Nebraska Basketball: 3 keys to beating Texas A&M in 2024 NCAA Tournament

Take Smart Shots

Nebraska and smart shots are different for a lot of teams because of the Huskers ability to make bad shots. They also have some players who thrive on making shots mainly Keisei Tominaga. The Huskers offense operates at a high level when Tominaga and Brice Williams are making things happen. Tominaga makes a ton of threes and gets to the rim with back cuts and makes a lot of shots that many other guys in the tournament cannot make. Williams does the same thing, but his tough shots usually come from step back threes and mid-range jumpers which he tends to make often. Outside of those two guys the Huskers operate at their best when they are executing the offense and getting open shots.

The Huskers are loaded with guys who can make threes and the offensive gameplan is to take them. They also love to get big man Rienk Mast the ball at the elbow and let him facilitate. Mast will either pass the ball into a cutter for an easy lay in, kick it out to a wide open three-point shooter, or will drive the lane himself for easy baskets. CJ Wilcher and Tominaga come off a dribble handoff for a spot up three and Josiah Allick and Juwan Gary do a lot of work on back cuts to the basket for easy looks. If the Huskers move the ball on offense and are making shots, they become very hard to defend and can put up points in a hurry.

The Huskers tend to get stagnant on offense, especially when the other team is starting to make a run and shrinking the lead. The Huskers stop moving the ball, they stop playing through Mast, and they start to hoist a ton of bad three-point shots or contested mid-range jumpers. Texas A&M is too good for the Huskers to go and start doing that. The Aggies have guys who like to get out in transition and finish at the rim. The three-point line is the one place that Nebraska has an overwhelming advantage against the Aggies. They are going to get their threes up, but the quality of the looks is going to be important. The more Nebraska starts to move the ball and run their offense the easier it is going to be to neutralize the A&M big men for easy looks.

Texas A&M is one of the best rebounding teams in the country and if the Huskers start taking bad shots and letting the Aggies grab the rebound and get out in transition it will be a long evening. Nebraska needs to take advantage of the three-point line because the Huskers can change the game from deep.