Southeastern Louisiana University

Date: Sunday, November 11th

Time: 3:00 pm CST

Location: Lincoln, NE

2017-18 Record: 22-12 (15-3 Southland Conference)

2018-19 Record: 0-1

Mascot: Lions

Head Coach: Jay Lander

Previous Season

Southeastern Louisiana is coming off a red hot season in 2017-18. They ended up with a 22-12 record overall. They tied for first in the Southland Conference regular season with Nicholls State with a 15-3 record. In the conference tournament they made it all the way to the championship game where they lost to champion Stephen F. Austin.

When the regular season was over they were awarded with the number eight seed in the St. Mary bracket of the NIT Tournament where they lost in the first round to St. Mary.

Current Season

This year the Lions have been tabbed to come in second in the conference in the preseason poll. That is right behind conference tournament champion Stephen F. Austin. They are currently 1-1 with the loss coming from #23 Louisiana State University this past Tuesday.

The 63-94 loss was a harsh wake up call in comparison to their close exhibition win against Delta State the week before. This is somewhat surprising since they are returning a lot of the letter winners from last years squad. The Lions bounced back well with a 78-57 throttling of William Carey this past Friday at home.

They are lead by senior Marlain Veal at point. The 5’9” guard may be small but he has been a mighty force for the squad during his tenure. He averaged 12.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, and a conference leading 6.1 assists per game last year. He was named the Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year and is a preseason first team all conference pick for 2018-19.

In the paint the Lions have Moses Greenwood. The 6’7” forward averaged 10.2 points and 5.6 rebounds a game last year. He lead the starters with 12 points and 7 rebounds in the loss to LSU. Expect the Tigers to go to him early in the game to spread out the Huskers.

One big surprise off the bench is freshman Parker Edwards. The 6’3” guard had a team high of 28 points against the Tigers. The really surprising fact is that he accumulated those points in just 10 minutes of play. He was brought back down to earth against William Carey and had only 11 points in 22 minutes.

Was this a fluke or should the Huskers key in on Edwards early? I think it’s too early in the season to say but I wouldn’t put it past him to have another stellar game. While he may not be starting he could still cause a problem for the Huskers off the bench.

Prediction

Southeastern Louisiana will be a bigger test for Nebraska than Mississippi Valley State. They have more talent and experience than the Delta Devils did and it will show on Sunday. However, I doubt it will be enough to pull off an upset against the Huskers. Talent will prevail in the end.

University of Nebraska 78 Southeastern Louisiana State 61