Nebraska Basketball: Blaise Keita raising eyebrows since arrival
The Nebraska basketball preseason has officially started and there are all kinds of eyes on Fred Hoiberg’s latest squad. Once again, there are going to be a ton of new arrivals this year, though among that group, Blaise Keita is already standing out as someone who has gotten a ton of praise from his new head coach.
In fact, during his first official press conference, the Nebraska basketball coach talked about Keita and what has impressed him about the young man so much in such a short period of time.
"“A guy that’s been as good as anybody is Blaise. He has picked things up. He leads us in charges by a wide margin. In talking to his coaches and the people that have been around him, they talk about there’s no shock with that, just how important he was in anchoring in the defense.”"
Leading the team in charges is one of those interesting stats that Nebrasaketball fans aren’t going to see in the box score. However, it’s going to be an important one. The Huskers haven’t been great on defense since Hoiberg came to Lincoln.
It’s no secret that the lack of post presence has been a thorn in Hoiberg’s side. The Nebraska basketball team has found it itself undersized, even when they go up against teams they are supposed to beating handily.
Keita’s 6’11” frame should give Nebrasketball some size in the paint. The fact that he knows what to do with it is important as well.
Keita comes over from Coffeyville Junior College, where he scored 10.5 points per game and hauled down 7.8 rebounds. While he got off to a rough start, he came back from an injury to average 12.8 points on 52 percent shooting and 9.8 rebounds per game.
Those numbers suggest that Keita isn’t going to be a power on offense for the Nebraska basketball team. To be fair, there are others that are supposed to offer that aspect to the team. Holding his own against some of the best bigs in the game when it comes to Big 10 play is really going to be key. While it’s early yet, Hoiberg understands that.
"“So you look at Blaise coming in now, just every night going against … the quality of bigs that he’s going to see on a nightly basis – it’s an adjustment. But Blaise has picked things up so quickly. I knew I liked Blaise. I didn’t know he was going to be as good as he is as fast as he has. Just physicality, rebounding … taking charges, he’s just done a little bit of everything for this group.”"
The Nebraska basketball season kicks off in just over a month and it likely won’t take long to see just how quickly Blaise Keita picks things up.