Game Day Essentials: Game #3 vs South Dakota St.

South Dakota St

Head Coach: Eric Henderson
Location: Brookings, SD
Conference: Summit
Nickname: Jackrabbits

Shirt not to wear: Yellow, blue
Defensive Style: Speed you up into a bad shot

Offensive Style: Fast spread

Line:  Nebraska by 6
 

Players to watch: Douglas Wilson

The 6'7" former JUCO all-american has become the go-to offensive player off the bat for this SDSU, aggressively scoring in the paint and following up on the offensive boards. Wilson takes and absorbs contact at a high rate which could be an advantage for a Nebraska team that has been winning the foul call game

Players to watch: Brandon Key

The senior pg is a gifted distributor and also is able to draw contact in the lane. The thing to watch here is how sloppy he gets with the ball as Nebraska should be able to generate offense off his turnovers.

Players to watch: David Wingett and Baylor Scheierman

The Nebraska natives are 3pt shooters for the Jackrabbits. Wingett has been more accurate 44% with less volume.  Scheierman has been much more aggressive, shooting from NBA range when he's feeling it, but has only hit 30% thus far.

Hoiberg Presser

Cross Presser

Hoiberg talking about shot doctoring, Cross approaching interviews with the same unassuming but confident manner in which he approaches the game.

The Skinny: It's possible that overall this is a better team than Southern Utah but it feels like their style and make-up are a bit more suited for Nebraska's roster and game plan.  The Jackrabbits aren't going to win most rebounding battles, they want to play fast, and they turn the ball over at a fair clip.  South Dakota St would probably be better served getting back and making Nebraska play a half court game but it seems unlikely they're going drastically change their game plan.

South Dakota St is a bit like Nebraska in terms of having a new coach and a fairly new roster. Gone is Mike Daum, the core of their string of NCAA runs as well former head coach TJ Otzelberger to UNLV. New coach Eric Henderson spent a number of years under Otzelberger at SDSU and Iowa St so you'll get a bit of Hoiberg flavor here in terms of prioritizing pace, transition, and 3pt shots.

While Nebraska will always shoot the 3, it seems like they should really look to attack the paint given the Jackrabbits' lack of shot blocking as well as penchant for fouling. Defensively, Nebraska needs to track the post players and 3pt shooters, which should be very easy just based on body type. Anyone who isn't a post is a threat to shoot a 3.

Last but not least, this is a South Dakota St team that isn't going to pack it in should Nebraska jump to any sort of lead. Is this the game where Nebraska takes a lead and holds it?

Prediction: Nebraska 85 - South Dakota St 77 with a 95 % chance of Runzas