Nebraska – Kansas St. Preview

Big, big game tonight.

These are the best types of games at this point in the College Basketball season. Two teams fighting for their lives. Games pitting two Top-10 teams against each other can’t match the stakes of a game like tonight’s.

As of right now, K-State is sitting in better shape than Nebraska, but this game could serve as a balancing act of sorts. The Wildcats are currently listed as a 9th seed according to both ESPN and CBS, while the Cornhuskers stand as the 7th team out of the field by ESPN, while not registering on CBS’s radar.

While this game appears to be a complete toss up (Nebraska favored by 1.5), the last time these two squared off it was nothing less than a beatdown. Kansas St won that game 69-53 back on February 2nd.

The Huskers were never really in that game and only scored 17 first half points. Despite out-shooting the Wildcats, Nebraska committed 22 turnovers (including 7 from McCray), compared to only 6 assists. Tough to win that way.

It should be noted that HuskerCorner favorite Andre Almeida didn’t play in that first meeting.

However, as everybody knows by now, this is a different basketball team at home. The Huskers tote an inversive record with only one victory on the road (Oklahoma), but only one home loss (Kansas).

I fear the potential of a letdown effort out of our Huskers tonight. It’s always tough to match the intensity coming off an emotional win like they had on Saturday over the Texas Longhorns.

K-State was vulnerable to the same potential letdown after their huge victory over the Kansas Jayhawks, but they received a more favorable matchup getting Oklahoma at home (who they stomped). You can survive a letdown against the Sooners, while the Huskers cannot afford to bring their B game tonight.

These are two teams coming in playing their best basketball of the season. The Huskers have sandwiched two home victories around their only road victory of the season, while K-State is 0.2 seconds away from a 5 game winning streak (game winning 3 pointer waved off @Colorado).

Hopefully this game gets some national publicity because it should be hotly contested. I don’t see either team ever extending a lead into double digits. Unfortunately, I feel that K-State is the more talented team, and will be able to match the Huskers energy tonight, who may be a bit fatigued after coming down from the high of beating the hated Longhorns.

Kansas St 71, Nebraska 65

But hey, I didn’t think the Huskers had much of a chance against Texas either. Whichever team wins, it’s fair to say that they will be making a DVD in remembrance of a huge victory.

GO BIG RED!