Nebraska Basketball: Tumultuous Time as Huskers Begin Tourney

Coming off the heels of its worst loss at Pinnacle Bank Arena since its opening, the Nebraska basketball team is heading into the Big Ten Tournament with nothing to lose and hopes to dash.

It would’ve been nice if Nebraska didn’t have to open its conference tournament run on the first day but after four agonizing collapses in a row, there seems like no more appropriate way.

Fortunately for the Huskers, they face a team they had a good showing against the last time they met in Penn State. The two teams met back on February 14 and Nebrasketball picked up an 88-62 victory snapping a three-game skid.

The biggest difference between that game and this one is that head coach Tim Miles’ job status most certainly feels up in the air.

Believe it or not, Nebraska’s been the team with better luck since these two squads met as Penn State hasn’t won a game since their tilt with Illinois prior to playing the Big Red.

Tony Carr and Lamar Stevens look to lead the Nittany Lions’ attack again as they were the leading scorers in the previous game with 15 and 13 points, respectively.

If Nebraska wants to duplicate its efforts from February, it must find a way to get in front of Penn State early and not let up. The Huskers shot at a 55 percent clip from the field while holding the Nittany Lions to 40 percent.

Here’s where a potentially major problem comes into play.

If the Huskers have had one glaring weakness as of late, it’s been defending the three-point shot. Despite that being achingly obvious versus Michigan, it was an issue in the three losses prior. Nebraska was able to keep Penn State to just 4-of-20 from long range in the past meeting.

Should the Nittany Lions be able to find out just how these recent teams have gouged the Nebraska defense with deep balls, a solid shooting game from the Huskers might still result in a nail-biter.