Nebraska men’s basketball will look to get back to its winning ways when it hosts Northwestern Saturday afternoon at Pinnacle Bank Arena at 1:15 p.m. CT.
The game will be televised on Big Ten Network with Cory Provus and Shon Morris on the call.
Saturday’s game will be a chance for the Huskers to improve on their 13-5 record which matches their best 18-game record since joining the Big Ten (they also started 13-5 in 2018-19) and their best record to start a season since the 2010-11 team started 14-4.
Gary Injury Update
In Wednesday’s loss to Rutgers, Juwan Gary went down with a non-contact injury at the 12:57 mark in the second half. He pulled up while trying to run down the floor in transition and immediately made his way back to the locker room with help.
Friday at his media availability, Coach Fred Hoiberg provided some clarity on the Gary injury.
“We feel very fortunate about where things are with him,” Hoiberg said. “It turned out it’s a calf strain, it’s going to be a day-to-day injury. He feels significantly better today than he did yesterday.”
In his postgame conversation on Husker Radio Network after the Rutgers loss, Hoiberg mentioned Gary was “on crutches back there” and that it looked like a foot or ankle injury.
“He still has quit a bit of soreness in the calf so he will not play tomorrow [against Northwestern],” Hoiberg said. “We will just take it day by day. If he continues to show the same progress that he’s shown the last 48 hours then hopefully we will get him back on the court soon. I’m not going to put a time frame on it but we will just call it day-to-day right now.”
Gary’s importance to the team is well noted. He is second on the team in rebounds per game (5.8) and leads the team with 40 total offensive rebounds.
“Again, we feel very fortunate,” Hoiberg said. “Obviously we need him. I think it might have been a different outcome had we had Juwan down the stretch the other night. We didn’t so who knows. Juwan is a very important part of our team and we hope to get him back on the court soon.”
Hoiberg will have several options to fill the minutes left by Gary’s absence for however long it lasts. Josiah Allick will likely slide back into the starting lineup next to Rienk Mast, then Hoiberg could choose to go smaller or bigger off the bench depending on matchups.
“It’s not going to be one guy,” Hoiberg said. “It’s going to be by committee with replacing what Juwan gives us. Obviously we’re going to have lineups out there where we’re big. Rienk and Jo have played together — especially early in the season when Juwan was out — significant minutes together. Eli [Rice] is going to have to be ready to give us more extended minutes. C.J. [Wilcher] is obviously playing very well right now; he played quite a bit of four for us last year. And Matar [Diop] is going to have to be ready.”
Facing the Wildcats
Northwestern is currently fourth in the Big Ten, 4-2 in league play including 1-2 on the road. Beating the Wildcats certainly hasn’t been an easy task for Nebraska in recent years. The Huskers have lost their last seven to the Wildcats dating back to 2019.
“We are playing a a really really good team that is playing their best basketball right now in Northwestern on Saturday that obviously we’ve had our struggles with in the past, so we are just going to have to find a way to regroup,” Hoiberg said.
Wildcat guard Boo Buie leads the Wildcats in scoring (18.4 per game) and assists (5.1 per game). Buie has the Huskers’ full attention.
“Boo Buie, in my opinion, is a top five guard in the country,” Hoiberg said. “He’s just got every trick in the bag. He’s a great finisher, he’s a great passer … It all starts with him.”
Alumni Weekend
Nebraska’s largest Alumni Weekend turnout since the program began hosting the event in 2014 is this weekend with more than 65 former players, coaches and staff in town. The group spans eight decades of Huskers basketball, as players ranging from the 1950s to 2020s will be in attendance for the game versus Northwestern.
The 1993-94 Big Eight Tournament Champion Huskers will be honored prior to the game with a tunnel walk and the head coach, Danny Nee, will be honored during the under 12 timeout in the first half Saturday.
Bubbling
After letting one get away at Minnesota in December and losing on the road to Wisconsin, Iowa and Rutgers; Nebraska needs to protect home court the rest of the season if it wants to remain in the NCAA Tournament conversation.
“Obviously we’ve had a couple of tough setbacks in two tough places to play. And as I told our guys after the game the other night and the next morning in film session, we’re a damn good basketball team … I know the sky is falling in right now. That’s what I challenged our guys, do not look at what people are saying, whether it’s up here, or whether it’s down here, whether it’s the media, whether it’s the fans, whoever it is. We’ve got to stay more even. We can’t ride the roller coaster of emotions … Teams aren’t winning a lot on the road right now, and we’re part of that. We’re 0-4 in this league, but we’ve shown we’re capable …
:We’ve got to be more consistent; there’s no doubt about that. We have to be more consistent to finish these games off and get in the winning column in this league on the road to know we can do it. We have to protect home court. We have to continue to do the things that we’ve done in the three really good wins that we’ve had at home. But I challenged our guys, you’ve got to put that stuff aside, you can’t read it. You can’t have the highs and lows that go along in this business. It’ll drive you crazy and hopefully our guys buy into that.”
Through Jan. 18, Nebraska’s NET ranking is 58; before the Rutgers loss it was 53. Despite a home win over Purdue, Northwestern’s NET ranking is currently 74. A win Saturday won’t likely move Nebraska up a ton in the NET but it certainly won’t hurt.
