At the start of the week, Nebraska clearly had the Big Ten’s toughest task: Knock off No. 6 Wisconsin and No. 14 Illinois to prove it belongs in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014.
The Cornhuskers achieved the first half of that improbable double with an 80-72 overtime win against the visiting Badgers on Thursday. Nebraska jumped from No. 60 to No. 55 in the NET rankings that influence the NCAA Tournament committee.
Now comes the tougher part.
After expending endless energy to rally from a 19-point deficit on Thursday, the Cornhuskers (16-6, 6-5 Big Ten) had little time to recover ahead of their Sunday clash at Illinois (16-5, 7-3). The Illini haven’t played since Tuesday.
“It’s too bad,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said after the Wisconsin triumph. “We’ve had two great wins over Top 10 teams (the Cornhuskers beat then-No. 1 Purdue on Jan. 9) and you don’t get to celebrate. We’ve got to bounce back, get back in the gym, put a game plan together and hopefully go out and execute on the road.”
That hasn’t been easy regardless of the amount of Nebraska’s prep time. The Cornhuskers stand 0-5 on the road in the Big Ten this season, and they lost those contests by an average of 14.4 points.
One thing in Nebraska’s favor? Muscular forward Juwan Gary — whom Hoiberg refers to as a junkyard dog — is back in the rotation and provided nine points and four rebounds against Wisconsin. Gary left the Jan. 17 overtime loss at Rutgers with a calf injury that kept him out for three games, which included the Cornhuskers’ loss at Maryland.
“Getting Juwan back is huge for our team,” Hoiberg said. “He does so many things for our group. If he plays on the road, I think we may have one (conference road win) under our belt. … So who knows?”
Because Wisconsin features one of the Big Ten’s bigger lineups, Hoiberg was able to plug in the 6-foot-6, 221-pound Gary at small forward alongside Josiah Allick at the power forward and Rienk Mast at center.
But playing such a big lineup isn’t going to work against an Illinois squad that plays unlike any other Big Ten team. Skywalking 6-6 Ty Rodgers is ostensibly the point guard, but he gets his points by outmaneuvering any player who guards him. He delivered 13 points (on 5-of-6 shooting) and 10 rebounds in the Fighting Illini’s 87-75 win at Ohio State.
“I thought Ty dominated the game,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “Everybody keeps putting ‘5’ men on him and we just keep laughing because he’s our best post player. He’s got great low-post moves and feet.”
There is not a natural matchup for Mast because Coleman Hawkins ostensibly serves as Illinois’ center, but he has taken nearly as many 3-point attempts (81) as 2-point attempts (83) this year. Illinois’ top two scorers are Terrence Shannon Jr. (20.1 points per game) and Marcus Domask (15.5 ppg).
“We’ve got to … find a way to play a team that puts you in a lot of difficult positions,” Hoiberg said. “They just look at the mismatch and say, ‘All right, we’re going to (isolate) with you,’ and they’ve got really good players to take advantage of that.”
–Field Level Media