Game Day Essentials: Game #26 vs Penn St.

Penn St Info

Head Coach: Pat Chambers
Location: University Park, PA
Conference: B1G 10
Nickname: Nittany Lions
Last time out: Beat Indiana
Typical Rotation Depth: 9-10 players
Line: Nebraska by 7
Fun Fact : The Nittany Lion nickname comes from local landmark Mount Nittany. They made up the name to impress some dudes from Princeton.

Player to watch: Shep Garner

I think everyone knows about Penn St's Senior leading scorer Brandon Taylor but Soph. PG Garner is second on the team at 13.6 PPG and leading the team in FT attempts during conference play.

The Skinny

This isn't a great or even a good Penn St team, who for the 5th year in a row is a bad shooting squad that will grind the entire game under coach Pat Chambers. More than likely we will run the same sort of game plan we had vs Wisconsin, throwing a bunch of zone and packing the paint and daring this team to beat us from the outside. Against a Penn St squad who truly has been awful this year from outside, we should see better results.

Offensively, Nebraska doesn't have to be great in this one as there will be opportunities to turn over the Lions as well as win on both ends of the boards. The Huskers need to work inside against the Lions' foul-prone big men which should open everything else up. Nebraska can lose this game by putting Penn St on the free throw line while being caught up in a hero-ball slog.

Every game without Shavon Shields is going to be tough. This is a good opportunity for the rest of the team to continue to pick up the slack.

Prediction: Nebraska 78 - Penn State 67 with a 45% chance of Runzas