Nebraska
HuskerMax Predictions: Nebraska Football at USC
The Nebraska Cornhuskers and head coach Matt Rhule used its second bye week to spice things up in hopes of snapping NU’s four-game losing streak after starting 5-1.
Rhule phoned former Houston and West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen to take a look at the struggle Husker offense.
Holgorsen’s suggestions was enough for Rhule to demote Marcus Satterfield and elevate Holgorsen to offensive coordinator ahead of Saturday’s afternoon battle against USC. A win would be momumental for Nebraska, securing its first berth in a bowl game since 2016. A fourth-straight loss would send the program into further peril and raise further questions in Rhule’s second season.
The HuskerMax and Nebraska Cornhuskers on SI crew make their predictions for Saturday. The average score is 24-22 USC.
The closest prediction two weeks ago belonged to Matt McMaster with a 24-21 Nebraska win. That was 10 points off the actual 27-20 UCLA victory.
*Indicates closest in previous week’s prediction and how many “wins” over the season. Ties will result in wins for all parties.
|
Prediction |
Predictor |
|---|---|
|
USC 27-17 |
Kaleb Henry* |
|
Nebraska 23-21 |
Austin Jacobsen* |
|
Nebraska 24-7 |
Eric Hess |
|
USC 34-28 |
Geoff Exstrom* |
|
USC 27-24 |
Josh Peterson* |
|
USC 31-17 |
Joe Hudson* |
|
Nebraska 24-21 |
ThotDoc* |
|
USC 38-31 |
Enrique Alvarez-Clary |
|
Nebraska 17-14 |
Matt McMaster* |
|
USC 27-23 |
Cole Stukenholtz |
|
Nebraska 21-14 |
Jay Stockwell |
|
Nebraska 28-21 |
Bob Frady |
|
Nebraska 27-24 |
Middle-Aged Ball Coach |
|
USC 24-17 |
Tad Stryker |
|
USC 31-21 |
Caleb Sisk |
|
USC 31-21 |
Tanner Johnson* |
|
USC 27-24 |
Chris Fort |
|
USC 28-20 |
Jeremy Pernell |
The Why
Austin Jacobsen: I have liked Nebraska’s chances in this game since the start of the season – I still am curious why USC has always been assumed to be a heavy favorite in the contest. My favoritism may show, but new wrinkles for both offenses will showcase big plays and big mistakes. I would lean towards a more motivated defense making stops when asked, so I’ll grant Nebraska a new lease on the year with a win.
Eric Hess: Both teams made some big changes during the bye week. Holgorsen’s playcalling gives some rhythm to the Husker’s offense while the Blackshirts force some mistakes out of the young USC QB.
Josh Peterson: Nebraska’s offense finds more rhythm than it has since September but Jordan Maiava picks up some big plays on the ground and Nebraska wins the game on a walk-off FG.
Joe Hudson: This offense cannot be fixed in two weeks’ time. Please prove me wrong, Mr. Holgorsen!
ThotDoc: This score prediction may be more aspirational than reality based given that the Huskers are almost a double digit underdog. But, USC seems more beatable now than at the beginning of the year and has struggled with the rigors of the Big Ten. I’m hoping the new offensive coordinator helps the Huskers be less predictable and more productive. A late field goal by the Huskers is the winning difference.
Enrique Alvarez-Clary: The QB change for USC will trump the OC change for the Huskers.
Cole Stukenholtz: A little juice for the offense with Holgorsen calling plays, Blackshirts struggle early, Huskers give a valiant effort but must play from behind and can’t quite get over the hump.
Jay Stockwell: Satterfield’s demotion will hopefully remove the offensive constraints. Expect the defense to be inspired as it was in Columbus. This team plays well on the road. Get ready for some excitement from Dana Holgerson as he unleashes Raiola (assuming he is not hurt) on the Coliseum.
Bob Frady: Our long national bowl game nightmare will end with a 28-21 victory over the Men from Troy.
Middle-Aged Ball Coach: Nebraska has the better linemen on both sides. I don’t know what else Holgorsen will be doing, but I have to believe that he can help gameplan a way to attack USC’s defense with the run, then use RPOs to adjust to their adjustments.
Tad Stryker: Will Holgorsen help the offense play with more confidence and pace? It will look somewhat better, but kicking game problems persist and a critical turnover sets up the Trojans for the game-winning score.
