Nebraska Basketball: 2018 Cornhuskers Christmas wishlist

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LINCOLN, NE – DECEMBER 8: Head coach Tim Miles of the Nebraska Cornhuskers reacts to being called for a technical foul in the game against the Creighton Bluejays at Pinnacle Bank Arena on December 8, 2018 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images) /

Finishing Games

To go along with starting fast is the factor of finishing games. This can also be noted as late game execution. Every single team in the country aside from the top-5 teams in the country want this under their Christmas tree. Nebraska right now has the highest margin of victory in the entire Big Ten. Even if that number continues to trend in the Huskers favor, they are going to be in close hard fought single possession games in the conference. Especially games on the road.

In the lone conference game on the road for the Huskers this season, they blew a big lead in the last 5 minutes of the game. The Huskers could not score any points and their defense let them down. While it was only game, and winning on the road in College Basketball is extremely difficult. Late game execution, or learning how to win is something each team, even the ones with a ton of experience, must learn. In the game against Minnesota the Huskers took terrible shots, and went away from their bread and butter of getting into the lane and getting to the foul line.

The Gophers did switch to a zone defense which kept Nebraska in check and their shooters had a bad five minutes, all of it led to a loss they should not have. In their other true road game this season against Clemson, the Huskers almost blew a 10 point lead with two minutes left. They turned the ball over way to many times down the stretch, but their defense was stout and the Huskers were able to escape with a key resume building victory. T

he Huskers are going to be tested many more times on the road, and Coach Miles and the fan base are hoping their late game execution woes are behind them. This is going to get tested right away as the Huskers start conference play again with two extremely tough road games at Maryland and at Iowa. Those games are surely going to be close and will come down to a few possessions at the end. The team with the better execution and who is better at getting to the foul line will come out on top.

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