After a surprising 75-60 win over Missouri on Wednesday, NU's bid for a second-straight upset hinges on these five factors:

Attack: Unlike Mizzou's extending pressure defense, Texas A&M's prefers to defend at or just below the 3-point line. That means NU's guards - specifically Lance Jeter, Ryan Anderson and Sek Henry - have to dive into the, create kick out opportunities and draw fouls.

Munich Man: Christian Standhardinger rode the bench for the entire Missouri game, but the German import's offensive game should be more effective against the Aggies. Look for head coach Doc Sadler to give him quality, if not extensive, minutes.

Sek's Trek: Henry, along with Brandon Richardson, will most likely draw the defensive assignment of guard Donald Sloan - a controlled, smart guard with one of the Big 12's best mid-range games. Henry has to play Sloan tightly without fouling. Sloan uses his body wisely, and gets a lot of calls.

Wipe the Glass: A&M is likely to abuse Nebraska on the defensive boards - so offensive execution is a must. Where NU has to battle is in keeping the Aggies off the offensive boards. Eight or less would be an accomplishment and recipe for victory.

Don't Settle in Transition: Nebraska did an excellent job of controlling tempo vs. Missouri by pulling the ball out for long possessions. A&M is just the opposite: Push the slower, more methodical Aggies, and don't let them set up their strong interior defense.

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

Guess what? Nebraska's basketball team has a remote chance vs. banged-up Missouri at the Sprint Center. Here's how:

Dish to Diaz: With the season-ending injury to Missouri forward Justin Safford and a wrist injury that may limit forward Lawrence Bowers, minutes, NU center Jorge Brian Diaz must bring his "A" game. And Nebraska must make a concerted effort to get him the ball.

Outside/In: In two losses to Mizzou, Nebraska has allowed shooters Miguel Paul and Marcus Denmon to sink far too many open shots. NU has to deny the long jumpers and make the Tigers earn their points. If it gets physical, so be it. NU has the fouls to burn.

Board Battle: Missouri is beatable in the rebounding department, and Nebraska has to protect and eat glass with ferocity. Guards Lance Jeter, Ryan Anderson and Sek Henry need to have big afternoons.

Plan for a 40-minute game, not a 28-minute one: Too often this year, Nebraska checks out of its offensive gameplan - which should be to feed Diaz the ball as much as possible - to chuck up ill-advised 3-pointers the minute an opponent gets a small lead. For once Wednesday - do the opposite. Work, work, work for openings inside, and let Diaz kick out as necessary. He's a good enough passer to do it. NU doesn't immediately have to resort to panic mode.

Create some turnovers: Nebraska has to give Mizzou a dose of its own medicine with stingy defense. NU hasn't played great defense in...some time. Possibly since the Oklahoma game earlier this year. The Huskers are due for it.

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

Please enable Javascript, or download the podcast here.

Join Husker Locker today - it's free!

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

It was Doc Sadler’s first press conference as Nebraska’s new basketball coach, and he kept fielding questions from a kid in the crowd.

Wow, Sadler thought, who’s this guy?

One of his incoming freshman, actually - Ryan Anderson.

“That was kind of - unique,” Sadler said Monday. “But being around him for four years, that’s the kind of person he is.”

For Anderson - one of four seniors to be honored in NU’s final home game of the regular season Tuesday night vs. Colorado - building the foundation of the Sadler era has been “a crazy ride.” Grinning, Anderson means it as a good thing.

He played nearly every position on the floor except point guard. He joined Erick Strickland as the only Husker to notch 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 150 3-pointers, 150 steals and 150 assist in his career. He’s packed on weight to throw down in the paint. He’s lost it to get quicker on the perimeter. He’s rediscovered his high-arcing 3-point shot in the last month.

Anderson even met his wife, the former Danielle Smith, when she was a member of the NU track team.

“A lot of stuff happened, man, but all along it was a great opportunity,” Anderson said.

Anderson and Sek Henry - along with Ben Nelson and Chris Balham - comprise the first four-year class of Sadler players.

While a Barry Collier recruit, Anderson never played a second for him. Nelson played club rugby at NU for a year - he was good at it, too - before switching his attention to basketball. Balham played for three years before chronic knee pain forced him to become a student coach.

Henry, meanwhile, was Sadler’s first recruit in August 2006 out of the Patterson School in North Carolina.