Chris Fort: The Huskers come out with more gusto than they showed against UCLA along with some inventive offensive plays but USC crawls back and wins a close one.
Jeremy Pernell: I’ll actually be at the LA Coliseum for this game with my best friend and one of my brothers on a guys trip. Both teams have seen their seasons go off the rails after the calendar flipped to October, so I anticipate having to apologize to them for suggesting we sandwich this game in between trips to Universal Studios and Disneyland.
Find more predictions at HuskerMax.com.
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Gov. Jim Pillen (R-NE) will undergo a rib fixation procedure on Thursday after a horse bucked him off on Sunday.
Pillen, 68, will need to be under anesthesia while doctors install metal plates to stabilize his seven broken ribs. Lt. Gov. Joe Kelly will take on the role of acting governor during the surgery.
“Based on the Governor’s health profile and active lifestyle, his doctors consider him an ideal candidate for this procedure. Nebraska Medicine has emerged as a national leader in rib fixation operations,” the governor’s office wrote in a statement.
The governor was riding a new horse with his daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter when he fell. In addition to his rib fractures, he suffered a partially collapsed lung, lacerations on his spleen and kidney, and a minor vertebrae fracture.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Gov. Pillen remains grateful for the exceptional care he is receiving by the team at Nebraska Medicine and thanks Nebraskans for their outpouring of support to him and his family during this time,” Pillen’s office wrote.
This surgery will result in Pillen remaining in the hospital for a few days following his surgery. He is prepared to continue to work from his hospital bed.
Merry Christmas: Nebraska wins Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii
For the first time since the San Juan Shootout in 2000, the Nebraska men’s basketball program has an in-season tournament championship.
Led by Brice Williams’ 25 points (6-of-6 at the free-throw line), seven rebounds, four assists and two steals, the Huskers picked up a 78-66 win over the Oregon State Beavers on Christmas Day.
NU (10-2, 1-1 in Big Ten) now gets to leave Honolulu with the 2024 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic title.
“As we said to our guys, we just don’t get a whole lot of opportunities in your life to play for championships, and this was a big tournament for us,” head coach Fred Hoiberg told Huskers Radio Network after the game.
Notable perks to a tournament win like this includes picking up a true road win over host Hawaii and a Quad 1 victory (for now) on a neutral site over Oregon State, which came into the game with a NET rating of 43 (Nebraska’s was 52).
“Just really proud of the guys for finding a way to muster up the energy and play, I thought, our best stretch of basketball those last five minutes,” Hoiberg said.
That five minutes Hoiberg reference had a lot to do with strong defense and Williams.
NU’s defense held OSU to just 40% shooting overall for the game, and the Huskers out-rebounded OSU 31-24 to become only the second team to out-rebound the Beavers this season. But OSU did connect on nine 3s that helped them hang around. Four different OSU players each made two triples.
But from the 5:32 mark of the second half when nursing a 61-56 lead, Williams took over and showed everyone he was the best player on the court. The 6-7 guard scored 11 points in the stretch, including five game-sealing free throws. He outscored OSU 11-10.
Williams has scored 57 points the last two games, with tonight’s 25 and Monday’s 32. He averaged 22 points per game in three games and earned tournament MVP honors.
“I was just aggressive, I wanted to let my defense lead to offense,” Williams said after the game. “I came out hot and my team kind of took it from there.”
The game was a low-scoring, back-and-forth affair that featured scoring runs and scoring droughts for both sides. Neither team ever took control until Williams did his thing.
NU never trailed by more than four points in the first half and took a 34-32 lead into the break. There were 13 lead changes in the opening 10 minutes of the second half.
Multiple Huskers stepped up late to help NU take command. Sam Hoiberg made his third 3 of the season to put NU up 48-47. Andrew Morgan was another bench player who made an impact as his and-1 paint bucket extended the Husker lead to 51-49.
One player who had maybe his best night as a Husker was Berke Buyuktuncel. The 6-10 big who’s been playing through minor injuries showed off a variety of skill sets that made him one of the top international prospects coming out in his signing class.
Buyuktuncel finished with a career-high 16 points and made three 3s, also a new career mark. He played defense and rebounded too, collecting six with one offensive board which turned into an and-1 putback.
Buyuktuncel scored eight points in both the first and second half.
