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Preview and prediction for Nebraska Basketball vs Maryland

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Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

Nebraska basketball heads to Maryland on Saturday and here’s a preview, as well as a prediction for the Huskers against the Terps.

The Nebraska basketball season has gone from promising to teetering on the brink of disaster in the matter of just a few games and of course, a couple of key injuries.

Nebraska has been sort of snakebitten with injuries all year. Derrick Walker missed games to open the season, Sam Griesel has missed two Big Ten road games, and both Juwan Gary and Emmanuel Bandoumel are out for the year.

It’s brutal. But nobody is going to feel sorry you and Northwestern certainly didn’t as the Wildcats beat down the Huskers at the Vault on Wednesday.

I felt like that was a winnable game going in, so for Nebraska to get sort of manhandled by Northwestern, wasn’t a good sign going forward.

We debated in our recent podcast about the job status of Fred Hoiberg. Nebraska basketball has played hard this season and has shown progress. The wins over Creighton and Iowa were solid. But the Huskers can’t finish 3-17 in the Big Ten. This team needs to scrape together some wins down the stretch.

I feel like if Fred is able to win 3-4 more games in the Big Ten, that will show enough progress to give him another year. Denim Dawson and Jamarques Lawrence will need to keep growing. They have shown signs of promise though. Dawson is a quality defender and Lawrence connected on four triples against Northwestern. He also made the goal ahead 3-ball against Ohio State.

How Nebraska basketball can beat Maryland

The Huskers are going to have to solve a Maryland defense that is ranked 40th in the country in scoring defense. The Terps try to pressure opponents and like to mix up their defenses between zone and man.

Maryland was dominated by Michigan earlier in the season but befuddled the Wolverines and Hunter Dickinson with a bunch of zone looks in the rematch (Maryland won) and they could do the same to Derrick Walker. He’ll need to get going inside for the Huskers to have any chance.

Maryland ranks outside the top 200 in scoring offense. Donta Scott (11 ppg) and Jahmir Young (15.9 ppg) are the top threats but Julian Reese is a solid big and Hakim Hart also averages over 11 points per game plus Donald Carey is the team’s leader in 3-point field goals per game (1.5).

As Husker Online pointed out, Nebraska basketball is 0-9 this season when it doesn’t win the rebounding battle. The Terps are 255th in terms of offensive rebounds allowed and that’s an area where the Huskers need to gain some extra possessions. They also need to limit their turnovers and make some 3-pointers.

The problem is that Nebraska shot fairly well from deep on Wednesday and got smoked. They made nine 3-pointers but gave up 11. That can’t happen again and Maryland is certainly capable with four shooters who average at least one 3-point make per game.

Nebraska vs Maryland prediction

At the end of the day, the path to victory for Nebraska basketball is a low-scoring game. The Huskers need to win with defense and rebounding. Hopefully, Derrick Walker can get going and shooters like Lawrence, Tominaga, and CJ Wilcher can knock down some open looks.

However, as an 11.5-point underdog, I don’t see an upset. Nebraska has struggled away from home, especially in the Big Ten and Maryland needs this game badly. The Terps pull away late for a 68-55 win.

The tip-off is set for 3:30 CST on Big Ten Network.

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Nebraska Basketball: Guard Denim Dawson enters transfer portal

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Nebraska basketball redshirt freshman Denim Dawson entered the transfer portal on Wednesday, as more moves continue to be made within the basketball team. This was first reported by 247Sports’ Travis Branham.

Dawson had his moments for Nebraska basketball this season. He made his first start against Purdue back in December. He had three rebounds and two assists in 25 minutes of play. He then was able to continue his strong play in the second half of the season when he had seven points and eight rebounds in 30 minutes. Dawson was active on the glass against Penn State when he recorded nine rebounds.

It could be said that Dawson never had a fair chance to crack the rotation due to the players in front of him. Nevertheless, Dawson had raw athletic ability, and it was easy to see why he was recruited to the program.

Dawson was a three-star recruit and was the 32nd overall player in the state of California for the 2022 class.

What does this move mean for Nebraska basketball?

