UND finished off their best result in a regular season tournament with a 80-71 win over Ark-Pine Bluff. They finished the tournament with a 2-1 record and was shot away from going 3-0. They resume their non-conference schedule on Sunday when they take the trip down to Lincoln to take on the Cornhuskers.
The game will be on Big Ten Network
Nebraska is of course coached by former Comet, Mustang, Bison, and Ram coach Tim Miles. It wasn't that long ago that Miles was a hot name in coaching. He was a builder of multiple programs and when Nebraska made the decision to hire him from CSU, and the upgrades in arena and facilities, it looked to be pretty good, especially in year 2 when they made the NCAA tournament. My how things have changed since that season. 3 disappointing seasons later and Miles finds himself square on the hot seat, and with a new AD now in charge, Miles knows he has to make something out of this year or else.
Picked 2nd to last in the Big Ten, Cornhusker fans still have high hopes that this could be a team that can get back to the top half of the Big Ten standings. They won their first two games but got hammered last night out in New York City against St. John's.
First glance at the roster and there is a lot of long bodies on this Cornhusker squad, and it shows in their rebounding numbers. However they have not shot the ball very well. Isaiah Roby has been a solid rebounder so far in his Sophomore campaign, averaging nearly 9 a game to with his 10 points per game. James Parmer Jr, the transfer from Miami, is doing his best to give Nebraska a solid inside outside threat at 6'6. Glynn Watson Jr is a tough-nosed PG who is still looking to get his shot going here in the early part of the season.
This will be a huge opportunity for UND to get their first P5 win ever and continue to raise the profile of the Big Sky. I would like to see if Stewart and Dale can continue to knock off the rust and find a rhythm in this offense alongside Geno, Seales and Avants. Walter needs to build off of his last game and need to continue to have success. Rebound, rebound, rebound!
The call:
This is UNDs best shot of being a P5 school in quite a while. The only problem is that I feel there are still too many question marks and gelling that this team needs to go through. In order to pull this off UND is going to need to hit shots, especially from outside. Nebraska will look to spread out, attack the basket and find the open shooters. They need to keep the rebounding margin reasonable. If they can keep the Huskers to within 5 on the rebounds, that will help the cause. I expect Nebraska to escape, but if Geno has a game similar to Troy and gets help... all bets are off.
Huskers 74
UND 67
