that
(losing streak) in our preparation. We're really going to try
to think about protecting our home turf." Missouri had a big week, beating No. 3 Kansas on Monday and
No. 10 Iowa on Saturday before taking a grueling trip to lose
at Wake Forest on Sunday. Fifteen turnovers in the first half doomed the Tigers against
the Demon Deacons. "I don't think we need to make excuses," coach Norm
Stewart said of a team that is searching for identity. "We
had a chance to make a statement. We beat the No. 3 club, we beat
the No. 10 club. I think we made a statement. We're just not a
very consistent ballclub in every aspect of the game." Stewart admitted the road losing streak is starting to nag
at him. "The road concerns us," Stewart said of the Tigers,
who have had wins against DePaul and Illinois on neutral courts.
"We haven't beaten a team on their floor. I don't know if
it's getting to be a psychological thing. We beat DePaul in Hawaii.
We beat Illinois in St. Louis. But we haven't beaten a team on
their floor." Going on the road to Kansas is always tough, and Tech really
didn't have prayer against the Jayhawks. The Jayhawks were already
pumped up to set a school record of 56 straight home wins, and
they had Raef LaFrentz coming back after a nine-game absence because
of injury. LaFrentz was more dominating than ever, scoring 31 points and
getting 15 rebounds. "If there is a better player in the country than Raef
LaFrentz, I haven't seen him," Dickey said. LaFrentz may get a bigger challenge Wednesday when Baylor brings
Brian Skinner to Lawrence. The 6-foot-10 center leads the Big
12 with 10.2 rebounds, a 58.7 shooting percentage and 3.8 blocked
shots per game. But the Bears likely will be without point guard Patrick Hunter,
who has a serious hip pointer. "Knowing Patrick with his history with injuries, he's
got a pretty good hip pointer going," Baylor coach Harry
Miller said. "It's a lot more severe than we thought. I don't
know what the deal is with this hip pointer until we get him on
the floor. He's very, very doubtful for the Kansas game." Miller said Hunter did not practice Monday and would not practice
Tuesday. Struggling Texas A&M is also missing a key player with
an injury. Calvin Davis has a herniated disk in his back and may
be lost for the season, assistant coach Porter Moser said. "It's not good in terms of optimism that he's going to
be back this year," Moser said.
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