“For him to have the confidence in me to come to Nebraska, you’re always going to be appreciative of that,” Sadler said.

Henry’s never missed a game at NU. He’s played in 124 straight, 95 of them starts. The left-hander from Los Angeles struggled with confidence during this season - “I take things too hard on myself,” Henry said - but busted out of a slump with a career-high 21 points in the 83-79 double-overtime win over Texas Tech.

His mother Juanita - who doesn’t like to fly - will take in her first Husker home game of Henry’s career Tuesday along with Henry’s cousin, who made it to Lincoln despite her plane being struck by lightning.

“I’m going to try not to get emotional,” Henry said. He’d rather be focused, he said, on delivering a win in the 7:05 p.m. game.

Anderson’s parents and in-laws will be on hand for his final home game, unless NU, 14-15 sneaks into a postseason tournament like the NIT or CBI with a healthy winning streak at the end of the season.

Henry hasn’t lost hope of that. The screensaver on his cell phone is a picture he took of the Big 12 trophy while in Kansas City for media days. A conference tournament title remains the goal.

“I’ve been frustrated, but I never doubt we can win,” Henry said.

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

You didn’t think it was going to be easy, did you?

In a game packed with runs, blunders and big shots for both men’s basketball teams, Nebraska finally clubbed Texas Tech 83-79 in double-overtime Saturday in the longest game of Doc Sadler era.

“Relieved,” was Sadler’s first word on his postgame radio show. NU won its second Big 12 game in a long conference season. Senior guard Sek Henry, in an offensive slumber for most of the Big 12 season, finally broke out of it, scoring 12 points in the extra frames, and career-high 21 overall.

“You’re so happy for Sek Henry,” he said. “He’s a senior, he’s frustrated, probably hasn’t gone the way he’s wanted it to go with the wins and losses. Probably hasn’t shot it as well as he’d life. But tonight? He’s an example of somebody who just comes every day and stays the course. You make your own luck.”

After a month’s worth of gut-punch losses to Baylor, Kansas State and Iowa State, NU (14-15 overall and 2-12 in the league) rode the roller coaster again.

Tech ripped off a 17-0 run in the first half en route to a 34-26 halftime lead. NU then overcame a 12-point second-half deficit with a 22-2 run that gave the Cornhuskers their biggest lead of the game, 55-47, with 6:27 remaining. Freshman Brandon Ubel - who finished with a career-high 14 points - hit a 3-pointer with 4:34 left for a 60-52 advantage.

Nebraska didn’t hit another basket in regulation. Tech tied the game at 60 with three straight jumpers before Henry hit two free throws with 42 seconds left for a 62-60 lead. Tech answered 12 seconds later with a basket, and, on NU’s final possession, guard Brandon Richardson’s fadeaway jumper fell short.

The Red Raiders (16-12 and 4-10) quickly grabbed a 69-64 lead in overtime, but Ubel’s 3-point play with 2:24 left cut the lead to two. Henry then drained a 3-pointer with 1:39 left for a 70-69 lead. Tech point guard John Roberson hit two free throws to recapture the advantage. Then NU point guard Lance Jeter hit 1 of 2 free throws to tie it. Roberson, much like Richardson, missed a fadeaway baseline jumper at the buzzer of the first overtime.

In the second OT, Henry scored seven straight points as Nebraska captured a five-point lead of its own at 78-73. Tech didn’t recover as Jeter iced the game with three free throws.

Neither team shot the ball well, and Nebraska made just 34.8 percent of its shots. Nebraska grabbed 52 rebounds, however, including 18 offensive boards. Senior Ryan Anderson finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and two steals. Tech was led by guard Nick Okorie, who scored 28 on 6-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. The Red Raiders’ best scorer, Michael Singletary, finished with just eight points.

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

A second-half swoon. Bad shot selection. An inability to get key stops, or make trips to the free throw line.

Nebraska’s basketball team committed the same costly errors Saturday night that it has much of the season. Coupled with a coaching blunder that Doc Sadler called the worst error of his NU career, the Cornhuskers turned in its ugliest performance of the season, a 56-53 loss to Iowa State that could be an early derailment toward postseason hopes of any kind.

At the very least, it’ll make for a long bye week in and around the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

“I’ve done as bad a job of coaching as you can do because we continue to make the same mistakes,” Sadler said. “...We’re breaking down in the same areas every time.”

