Nebraska Embraces a Daunting Challenge

Randy York's N-Sider

Randy's N-Sider Blog Archive

Randy's N-Sider Columns

The Nebraska men's basketball team is 9-8 overall and 1-5 in a minefield disguised as the Big Ten Conference. The Huskers are preparing to host No. 11 and 13-ranked Indiana Wednesday night for a 6 o'clock tip, then three nights later, will take on Ohio State, ranked sixth in both major national polls, in a 7 o'clock tip.

This January meat-grinder is the continuation of what some call a scheduling nightmare. By Saturday night, seven of Nebraska's first eight games in the Big Ten will be against teams that are either currently ranked or have been in the Top 25 this season.

If Huskers were pirates on open seas, this is a call to walk the plank with hands bound and bodies weighted to sink into shark-infested waters.

Fortunately, these Huskers don't think that way, nor do their coaches. In fact, if you were at the Devaney Sports Center on Monday, you would have seen what Doc Sadler called the Huskers' best and most intense defensive practice of the season. On Tuesday, the team's attitude was still up, up and away, and Sadler said there was "no reason to be down".

The Huskers are embracing this week's daunting, double-barreled cannon ball shot like the competitors they are. Now that Brian Jorge Diaz and Dylan Talley are back on the floor, senior Toney McCray says those two talented players have "knocked the rust off" all the time they've missed, and both continue to "gain confidence and get in the flow of how we're playing. I think it was just a matter of them getting their confidence back. I've seen them make plays and plays time after time and do what they need to do."

Sadler, McCray Praise Indiana's Tradition     

Make no mistake. Nebraska's head coach and at least one of his senior leaders know Indiana is a college basketball blue-blood, right up there with the best. "I mean, you look at the history and the tradition, the whole state of Indiana has to be right up there with Kentucky, I guess," Sadler said.

Last month, Indiana not only upset Kentucky, 73-72, in Bloomington, but also knocked off Ohio State, 74-70, becoming the first team in Big Ten history to beat both a No. 1 and a No. 2-ranked team in the same season.

McCray gets the essence of Hoosier hysteria and history. He calls Indiana a big-time, tradition-rich school that's almost always on television. Making their first appearance in Lincoln in 70 years, the Hoosiers lead the Big Ten in points per game (80.8), field-goal shooting (49.7 percent) and 3-point shooting (45 percent).

Tom Crean, Indiana's fourth-year head coach, studied under Michigan State's Tom Izzo and does as much offensively as anybody in the country. "They have good players and run a lot of sets," Sadler said. "They have guys who will have an option to be pro."

Foremost among them is 6-foot-11 inside force Cody Zeller, a Wooden Award candidate who averages a team-high 14.8 points per game on 65 percent shooting and 6.4 rebounds per game. "He runs the floor as well as any big guy in the country," Sadler said. "They do a nice job of running a lot of different things and giving him the basketball ... from moving positions, not just stationary positions. There's no doubt he's one of the best freshmen in the country. He definitely doesn't play like a freshman."

Coming off Season's Best Defensive Effort

Fortunately, Nebraska is coming off its best defensive performance of the season - a 50-45 loss Sunday at Wisconsin - and the Huskers are convinced they're coming together in time to deliver something Sadler has a shown a great knack for - pulling off a major upset.

"I think we've got it in us," Sadler said. "We've been in a lot of close ball games. I think one thing you can say about my teams here: Nebraska has always competed and put ourselves in position to win."

McCray agrees. "It feels like we're getting closer and closer," he said. "We have two home games here against two really good teams, and we're going to try and set the tone in the first five minutes that we want to carry over to the last five minutes. That's where games are won - in the last five minutes."

McCray says it's the seniors' job to get Nebraska propped back up to win, even against nationally ranked teams. "That's a senior thing, and we have to take control," he said.

Sadler believes winning is revealed like it always is. "Everybody talks about toughness as something physical," he said. "I don't think toughness is physical at all. I think toughness is mental. Every one of these guys has athletic and physical ability, but the good teams have the mental toughness ... and the confidence ... to make a good play."

Signature wins in the Big Ten are weekly opportunities, according to Sadler, who reminded his team that Michigan started 1-and-6 last year in the Big Ten before making the NCAA Tournament field. When Nebraska fans leave the Devaney Wednesday night, "I think you're going to say: 'Hey, they still have a pulse,'" Sadler said. "Whether that means we're going to win, I don't know. But you're going to see a team that is going to play its tails off. I believe that, and I believe that wholeheartedly."

Send a comment to ryork@huskers.com (include residence)