Buried deep during a weekend filled with sporting events and holiday shopping, Creighton travels to Lincoln for the annual in-state rivalry game against Nebraska. The home team has taken care of business in this series as of late. After two consecutive frustrating losses, to Northwestern and BYU, the Bluejays come into the game looking to avoid a three-game losing streak. The Huskers, however, have won three straight.
We caught up with Robin Washut, who covers the Nebraska hoops program for Huskers Illustrated, to chat about Sunday’s matchup.
White & Blue Review: The only two D-I hoops teams in the state meet Sunday. Do Husker fans consider this a true rivalry? Some CU fans want to see a home-and-home series between Creighton and Nebraska every season. Do you think Husker fans would respond well to that?
Robin Washut: I think most Nebraska fans do consider this to be a true rivalry, mostly because Creighton has stolen the basketball spotlight in the state in recent years. Along with the Kansas and Kansas State games, the Creighton game is one of the few home sellouts for Nebraska when the two play at the Devaney Center. So the fan interest is definitely there. I don’t ever see a home-and-home series getting scheduled between the teams, but I’m sure Nebraska fans would be receptive to it if it somehow happened.
WBR: Last year, we asked the folks at Husker Hoops Central to tell us what husker fans’ true expectations for Doc Sadler’s program are. Then, NU goes and wins only 2 conference games last season. What are fans’ expectations this season? Just how hot is Sadler’s seat on the Husker sideline? Will Tom Osborne stick with him as the program joins the Big Ten?
RW: Obviously fans expect better than 2-14. Doc is in his fifth year now at Nebraska, and many fans are growing more and more impatient for him to start producing some results. The thing is, though, Tom Osborne hates to fire coaches. Just look at baseball head coach Mike Anderson, who NU fans have wanted fired for years now. He’s already come out publicly and said Doc’s job is safe this season no matter what happens on the court, so he’s sure to be around for at least one more season assuming he doesn’t go winless in conference play or something. Plus, with the new arena and practice facility coming, Tom probably wants to see how Doc can do with two impressive recruiting tools now at his disposal.
WBR: Nebraska doesn’t play a true road game in non-conference play this year, and the Huskers are two games into a 10-game homestand. Are Husker hoops fans satisfied with Nebraska’s non-conference scheduling during Doc’s tenure? Collectively, do they want to see them play better schools before Big 12 play starts, or not?
RW: Some fans would definitely like to see Nebraska take on some bigger names in the non-conference schedule, but the reality is that with the strength of the Big 12 schedule they really don’t need to. Even though the league is somewhat down this season in some people’s opinion, Nebraska has to try and survive a brutal conference slate every season, so the idea of adding some more top-level competition to the schedule isn’t exactly a priority.
WBR: The Huskers did hit the road for a tournament in Puerto Rico, where they had a good chance to go 3-0 but instead went 1-2. What went wrong during the trip? What changed since they got back, as they’re on a 3-game win streak?
RW: Well, for them to have gone 3-0 would have meant wins over Vanderbilt, West Virginia and Minnesota. So I don’t really think there was much of a chance of that happening. Regardless, the biggest problem was Nebraska’s 3-point shooting, no question. They shot 2-of-21 from beyond the arc in their two losses to Vanderbilt and Davidson. When they finally started hitting their outside shots, they been able to score points to go along with their pretty solid defensive play. These past three games the Huskers have been able to shoot the ball relatively well, and coincidentally it’s resulted in wins. When they don’t shoot well, that’s when they get into trouble.
WBR: Defense has always been Doc Sadler’s teams’ bright spot at NU. Husker opponents are currently averaging 57 ppg. What are Sadler’s key defensive principles? Why are his teams so difficult defensively?
RW: Doc’s always prided himself on his teams’ play defensively. In previous years, he accounted for his teams’ lack of size by running a full-court press to try and get as many points in transition as possible. This year, they’ve actually got some good size in the lineup, so he’s tried to incorporate more of a zone defense to utilize his team’s height and length and make it difficult for opponents to get the ball anywhere near the basket. However, that hasn’t really worked all to well, and NU has actually switched back to more of a traditional man scheme the past three games.
WBR: Conversely, it seems they struggle to score, especially when conference play begins. They finished last season dead last in the Big 12 in points per game. Is that just a byproduct of the style of game their defense dictates? Is it due to a lack of offensively skilled players? Or both? Neither?
RW: For one, they haven’t had anyone emerge as the guy you can give the ball with the shot clock winding down and tell him to go score. The lack of a true scorer on the roster has killed them offensively ever since Aleks Maric graduated. The other part to it is Doc wants his team to work the ball around as much as possible to try and set up the best possible shot. He wants them to get the ball inside on almost every possession. As a result, they often milk the shot clock down to the final seconds before they even get a shot off, which in turn shortens the game and keeps the scoring low on both sides.
WBR: One player who seems skilled offensively is Christian Standhardinger. Why is he coming off the bench and playing only about 18 minutes a game? It seems he’s effective during his minutes on the court; is it foul trouble, or problems in other areas?
RW: Your guess is as good as mine as to why he doesn’t play more. Not only is he one of their better scorers, he’s got a knack of drawing fouls and getting to the line that not many other guys on the team have. He was benched on Wednesday against Jackson State for academic reasons, and he missed some games earlier this season with what Doc called “a bad cough.” Like you said, he always seems to produce when he’s on the court, but he just hasn’t been getting into the lineup nearly enough.
WBR: After years of not having depth in the post, Sadler’s team seems to have some big bodies to rely on. The Jays, on the other hand, won’t have their full complement of big guys on Sunday. Will Sadler look to the inside first when setting his offense against Creighton? Can Brian Jorge Diaz and Andre Almeida control the paint for the majority of a game?
RW: Like I said before, Nebraska wants to get the ball inside as much as possible this season, and I’m sure that won’t change on Sunday. The problem is though that despite having a size advantage over pretty much every team they’ve played this season, the Huskers haven’t been able to dominate the post offensively quite like you’d expect.
WBR: Where are the Huskers vulnerable on Sunday? What can Creighton exploit if they want to pick up a road win?
RW: Nebraska really struggles against zone defenses that make it difficult to get the ball inside and force them to rely on perimeter shooting for points. Also, they’ve really had issues with turnovers this year, which has been pretty uncharacteristic of a Sadler team.
WBR: Prediction time. What team wins on Sunday?
RW: Because this game is in Lincoln and that Nebraska has been shooting the ball pretty well the past few games, I’ll give the Huskers the slight edge. I see it being a low scoring game that goes down to the wire.