Sadler was particularly critical of the Huskers’ shot selection. They made 36 percent of their shots, and took 19 3-pointers - many of them long, off-balance efforts - connecting on just five. They fell behind to ISU 26-14 midway through the first half before staging an 18-5 run with stingy defense against a gassed Cyclone unit.

In the second half, Nebraska made just 1 of 8 3-point attempts, blew a 46-41 lead on bad shots and a five-minute scoring drought, and committed a ghastly turnover on its second-to-last possession when senior Sek Henry dribbled into a double team with no discernible shooting or passing option and lost the ball.

Iowa State led 55-53 with 42 seconds left.

Sadler then chose to let the Cyclones grind the clock for 26 seconds before ISU called a timeout. Then, instead of making Iowa State beat the shot clock, Sadler instructed his team to immediately foul.

But he didn’t know Nebraska had committed only five fouls for the half. So the Huskers had to foul again. NU wasted at least seven seconds - but arguably a half-minute - that it could have used for multiple possessions.

“The mistake that I made in that basketball game was bigger than any mistake a player has made for us in four years,” Sadler said. “I’m very, very upset about it.”

The Huskers still had a chance to tie when ISU guard Lucca Staiger made just 1 of 2 free throws. But Lance Jeter’s final desperation shot was ill-conceived and well short.

For the game, NU attempted only eight free throws. Freshman forwards Brian Diaz and Christian Standhardinger took 20 shots combined, made only four, and didn’t draw a single shooting foul between them. ISU was only whistled for nine fouls in 40 minutes - a reflection of the Huskers’ lack of aggression and their willingness to settle for bad shots.

“Our shot selection, at times, was bad as it can be in this league,” Sadler said.

Senior forward Ryan Anderson took his share of head-scratchers, but made up for it with eight rebounds and five steals, including a deft theft of ISU’s Craig Brackins that gave NU a chance to tie the game in the final minute. He led Nebraska with 13 points, but, biting his lip afterward, had no easy answers for his team's struggles.

“I can’t whip up nothing, man,” Anderson said. “I don’t know, honestly.”

Sadler did and said so - in blunt terms.

“I promise you: There are some guys on that bench that ain’t getting to play - they will do what I ask them,” Sadler said. “We may not be as good. Everybody may think we’re not going to be as good. But we’re going to do what I ask…I got a lot of young guys. And I’ll play them.”

He’ll have a week to tinker. Nebraska doesn’t play again until Jan. 23 - at Missouri.

Until then - welcome to the Big 12 cellar.

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

It wasn’t until 24 hours after Nebraska’s 84-72 loss to Kansas that senior guard Sek Henry heard about what he called coach Doc Sadler’s “shout out” to the Cornhuskers’ mental toughness.

Henry was in the middle of a night class when students, reading Sadler’s quote in the paper, asked Henry what he thought of his coach saying NU wasn’t willing to “hurt and grind” enough to upset the No. 3 Jayhawks. Sadler often critiques his team. But rarely its toughness.

“I was kinda hurt about that,” Henry said Friday. “But at the same time it was the truth. The team was not mentally strong.”

Henry said one or two tough guys on the floor isn’t enough, and he’d spend practice Friday “being vocal” and getting inside his teammates brains “when things were breaking down.”

Could the Huskers’ mental meddle have been tied to physical fatigue? NU opted for a seven-man rotation Wednesday night despite a fierce first-half pace and KU’s defensive pressure.

“If we were tired, then they had to be tired,” Henry said. “They were playing just as hard as we were.”

Kansas was also playing with two more guys in its rotation.

Sadler said he considered playing freshmen Brandon Ubel, Myles Holley or Ray Gallegos. But he wanted to keep hot-shooting Brandon Richardson and Eshaunte Jones on the floor, and opted for Christian Standhardinger down the stretch for the German’s ability to draw fouls.

The guy who may have most helped NU with second-half rebounding - junior Quincy Hankins-Cole - wasn’t a part of the equation.

“He wants to play," Sadler said. "Great kid. But the commitment sometimes has lacked.”

Hankins-Cole - who missed practice Thursday with the flu, but returned Friday - hasn’t played in either of NU’s Big 12 games. At Texas A&M, the Huskers (12-5 overall, 0-2 in the Big 12 Conference) were beaten on the boards 39-27. Kansas outrebounded Nebraska 30-17. Hankins-Cole has averaged 3.1 rebounds per game, but that number jumps to 7.9 per 30 minutes of playing time - best on the team.

