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Game Day Essentials: Game #17 at Rutgers


hhcmatt

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Nebraska Cornhuskers (8-8) vs Rutgers Scarlet Knights (6-10)


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Date: Saturday, Jan 9th, 2016
Time: 4:00 p.m. CST
Arena: Louis Brown Center
Capacity: 8000

 

Broadcast Information

Television: ESPNU

Online: WatchESPN

Announcers: Clay Matvick and Sean Harrington


Play-by-play: Kent Pavelka
Expert Analysis: Matt Davison

Rutgers Info
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Head Coach: Eddie Jordan
Location: New Brunswick, NJ
Conference: B1G 10
Nickname: Scarlet Knights
Mascot:Scarlet Knight
Last time out: Lost to Maryland
Typical Rotation Depth: 8 players
Tempo: Middle of the road
Offensive Style: Princeton
Defensive Style: Soft in the middle
Opening Line: Huskers by 2

 

Miles Post Practice presser

 

White and Parker Practice Presser

Player to Watch

 

Corey Sanders: Much like Glynn Watson, Sanders is a 4 star freshman who is Rutgers first highly touted PG in a while though he's been coming off the bench the last two games after starting most of the year. Sanders leads the team in 3s and is a roller coaster like most touted freshmen.

 

The Skinny

 

Rutgers wasn't all that highly regarded coming into the season and with a few key injuries they're currently regarded as the worst Power 5 Conference team in the land. After last year's inconceivable upset of Wisconsin, the Scarlet Knights haven't won a conference game and like Nebraska is currently 0-3. With neither team winning in conference since last February, both teams probably view this game as a great chance to get back on track.

 

Thanks to its uptempo transition pace and Princeton-esque offense, Rutgers leads the league with nearly 46% of its shots coming from the paint. Packing the lane against cutters will be key on defense. Rutgers hasn't been a terrible shooting 3pt team, especially in conference, so it will be tempting to help against the team that shoots the least number of 3s in the B1G. Rutgers doesn't draw much contact on offense though the Huskers can't help but put their opponents on the line. If you're going to foul anyone, make sure it's the two post players who barely shoot 50%.

 

Nebraska takes less than 25% of their shots from the paint which makes sense because the post game offense has been mostly non-existent this year. Of course this is Rutgers' weakness so we either need to start feeding the post or more probably have Shavon and Tai attack the rim...I think this is a game where Shavon goes for 20+ points. Once again there will be offensive rebounding opportunities against a poor rebounding Scarlet Knight squad.

 

Here is the thing about Rutgers though...they haven't played someone as middling as this year's Husker squad as none of their opponents have been ranked between 100-199 via KenPom so we don't really know how bad-bad they are. Given that they'll be playing at home, it's a game that Nebraska could and should win but it will require them to sweep the leg when they have the chance.

 

Prediction: Nebraska 71 - Rutgers 66



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Rutgers Likely Starters                

No. Name                      Pos Yr.   Ht.   Wt.   G/GS  PPG  RPG  Other

2    Bishop Daniels           G   Sr.   6-3   185   16/4     9.4   4.5   1.3 spg

5    Mike Williams             G   So.  6-2   190   16/16  11.6   4.5   1.0 spg

31  Omari Gries               G   Sr.   6-4   180   15/10    7.0   1.3   0.8 apg

1    D.J. Foreman             F   So.  6-8   240   16/15    7.9   6.1   0.6 bpg

35  Greg Lewis                 F   Sr.  6-9   240   16/16    4.3   5.2   1.0 bpg

 

Nebraska - Likely Starters

No          Name                        Pos.       Ht.          Wt.        Yr.          GP/GS   MPG      PPG       RPG       APG

 3             Andrew White III         G           6-7         216         Jr.           16/16     28.6        16.8        5.7       0.5

 5             Glynn Watson Jr.        G           6-0         165         Fr.           16/4      24.1        7.0         2.1        2.6

12           Michael Jacobson        F           6-8         222         Fr.           16/7      14.3        4.1         3.1        0.3

31           Shavon Shields         G/F         6-7         225         Sr.           16/16     30.1      15.3        5.4         3.1

32           Benny Parker             G           5-9         175         Sr.           16/16     26.3        5.4         2.4        2.3

     Rotation

 0             Tai Webster              G           6-4         196         Jr.           16/12     26.6         9.8         3.6          1.7

10           Jack McVeigh           G/F         6-8         210         Fr.           16/0       17.1        5.4         3.1          1.1

11           Bakari Evelyn           G            6-2         178         Fr.           8/0         12.8        4.0         3.2          0.4

23           Nick Fuller               G/F         6-7         204         So.          12/0         8.3         2.4         1.8          0.3

24           Jake Hammond        F           6-10        235         So.          15/8       12.5        2.9         3.7          0.2

30           Ed Morrow Jr.           F            6-7         225         Fr.           16/1       13.4        3.1         3.4          0.1

      Bench

 4             Johnny Trueblood   G            6-4         195         Fr.           5/0          3.4         0.8         0.2          0.8

15           Malcolm Laws          G            6-1         190         So.          3/0          3.7         0.3         0.3          0.0

20           Tanner Borchardt     F            6-8         274         Fr.           4/0          4.0         1.0         0.8          0.0

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Rutgers has lost 17 straight Big Ten regular season games. This is there only real chance at a win until 2/3 when they play Illinois at home, they also host Penn State and Minnesota. They shouldn't be favored in any of those 4, but those are the only chances for them to salvage anything from this season.

Nebraska is 5-31 all time on the road in the Big Ten. The next easiest road games this year are Penn State and Illinois, and possibly Wisconsin.

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I woke up this morning and my knee and back ached. But then they always do. I consider this our first "must" game of the year since it is all that stands between us and the crapper. The team needs this to get some psychological momentum for the next couple of games. If we lose to Rutgers, the coaching staff needs to apportion minutes differently with more emphasis on building experience minutes for next year than making anything out of this one. Kind of a downbeat post , but I forgot to mention my aching shoulder. That's what I get for shoveling snow yesterday after the wet snow clogged the snowblower.

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