For Nebraska Men’s Basketball, the Week Ahead Offers a Chance to Keep the Party Going

The unbeaten Nebraska men’s basketball team continues its stretch of playing Big Ten football powerhouses on Tuesday against Oregon.

The schedule quirk had the Huskers playing at Ohio State and Indiana last week. Both of those teams are considered NCAA basketball tournament timber. Oregon? At 8-8, not so much.

Tenth-ranked Nebraska had probably its most remarkable victory of its so-far magical season Saturday at Indiana. The Huskers rallied from a 16-point deficit to stun the Hoosiers, 83-77, behind Jamarques Lawrence’s 27 points. With Michigan’s loss to Wisconsin on Saturday, Nebraska is the final remaining undefeated team in the Big Ten.

“There’s just no panic with this group,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said in a postgame news conference.

“That’s the thing I’ve been most impressed is their emotions are the same, their body language doesn’t change. Eventually we loosened them up and went on a little bit of a run.”

Oregon started the season two places outside of the AP Top 25 Poll but the Ducks’ season has all but fallen apart. The Ducks’ trip to Nebraska will be followed by home games against Big Ten nasties Michigan and Michigan State.

The Ducks are coming off a 72-62 loss at home to Ohio State on Thursday. Oregon has but one win this season over a Power 4 school — a 64-54 win on Jan. 2 at Maryland.

In ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index, the Huskers are ranked 23, oddly low compared with other rankings. CPI’s projections for Nebraska’s season is 25.3 wins and 5.7 losses. In the Big Ten, the projection is for 14.3 wins and 5.7 losses. Nebraska is given a 15.8 percent chance to win the Big Ten championship.

Who: Oregon at Nebraska
When: Tuesday, 8 p.m. CT
Where: Pinnacle Bank Arena
Records: Nebraska 16-0, 5-0 in Big Ten; Oregon, 8-8, 1-4 in Big Ten. The Huskers are 10-0 at home.
TV: Big Ten Network

Rankings updated based on games through Saturday.

Oregon rankings

* Associated Press Top 25: Not ranked
* NCAA Net Ratings: 102 (dropped three places)
* USA Today Coaches Poll: Not ranked
* Kenpom.com: 84
* ESPN Power Rankings: 66
* Top 25 and 1: Not ranked
* Team Rankings.com: 103

In Joe Lunardi’s latest ESPN Bracketology projections, Oregon is not mentioned for the 68-team NCAA Tournament.

Nebraska rankings

* Associated Press Top 25: 10 (new poll will be released Monday)
* NCAA Net Ratings: 11
* USA Today Coaches Poll: 11
* Kenpom.com: 17 (improved five places)
* ESPN Power Rankings: 23 (improved three places)
* Top 25 and 1: 10 (dropped one place)
* Team Rankings.com: 6 (improved one place)

In Joe Lunardi’s latest ESPN Bracketology projections, Nebraska is a 3-seed for the 68-team NCAA Tournament.

Nebraska-Oregon analysis

Nebraska should have too much firepower, motivation and home court for Oregon to present much of a challenge. The Ducks just haven’t shown anything this season to think they have a chance to win in Lincoln. If anything, complacency might be the Huskers' biggest threat.

Who: Nebraska at Northwestern
When: Saturday, 3 p.m. CT
Where: Welsh-Ryan Arena, Evanston, Illinois
Records: Nebraska 16-0, 5-0 in Big Ten; Northwestern, 8-7, 0-4 in Big Ten. The Wildcats are 7-5 at home.
TV: Big Ten Network

Northwestern rankings

* Associated Press Top 25: Not ranked
* NCAA Net Ratings: 33
* USA Today Coaches Poll: 39
* Kenpom.com: 28
* ESPN Power Rankings: 17 (improved by two places)
* Top 25 and 1: Not ranked
* Team Rankings.com: 68 (dropped three places)

In Joe Lunardi’s latest ESPN Bracketology projections, Northwestern is not mentioned for the 68-team NCAA Tournament.

Nebraska rankings

* Associated Press Top 25: 10 (new poll is released Monday)
* NCAA Net Ratings: 11
* USA Today Coaches Poll: 11
* Kenpom.com: 17 (improved five places)
* ESPN Power Rankings: 23 (improved three places)
* Top 25 and 1: 10 (dropped one place)
* Team Rankings.com: 6 (improved one place)

In Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology projections, Nebraska is a 3-seed for the 68-team NCAA Tournament.

Nebraska-Northwestern analysis

Nebraska’s week is something of a breather in the Big Ten, although no one would admit that. Oregon and Northwestern are a combined 1-8 in the conference. Northwestern is playing at Rutgers on Sunday night. Still, Big Ten road games always are interesting and often challenging for the favorites.

Northwestern 6-foot-7 senior forward Nick Martinelli is the Big Ten’s leading scorer at 23.4 points per game. Martinelli is shooting 59.1 percent from the field. He was a second-team All-Big Ten player last season.

With its gaudy record, Nebraska has become an NCAA Tournament resume builder for opponents. Teams can enhance their NCAA chances by knocking off a top-10 team like the Huskers.

More From Nebraska On SI

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.