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
Wichita State Statistics