Nebraska Basketball: 3 keys for Cornhuskers to win against Penn State

Control the Paint

There will not be many people giving Nebraska a chance to win at the Bryce Jordan Center on Saturday afternoon. The Huskers typically do not have much success there. They are not alone though as the Bryce Jordan Center is one of the hardest places to play in the league. The arena rarely draws much in the way of fans, making it very hard for road teams to win there. It can be done but it usually takes a whole team effort. The one spot where Nebraska may have the advantage in this game is the paint.

It was mentioned in this article and will be mentioned all throughout the game how Penn State uses its guards to score. Nebraska is the complete opposite. On the offensive end, Nebraska loves to back cut towards the basket for easy looks, point guard Sam Griesel will back every defender down that he has in order to get an easy look in the paint, and most importantly the Husker’s best player is big man Derrick Walker Jr. Walker has been in foul trouble the last two games and has not been able to make the impact that the Huskers need him to every game. If he can stay out of foul trouble he has a chance to match or set a new career high in points. Nebraska is going to know they have an advantage with that matchup.

This is not taking anything away from Penn State, but when Walker Jr is playing well and on the floor he is a match-up problem for just about everyone he plays against. He can pass, is extremely skilled at the rim, and Nebraska is going to run their offense through him when he is playing well can make the Nebraska offense much better.

It all goes back to Walker staying on the floor. The athletic bigs for Nebraska should hopefully be able to get what they want at the rim and hopefully, they can make enough shots to give them a chance to win.