Huskers Scorch Aggies

After a great comeback victory over Texas A&M Saturday, in which the Cornhuskers shot 3/15 from three-point range and still won, PYB defers to new correspondent Seth Svoboda for its in-depth post-game coverage. The reason is threefold: the game wasn't televised, our internet crashed during the game, and his recap is pretty good. That saves us from a lot of work and trying to analyze a game we didn't see ourselves (or even track on Yahoo! Sports), but where the NU students embarrassingly stormed the floor. No doubt Husker fans will be patting themselves on the back for filling up 10,500 seats......3000 less than capacity.

NU travels to Kansas State Wednesday, where they have been notoriously horrific in dropping 16 of the last 20 contests. A win over the struggling Wildcats would be enormous, but NU is 1-5 in games away from Devaney Center and 0-3 in conference. Despite its woes, KSU still has a lot of experience from last year's NCAA tournament team and will be looking for blood after being bottle blasted by in-state rival Kansas on Saturday.

New Life or False Hopes, by Seth "The McCook Legend" Svobada

Wow...what a win for the Huskers. The defense showed, up holding Texas A&M to 17 second-half points. Had they given this kind of effort in Lubbock last weekend, Nebraska would be sitting at 4-2 instead of 3-3 in Big 12 play.

Lance Jeter, as usual, was the real catalyst--especially in the second half. He finished with 10 points, four assists and six boards, while only committing one turnover. Jorge Brian Diaz had his best game of the season, leading the Huskers with 16 points. Brandon Richardson followed up his strong performance against Texas Tech with another double-digit scoring game, as he poured in 10 points.

Caleb Walker was the real difference in this game, though. Sadler didn't think Walker was playing well last weekend and hardly had him in the game. It seems like Sadler outcoaches himself at times. Walker is an excellent athlete and, while he's not going to light up the scoreboard, he scored nine points yesterday. What he does really well, though, are the things you can't teach. (Editor's note: Seth must be very smart, since he agrees with PYB on this point)


He has a great nose for the ball, which is why he regularly leads NU in rebounds and deflects a lot of passes which lead to fast breaks for the Huskers. He had five boards Saturday and contributed three steals and three assists. Those aren't the type of numbers that blow you away, but it's the type of contribution required to beat a more-gifted Aggie team.

It was a great win, but it wasn't all high fives and fist bumps for the Husker squad. If they hadn't held A&M to under 40% shooting they very well could have lost. Diaz had 16, but he should have had mid 20s (Editor's note: Seth must have been listening to the game on radio, where Kent Pavelka announces at least 20 missed layups per game, whether they happen or not).

TAMU was having a very difficult time stopping Diaz, yet we were content to rock up three after three. Nebraska was just 3-15 from beyond the arc and 18-33 from inside the line. Get the ball inside.

A couple guys who I praised earlier were particularly guilty of this: Richardson didn't draw iron on his two three-point attempts, and Jeter wasn't much better. The two combined to go 0-6 from downtown. I will give some props to Eshaunte "Bear" Jones, while I still maintain he is a dreadful ball handler. Thankfully, he is too stupid to know how big a shot he was taking when he hit his second three of the game to push Nebraska's lead to 6 with about a minute left and seal the victory.

Up next for the Huskers is a trip to Manhattan to face the demoralized Wildcats this Wednesday. At 2-5 in conference play, K-State has really disappointed. In these situations, typically one of two things happen: either their seniors step up and lead the way, or they bail on the team and play for themselves as the team falls further and further. Let's just say I'm glad NU has Jeter, and the Mildcats have Jacob Pullen.

My belief in the Huskers has been renewed to a certain extent, but until we win on the road, we haven't proven anything. I'm hoping that a dejected fan base makes it a little easier on the Huskers Wednesday. The Huskers need to win at least one of their next three and preferably two. Road wins aren't easy to come by but the NU has a chance in Manhattan this week and at Baylor next week. Saturday, when the Jayhawks roll into town, will be a huge barometer of exactly where Nebraska stands. That would be the type of victory that can propel a team into the NCAA tournament.

I give the Huskers a chance Wednesday at KSU, but with Almeida injuring his ankle and his status in limbo, Brandon Ubel will be asked to play more minutes than usual. He needs to step up. If I was Doc, I would faceguard Pullen when he is away from ball and pick him up full court. Then run Richardson and Drake Beranek in and out of the game every few minutes, allowing them to give everything they have on defense. If they can hold Pullen (and his Leprechaun beard) to 15 points or fewer, Bill Martin's Wildcats won't be able to score enough to win against Nebraska's defense. If he goes unchecked, like Texas Tech guard John Roberson did in Lubbock, the Huskers can't score enough to win.