Huskers Look to Lubbock Christian

Note: Huskers.com will provide men's basketball practice reports on Monday and Thursday afternoons throughout the 2006-07 season.

 

Lincoln? Fresh off an upset of No. 20/25 Creighton, the Nebraska men's basketball team has turned its attention to its next game with two high-intensity practices as the Huskers continued preparations for a 7 p.m. contest against Lubbock Christian on Tuesday night at the Devaney Center.

 

The Huskers practiced for two hours on Monday afternoon and focused on the Chaps by going through a short film session at the beginning of practice and then spending the last 30 minutes working on the LCU game plan. Head coach Doc Sadler said the last two days’ preparations have helped the team move forward following the impressive win on Saturday night.

 

“That’s part of growing up. That’s part of learning about your team,” Sadler said. “I hope they're mature enough to understand you have to put what’s happened in the past -- good or bad -- behind you and get ready for the next game.”

 

Nebraska continued to stress the importance of defensive intensity in practice each of the past two days, as the Huskers have allowed just 61.5 points per game through their first two contests. Offensively, Nebraska leads the Big 12 Conference in field goal percentage at 61.4 percent.

 

“I thought we had a good practice,” Sadler said of Sunday’s workout. “I don’t know how hard it was, but we did what I wanted to do. I thought we improved defensively and that’s what we basically worked on for a good hour and 15 minutes. And we cleaned up some things offensively.”

 

Lubbock Christian is 2-0 in the regular season after defeating Texas-El Paso, 70-58, on the road in an exhibition game on Nov. 5. Senior Max Eding is averaging 21.5 points per game through the Chaps' first two regular-season games. He was one of four Chaps to score in double figures in the win over the Miners.

 

Nebraska has seen some new faces in action in recent days as freshman Jay-R Strowbridge and sophomore Paul Velander have returned to full speed. Each saw action against the Bluejays on Saturday night, with Strowbridge scoring six points on 2-of-3 shooting behind the arc while Velander dished out one assist and took a charge in two minutes of second-half action. Sadler said the rest of the injuries remain the same as sophomore Kyle Marks and senior Marcus Perry will likely remain sidelined for the Lubbock Christian game.

 

Season ticket holders are reminded to use their Game 18 ticket stub for entrance to the Devaney Center on Tuesday night. The ticket is marked “TBA” as the schedule was finalized after season tickets were sent out.