“Both ends. I thought two days ago, versus Hawaii, we finished off the game with him at the five, and he battles those fives as well as anybody on our team,” Hoiberg said of Buyuktuncel. “Him knocking down those shots in the first half, that’s a game changer for us. Hopefully he can get it going and it’ll give him confidence. When Berke can knock down threes, that’s just opens up a whole other new opportunities for us to run different plays to get him going.”
Buyuktuncel had success bullying his way into the paint and finishing. His and-1 where he grabbed an offensive board and sank the putback while being fouled pushed NU to a 54-51 lead. Not long after, he was running the court with Williams and hit a transition layup to put NU up by six points, 57-51.
Those plays helped a 10-2 run that extended the Husker lead to 61-53. But the Beavers never went away and NU’s offense went cold. During one stretch, it missed six of seven shots. That allowed OSU to cut its 8-point deficit in half.
But then Williams put the Beavers away. NU went on an 11-3 run to end the game.
Williams, along with Buyuktuncel, were named to the all-tournament team. Williams averaged 22 points on 56% shooting along with 3.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists in NU’s three games.
Hoiberg becomes the second head coach to win the Diamond Head Classic twice. His first win came while he was coaching Iowa State in 2013.
UP NEXT
Nebraska has one non-conference game left before diving into Big Ten play the rest of the season. The Huskers host Southern on Monday night with a late tip of 8 p.m.
Southern is currently 5-7 and riding a three-game losing streak. Earlier this season, Southern led Texas A&M at halftime, 39-25, before losing 71-54.
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As one of the most underrated scorers in this year’s draft class, Nebraska senior wing Brice Williams has quietly put together a strong case to be selected in the upcoming draft. He had a solid first year with the Cornhuskers last season after transferring from Charlotte, but he has truly broken out through the first 11 games of his final year of eligibility. While his offensive game has been efficient and effective so far, there are still several aspects of his all-around play that need continued improvement as he enters conference play.
Let’s break down Williams’ play so far this season, focusing on how his scoring potential could draw interest both as a whole and in his most recent outing against Hawaii.
Through his first 11 games of the year, Williams has averaged 19.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.1 steals on promising shooting splits of 49.6%/45%/90.3%. While his ability to score from all over the floor has been very intriguing, he has also made noticeable strides in drawing fouls, leading to almost guaranteed points from the free throw line. Continuing to post big scoring nights in conference play could be the key to his rise up draft boards, and his most recent performance against Hawaii offers hope that he could be ready.
In Nebraska’s 69-55 victory over Hawaii at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, Williams finished with a season-high 32 points, along with two rebounds, three assists and two steals. He did an excellent job of staying in attack mode throughout the game, constantly hunting for open space to get off shots. His efficiency on high volume stood out as he shot 55.6% from the field while tying a season-high with 18 attempts. Williams also connected on 4-of-5 attempts from three-point range and earned eight attempts from the free throw line, where he did not miss.
32-POINT SEMIFINAL PERFORMANCE 🤯
Brice Williams with a massive game to send @HuskerMBB to the Diamond Head Classic championship game ‼️#B1GMBBall pic.twitter.com/Xk40OQ5BMM
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) December 24, 2024
This game highlighted his off-ball movement, as he navigated to his spots on the perimeter and found clear lanes to the rim. He knocked down several threes by losing his man on screens, taking one dribble to solidify his looks and hitting the jumpers with impressive touch. While his movement off the ball looked strong, his mechanics on catch-and-shoot opportunities were also clean and consistent.
Outside of his scoring ability, Williams has areas to improve if he wants to earn a shot at the next level. While he has enough athleticism to elevate for jumpers and defend at a serviceable level in college, he will need to find other ways to become a more versatile player. His passing and rebounding have flashed at times this year, but the consistency has been lacking. These concerns also extend to his defense; while he can stay with ball-handlers at a decent rate, his lack of ground coverage and switchability remain concerns.
In summary, Brice Williams has proven to be one of the more underrated offensive prospects in this year’s draft class. His scoring ability, particularly his efficiency and versatility as a shooter, positions him as a potential high-ceiling player who could contribute immediately at the next level. While there are areas of his game—particularly his passing, rebounding and defense—that need further development, his recent performance against Hawaii demonstrates that he has the potential to be a game-changer when he’s locked in. If he can continue to improve in these areas and maintain his offensive production throughout conference play, Williams could very well see his stock rise as the draft approaches.
Want to join the discussion? Like Draft Digest on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest NBA Draft news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.
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