2011 NIT: Nebraska Cornhuskers vs Wichita State Shockers Preview

by Jon Johnston on Mar 16, 2011 8:00 AM CDT in Nebraska Husker Basketball

Nebraska takes on the Wichita State Shockers in the opening round of the National Invitational Tournament tonight, hoping to pick up the 20th win of the season for the second time under Doc Sadler. It's the third time in five seasons the Huskers have made post-season under Doc Sadler, all three in the NIT. In 2007, the Huskers advanced to the second round of the NIT, but in 2008 lost in the opening round.

The Shockers finished second in the Missouri Valley Conference regular season, but lost in the conference semifinals to Indiana State. Wichita State averages 72.2 points per game. They've out-rebounded their opponents by an average margin of 38-30 and three of their top five scorers are big men.

Full stats for both teams are below. I don't have Brian's insight to basketball, but what I can tell you is this. Wichita State plays a whole bunch of guys. They will cause problems for Nebraska inside, given that three of their top five scores are big men (along with the rebounding edge they've had this season). It doesn't look any better given that Husker big man Andre Almeida may be out due to a knee injury (game-time decision).

The Shockers top three-point shooters are Ben Smith, shooting 40.5% (32-79) and David Kyles, who shot 39.5% (68-172) this season. Compare that to Huskers' top three-point shooters Toney McCray at 41.7% (35-84) and Lance Jeter at 36% (32-89). One could easily conclude that Kyles is going to shoot a lot (172 shots, holy cow!) and Nebraska darned well better be playing good defense against him.

Summary:

You can talk all you want about rebounding, shooting, and what not, but the bottom line is that if Nebraska wants to continue playing they're going to have to overcome the bad road juju they've had all season, having won only one real road game against Oklahoma.

Lance Jeter has to come out on fire immediately and not wait until the Huskers are down by double digits and/or ten minutes into the first half, and Brian Jorge Diaz (or Almeida, if he's available) is going to have to do a much better job of shooting than they have recently as the Huskers lost four of their final five Big 12 games.

Tipoff: 6pm CST

Location: Charles Koch Arena, Wichita - Capacity: 10,512

Television: ESPN2 and Online at ESPN3.com

Radio: IMG Husker Sports Radio Network with Kent Pavelka and Andy Markowski on the call, including KFAB 1110 AM in Omaha, KLIN 1400 AM in Lincoln and KRVN 880 in Lexington

Internet Free Radio: Huskers.com

Gamecast /Stats: ESPN.com

GO BIG RED!

Nebraska Statistics

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Lance Jeter	31	30.1	4.0	8.5	47.1	1.0	2.9	36.0	2.6	3.6	73.0	0.5	3.9	4.4	4.6	2.0	1.7	0.1	2.2	11.6
Brian Jorge Diaz	31	26.1	4.7	8.7	54.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	2.1	50.0	1.5	2.8	4.3	1.0	1.7	0.5	1.2	1.9	10.5

Toney McCray	31	22.4	3.3	7.1	45.9	1.1	2.7	41.7	1.0	1.6	64.0	1.1	3.3	4.3	1.3	1.9	1.0	0.2	2.2	8.7
Brandon Richardson	30	23.4	1.9	4.6	41.7	0.6	2.4	26.8	1.8	2.2	81.8	0.1	2.0	2.0	1.9	1.4	1.0	0.1	1.6	6.3
Caleb Walker	31	20.7	2.0	4.2	47.7	0.6	1.7	37.0	1.5	2.2	71.6	1.4	3.3	4.6	0.8	1.3	0.5	0.2	1.1	6.2
Brandon Ubel	31	19.8	1.9	3.7	51.3	0.2	0.8	24.0	2.0	2.5	79.2	1.0	2.5	3.6	0.6	1.0	0.3	0.3	2.2	6.0
Andre Almeida	30	14.9	2.2	4.0	55.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.8	1.4	53.5	1.2	2.1	3.3	0.9	1.5	0.2	1.3	2.2	5.2
Drake Beranek	31	17.6	1.5	3.5	42.6	0.5	1.6	32.0	0.7	0.9	82.1	0.3	2.3	2.5	0.9	1.0	0.6	0.1	1.5	4.2
Eshaunte Jones	27	12.7	1.3	4.0	32.7	1.0	2.9	33.8	0.6	0.8	71.4	0.2	1.2	1.4	0.7	0.6	0.3	0.1	0.8	4.1
Ray Gallegos	24	12.2	1.3	3.8	32.6	0.3	1.8	14.3	0.2	0.3	57.1	0.1	0.9	1.0	0.3	0.5	0.4	0.2	1.0	2.9
Kamyron Brown	5	8.8	0.6	1.8	33.3	0.2	0.2	100.0	1.4	1.6	87.5	0.2	1.2	1.4	1.0	0.8	0.2	0.2	0.8	2.8
Mike Fox	7	2.6	0.6	0.6	100.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.6	0.0	0.7	0.1	0.9	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.4	1.1
Christopher Niemann	6	4.7	0.2	0.8	20.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.3	0.3	100.0	0.2	1.0	1.2	0.2	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.8	0.7
Matt Karn	8	2.3	0.1	0.6	20.0	0.1	0.6	20.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4

