By The Numbers: Nebraska Cornhuskers Basketball
Rutgers Basketball Head Coach Steve Pikiell and the Scarlet Knights are looking for a bounce back win after getting blown out by Michigan State in East Lansing.
On Wednesday afternoon, they will take on Big Ten Conference foe Nebraska back in Jersey Mike's Arena.
OFFENSE....
Despite not being ranked, the Cornhuskers are off to a pretty hot start so far this year. They have a record of 13-4 and already have three Big Ten wins. The problems they have this year are they got blown out against the only ranked team they played and they struggle playing away from home, especially against other Big Ten teams.
Fred Hoiberg's squad has been pretty efficient on all assets offensively. They rank in the top half of the nation in most offensive categories. They’re most impressive in rebounding and assists where they rank inside the top 50 in both. They also shoot behind the arc at a high level. They shoot 27 threes a game and make around 9 of them, which is 35th in the nation.
Nebraska uses a ten man rotation of great athletes and a majority of them are upperclassmen. Hoiberg’s record has gotten better every year since he’s taken over the Nebraska job so expect this veteran team to play hard for their gritty coach.
Leading the Cornhuskers in scoring is Senior guard Keisei Tominaga who averages 14.5 points per game. Junior forward Rienk Mast is second on the team with 13.3 points per game and he leads the team with 2.9 assists per game and 8.5 rebounds per game. Juniors Brice Williams and CJ Wilcher lead the backcourt and Juwan Gary brings athleticism to the lineup at forward.
Offensively the Cornhuskers do two things well which is crash the boards and shoot the three pointer. Rutgers has struggled defending the three so far this year, so in order for them to come out victorious they must play aggressive defense and box out.
DEFENSE...
Defensively the Cornhuskers have pretty much ranked in the middle of the pack nationally. They allow 69.1 points per game which is good for 100th in the nation. They also defend the three very poorly allowing 26.1 three point shots per game which ranks for 335th in the nation.
They do hold their opponents to a low shooting percentage. Nebraska opponents only shoot a poor 40% from the field. That ranks as 30th lowest in the country. They also don’t allow their opponent to get to the free throw line very often. They allow the 25th lowest free throw attempts in the country.
The key for Rutgers to win this game is to shoot three’s as well as Nebraska. The Cornhuskers love to shoot the three ball which results in fast breaks and their opponent matching their shooting. Rutgers must make their open shots because they’ll get plenty of opportunities to shoot.
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