On Christmas Day, the Nebraska Cornhuskers will play the Oregon State Beavers in the Championship round of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
These two teams last meet a season ago in the Sanford Pentagon, where the Huskers took home a 84-63 win in front of a sea of red.
A year later, and the Oregon State Beavers bring an entirely different starting lineup that features just one player that played for the Beavers a season ago.
This Oregon State Beavers team is miles ahead better than the team the Huskers saw a season ago, after finishing the 2023-24 with a 13-19 record, the Beavers are 10-2 through 12 games this season.
The Beavers come into Christmas day riding a six game winning streak, including wins over Charleston and Oakland while in Hawaii.
The Huskers have been playing amazing defense while in Hawaii, and are being carried by Brice Williams, who has scored 30 points or more in two of his last three games.
Players to Watch for Oregon State:
Michael Rataj:
16.3 PTS 9.1 REB 1.0 BLK 2.2 STL
The 6’9 forward from Germany is putting himself on the college basketball map.
Rataj is skilled, can shoot the three and has played in a lot of basketball in both college and overseas.
Expect either Juwan Gary or Berke Buyuktuncel to be matched up with Rataj all night long, but if the Huskers get themselves into foul trouble, good luck defending Rataj.
Josiah Lake II:
7.8 PTS 3.2 REB 1.6 AST 58.5% FG
Lake could be the key tonight for Oregon State if the Huskers defense is making life difficult on the Beavers starters.
Against Oakland in the Semi-finals, Lake scored 11 points off the bench including three key three pointers to help secured a 80-74 overtime win.
Players to Watch for Nebraska:
Brice Williams:
19.2 PTS 2.7 REB 2.2 AST
Brice Williams playing the best basketball of his career and it’s happening at the right time for the Huskers.
The fifth-year senior scored a career high 32 points in the Semi-finals, so expect a large workload for Williams tonight.
Berke Buyuktuncel:
7.3 PTS 6.4 REB 1.4 STL
The Transfer from UCLA has been in an offensive slump ever since the Huskers upset win over the Creighton Bluejays.
Buyuktuncel is only averaging 4.4 points, shooting 22% from three in the last 5 games, but he will be most needed tonight on the defensive end.
Prediction:
The Huskers have been winning games solely based on their ability to play defense.
It seems like if Nebraska plays anywhere that’s outside of Pinnacle Bank Arena, it will be an offensive struggle, but the Huskers are built perfectly for that.
Wednesday, December 25th
ESPN2
Nebraska: 68 Oregon State: 63
