Nebraska Basketball: Preview and prediction for Northwestern

Nebraska basketball will be in action on Wednesday night at home against Northwestern and here’s a preview as well as a prediction.

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for the Nebraska basketball team. There have been some defeats, yes, but the injuries to Juwan Gary and Emmanuel Bandoumel have totally changed the complexion of the team.

Nebraska basketball is better this season under Fred Hoiberg. There’s no doubt. The Huskers have already matched last season’s win total and are a couple of Big Ten wins from surpassing the previous best under Fred.

The Huskers play hard and defend. According to Kenpom, Nebraska is 94th overall in college hoops and 34th when it comes to adjusted defensive efficiency. But with Gary and Bandoumel out for the season, the Huskers are going to have a totally different lineup as Denim Dawson and Jamarques Lawrence will essentially take their place.

They have each had their moments. Lawrence hit the go-ahead 3-pointer against Ohio State, while Dawson had nine rebounds against Penn State, and is a really solid defender. They are a freshman and redshirt freshmen and that’s not always a great thing in the Big Ten.

Yet, there are veterans surrounding them, led by Derrick Walker and Sam Griesel. Those two need to be great every night for Nebraska and especially tonight against Northwestern, which ranks 19th according to Kenpom in defensive efficiency.

Offensively, Northwestern is very patient and runs an offense based on screens, cuts, and motion. The Wildcats take a bunch of their shots from beyond the arc and have four players — Boo Buie, Chase Audige, Ty Berry and Robbie Beran that all average at least 1.3 3-point field goals per game.

Not allowing Northwestern to get hot from downtown is a huge key. Getting Derrick Walker going will be too but the Wildcats actually lead the country in 2-point percentage defense (41.7 percent), so it won’t be easy. They are exceptional at keeping the ball out of the post too.

Northwestern shoots a lot of 3-pointers and forces a lot of 3-point attempts. Keisei Tominaga and CJ Wilcher will be huge. They are both going to have to hit multiple treys tonight and if that happens, I’m going to say Nebraska wins the game.

The Huskers are a 2.5-point underdog but at home, they pull the upset for the second straight game (Ohio State was favored by six) in a 60-57 grind.

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