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Nebraska Basketball: 3 takeaways from season opening win vs Lindenwood

By Oliver Vandervoort

CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS - JANUARY 31: Head coach Fred Hoiberg of the Nebraska Cornhuskers reacts to a play in the game against the Illinois Fighting Illini at State Farm Center on January 31, 2023 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS - JANUARY 31: Head coach Fred Hoiberg of the Nebraska Cornhuskers reacts to a play in the game against the Illinois Fighting Illini at State Farm Center on January 31, 2023 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) /
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The Nebraska Basketball team opened the season against Lindenwood and showed that this season could be quite a bit different than what we’ve seen.

The game wasn’t supposed to be a real test for the Nebraska Basketball team, but when it was announced that Ramel Lloyd Jr., Keisei Tominaga, Juwan Gary, Aron Ulis, and Blaise Keita were all out, Husker fans could be forgiven if they were a little nervous that the game was going to be closer than it should be.

However, other than the first few seconds of the game, it was never really close. Once the Nebraska Basketball team got out to an 11-4 lead, the game was never really in doubt and things ballooned quickly on the way to a 84-52 win over the Ohio Valley Conference team.

Here’s 3 quick takeaways from the Nebraska Basketball team’s season-opening win.

Nebraska Basketball has several scorers

Nebraska Cornhuskers fans are used to seeing teams that have one, two or three guys who can actually hit a shot and then the rest of the team are there more for defense or as decoys. At least for now, it looks like that won’t be the case this year.

Obviously, Kesei Tominaga is likely going to be the go-to scorer this year, but if he’s having an off night, or getting double teamed constantly, it looks like there are some guys who can shoulder the load.

On Monday night, five Huskers scored in double digits, led by Sam Hoiberg’s 15 points. It was nice to see newcomers Josiah Allick (11), Rienk Mast (13) and Brice Williams (13) be among them. That’s obviously not going to happen every night, but there are other options. Some off the bench, some starting. That’s a new thing in the last decade or so.

The front court could be scary good

While Fred Hoiberg wasn’t thrilled with the rebounding against Lindenwood, one thing was clear on Monday night, the Huskers have some dudes who can pound the board. Especially on the front court. And that was without Gary and Keita.

Allick had 8 rebounds and Mast had 6. The Nebraska Basketball as a whole had 44 boards. But it’s also the fact that that they can both score and rebound that makes this team feel like they might be something special this year.

Nebraska basketball starting out different

One of the things that has been a bit frustrating in the Fred Hoiberg era is that the Nebraska Basketball doesn’t always run the teams off the court, that they should.

Last year’s season opener saw the Huskers struggle to knock off Maine, 79-66. The year before that, they lost to Western Illinois and followed that up by barely beating Sam Houston.

Yes, Lindenwood is the worst opponent of that group probably, but Nebraska Basketball did what it was supposed to do, without two starters and several bench guys available. That’s a refreshing feeling.

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