A pair of teams stuck in the middle of the clogged Big Ten Conference standings tangle on Saturday afternoon when Nebraska faces Penn State in Lincoln, Neb.
Nebraska (17-8, 7-7 Big Ten) is 7-0 at home this season in conference play, with wins over top-10 teams Purdue and Wisconsin. Most recently, the Cornhuskers beat Michigan 79-59 on Feb. 10, just their second victory in the past five games.
“It’s what it’s supposed to look like,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said of that performance, which saw the Cornhuskers hold their opponent to 32.3 percent shooting and win both the rebounding and turnover battle. “It’s what we needed.”
The Nittany Lions (12-13, 6-8) come into town after dropping an 80-72 result to visiting Michigan State on Wednesday. It was Penn State’s second consecutive loss after winning three in a row — a run that included victories at Rutgers and Indiana.
“Throughout this year we’ve shown that we have some really good basketball in us,” first-year coach Mike Rhoades said. “It’s won us some games in the Big Ten. We’re not an easy out.”
Nebraska is the Big Ten’s top 3-point shooting team in conference games, averaging 9.8 made triples per game on 40.3 percent shooting. Penn State holds conference opponents to 33.6 percent shooting from outside.
Penn State’s leading scorer is guard Kanye Clary, who averages 16.7 points per game. However, the 5-foot-11 sophomore hasn’t started since Jan. 27, missing two games due to injury and then coming off the bench the past three. In his place has been North Carolina transfer D’Marco Dunn, though in the past two losses he managed a total of seven points in 44 minutes.
Nebraska has four players averaging double figures, with senior guard Keisei Tominaga tops at 14 per game. Junior forward Rienk Mast ranks fifth in the Big Ten in rebounding at 8.0 per game.
–Field Level Media