This move makes sense for Dawson, as Nebraska basketball has several guards on the roster already. Jamarques Lawrence is one of them, and he was able to take on a big role for the program. This is a case of there being too many mouths to feed on the roster. The emergence of Lawrence also probably played a bit of a role as the latter looks to be a staple for the program.

It will be interesting to see where Dawson ends up. He is certainly a talented player, but Nebraska basketball was not the right fit for him at this time.

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Podcast: What’s next for Nebraska Basketball after missing NIT?

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Nebraska basketball
Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

Our latest podcast discusses whether Nebraska Basketball should have missed the NIT, look at what’s next, and more.

It’s the start of another week, Husker fans, and in terms of the Nebraska basketball team, we got some disappointing news on Sunday night.

Nebraska was on the NIT bubble even before its loss to Minnesota last week in the Big Ten tournament. While some NIT projections had the Huskers barely making it in the field, Nebraska basketball was left on the outside looking in.

Chris Peterson and Danny Jaillet are each on the show in their usual spot and offer up their thoughts on whether Nebraska basketball was treated fairly. The loss to Minnesota was bad, but Nebraska also beat Maryland, Penn State, Creighton, and Iowa (twice) — all teams that made the NCAA tournament.

The Huskers also beat Wisconsin and Rutgers, two teams that made the NIT. The loss to Minnesota was bad but the Huskers had a quality resume. However, their 16-16 record wasn’t all that impressive and again, that’s where the loss to Minnesota hurt.

What’s next for Nebraska basketball?

Now that the season is officially over for the Huskers, we can look toward the future. The biggest question is what will Keisei Tominaga do? Will he return for another season, or go to Japan?

There is hope the Huskers can do some things with NIL, although Keisei is limited to earning “passive income” such as money from jersey sales. He can’t actively promote products. It’s always possible things could change with those NIL rules, but at the end of the day, if money is the driving factor, Japan is probably the best bet.

Tominaga has become a star over there. He’s also a star to Nebraska basketball fans and could have as big a following next season as any Husker — ever.

I’m not saying he would be the best player by any means, but social media didn’t exist when Tyronn Lue was around for instance. It would be fun regardless. Nebraska basketball also needs to add some transfers.

We talk about all that and more. We also touch on Nebraska football recruiting, so check out the full episode of the Husker Big Red Podcast below:

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Nebraska Basketball season ends with defensive thud vs. Gophers

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Nebraska basketball lost to the Minnesota Golden Gophers by a 78-75 margin on Wednesday night. There were several crucial plays towards the end of the game. The basketball bouncing off of Sam Griesel while Nebraska tried to score was a difficult break. Two illegal screens in a row also did not help matters. Nevertheless, there was one major theme. The defense struggled throughout the evening.

It wasn’t as if Nebraska had answers for Minnesota either. Minnesota shot 51.9% from the field and 41.7% from beyond the arc.

One of the biggest problems for Nebraska on Wednesday night was being able to stop scores from the inside. Minnesota was able to have their way inside in several aspects. Minnesota freshman Pharrel Payne had six points and four rebounds on the evening. On the other end of the floor, he played solid defensively, shutting down Nebraska big man Derrick Walker.

Jaden Henley and Dawson Garcia had their way inside as well. They finished with 14 and 18 points respectively. They were able to pick apart the Nebraska basketball defense with quick passes and their ability to muscle inside. To be frank, Nebraska basketball had no answer for the inside game, and it became clear that this was going to be a major problem throughout the course of the game.

The defense inside the paint was not the only problem. Nebraska basketball struggled all night in terms of rotations and not getting to the shooter quick enough. They were unable to close out on a player such as Garcia, and he made them pay, going seven-of-13 from the field. He gave Minnesota the lead on a three-ball with 8:35 left in the first half, and the Gophers never looked back.

The aggressive rotations and aggressiveness overall that Nebraska displayed all season defensively was missing. They did not have the defensive energy to match Minnesota and it was noticeable early on. Minnesota was able to play however they wanted offensively, and they were able to establish their dominance inside, opening up space for perimeter shooters. It looked like a cat playing with a mouse.

It was a defensive thud to end the season for Nebraska basketball. Now the offseason begins and questions remain unanswered.

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