Game Day Essentials: Game #32 vs Rutgers

[hhcmatt]

Nebraska Cornhuskers (14-17) vs Rutgers Scarlet Knights (7-24)

 

Date: Wednesday, March 9th, 2016
Time: 6:00 p.m. CST
Arena: Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN
Capacity: 18,165

 

Broadcast Information

Television: BTN

Online: BTN2Go

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

 

If Nebraska wins they play Thursday approximately 8pm CST on ESPN2, depending on the end time of the 5:30 game.

Rutgers Info

 

Head Coach: Eddie Jordan
Location: New Brunswick, NJ
Conference: B1G 10
Nickname: Scarlet Knights
Mascot:Scarlet Knight
Last time out: Beat Minnesota!
Typical Rotation Depth: 8 players
Tempo: Middle of the road
Offensive Style: Princeton
Defensive Style: Soft in the middle
Opening Line: Huskers by 14.5

 

Player to Watch

 

Corey Sanders: Last time vs Nebraska Sanders put up 28 points as he continuously knifed into the paint until the Huskers threw a zone at the Scarlet Knights and took control of the game. With a 4 game suspension recently under his belt he's relative fresh and the focal point for Nebraska's defensive effort.

 

The Skinny

 

It was nice for Rutgers to hammer a shell of a Gopher roster on senior night but even then Rutgers barely scored over a point per possession. This is still a not very good team that Nebraska should be able to slow down defensively enough to win even if they can't hit a shot. Expect a high dosage of zone against a team that doesn't take or make many 3s as well as some mild pressure that will cause Rutgers to either slow down or throw the ball away.

 

Is Andrew White back to 50%? 75%? 90%?. The junior sharpshooter hasn't scored less than 20 points against Rutgers though at home he put up 21 while only shooting 3-9 from 3pt range. He's an integral part of this offense and needs to be aggressive to score regardless of where it's from.

 

Shavon Shields could put up 40 tonight if he wanted to. What does that leave in the tank for tomorrow vs Wisconsin. You have to think you'll see Nebraska use their bench a bit more as beating Rutgers by 20+ with Shields/White playing 35 minutes doesn't set you up for Thursday all that well. Which of the secondary scorers are ready to step up tonight and get theirs vs what is not a good Rutgers defense.

 

Best case scenario is Nebraska getting out to a comfortable lead and coasting to a win. Worst case is Nebraska having to exert a lot of energy to pull this game out. Nightmare scenario is the Huskers dropping a game to one of the worst B1G teams in history.

 

Prediction: Nebraska 78 - Rutgers 65

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[hhcmatt]

[Red Don]

Rutgers Likely Starters                

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

3    Corey Sanders     G   Fr   6-2   175   26/23  16.2   3.3   4.3 apg

2    Bishop Daniels     G   Sr   6-3   185   31/16    8.6   3.8   3.9 apg

4    Jonathan Laurent F   Fr   6-6   210   26/11    8.1   5.0   0.8 apg

1    D.J. Foreman       F   So   6-8   240   31/23    8.0   6.1   0.6 bpg

35 Greg Lewis            F   Sr   6-8   240   30/30    3.9   5.0   1.1 bpg

 

Nebraska – Likely Starters

No Name                     Pos Ht.   Wt.   Yr. GP/GS (mins)  PPG   RPG   APG

3    Andrew White III       G   6-7   216   Jr.  31/31 - 29.9     16.5    6.1     0.6

5    Glynn Watson Jr.     G   6-0   165   Fr.  31/16 - 23.9      8.4    1.8     2.4

12  Michael Jacobson    F   6-8   222   Fr.  31/22 - 17.8      4.5    4.3     0.5

31  Shavon Shields    G/F   6-7   225   Sr.  27/27 - 30.8    16.4    4.7     2.7

32  Benny Parker          G   5-9   175   Sr.  31/31 - 25.8      4.7    2.4     2.2  

Rotation                  

0    Tai Webster             G   6-4   196   Jr.   31/15 - 27.3      9.7    4.1     2.0

10  Jack McVeigh        G/F  6-8   210   Fr.  31/4 -   17.2      5.2    2.7     1.1

11  Bakari Evelyn          G   6-2   178   Fr.  17/0 -    5.1       1.2    0.5     0.2

23  Nick Fuller            G/F   6-7   204  So.  21/0 -   8.7       2.1    1.5     0.2

24  Jake Hammond       F  6-10   235  So.  26/8 -  11.4      2.4    2.9     0.2

30  Ed Morrow Jr.          F   6-7    225  Fr.   27/1 -  14.0      3.9    3.4     0.1  

Bench                  

4    Johnny Trueblood   G  6-4    195  Fr.   9/0 -    3.1      0.9     0.2     0.4

15  Malcolm Laws         G  6-1    190  So.   6/0 -    3.2      0.2     0.3    0.0

20  Tanner Borchardt    F  6-8    274  Fr.   8/0 -    3.5       0.8     1.1    0.0

[Handy Johnson]

Speaking of "worst teams in BIG history" the match-up with the Gophers last weekend was, record wise, THE worst game ever played in Conference, 2 - 15  vs. 0 -17 and Goldy took it on the chin to the tune of a 20 point loss. We'll roll in this one, then it's bring on Bucky!

[AuroranHusker]

Nebraska seals up a potential CBI tournament home game with their 89-72 victory in the 1st round of the Big Ten tournament. Huskers have their 15th win of the 2015-16 season. Five players score in double figures tonight vs Rutgers. GBR