Nebraska Basketball: Haanif Cheatham keeping good momentum rolling
Cheatham was a big part of Nebraska Basketball’s win on Sunday.
On a young team like the one Nebraska Basketball possesses, upperclassman leadership is needed. They were able to get that leadership on Sunday, and it helped steer Nebraska to a win.
The leadership came from Haanif Cheatham. He scored 17 points to lead all scorers and he did it from the free throw line. When I previewed this game on Saturday, I talked about how Nebraska Basketball had to improve their efficiency from the line. Cheatham was a big part of that on Sunday, going eight-of-nine at the charity stripe. He also went four-of-eight from the field and chipped in three rebounds, and two steals.
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It was great to see him play so well. Cheatham has been on a string of solid games recently. He scored 10 points against North Dakota last Saturday, and he scored 21 against Indiana on December 13. Even in the tough loss against Creighton, he played well. He scored 14 points on 41.7% shooting from the field. He also hit 80% of his free throws.
Cheatham has definitely been playing at a high level lately, and this is crucial. Heading into conference play, this Nebraska Basketball team needs to be firing on all cylinders. They certainly have shown what they can do when everybody is on the same page. Especially for a young team, their positive performances have been really impressive. Hopefully, they can keep it up.
Truthfully, when Cheatham transferred to the Nebraska Basketball program, I wasn’t sure what type of impact he could have. His veteran leadership was definitely needed, especially for a program that was rebuilding. I would’ve been fine if he was simply just a locker room voice that didn’t produce much on the floor. Thankfully however, he is becoming more than that. He is becoming somebody that Nebraska can count on game in and game out to give his best efforts and produce.
Sunday was a continuation of Cheatham’s great play. Hopefully, this is the start of something special. He is not going to be the next Lebron James, but he is going to be somebody that can make an impact while on the floor. At the end of the day, that’s all we really want to see.