Huskers go for signature win
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While the Huskers Basketball team has had a decent season so far, posting a 7-2 record, they have yet to get a win against a team they shouldn’t, and you can argue they have a loss against a team they should have beaten.
A win Saturday over the 16th ranked Oregon Ducks would help the Huskers take a big step in their pitch for a bid in the NCAA tournament come this March. Oregon boasts an 8-1 record, with their only loss coming to 24th ranked St. Marry’s and a ton of talent.
While Nebraska has just two players who average in double digit scoring, Oregon has five, including always hard to stop guard, Malik Hairston.
As usual, if the Huskers want to have any chance to win, Aleks Maric has to play a big role. Maric has had a less than consistent season so far, though you can hardly blame him for his reduced role in the blowout win over Savanah State Tuesday night. The Huskers were up so big, so quickly, his backup, Shang Ping lead all Huskers in scoring. It’s the 2nd time all season Ping has scored in double digits, and the 2nd time all season he’s scored more than 4 points.
The Huskers also need to get off to the speedy start they enjoyed against Savannah, but probably won’t see Oregon shoot nearly as poorly as the Tigers did, since they set a Devaney record for fewest points in the first half, with 12.
With losses to Creighton and Western Kentucky already under their belts, and nothing but fodder left on the non-conference schedule after Oregon, Nebraska must win this game in order to have a real shot at the “Big Dance”. A loss tomorrow most likely means Nebraska would have to win the Big 12 in order to avoid being relegated to the NIT.
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on Friday, December 14th, 2007 at 3:46 pm and is filed under Shang Ping, Aleks Maric, Basketball Game Preview (2007), Husker Basketball.
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2 Responses to “Huskers go for signature win”
December 17th, 2007 at 8:47 am
Big win over Oregon on Saturday. Maric must have been the happiest guy on the court after the game. He missed three easy shots in the closing minutes of regulation causing the game to go into overtime. In addition to this win, the win over Arizona State earlier this year is starting to look better and better. ASU demolished No. 17 Xavier on Saturday and look like they can do some damage in the PAC 10. The recipe for a ticket to the big dance is this: win the last three non-conference games and go 9-7 in the Big 12. This would get them to 20 wins, which would most likely be enough.
December 17th, 2007 at 10:23 am
Grant, I agree, and if we don’t win the last 3 non-conference games, we have no business even hoping for a tourney birth.
Our next three opponents are a combined 4-28 on the season
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