The Nebraska Cornhuskers finally got the March Madness winless monkey off their back Thursday afternoon in a blowout win against the Troy Trojans. Husker fans showed up in full force to give the Huskers a home court advantage in this dominant win Thursday.
While the Huskers led by Pryce Sandfort move on to the group of 32, so doesnt a very familiar team in the Vanderbilt Commodores. Nebraska has not played Vandy this year but the teams mirror each other almost identically.
Vanderbilt loves to score, move the ball, and plays great defense. While at the same time Vandy struggles to rebound on both ends of the court. While Vanderbilt may not shoot the three pointer like the Huskers, the do score fast.
For the Huskers to win on Saturday they will need to slow the same down and focus on second opportunities. Nebraska will have trouble working the ball into the paint due to Vanderbilts length but that is not what the Huskers want to do anyway. The Huskers should be able to use the Commodores aggressive defense against them with great ball movement and a solid screen game.
The main focal point for the Huskers should be getting Vandy in foul trouble early, especially Tyler Tanner who almost averages 20 points per game. If the Huskers do manage to get the aggressive Commodore offense in foul trouble early it will put them in trouble and force them to play a more relaxed defense and go into their depth, both benefitting Nebraska.
Averaging 86 the Commodores are top 15 in the country in scoring. But this did not affect Nebraska in the opening game as Troy averaged 75 points per game and a staunch Husker defense held them to 47 points. So a stout defense and good ball movement is a must for Nebraska on Saturday. Even with a perfect game plan we know that it all cones down to who is hot and who is not. At times this year Nebraska has looked like a Top 5 team in the nation while other times they have looked like a middle of the road B1G team. Nebraska has a real shot at the sweet 16 if they play their game and stay in system.