Wichita State Statistics

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
J.T. Durley	32	25.3	4.4	9.1	48.1	0.6	2.2	28.6	1.9	2.5	77.5	1.4	3.8	5.2	1.3	1.2	0.5	0.6	2.1	11.3
David Kyles	32	23.1	3.4	8.1	42.2	2.1	5.4	39.5	0.9	1.3	73.2	0.4	2.5	2.9	1.4	1.0	0.8	0.2	1.0	9.9
Toure` Murry	32	26.1	2.8	7.1	39.0	0.7	2.5	28.7	2.9	3.6	80.0	1.1	3.6	4.7	3.3	2.7	1.2	0.3	1.6	9.2
Ben Smith	32	16.9	2.3	4.3	52.6	1.0	2.5	40.5	1.5	2.0	76.2	1.3	0.9	2.1	1.2	0.7	0.5	0.1	1.1	7.0
Joe Ragland	32	20.1	2.2	4.9	45.2	0.8	2.6	30.1	1.6	1.8	89.3	0.3	1.3	1.6	2.8	1.1	0.6	0.3	2.0	6.8
Garrett Stutz	32	14.3	2.4	4.7	52.0	0.2	0.7	33.3	1.7	2.3	73.0	1.1	2.3	3.4	0.9	1.0	0.3	0.7	2.1	6.8
Gabe Blair	31	19.7	2.6	5.0	51.9	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.2	1.9	64.4	1.8	4.5	6.3	1.1	0.8	0.8	0.8	2.3	6.4
Graham Hatch	31	21.3	1.7	3.9	43.8	0.9	2.4	39.2	1.0	1.5	68.1	1.0	1.5	2.5	1.4	1.3	0.5	0.1	2.1	5.4
Aaron Ellis	32	18.3	2.1	4.0	51.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.6	65.0	1.3	2.3	3.7	0.4	0.6	0.3	0.4	1.9	4.5
Demetric Williams	29	13.9	1.5	3.2	47.3	0.5	1.6	31.1	0.9	1.1	78.1	0.1	0.9	1.0	1.4	1.3	0.4	0.1	1.4	4.4
Jerome Hamilton	4	2.5	0.5	0.5	100.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	1.0	50.0	0.3	0.3	0.5	0.0	0.8	0.0	0.3	0.5	1.5
Ehimen Orukpe	17	5.4	0.3	0.7	41.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	1.2	45.0	0.4	1.5	1.8	0.0	0.9	0.2	0.4	0.9	1.1
Derek Brown	13	2.5	0.3	0.6	50.0	0.3	0.6	50.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	0.1	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.9
Tyler Richardson	13	2.8	0.2	1.0	23.1	0.2	0.8	20.0	0.1	0.4	20.0	0.2	0.4	0.5	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.7
Josh Walker	8	2.4	0.0	0.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0

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Comments

Who's with me!?

I’m in Wichita today for work (how convenient), and am hoping to get to the game tonight. If you would have asked me last week whether I have any interest in going to an NIT game, the honest answer would have been no. But I would have a hard time justifying NOT going. Tickets are only $25, I hear Koch arena is a fun environment, and the Shockers have a great following. Am I going to be the only one there?

Proud winner of the 2010 Corn Nation March Madness Tournament.

by Mr.X on Mar 16, 2011 8:10 AM CDT reply actions