Place your bets! The Cornhuskers are headed west this week for the remainder of the Las Vegas Classic. (The Jackson State game was also part of this tournament.) Let's hope the roulette wheel lands on "red" in a big way this Tuesday...we could use a marquee win before the non-con schedule starts.
This will be a decent measuring stick game for the Nebraska mens basketball team, as they take on a 9-1 Golden Hurricane team that averages almost 80 points a game. A tough task, certainly...but you never can tell when you play in "Sin City". Perhaps the men can ride their own hurricane-wave of positive play after watching the Husker women slap around LSU? They'll need to put all the chips on the table, and let 'er ride in this game.
Tulsa and Nebraska both come in after recent games over Jackson State. Nebraska handled the Tigers with relative ease, while putting up another defensive roadblock in holding the Tigers to 41 points. Tulsa, however, held JSU to just 39 points while scoring a season high 92 points
The Hurricane go big and small, with a 7 foot Jerome Jordan blocking nearly as many shots this season as the entire Husker team thus far. Stopping him will be a must if we want to keep this game respectable. Going small for the Hurricane means 6' 3" guard Ben Uzoh, who is hitting 50% from the field and averaging a team high 16 PPG. Nebraska will be calling Tulsa's hand however, with the top defense in the Big 12, allowing only 53.5 pts per game.
We'll break down the Hurricane-Husker matchup after the jump, and see what it'll take for the Big Red to hit the Jackpot.
Probable Starters for Nebraska:
| Player | Position | Height | Class | Avg PPG |
| #5 Sek Henery | Guard | 6'4" | Senior | 7.8 |
| #15 Ray Gallegos | Guard | 6'3" | Freshman | 5.4 |
| #21 Jorge Brian Diaz | Center | 6'11" | R. Freshman | 8.4 |
| #34 Lance Jeter | Guard | 6'3" | Junior | 9.1 |
| #44 Ryan Anderson | Guard | 6'4" | Senior | 11.0 |
Probable Starters for Tulsa:
| Player | Position | Height | Class | Avg PPG |
| #1 Ben Uzoh | Guard | 6'3" | Senior | 16.3 |
| #12 Bishop Wheatley | Forward | 6'6" | Senior | 7.5 |
| #15 Justin Hurtt | Guard | 6'4" | Junior | 14.9 |
| #23 Jerome Jordan | Center | 7'0" | Senior | 14.4 |
| #33 Joe Richard | Forward | 6'7" | Sophmore | 6.6 |
Tulsa is going to be tough. The Nebraska defense has to dig down deep and try to stop the potent Tulsa offense, and I'm not sure it's in the cards. The Golden Hurricane is averaging 79.5 points per game, which is almost 30 points higher than what the Husker defense is giving up. Somethings gotta give here. Nebraska has led the Big 12 in scoring defense for the last 2 years, and is currently leading the Big 12 ( and possibly the nation this week) again this season after Texas coughed up 90 points to the Tarheels.
Nebraska did score 90 points earlier this season against TCU in a shootout....so we can compete with teams that like to run. The Big Red's accuracy may be their wild-card. The Huskers are hitting almost 50% of there shots, so as long as the defense holds up, they've got a good shot at cashing in big on Tuesday afternoon. ( Sorry for the unbridled usage of Las Vegas/gambling puns here, I couldn't resist!)
Gameday Coverage:
Date: 12/22/09
Tipoff: 4:30pm CST
Television: None
Radio: www.huskers.com ( IMG Husker Sports Network)
Internet Video: HoopTV.net (subscription)
Gameday open thread on www.cornnation.com