“Quincy ought to be on that floor,” Sadler said. “He’s the guy who has to make that decision, that commitment, it takes to play here. Some days he’s very, very good.”

Sadler said NU’s guards - Henry, Ryan Anderson and Lance Jeter - have to pick up the rebounding slack. It doesn’t get much easier with Iowa State visiting for a 7 p.m. Saturday tilt at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in an early game to stay out of the Big 12 cellar.

The Cyclones (11-5, 0-1) are smarting from their tough home loss, 90-83 to No. 1 Texas. In the UT game and in a 86-65 loss to Duke, Henry said he noticed ISU crashed the boards so hard with forwards Curtis Brackins and Marcus Gilstrap, that opponents got easy transition baskets when they grabbed the defensive rebound.

“We get the rebound, we’ll get it out and get transition baskets because of the way they crash the boards,” Henry said.

NU lacks, of course, the size and rebounding prowess of Texas or Duke. So the Huskers will have to pick their spots to run and utilize their superior quickness after made baskets to press the Cyclones. Nebraska forced ISU into 17 turnovers in both games last season.

Sadler may have to scramble for guards, though, Richardson took a knee to his thigh late in the Kansas game, and Jones missed two days of practice with the same flu that felled Richardson and Hankins-Cole.

See also: Five Keys to ISU

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

(Photo courtesy of zimbio.com)

Now that Nebraska’s basketball season was over, head coach Doc Sadler could admit two things in his Tuesday press conference.

First, that NU’s Tiny Mighties, with their 18-13 campaign, “far exceeded” what Sadler envisioned they could do last fall.

“We can talk about our size not being a factor, but (the season) is over with now,” Sadler said. “It was a huge factor.”

Second, this year was one hell of a grind. For the players. And for Sadler himself.

“It was probably the hardest year physically on me, because we just had no room for error,” he said. “Even the preseason games were difficult. You could never really sit there and know. I can’t say there was a game we went into and I said ‘Wow, we’re going to win that basketball game no matter what happens.’”

A season without freebies is a bear. Especially when “Bear” Jones, a true freshman shooter, goes down with a foot injury in the first week of the season. Or when Alex Chapman transfers before playing a single second of NU basketball. Or when, through eligibility and/or transcript problems, Roburt Sallie never shows up, and Christopher Niemann and Brian Diaz are forced to sit out.

Sallie, you might recall, saved Memphis’ hide from first-round disaster in the NCAA Tournament with 35 points and ten 3-pointers. Think he might have helped a Husker squad that often struggled from beyond the arc?

Sadler even talked Sallie one day after the game. Sallie’s message?

“He said ‘You know, coach, I still want to be at Nebraska,’” Sadler said.

No, Doc hasn’t been dealt the best circumstances. He signed a few lemons - Chapman and Shang Ping come to mind – and the NCAA has left a few limes on his doorstep, too. From the moment Sadler arrived at NU, he hasn’t coached or recruited like Barry Collier and the results thus far – with some of Collier’s recruits – has been better, frankly, than expected. Especially this year.

That’s because Sadler is a superior coach. You watch practices and games and you see, at the very least, a team with a winning plan, given its talent. Nebraska might not have had any freebies this year, but it wasn’t out of a lot of games, either. Sadler’s bunch consistently won the turnover battle, which can be worth 10-15 points per game. The Huskers couldn’t block Blake Griffin’s shot. But they could strip him of the ball.

Sadler’s not one to toot his own horn, but he’s outcoached some of his Big 12 counterparts, especially Texas’ Rick Barnes, who feasts on some of the nation’s best talent and finds himself in starving match every time the Longhorns play NU. The Huskers had Oklahoma scouted beautifully; only missed free throws kept them from an upset in Norman. And despite the meltdown in Columbia, it’s hard to dismiss Sadler’s track record against Missouri, a Sweet 16 participant in 2009.

If success in college basketball was built merely on coaching acumen, Sadler and Nebraska would have been in the Big Dance the last two seasons.

But Sadler has to be a coach and a general manager. Current player personnel? Sadler. Recruiting? Sadler. Earlier this season I asked for the primary handler of NU’s non-conference schedule. Again, Sadler. Some teams have coaches who delegate a lot of drill-by-drill practice duties to assistants. At one of NU’s workouts, you hear one consistent voice for two hours. Sadler’s.

