Game Day Essentials: Game #8 vs Boston College

Boston College Info

Head Coach: Earl Grant

Location: Chestnut Hill, MA

Conference: ACC

Nickname: Eagles

Mascot: Baldwin the Eagle

Last time out: Beat Rhode Island
Opening Line: Nebraska by 6.5

Famous Alumni: Jared Dudley, Dana Barros

Other:  

• The last (and only) time Nebraska played Boston College was 8:15 at the PBA on a Wednesday night on ESPNU (11/29/2017)
• Former Nebraska assistant Jim Molinari is an assistant for Boston College
• This is the last year of the B1G-ACC Challenge after 24 seasons as ESPN will no longer have the rights to air Big 10 games. Nebraska currently stands at 5-6 all-time.

KenPom Analysis: Appears to be a dribble drive team that doesn't take (or make) many 3s. Thus far they're winning games with defense and their ability to turn teams over surely could bother Nebraska.

Player to watch: Makai Ashton-Langford

Expect the Senior Langford to spearhead any ball pressure on Nebraska. Leads the team in scoring and assist, poor outside shooter

KenPom most used lineup

Others to watch

• Demar Langford is MAL's brother. Another physical defender who can't shoot from outside
• Jaden Zackery was on of BC's best outside shooting threats last year, hitting 48%. For whatever reason he's been taking the ball to the hole more.  Rarely leaves the court
• Div II grad transfer CJ Penha is their most reliable bucket in the paint at the 4.
• Bickerstaff is a rim defender and rebounder, unreliable touch. 6'10" Freshman Armani Mighty plays a few situational minutes per  night but is generally unreliable. 
• Cincinnati transfer Mason Madsen is a willing defender who leads the team in 3pt attempts, hitting 32.3% on the year 
• Backup 4 man Devin McGlockton functions as the small ball 5. Good shooting glue guy.
• Freshamn backup PG Chas Kelley has struggled this year with his shot and turnovers.

Probable starters for Nebraska
5    Sam Griesel    G    6-7
25  Emmanuel Bandoumel    G    6-4

0   C.J. Wilcher    G    6-5

4   Juwan Gary  F  6-6

13  Derrick Walker    F    6-9

Bench

15   Blaise Keita C   6-11

30  Keisei Tominaga    G    6-2

32  Wilhelm Breidenbach    F    6-10

10  Jamarques Lawrence - G  6-3

12  Denim Dawson - F  6-6

33  Oleg Kojenets    F    7-0
12   Sam Hoiberg    G    6-0

31  Cale Jacobsen  G  6-4

35  Henry Burt  F  6-6

24  Jeffrey Grace III  G  6-3

Injured

3   Quaran McPherson   G   6-3 - Out for the Year

Miles and Walker Presser

Derrick isn't getting into why he was gone but they did dig into how they put in the system they used vs Florida St in their hotel ballroom and that the late start time helped. Defensively Keisei had 7 deflections and the team forced 17 turnovers

The Skinny: 

Earl Grant is a GRIT guy.  He cut his teeth as an assistant under Gregg Marshall and both Winthrop and Wichita St as well as Brad Brownell, two know GRIT coaches.  Grant's mantra is "Gritty not Pretty"  The one quote I saw from him was two sentences long and both sentences contained the word grit. Would not be surprised if his Halloween costume was Gritty, the Flyers mascot.  You're not going to out-grit this man.

Thus, expect a hard nosed Eagles defense that will try and jump passing lanes all night and hope that Nebraska can limit the number of pick-6 passes they've been carelessly throwing lately. BC has been so poor at shooting from outside and Nebraska has been so good at defending without fouling it seems like the Eagles will struggle to score 60 in this game. 

What is the limit on Derrick Walker turning into Royce White in Orlando? Last year he transformed from a 40% FT shooter into a 72% shooter while becoming one of the NCAA's most accurate shooters. Now he's bringing the ball up the court and initiating the offense.  Nebraska is on to something here. How much will it make  a difference in the W-L record?

I think Nebraska matches up well with Boston College but expect the grit guys to make you sweat out the result.

Prediction: Nebraska 68 - Boston College 61