Game Day Essentials: Game #29 vs Northwestern

 Nothwestern Info

Head Coach: Chris Collins
Location: Evansville, IL
Conference: B1G
Nickname: Wildcats

Mascot: Willie the Wildcat
Typical Rotation Depth: 7-8
Line: Northwestern by 5.5

KenPom rank: 100

Offensive Style: Passing into the paint

Defensive Style: Zone/non-aggressive

Key Injuries: 

• SG Anthony Gaines - Out for season with shoulder injury

Players to watch:  Pat Spencer

If you don't know who Pat Spencer is you'd probably be a great candidate for jury duty.  Spencer is a graduate transfer from Loyola where he was one of the best lacrosse players in Div-1, winning the Tewaaraton Award last year. Instead of moving on to a professional lacrosse career, Spencer decided he wanted to play college ball and chose Northwestern. While he struggles with his outside shot, he's an excellent FT shooter and leads the team in assists.

Players to watch:   Boo Buie

The freshman PG is aggressive scorer who currently isn't shooting well and the Huskers should take their chances on Buie beating them.

Roster points

Yet another shorthanded team. The Purple came in with just 10 scholarship players and are down to 8. They're also young, starting 2 sophomores and 2 freshmen

• Miller Kopp leads the team in 3pt shooting
• Forward Pete Nance comes from a NBA family where his father played for 13 seasons and his brother is currently playing. Nance is a 3 and D guy except he can't hit 3s.
• Robbie Beran is the highest rated recruit in NU history and has established himself in the starting lineup.
• Young leads the team in rebounding and shoots at a high percentage in the paint when he gets the ball.
• 6'7" Boston College grad transfer F AJ Turner can play point and did so at BC. Has found his 3pt stroke in conference play
• 6'10" freshman center Jared Jones is just depth
• Soph G Ryan Greer is guard depth with limited offensive game

The Skinny:

Here we are at the last home game for Nebraska and probably the best chance for either team to break their double digit losing streaks. Northwestern is going to attempt to make Nebraska beat them from 3 and Nebraska most likely will return the favor. As much as it felt like NW torched Nebraska back in January it was a manageable 34.5%.

Northwestern has some nice pieces but Nebraska should be able to scheme around them.  Look for the Huskers to finally win one though like most everything this year it probably won't be smooth nor easy.

Prediction: Nebraska 75 - Northwestern 70