Bahe enjoys trips to Devaney

KU guard has endured highs, lows at Husker venue

LINCOLN, NEB. ? A standout athlete growing up in Nebraska with bloodlines involving Cornhusker football is viewed as some kind of Superman.

Kansas University reserve guard Nick Bahe knows that feeling, but he also knows his kryptonite — Devaney Center.

“Devaney’s got a big piece of me there, some good and some bad,” said Bahe, a product of Lincoln Southeast High. “Most of my memories come from our state tournament. I lost in the state championship my junior and senior year. A lot of good memories, but a lot of heartache there, too.”

The most recent entry into his diary of demise came last February, when the then-No. 12 Jayhawks were pummeled by the Huskers, 74-55, at Devaney.

In his first time playing at Devaney as a visitor, Bahe gave his biggest contribution of the season off the bench. He logged nine minutes and hit two huge three-pointers as Kansas tried to force its way back into the game.

Just as memorable as those two key threes for Bahe, however, were the chants of “traitor, traitor” coming from the stands.

Those cries were the result of Bahe’s choosing to walk on to the KU basketball team instead of hit the gridiron for Nebraska, which his father and uncle did.

“Initially, I was shocked, because you never think that you are an enemy in your own city where you grew up,” Bahe said. “That’s college, and people are loyal to their school, and I think it makes it fun. That was one of the most hostile environments we played in last year.”

Even though Bahe took the taunting in stride, it gave him extra satisfaction when he buried the shots.

“The only thing I gave him crap about was after he hit those threes, he was yelling and doing the stuff that I do,” J.R. Giddens said. “It’s just in the momentum of the game. I was like, ‘Now you see why I yell and do stuff and beat my chest,’ and he kind of got a better grasp on why I do that.”

Though Bahe still may not be in the good graces of the Husker faithful, no Jayhawk knows the Nebraska players better.

Bahe spent most of his summer in Lincoln running pickup games with Nebraska’s Jake Muhleisen, Joe McCray, Marcus Neal, John Turek and Jason Dourisseau.

“When I was driving to the place to play pick-up, I was like, ‘Ah, I wonder if they’ll say anything,'” he said. “They’re all good guys, and they didn’t really say anything.”

Even if those guys are OK in Bahe’s book, it doesn’t deter his plan of changing his Devaney fortunes today, even if that means he doesn’t play this time around.

“If I get in there and get a chance to play again, that’d be great,” he said. “But most importantly, we need to get that W.”