3 keys and a prediction for Nebraska basketball vs. Rutgers

Sunday will be the final time that Keisei Tominaga plays for Nebraska basketball inside Pinnacle Bank Arena. It’s Senior Day for the Huskers and Rutgers is coming to town for a must-win game.

The Scarlet Knights are trending up, even though they are tied for 11th in the Big Ten (15-13, 7-11). They just drilled Michigan by 30 points and Nebraska fans will remember the trip to New Jersey didn’t go well earlier in the season.

Tominaga elected to come back for another season and while it’s been up and down at times, Nebraska basketball is a win or two away from clinching an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament. The Huskers aren’t even on the bubble at the moment, they just need to avoid losses to Michigan and Rutgers in my opinion.

Nebraska also controls its destiny for the double bye in the Big Ten tournament, which would be a program first. Wisconsin lost on Saturday, so win on Sunday in Lincoln, plus in Ann Arbor next weekend and the Huskers will get a bye to the Big Ten quarterfinals.

PBA is sold out for Sunday. C.J. Wilcher and Josiah Allick are two other fan favorites that will be honored. Nebraska needs to send them out right and here are three keys, plus a prediction.

Clean up the glass

Nebraska lost the first meeting between these two teams, in overtime, because it allowed 25 second-chance points on 20 offensive rebounds for Rutgers. That simply can’t happen again. According to Robin Washut, the Huskers are 13-0 this season when they win the rebounding battle. That means they’re just 7-9 when they don’t.

Rutgers scored 82 points against Michigan, but it’s ranked as the worst offensive (in terms of efficiency) in the Big Ten. Their points-per-possession rating of .96 ranks 338th in college basketball. Yet, if you allow a team to rebound 40 percent of its missed shots, which Nebraska allowed the Scarlet Knights to do last time, those numbers don’t matter as much.

The defense has to be better

Nebraska basketball should be disgusted by the loss at Rutgers. Not because the Scarlet Knights are a poor team, but just the way the Huskers allowed themselves to lose.

Their defense surrendered 11 3-pointers to Rutgers. 11. To one of the worst offensive teams in college basketball. That can’t happen again. In fact, the Scarlet Knights shouldn’t get above eight or close to it. They shoot 29 percent from 3-point range and average five makes per game.

Their top scorers are Clifford Omoruyi and Aundre Hyatt and neither scores more than 11 points per game. Hyatt is the only Scarlet Knight to average at least one made 3-pointer per game, so if Nebraska basketball gives up anything close to double digits, or even 70 points, it deserves to lose.

Get back to being “possessed”

Minnesota head coach Ben Johnson said the Huskers looked like a team “possessed” in their win over the Gophers last weekend, but that wasn’t the Nebraska basketball team that showed up in Columbus.

That team was timid. The refs were terrible, but Ohio State was the more aggressive team and deserved to shoot more free throws (just not 20 more).

It was an odd performance. The defense was poor and the intensity wasn’t there. I worried about the Huskers handling success going into that game and reading their press clippings too much. That’s always a concern. It might have been just an off day, however, the Huskers can’t afford another. They need to be possessed again and they need that energy from the opening tip.

Nebraska vs. Rutgers prediction

Nebraska basketball needs a win and the Huskers are the better team. They won’t be bullied on the boards like the first time around. It will be a battle, but Nebraska pulls away for a 75-63 win.

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