University of Mary Marauders

Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2016 – 7:00 PM – Pinnacle Bank Arena

2015-16 Record: 19-12

2016-17 Record: 0-2

Head Coach: Joe Kittell (3^rd Season)

Okay, normally this wouldn’t be looked upon and a big game in any way shape or form. University of Mary is a small Division II in South Dakota that should most likely be used as an exhibition game. Not a regular season match up for a Division 1 school in a Power 5 conference.

Then again, this is not just any Division II school. It’s Coach Time Miles Alma Mater! Yes, Nebraska has scheduled the school that Coach Miles himself rode the pine at and started his journey in coaching. I mean, is there any other reason that this school is on the Cornhusker’s schedule?

Anyway, on to the game.

Mary’s had a fairly decent 2015-16 season going 19-12 and making to the Northern Sun Conference semifinals where their season ended with a loss to Minnesota State Moorehead. They finished 6^th in the 16 team league and will return 7 of the players from last year’s squad. Many of which were contributors to last years run.

The start of this year has been a little bit more of a struggle for the Marauders. They’re currently sitting 0-2 with losses to Lincoln and Southwest Baptist. When it comes down to it, Mary’s is a decent school for their division and should play well as the season goes on. However, I wouldn’t expect too much against Nebraska. The talent difference between these schools is too great to overcome.

Mary’s is led by guard Damonta Henry who is averaging 19 points per game and is their main threat on offense. He threw up 23 points in his first outing against Lincoln which has inflated his stats a little but ended up with 15 against Southwest Baptist on Saturday so expect to see a lot of him during the game.

Bryan Jefferson is a 6’7” forward and the second leading scorer with 14 ppg and 6 rpg. He’s fairly quick and athletic but shouldn’t cause too much of a problem for Nebraska down below.

Rickey Suggs is their leading rebounder with 7 rpg while also adding 14 ppg to his stats. Yes, he leads the team in stats but is also 6’4”. If Nebraska’s big guys play aggressively, there should be little room for him to bring much down when the game starts.

The game itself should resemble the Chadron State exhibition last week with a lot of the bench seeing playing time. This will be good considering how slow the Huskers started against Sacramento State. They will need to get more production from the reserves as the regular season is going to get challenging pretty quick with the likes of Dayton and Clemson around the corner.