Hoops Game Day: Nebraska vs. Southern Utah
WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN
Nebraska Cornhuskers (0-1, 0-0) vs Southern Utah (1-0, 0-0)
Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019 - 1 p.m. CT
Pinnacle Bank Arena
TV: None
Radio: Husker Sports Network
Internet: BTN Plus
| NAME | HT/WT | YEAR | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Cam Mack |
6-2/175 |
So. |
Had 11 points and nine rebounds in the loss to UC-Riverside. He had four games of at least 10 rebounds during last season at Salt Lake Community College. |
|
Dachon Burke |
6-4/180 |
Jr. |
Scored 7 points vs. UCR and had a team-high 15 points in the exhibition win over Doane. |
|
Jervay Green |
6-3/210 |
Jr. |
Held to 5 points on 2-of-9 shooting with three turnovers vs. UCR, but added 3 blocks, 2 steals, and 2 assists. |
|
Haanif Cheatham |
6-5/195 |
Sr. |
Had 1 point and was 0-of-3 shooting in 25 minutes vs. UC-Riverside, but did tie for the team-high with 3 assists. |
|
Yvan Ouedraogo |
6-9/260 |
Fr. |
Finished with 9 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals vs. UCR while becoming the first NU true freshman to start a season opener since Tai Webster in 2013. |
| NAME | HT/WT | YEAR | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Dre Marin |
6-0/170 |
Jr. |
Averaged 8.9 points and 3.0 assists per game last season and scored a game-high 20 points in SUU's opener on Tuesday. |
|
Cameron Oluyitan |
6-7/195 |
Sr. |
Former Boise State transfer who was the 2019 Big Sky Newcomer of the Year. Averaged a team-high 13.1 points per game while adding 51 3-pointers last season. |
|
Dwayne Morgan |
6-8/218 |
Sr. |
Transfer from UNLV who averaged 13.0 points per game in four games last season before suffering a season-ending injury. |
|
Harrison Butler |
6-5/220 |
So. |
A returning starter who averaged 10.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last season. |
|
Andre Adams |
6-9/230 |
Sr. |
Arizona State transfer who averaged 9.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in 2018-19. |
3 KEYS TO VICTORY
1. Find some mental toughness
Aside from being unable to put the ball through the basket, what lost Nebraska that game against UC-Riverside was an inability or unwillingness to play with the necessary mental toughness. Whether it was not putting in the effort to chase down long rebounds, careless turnovers, rushed shots, or giving away points at the free-throw line, the Huskers lost on far too many winning plays on Tuesday night. The player leadership needs to step up and guys need to put it on themselves to bring more fight and focus tonight. These are issues that head coach Fred Hoiberg mentioned time and again over the offseason as things they could not simulate in practice because it could only be learned under the pressure of a real game. The faster this kind of stuff gets fixed, the faster NU improves.
2. Figure out the free throws
Nebraska's shooting as a whole was awful vs. UC-Riverside, but the concerning trend that's developing early on is this is a team that can't shoot free throws. Based on the closed scrimmage at Wichita State, the exhibition vs. Doane, and the loss to UCR, the Huskers are barely shooting better than 50 percent from the charity stripe against live competition. It's already become a big enough issue that Hoiberg held a "free-throw lecture" last week to try and fix the players' approach and fundamentals at the line. This team simply is not good enough right now to leave that many points off the board by missing every other free throw.
3. Make your 3-pointers
The lack of frontcourt depth isn't just going to cause Nebraska problems on the boards. If the Huskers can't shoot a respectable clip from 3-point range - they were 6-for-26 (23.1 percent) against Riverside - then opponents are going to do the same thing they did against Tim Miles' teams and clog up the paint and dare NU to make perimeter shots. That's exactly what UCR did on Tuesday night, especially when freshman forward Kevin Cross got the ball at the top of the key. The defender would drop underneath the hoop and leave Cross - who is a capable 3-pointer shooter - wide open at the top of the key. Cross went just 1-for-6 from downtown and 1-of-10 from the field overall. Nebraska is a better shooting team than what they showed on Tuesday, and it has to show it to make defenses respect the three and open up the offensive spacing.
QUOTABLE
PREDICTION
Nebraska 80, Southern Utah 69
Robin's 2019-20 record: 0-1
vs. the spread: 0-1