MBB: Game #4 vs Tulane - 11/21/2012

Green Wave Info

Mascot: Green Wave

Conference: Conference USA

School Location: New Oreleans, LA

Shirt not to wear: Olive green, sky blue, chia covered

Last game out: Beat Chicago St.

Probable Starters:

Nebraska Cornhuskers (3-0)

3 - Benny Parker - 5-9 - Fr. - G

15 - Ray Gallegos - 6-2 - Jr. - G

24 - Dylan Talley - 6-5 - Sr. - G

13 - Brandon Ubel - 6-10 - Sr. - F

32 - Andre Almeida - 6-11 - Sr. - C

Tulane Green Wave (3-1)

22 Kendall Timmons G 6-5 215 SR

0 Josh Davis F 6-8 215 JR

41 Tomas Bruha C 7-0 235 SR

5 Jordan Callahan G 6-0 190 SR

2 Ricky Tarrant G 6-2 190 SO

Player to watch - Shavon Shields

Earlier in the year Shavon suffered an elbow infection that required surgery and has kept him out of the lineup so far this season. Shields has been cleared for full practice and potentially will see time against Tulane this Wednesday. Considering the thin bench of the Huskers, Shields will be looked at to not only to immediately contribute minutes but also to add some points off the bench for the Huskers.

Opposing player to watch - Ricky Tarrant

The returning Conference USA freshman of the year is part of an athletic guard oriented team he needed to carry at times due to injury. The PG doesn't necessarily shoot at high clip but makes it to the free throw line enough to more than make up for it. Unless he's hitting from downtown, the Huskers might want to give him some space.

Opposing player to watch - Josh Davis

The Green Wave's only true inside threat, Davis is a double-double waiting to happen. The junior transfer from NC State put up 27 points against Georgia Tech and also visits the charity stripe quite often.

Can the Huskers push it to 4-0?

Except for a brief run in the 90s with "The Posse", Tulane has been a middling team in the C-USA that has turned into Memphis and the other guys. Tulane came out firing last year at 12-2 before the injury bug (and conference play) hit and they went 4-13. They return a healthy team featuring the C-USA freshman of the year but don't have a bench much deeper than the Huskers. Andre Almeida has the potential to once again be the X factor in this game since starting center Tomas Bruha is off a knee surgery, only plays about 10 minutes per game, and isn't at all involved on the offense.

Look for Tulane to pressure the Huskers full court at times and how they respond. If the Huskers can't figure out a way to start burning people when they roll out full court pressure expect to see 25 second shot clocks and the occasional turnover all season. This game should come down to who gets the foul calls early as any team not having to go to the bench nor having to rely on shooting at a high percentage is going to have the major advantage. Expect a close ugly game that the Huskers are more than capable of winning.

Prediction: Huskers 62 - Green Wave 59 with a 56% chance of Runzas