Game Day Essentials: Game #6 vs Georgia

Georgia Info

Head Coach: Mark Fox

Conference: SEC

Roster | Schedule

Nickname: Bulldogs

Mascots: Uga and Hairy Dawg

Last time out: Lost to Temple

Typical Rotation Depth: 10+ deep

Line: Nebraska by 3.5

Fun Fact: Mark Fox turned down the Nebraska job in 2006

Probable Starters

Nebraska

5 Terran Petteway 6-6 209 Jr

31 Shavon Shields 6-7 219 So

0 Tai Webster 6-4 194 Fr

2 David Rivers 6-7 198 Jr

35 Walter Pitchford 6-10 234 So

Georgia

4 Charles Mann 6-5 210 So

12 Kenny Gaines 6-3 195 So

11 Cameron Forte 6-7 220 So

15 Donte' Williams 6-9 225 Sr

2 Marcus Thornton 6-8 235 Jr

The Not-so-Skinny Skinny

• Young Team
  
• Scoring without assists
  
• Shoddy Defense
  
• Tons of Fouls on both sides
  
• So-So rebounding
  

Am I describing Nebraska or Georgia? Trick question, it's both.

It's somewhat fitting that the 7th-8th place matchup between Nebraska and Georgia involves a couple of teams suffering through growing pains. Georgia is struggling a bit more as their tournament loses have come against shaky Temple and Davidson.

This should be a somewhat ideal matchup for Nebraska as while the Bulldogs run out a tall lineup and like to slash to the paint, they don't necessary have a dominant big man. The Huskers can stick to playing man and hopefully find their GATA. Georgia isn't a 3pt shooting team so the guards are able to sag in on defense for either weakside help or to crash the boards. David Rivers should once again get the starting nod. His length and ability to contribute without needing to score works quite well with our other starters.

The Huskers are dead last in assist % but honestly Tim Miles offenses haven't ever generated high assist numbers. As a student of advanced stats Miles knows that assists are just a means to his actual goal of a high Effective FG%. He also knows that making it to the Free Throw line is a lot higher priority. If KenPom had an offensive description algorithm it might label the Huskers offense as either SELFISH or BLACKHOLE, but the amount of change needed actually isn't much.

Miles has three guys that can take it to the rack almost at will in Webster, Biggs, and Petteway which has so far been a mixed bag of results. On one end, our offense is a LOT better than last year...it's no longer a struggle for us to score and the home crowd should expect free Runzas. On the other hand, the three guys that are slashing and scoring are also our point guards which means that guys like Pitchford and Gallegos who can hit open shots and guys like Shields and Smith who can score in the paint are left wondering if they'll ever get the ball.

The things our distributors need to realize that getting their teammates involved is just as important as getting their own points which we will still need them to do. Thus, keep taking it to the rack, start looking for the open teammates your penetration creates, and for the love of Doc Sadler don't jack up a long jumpshot with 25 seconds left on the shot clock. The rest of the guys shouldn't use their offensive frustrations as an excuse not to hustle on defense.

The one PG I didn't mention was Benny Parker who has been a valuable reserve this year. Parker is finally healthy and is one of the better defenders and distributors on the team. If he can gain the confidence and handle the punishment of taking the ball to the rim he could find himself starting a few games this year.

At no point should the Huskers feel comfortable in this game because they haven't been closing and Georgia isn't going to fold. Ultimately, this is going to be another one of those "College Basketball is a mess" games because both teams generate and give up fouls at high rates. The winner should be the team that can play the most defense without fouling. I think the higher level of competition of this weekend favors the Huskers.

Prediction: Nebraska 80 - Georgia 73