3 takeaways from another impressive win for Nebraska basketball

With every game, Nebraska basketball reminds people to take it seriously as a contender for the Big Ten championship, and maybe even the national championship.

That might sound crazy, but with the way the Huskers are playing, it’s not. Every team that has won the national championship in recent years has had a top-40 offense and defense, according to KenPom rankings. Nebraska basketball has the 22nd-best adjusted offense and the 12th-best adjusted defense.

They meet the metrics of a national-championship contender. Nebraska certainly looked solid again versus Washington, leading by 21 points in the second half before allowing the Huskies to sneak back and cover the spread.

It never felt like the outcome was in doubt, though. Pryce Sandfort was stellar, once again. He scored 23 points on 8 of 13 shooting. He nailed four 3-pointers. Everyone in the starting lineup besides Berke Buyuktuncel made at least two. Braden Frager didn’t make one. He was injured after just four minutes. Sam Hoiberg had 14 points, four assists, and two turnovers.

That’s the biggest concern after a machine-like effort over Washington. Here are the takeaways.

It’s nearly impossible to guard Nebraska

Nebraska’s offense isn’t elite because of one individual. It has multiple players who can go off for 20 points on any given night, maybe even more.

What makes the Huskers so hard to guard is the way they pass and shoot. The ball movement is incredible. So is the player movement. These guys are so in tune with each other. They do so many subtle little things to get open. Having Fred Hoiberg, one of the best offensive minds in basketball, doesn’t hurt either.

You have to defend the entire court against Nebraska. That also means the rim and the paint. The Huskers shot 42 percent from 3-point range. They also shot 68 percent (17 of 25) on 2-point attempts. Washington was 18 of 36. It took the Huskies 11 more attempts for one more made field goal.

Washington had fewer fouls, more offensive rebounds, and fewer turnovers, and still had not shot to win the game. The defense could have been better the last few minutes, but 66 points is 66 points.

Rebounding needs to be better

Sandfort said in the post-game interview that Nebraska’s defensive effort could have been better. Well, the rebounding effort certainly could have been. Washington rebounded 29 percent of its misses — nearly 1/3. For comparison, Nebraska rebounded 14 percent.

The Huskers aren’t a great offensive rebounding team, so that wasn’t a surprise. It also didn’t hurt that Braden Frager only played four minutes. Even Sam Hoiberg was a little hobbled, and he is the team’s best defensive rebounder with 4.2 per game.

A negative offensive rebounding margin is one of the few negatives for this team. Luckily, the Huskies didn’t shoot the ball well enough to take advantage of it.

First-place Nebraska is no joke

The national media are starting to wake up. Nebraska is still projected as a No. 2 seed by ESPN’s bracketology. They are ranked eighth in the AP poll, but are one of three undefeated teams left.

Nebraska has multiple quad-1 wins out of the Big Ten, and its level of play has only risen since the start of league play, with wins over Michigan State, Illinois, and Indiana — with two of those three coming on the road.

This is the best start in program history. It’s the best start in conference play in 60 years, the best start for a Big Ten team since the 2010-2011 season.

This isn’t a fluke, and every game seems to be a reminder of that.

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