Game Day Essentials: Game #22 at Northwestern

Northwestern Info

Head Coach: Chris Collins

Location: Evanstan, IL

Conference: B1G 10

Nickname: Wildcats

Mascot: Willie the Wildcat

Last time out: Beat Minnesota

Typical Rotation Depth: 6-7 players

Line: NW by 2

Fun Fact : Chris Collins is the son of former NBA player/coach Doug Collins. He played for and coached at Duke under Mike Krzyzewski. His basketball pedigree is the opposite of Tim Miles.

Fun Fact : Northwestern is the only private school in the B1G

Possible Starters

Huskers

0 Tai Webster 6-4 194 Fr

15 Ray Gallegos 6-2 182 Sr

5 Terran Petteway 6-6 209 So

31 Shavon Shields 6-7 219 So

35 Walter Pitchford 6-10 234 So

Wildcats

14 Tre Demps 6-2 193 So

23 JerShon Cobb 6-5 205 Jr

1 Drew Crawford 6-5 215 Sr

34 Sanjay Lumpkin 6-6 210 Fr

22 Alex Olah 7-0 265 So

The Skinny

After a beatdown in both halves on the road vs. Michigan the Huskers spent Thursday talking instead of practicing. One they they talked about was controlling the tempo on the road, which means not playing slow down ball with Northwestern

Northwestern packs the paint like it's the Doc Sadler era. You can defeat this through 3pt shooting or passing, two things the Huskers don't necessarily excel at. Terran Petteway is going to find it tough to drive into the lane. He and the Huskers still need to keep at it free throws and Wildcat foul trouble can help Nebraska pull this out.

Northwestern has had a week to prepare for this game and will be ready for the normal Husker game plan. Look for someone unexpected to lead the Huskers in scoring or/and shooting today. It could be Ray Gallegos taking advantage or it could be Walt Pitchford's coming out party or Nate Hawkins starting.

While the Huskers don't play that well on the road, the Wildcats don't play that much better at home either and typically feature one of the smallest crowds in the conference. This could be a game where either team wins by 20 or it goes into 4OTs

Prediction: Nebraska 62 - Northwestern 57