Nebraska Basketball should use Saturday’s bench in future games

Nebraska basketball found a combination that worked off the bench.

Despite Nebraska basketball losing on Saturday, there were a couple of things that I liked when I was watching the game. For one, the bench lineup that the coaching staff put there was intriguing to say the least.

Thorir Thorbjarnarson, Shamiel Stevenson, Kobe Webster and Yvan Ouedraogo were all part of the bench lineup for Nebraska basketball at one point. That group even managed to take a 49-46 lead. Then, things just fell apart. However, it was an intriguing glimpse into a possible bench combination that the Nebraska basketball program can use for future games.

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When you look at this game, it’s interesting to look at the box score. For instance, Ouedraogo outscored Derrick Walker, while Stevenson outscored Dalano Benton. Walker and Banton had rough games on Saturday, and their struggles were definitely noticeable.

Let’s face it, they had off games. They usually do not perform like that. They are usually much more consistent. However on this day, they just could not get anything going.

If I am the coaching staff, I look at this lineup off the bench for future games. Right now for Nebraska basketball, it is about sustaining production. I think if there is one player who should be in the lineup as a starter consistently, it is Trey McGowens. He has been a consistent performer throughout the entire season. I have been extremely impressed with the way he has played

However, everybody else has had their share of struggles over the past couple of games. I wouldn’t be afraid to mix and match lineups in a drastic way like this. We saw the boost it could give the program. Especially with the Nebraska basketball schedule coming up, is certainly worth trying out again. At this point, the program has nothing to lose.

This team has the potential to be good. I think this season it has been about trying to find the pieces that fit with each other. That particular lineup off the bench worked. I say why not try it again?  It puts players in a position to succeed. With the trying season this has been mentally, it could benefit certain players immensely.

As Nebraska gets set to take on Penn State Tuesday, I’ll be interested to see what lineups Fred Hoiberg puts out there. He has options on what lineups to use, and I’m hoping he will be able to use this group again off the bench.