The Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball team is now 9-2 on the season thanks to yet another big win at the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii. This Holiday road trip has been an interesting one, because as far as resume padders go, it’s not really doing the job.
However, as a confidence builder and a way for the Fred Hoiberg’s Nebrasketball team to gel, it might just be doing the trick. While the Huskers’ 69-55 win over Hawaii is a Quad 3 game as far as Net Rankings are concerned, it’s the second straight year the Huskers have gotten anywhere close to 10 wins before Christmas. This year they could reach That could be a good omen for a program trying to get to the NCAA Tounament in back-to-back years for the first time since the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons.
Despite the win over the Warriors not exactly being a statement game, this Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball team did tell us some things in the game last night. There’s also plenty messages that can be sent when they take on Oregon State on Christas Day. That game, by the way, will be a Quad 1 contest and an actual resume builder.
Truth: Nebraska basketball has its go-to-guy
I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a more under the radar season from a player on a power conference team than the season Brice Williams is having. The man has been getting better and better every season he’s been with NU but he’s taken his game to another level this year.
Williams matched a career high in points last night with 32. But it’s not like that was all that unusual. He’s also scored 30, 28, 27, and 21 this season. That’s five of 11 games played where he’s scored over 20 points. He’s the scorer this team needs. That this game came right after his season low in scoring (9 points in the win over Murray State) shows that he knows he needs to step up more often than not.
Truth: Huskers defense is rounding into form
No, Murray State nor Hawaii are top tier teams, but the defensive performance this week has still been plenty impressive. Lots of swarming to the ball and not allowing easy shots. Murray State was 1-for-16 from the field to start the game on Sunday night.
It feels like Hoiberg is using this tournament for what it’s worth. As a kind of practice that counts.
Lie: Huskers can win often like they did on Monday
Having said all that, the Nebraska Cornhuskers are going to struggle if Brice scores 32, Juwan Gary scores 21 and no one else gets to 10. Big Ten teams are going to find a way to make sure that if it’s the Juwan and Brice show, that one of them is shut down.
Conor Essegian looked like someone who was emerging as a legitimate 3rd scoring thread but he’s been up and down in his last four games, taking just four shots last night. He also scored just a single point against Michigan State.
The Huskers are going to need to find a way to spread around the scoring a bit more.