What To Watch For Vs. Nebraska
After experiencing a two game skid in which they fell to Georgia and Arkansas by a combined 5 points, the Yellow Jackets got back on the right track by avoiding an upset to Bethune-Cookman and reaching their lowest turnover mark of the season. The Ramblin' Wreck continues their busy week by taking on the Nebraska Cornhuskers this Wednesday as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Tipoff is set for 7:15pm at McCamish Pavilion, and can be found on ESPNU.
Here are a couple of the more significant storylines to follow ahead of Tech's 2nd all-time matchup with the Cornhuskers:
Hoiberg of the Huskers
Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg might be in his first season at Lincoln, but as most college basketball fans know, it's not his first rodeo. An Iowa State alumnus, he coached his alma mater for 5 seasons from 2010 to 2015. During that span, he led the Cyclones to near-unprecedented success. He finished his tenure in Ames, IA with the highest winning percentage in Iowa State history at 67.3%, made the NCAA Tournament 4 times (second most in ISU history) and won the Big XII Tournament in his final two years at the helm.
Following his run at Iowa State, he went on to become the head coach of the Chicago Bulls, leading them to back-to-back 40 win seasons and a playoff appearance in his first two years. After a disappointing 27-55 record in year 3 and a 5-19 start in year 4, he was dismissed as the head coach.
But that's not the extent of his basketball acumen. As a player, he has more wins than any other player in Iowa State history. Between the end of his NBA playing career and his coaching debut in Ames, he spent time with the Minnesota Timberwolves as the assistant general manager before being promoted to vice president of basketball operations.
Floor General
The Huskers do a decent job distributing the scoring among their starting five, with 4 of them averages double figures per game. The highest mark comes from Dachon Burke Jr's 13.6 a game, with Cam Mack's 12.6 right behind him. He might be second in scoring, but Mack is the clear leader of the team.
He is averaging 6 assists per game, which is good for 3rd in the Big Ten and 25th in the nation. He carries an assist rate of 34.5%, which ranks in the top 50 nationally, has the 5th most steals per game in the Big Ten and is 8th in the conference in assist/turnover ratio. The reason the Nebraska offense is spread out so well lis because of the efforts from Mack.
Crash The Glass
It might have done Tech some good to face a team who is good at hauling in rebounds like Bethune-Cookman, because Nebraska is anything but. The Huskers have a rebounding margin of -13.6, which is the second worst in all of Division 1 basketball. Not only do they allow the second most rebounds per game with 48.1 (second only Mississippi Valley's 51.6), but they themselves only haul in 34.57, which is the worst in the Big Ten. According to KenPom, they rank in the bottom 10 in offensive rebounds and offensive rebounds allowed.
Josh Pastner said that his team will have to get better with guard rebounding and defensive rebounding after allowing 40 boards to Bethune-Cookman, and his Yellow Jackets have the perfect opportunity to right the ship going forward. Center James Banks III and Moses Wright both had double-doubles against the Wildcats, and it would be surprising if they didn't follow those up with even better performances on Wednesday.
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