He’s not a figurehead. The man earns his paycheck. And Sadler the coach has a proven track record.

For now, Sadler the GM is still polishing the resume. It could look very good next fall if 6-foot-11 Diaz and 6-foot-10 Niemann step in and win starting jobs. They could be two of NU’s top offensive options, and Sadler may be able to use a trapping zone defense if Diaz can defend the basket and block shots.

“In some ways they’re not freshmen,” Sadler said. “They got a chance to sit there and look at it. I think Brian really understood and got a chance to see how much he really needs to work in the weight room. Not everything’s going to be new for them, and that’s a positive.”

But Sadler craves speed, and he’s still on the lookout for fast, and preferably physical, guards. Like Oklahoma State’s quintet, for example, or even Colorado’s Dwight Thorne and Cory Higgins. Five-foot-seven Cookie Miller is a sparkplug, giving the Huskers key energy bursts throughout the game, but he’s simply not strong or big enough to trade blows with the best for 40 minutes. Sadler wants a beast on the perimeter, a guy with size and rebounding skills. That’s not Miller, or the slender Sek Henry.

If he can find that piece, and keep Niemann and Diaz healthy through the summer, NU can again compete for a top four finish in the Big 12. The Huskers were just a game out of that slot this year; next season, if the chips fall right, 10 or 11 league wins isn’t out of the question.

And Doc is due for some good fortune.

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

Nebraska’s ticket office thinks so. Some fans may think so. Bandwagon Bluejays backers in Omaha’s NoDo probably think so. But Nebraska basketball coach Doc Sadler is steadfast: Creighton’s just another opponent. Just another game. And not a rival.




So NU and CU renew their series Saturday night in what’s likely to be a packed house at Bob Devaney Sports, the 4-0 Cornhuskers will be looking at the 3-1 Jays as the fifth non-conference foe that presses more than some other teams. And that’s it.



“I don’t and the team doesn’t (see it as a rivalry),” Sadler said. “Our fans may and Creighton may. I don’t know what they do or our fans. As far as I’m concerned and the team’s concerned, we haven’t done anything different than we’d be doing if were playing Saint Louis or San Jose or anyone else.



“That’s probably not what people want to hear, but that’s just how it is.”



That doesn’t mean Sadler’s dialing down his trademark intensity for the game, sophomore guard Cookie Miller said.



“I don’t think he can change,” Miller said. “If we were playing an elementary team, Doc would always be Doc.”



What Husker fans would like to see is an NU victory over a Creighton squad coming off a surprising road loss to Arkansas Pine Bluff, who beat CU 71-69 thanks to a 20-rebound advantage. That performance prompted Creighton coach Dana Altman to meet with his players individually in preparation for the Nebraska game.


“They are bigger than us,” guard Sek Henry said. “Their coaches are probably really going to have them enforce rebounding against us so they can have more chances to score. We’re just gonna have to keep playing our game, and box out.



Although NU beat Saint Louis 71-57 on Tuesday, the Billikens outrebounded the Huskers 28-20, which led to a number of easy baskets. The Huskers countered that with a solid press and a balanced scoring attack, shooting almost 60 percent from the field. Improved patience, Sadler, was the key.



“Good teams you’re not gonna knock out,” Sadler said. “Saint Louis wasn’t going to let you knock them out. So we came down, handled the ball for 20, 25 seconds and we got good shots.”



Creighton will demand the same kind of discipline, as CU is led by a trio of streaky guards – Booker Woodfox, Cavel Witter and P’Allen Stinnett – who combine to average almost 45 of CU’s 80 points per game. The Bluejays at a much faster pace than the Huskers, who are holding opponents to 51 points per game.



Part of that is because of the Bluejays’ a press, long a staple of the Altman defensive repertoire.

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

(Sek Henry photo courtesy of Huskers.com)



It was a billed as a defensive struggle. But it was the efficient, aggressive offense of Nebraska’s basketball team that stole the spotlight in a 71-57 win over Saint Louis Tuesday in front of 6,245 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.



The Cornhuskers (4-0) shot nearly 60 percent for the game – and 65 percent in the second half - against the Billkens, who, under coach Rick Majerus, are known for their stingy defense. But inexperienced SLU couldn’t keep up with the speed of NU guards Sek Henry, who led all scorers with 19 points, and seniors Steve Harley and Ade Dagunduro, who pitched in 12 and 14 points, respectively.



