3 keys and a prediction for Nebraska basketball at Michigan

At the start of the season, it would have been hard to imagine Nebraska basketball being a favorite on the road against Michigan basketball, but that’s where things stand heading into Sunday’s game.

Nebraska basketball is a 5.5-point favorite. Michigan has two Big Ten wins at home over Wisconsin and Ohio State, so the Wolverines are capable, but they are on a terrible losing streak. Head coach Juwan Howard faces questions about his job, even though it’s also Senior Day.

Michigan is 8-22 overall. They are locked into the 14th seed for the Big Ten tournament so a loss would be a bad loss — something Nebraska needs to avoid before the NCAA tournament. At this point, they should be in the field, but you never want to leave any doubt and here are three keys, plus a prediction for the Huskers’ final road game.

Stay in the moment

Fred Hoiberg discussed it during his pre-game press conference but a huge key for the Huskers is being present. They can’t worry about their Big Ten tournament seed or the NCAA tournament. Their focus has to be 100 percent on Michigan or the Wolverines could pull an upset.

Dug McDaniel didn’t play against Nebraska the last time and he’s someone to watch. He’s tough to guard and he’s capable of putting big numbers. He’s the one guy you really have to worry about on defense if you are Nebraska basketball.

The point is that Michigan is 8-22 for a reason. But they have led at halftime in more than half of their Big Ten games. They don’t have the depth to sustain it for 40 minutes. On Senior Day though, anything is possible, especially if the Huskers are looking past the Wolverines.

3-point defense needs to be on point

Outside of Dug McDaniel going off, the one thing that worries me about Michigan is the 3-point shooting. McDaniel is a solid shooter. Terrance Williams is too, along with Will Tschetter and Nimari Burnett.

The 3-point shot is the great equalizer in college basketball and the Huskers have allowed 248 3-pointers this season, which ranks 275th in college basketball. Nebraska basketball has allowed opponents to shoot 31 percent from deep.

Nebraska’s defense has been trending up but the 3-point defense has been a point of weakness all season and it’s something to watch on Sunday.

Rebound and run

When Nebraska basketball wins the rebounding battle, it wins the game. It’s always important to keep your opponent off the glass. The Rutgers games were great examples of a bad offensive team hanging around because it rebounded so many of its misses.

The Huskers allowed an average of 19 offensive rebounds to Rutgers. Michigan isn’t that good on the boards, but they aren’t terrible either. So defensive rebounding will be a focal point.

Then, after the rebound, the Huskers need to attack in transition. Michigan has the worst defense in the Big Ten, but that defense is even worse in transition. If Nebraska can do a solid job on the boards and push the tempo, it should lead to easy looks and a win.

Prediction: Nebraska 79, Michigan 72 (BTN, 12 PM EST)

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