Essentials: Game #2 vs Western Illinois

[hhcmatt]

Nebraska Cornhuskers (1-0) vs Western Illinois Leathernecks (0-1)

Location: Pinnacle Bank Arena - Lincoln, NE
Date: Tuesday November 11, 2013
Time: 7:00 p.m CT

TV: Big Ten Digital Network $$ (Ryan Swanigan and Jon Kipper)
Radio: Across the state on the IMG Husker Sports Radio Network, including KLIN (1400 AM/94.5 FM) in Lincoln, KFAB (1110 AM) in Omaha and KRVN (880 AM) in Lexington.
Play-by-play: Kent Pavelka; Color: Matt Davison
Line: Nebraska by 15

 

W. Illinois Info


Head Coach: Jim Molinari
Conference: Summit League
Roster | Schedule
Mascot: English Bulldog
Last time out: Lost to Idaho 67-63
Lowest points scored in a win last year: Beat Savannah St. 39-35
What not to wear: Purple shirts, dog collars

Trivia

• Western Illinois is the only non-military school to have a military name as the school nickname and mascot is a tribute to the Marines
• Won a school Div I high 22 games last year
• Made the switch from Div II to Div I in 1981-82 season

The Skinny

Did you think that the Doc Sadler era was a slow methodical grind? Doc has nothing on WIU coach Jim Molinari whose Leathernecks were 347th out of 347 in terms of adjusted tempo last year and has topped out at 325th place in 5 seasons. After one game the team is right on pace in 349th place. (Div I has added 4 more teams so they'll need to slow it down to grab spot 351)

The Leathernecks might have been a hard to loss watch last year as one of the best teams in school history ran down shot clocks for 22 wins. WIU graduated 3 starters and 4 seniors total from last season's CBI squad including Ceola Clark who was the 8th all time leading scorer and all-time steals and 3 pt leader.

The two players to watch for the Leathernecks are senior forward Adam Link and true freshman guard Garret Covington. Link is the leading returning scorer and led the team with 10 rebounds in their opener against the Vandals. Covington, who was recruited by a few Big 10 schools, put up 22 points in his first ever college game including going 8-11 from the charity stripe.

The Huskers should dominate the boards on this one given their size advantage and WIU's strategy of bailing on offensive rebounds to prevent any fast breaks. If you want to see who the Huskers think their best on ball defender is, watch who mostly covers Covington throughout the game. If the Huskers can frustrate him without fouling, they might hold WIU under 40 points.

The Huskers aren't going to get all those easy buckets like they did against FGCU but WUI has less talent than the Eagles on offense. Look for this game to feel uncomfortably close at time but the Huskers should be able to overcome the defense of the Leathernecks by giving them a dose of their own medicine. If you're a gambler, take the unders.


Prediction: Nebraska 61 - WIU 50 with a 13% chance of Runzas

Click here to view the article

[tcp]

nice! and that reminds me to adjust my prediction back to the old days.

[hhcmatt]

The thing where Molinari makes tonight's game slow and curbs your Runza habit is called "pack defense"

 

Molinari adopted the pack defense, designed to stop dribble penetration and control post play. The goal is to force long possessions and a hurried shot at the end of the shot clock.

“We make everybody play in a crowd,” Molinari said. “The idea is, we’re not a high-pressure team. We’re a pack team. Because of that, the possessions are limited. No (3-pointers), no layups.”

[HB]

 

The thing where Molinari makes tonight's game slow and curbs your Runza habit is called "pack defense"

 

Molinari adopted the pack defense, designed to stop dribble penetration and control post play. The goal is to force long possessions and a hurried shot at the end of the shot clock.

“We make everybody play in a crowd,” Molinari said. “The idea is, we’re not a high-pressure team. We’re a pack team. Because of that, the possessions are limited. No (3-pointers), no layups.”

 

 

"Long possessions and a hurried shot at the end of the shot clock"....Where have we seen that before??

[ladyhusker]

Oh God, it's the return of the weave-n-heave. Fueling up on my third cup of coffee of the day now...will need a few caffeine jolts if that's what's in store.

[fred1212]

the game will be replayed on BTN tomorrow at noon.

[nuhusker7]

Is there a difference between BTN2GO which I get from having time warner cable and the BIG 10 digital network? I came down with the flu and don't think it's in my best interest to go tonight sadly, but I would still love to watch it

[hhcmatt]

Is there a difference between BTN2GO which I get from having time warner cable and the BIG 10 digital network? I came down with the flu and don't think it's in my best interest to go tonight sadly, but I would still love to watch it

 

Unless I'm mistaken you have to pay extra for BTDN.

[swoof]

BTDN is $14.99/month. I thought about signing up for November but decided I'd rather just go old-school and listen to Kent.

[hhcmatt]

Oh God, it's the return of the weave-n-heave. Fueling up on my third cup of coffee of the day now...will need a few caffeine jolts if that's what's in store.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYUa7DpPses

[hhcmatt]

Nailed this one

[49r]

I should have put this in here:

 

http://www.btpowerhouse.com/2013/11/12/5092596/western-illinois-at-nebraska-basketball-preview-miles-pinnacle-shavon-shields

 

Pretty nice write up from BT Powerhouse.