Nebraska’s pressure defense, meanwhile, suffered a few breakdowns but generally harassed the Billiken guards, particularly guard Kevin Lisch, who entered Tuesday night averaging 18.3 points per game. Lisch only scored seven and was shut out in the first half.



After staking an early 24-12 lead behind a flurry of points from Dagunduro, Nebraska maintained a comfortable margin for the rest of the game. SLU (2-2) got within four just before half, but Paul Velander made two free throws and Steve Harley made a layup to give NU a 37-29 halftime lead.



In the second half, Saint Louis never got closer than five, but remained within striking until a 10-0 run, capped off by two Harley layups, put the Huskers ahead 62-47 with less than four minutes remaining.



Senior Paul Velander chipped in five points and took three charging calls. Redshirt freshman guard Toney McCray seemed recovered from his brief illness, adding seven points and two blocks, both of which led to transition baskets.
NU won its 27th consecutive non-conference home game, a streak that will be tested Saturday vs. Creighton. The Bluejays lost Tuesday night to Arkansas-Little Rock 71-69.

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

(Above: NU guard Sek Henry. Photo Courtesy of Huskers.com)



Sek Henry just had to laugh. Yes, the Nebraska guard knows he and his basketball teammates are in for a slugfest Tuesday night against Saint Louis, whose legendary coach, Rick Majerus, likes defense as much as NU coach Doc Sadler.



In fact, it’s entirely conceivable that the Cornhuskers (3-0) and Billikens (2-1) might combine to score less than Nebraska and Colorado do in Friday’s football game. NU is only allowing 49.7 points per game. SLU is allowing a little over 50, and held Missouri-Kansas City to 33 points.



Pit defenses like that against each other, and a Big Ten brawl might break out. Say 35-30?



“Probably,” joked Henry, who leads the team with eight steals. “It’s going to be a low scoring game. Saint Louis, they wait for players to make mistakes and then they score off of that, or draw fouls. We’re going to have to stay in our stance and play defense the whole 35 seconds of the shot clock. They take their time on offense and they make you work.”



SLU also pounds the boards, Nebraska Coach Doc Sadler said. ACC member Boston College found out the hard way, getting outrebounded 43-32 in a 53-50 loss to the Billikens.



Saint Louis isn’t much bigger than tiny Nebraska; only one starter is taller than six-foot-six. But Sadler pointed to their “concerted, concentrated effort” to be aggressive against opponents.



“They beat Boston College on the board pretty bad,” Sadler said. “They’re probably the first team we’ve played that’s really gonna try to take advantage of our lack of inside game…first shot opportunities is not something they’re beating people with. It’s the second and third opportunities.”



That attitude flows from Majerus, the portly-but-tenacious head coach who took Utah to the national championship game in 1998, beating three No. 1 seeds along the way.



“You don’t have the reputation he has, or the success, without knowing what the heck you’re doing,” said Sadler, who used to attend coaching clinics at Marquette when Majerus was just an assistant. “He has things he really believes in and he gets his point across.”



In his second year at SLU, Majerus favors physical, ball-control guards and solid shooting big men. His methodical offense often turns into a series of vicious ball screens outside the arc in an attempt to create space for shooters or penetration lanes. On defense, expect a variety of tough-to-tackle zone pressure schemes.



Expect contested shots, Sadler said, for a Nebraska team still trying to carve out an offensive identity without graduated center Aleks Maric. In particular, the Huskers are still adjusting to an offense that doesn’t involve a giant guy camping out in the post with his hand nearly eight feet in the air.



“It sounds simple, but spacing is a difficult thing to coach and a difficult thing to execute,” Sadler said.



It should help that redshirt freshman Toney McCray, who sat out most of NU’s win over Arkansas Pine Bluff with an illness, is closer to 100 percent.



“I saw him eating a sandwich a little while ago,” Sadler said.



Note: The game will be televised in Nebraska on Fox Sports Midwest. Tip-off is at 7:07, and will feature the broadcasting debut of Eric Piatkowski…Sadler said guard Eshaunte “Bear” Jones and forward Chris Balham did not practice Sunday and weren’t likely to before the game, but both should play. Unlikely to play is junior forward Alex Chapman, who “tweaked his knee,” Sadler said, in practice on Sunday.


Click here for more coverage!

Permanent Link to this Blog Post