Date: Saturday, Feb. 21
Tipoff: 1:07 p.m. (central)
Location: Pinnacle Bank Arena (Lincoln, Neb.)
TV/Online:
Saturday’s game will be broadcast on BTN with Dave Revsine and Shon Morris on the call. It will also be available online on the FOX Sports and FOX Sports 1 apps.
Radio:
Saturday’s game will be carried on the Huskers Radio Network with Kent Pavelka and Jeff Smith on the call, including KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln, KCRO (660 AM) and KIBM (1490 AM) in Omaha and KRVN (880 AM) in Lexington. The pregame show begins an hour before tipoff and will also be available on Huskers.com and the Huskers app.
Preview: Courtesy of Huskers.com
The No. 9/9 (AP/Coaches)
Nebraska men’s basketball team returns home this Saturday to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions to begin a two-game homestand. Tipoff from a sold out Pinnacle Bank Arena is set for shortly after 1 p.m. and the game will be televised on BTN, broadcast on the Huskers Radio Network, as well as on Huskers.com and on the official Huskers app. The game will also be available on the Fox Sports and Fox One apps.
The Huskers (22-4, 11-4 B1G) look to bounce back from a 57-52 loss at Iowa Tuesday evening. Despite being held to a season-low point total on 41 percent shooting, Nebraska battled and was down three twice in the final minute before the Hawkeyes put the game away at the foul line. Nebraska held Iowa to 33 percent shooting, but a 37-24 advantage on the glass was too much for the Huskers to overcome. Iowa went 17-of-18 from the line in the win, including 7-of-7 in the final minute, and got a game-high 25 points from Bennett Stirtz.
Despite the loss, junior Pryce Sandfort etched his name into the Husker record book with his 90th 3-pointer of the season, breaking the mark of 89 set by Cary Cochran back in 2001-02. Sandfort, who had a team-high 13 points against Iowa, tops the Huskers at 17.3 points per game while shooting 40 percent from 3-point range. Sandfort, who was named to the Naismith Trophy Late-Season Team on Thursday, has upped his average to 18.9 ppg in Big Ten play.
Penn State (11-16, 2-14 B1G) comes off an 85-72 loss to Rutgers on Wednesday. Rutgers opened the contest with a 16-2 run and withstood a second-half Penn State comeback which saw the Nittany Lions cut a 20-point deficit to 76-68 with just under three minutes remaining. Josh Reed had 22 points and six rebounds as Penn State placed three players in double figures.
Jarek’s Pre-Tipoff Thoughts:
The last few games haven’t been overly spectacular. There are times where I wonder why Nebraska has been using only a seven-man rotation. Rienk Mast in particular has looked beyond exhausted. At some point, I would like to see Jared Garcia or Leo Curtis playing a few minutes to give Rienk a better break. This would also give the Huskers some minutes to a bigger lineup that can compete on the glass.
The Huskers have three home games left, starting with this one. This SHOULD be a fairly straightforward game. Penn State doesn’t quite have the fire power to cause many teams trouble in the Big Ten. The biggest key for Nebraska will be getting off to a better start, as their first halves haven’t been anything to write home about recently. I think Nebraska wins this easily in the end. Score Prediction: Nebraska 77 Penn State 60
