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Nebraska Basketball: How to watch and what to know for Minnesota

By Danny Jaillet

LINCOLN, NE - FEBRUARY 6: Thorir Thorbjarnarson #34 of the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Tanner Borchardt #20 bring the ball up the court against the Maryland Terrapins at Pinnacle Bank Arena on February 6, 2019 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
LINCOLN, NE - FEBRUARY 6: Thorir Thorbjarnarson #34 of the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Tanner Borchardt #20 bring the ball up the court against the Maryland Terrapins at Pinnacle Bank Arena on February 6, 2019 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images) /
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Nebraska Basketball needs to get on a winning streak, and that could begin tonight as they face Minnesota.

In a must-win game for Nebraska basketball, they face off against Minnesota Wednesday night. Granted, every game from here on out is must win. However, Nebraska can avenge a loss they suffered at the hands of Minnesota back in December. The Cornhuskers were beaten by a 85-78 score.

In their last contest, Minnesota played hard but lost to a tough Michigan State team by a 79-55 margin. In defeat, freshman Gabe Kalscheur played well. He scored a game-high 17 points for Minnesota, going four-of-10 from the field and three-of-four from behind the arc. Although his efficiency may not have been the best, he managed to do a little bit of everything for Minnesota.

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For Nebraska, they suffered a tough loss, this time at the hands of Purdue. Going into Mackey Arena is never an easy task, and all things considered, they played well. Thomas Allen played well for Nebraska, leading the team with 18 points on six-of-nine shooting. James Palmer was up to his usual tricks as he contributed 17 points. To their credit, Purdue did a nice job of stifling him for most of the game. The effort was certainly there, it was just not enough to overtake Purdue.

In the Kenpom rankings, Nebraska basketball sits at No. 35 while Minnesota checks in at No. 56. With Minnesota coming into this game 16-6, this should present a challenge for Tim Miles and company.

Nebraska basketball needs to watch out for junior guard Amir Coffey on the offensive end. He leads the Gophers in scoring with 15.3 points per game on the season. Perhaps the biggest challenge for Nebraska basketball will be trying to stop junior forward Jordan Murphy on the glass. Murphy is a force, as he has tallied 11.3 rebounds per game on the season.

Rebounding is already not a strong suit for Nebraska basketball. Going up against Murphy may prove to be difficult. In addition, he adds tremendous scoring value for the Gophers as he has tallied 14.5 points on the season. The one-two punch Minnesota brings to the table will be a lot for Nebraska basketball to handle.

Game Info

Game 25: Nebraska vs Minnesota

When: 8 PM CST

Where: Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln Nebraska

TV: BTN

Stream: BTN 2 Go

Radio: Huskers IMG Radio

Key to the Game

If Nebraska wants to win, they have to do a better job of getting Glynn Watson the basketball. He has struggled over the last couple of games and they need secondary scoring. James Palmer cannot do it all by himself. In the team’s last game against Purdue, Watson scored four points. If Nebraska wants to end this season on a high note, they need to get more production out of Watson. They can start tonight by getting him some shots early and often. They need him to be a lot better than he has been as of late.

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