2 truths and a lie from Nebraska Cornhuskers taming the Bethune Cookman Wildcats
It's a safe bet that the performance the Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball team gave on Saturday night isn't what anyone would call acceptable. After a season-opening win over UTRGV where NU struggled at times, they struggled pretty much constantly against Bethune Cookman.
Some growing pains are to be expected, considering that there are a lot of new faces on Fred Hoiberg's squad. However, the schedule gets quite a bit harder in the coming weeks, and Nebraska hoped to look like they were improving instead of taking a step back against the Wildcats. Not only wasn't there improvement, but there were moments when Husker fans likely wondered if they would see a massive upset.
Truth: The Nebraska Cornhuskers have to shoot better from deep
With Keisei Tominaga gone, there's a real question of how Hoiberg's squad would replace his production from beyond the arc. So far, the answer is "they're not." In their season opener, the Nebraska Cornhuskers hit just 6-of-19 attempts from 3-point range. Last night, they were significantly worse, going 4-for-22.
Hoiberg's offense relies on hitting 3-point shots. Against better teams, their lack of success from that range will result in losses.
Truth: Defense is a turnover machine
Just a couple of days after forcing a whopping 20 turnovers in their season opener, they forced 22 turnovers by Bethune Cookman. Obviously, the quality of the opponent has something to do with it, but UTRGV only turned it over 10 times in their next game against No. 15 Creighton.
It looks like the Huskers are going to need that ball-hawking defense, especially early in the season as they try to find their footing on offense.
Lie: We haven't seen this before
One of the more distressing parts of the Huskers' performance on Saturday night is that it's happened a little too often under Hoiberg. NU turned it over 18 times. They went long stretches without scoring any points, and while the defense played well overall, there were times when the team looked utterly disinterested in perimeter defense.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball team has one more game to get their warmups in before they take on perennial NCAA Tournament teams Saint Mary's and Creighton.