A Super Bowl Sunday matinee between the 15-8 (5-7) Nebraska Cornhuskers and 14-9 (6-6) Ohio State Buckeyes brings big NCAA Tournament implications with it.
Across multiple bracket sites, both the Huskers and Buckeyes are projected to make the NCAA Tournament as a 10 seed, both safely in.
Coached by Jake Diebler, the Buckeyes have caught fire as of late, winning four of their last five games which include wins over #11 Purdue and #18 Maryland in heroic fashion.
On Thursday, the Buckeyes trailed Maryland by as much as 17 in the first half, before slowly making a comeback to knock off the #18 ranked Terrapins 73-70, thanks to a Bruce Thornton three with 7 second remaining.
The Buckeyes are led by a dynamic duo of Bruce Thornton and Devin Royal, both who are potential All-Big Ten Players, and tons a solid young guard play.
Thornton leads the Buckeyes in scoring with 17.7 PPG and shoots 46% from three.
For the Huskers, it was a slow moving first half that saw the Huskers shoot over 50% from the field but still go into the halftime break with a 10 point deficit.
The Huskies rose out to a 8/8 start from three, before finishing the game 2/17, thanks in large part to the Huskers letting a poor three point shooting team in Washington just keep shooting.
The Huskers finished off the Huskies 86-72, playing one of their best offensive games this season.
Senior guard and National Player of the Week Brice Williams once again took over late, scoring 23 points with a pair of clutch threes to put away the Huskies.
Players to Watch for Ohio State:
Bruce Thornton:
17.7 PTS 3.4 REB 4.3 AST 46.1% 3PT
Bruce Thornton is one of the best players in the conference for the Buckeyes.
The junior is automatic from midrange and loves to play defense, averaging 1.6 STL in the Buckeyes last five games.
Thornton is a player that the Huskers don’t want to see make his first shot, if they can’t stop Thornton, it will be a long game.
Devin Royal:
14.3 PTS 7.5 REB 54% FG
The sophomore forward has made an insane jump since his freshman season, increasing his points per game by almost 10 per game.
Juwan Gary will most likely be matched up with Royal, which could benefit in the Huskers favor if they play with intensity on defense.
Players to Watch for Nebraska:
Brice Williams:
19.2 PTS 4 REB 2.8 AST 1.1 STL
Brice Williams is playing the best basketball of his career right now for the Huskers, and they’ll need his scoring in a must win matchup on Sunday.
Williams has scored 20+ points in his last 3 games, winning both Big Ten and multiple National Player of the Week honors.
The offense is going to flow through Williams, so the Huskers will need him to get going early.
Rollie Worster:
8 PTS 4 REB 2.8 AST 1 STL
Rollie Worster has been playing solid basketball for the Huskers as of late, and it will be his contributions defensively that will be key for the Huskers.
Worster will most likely be assigned with guarding Bruce Thornton, which provides a tough matchup for the junior guard.
Prediction:
This is must see Big Ten basketball, and there is no doubt that Pinnacle Bank Arena will be rocking Sunday afternoon.
When the vault is loud and rowdy, it is almost impossible for any team for to come out of there with a win.
I don’t expect many big leads for any team in this game, maybe early on but this game should be back and forth and close the full 40 minutes.
It is very hard to predict the Huskers to lose when playing at home.
Sunday, February 9th
1:00 PM CT BTN
Nebraska: 79 Ohio State: 75
