Game Thread: Huskers v. Badgers

Two year ago Nebraska basketball lost just one game in Pinnacle Bank Arena and was a perfect 10-0 in league play. 

The latter is the tallest of tasks and a rather amazing accomplishment from a Nebraska squad that even beat No. 1 Purdue. One of those wins was also a dramatic second-half comeback over the same Wisconsin program the Huskers will see tonight.

Husker Connor Essegian, rehabbing from injury, was on that Wisconsin team two years ago and recalled with fondness the PBA atmosphere when he committed to Nebraska.

“PBA’s atmosphere in general is just elite to me,” he said. “I felt like it was the loudest gym I played in this past year. The fans were on us the entire game. I’ve only played in a sold-out PBA so the atmosphere I’ve seen there is amazing. I want to be able to make every game like that and keep the trend of the program going.”

The winning dominance at PBA disappeared last year as Nebraska finished just 10-6 at home.

One of the major focuses this squad is to return that dynamic homecourt advantage this year. Sunday was a good start in reinforcing what is wanted with a 71-50 win over Creighton. Now comes what Fred Hoiberg said is the toughest test of the year for his 9-0 squad against Wisconsin at 8 p.m. 

“We did not do a good enough job on our homecourt last year in league. We actually won more road games a year ago than we did the previous year but we didn’t do a good enough job protecting homecourt,” Hoiberg said. “With the energy we have in our building we should expect to win every time that we’re on that floor … So we need to establish that. We need to get our crowd into it early. We need to sustain it. This is the best team we’ve played, there’s no doubt about it. 

“And we’re going to have to be on point for 40 minutes.”

About the Badgers: Wisconsin (7-2) returned two starters and six letterwinners from a team that won 27 games and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season. UW is averaging 87.9 ppg on 45 percent shooting while averaging 11.3 3-pointers per game. Wisconsin is coming off a dominating 20-point win over Marquette and handled Northwestern with ease before that in the Badgers’ Big Ten opener.

The Badgers are out-rebounding teams by more than five per game and committing just 10.3 turnovers per game. Wisconsin features one of the top scoring duos in the Big Ten in John Blackwell (21.0 ppg) and San Diego State transfer Nick Boyd (20.2 ppg).

How to watch/listen: The game tips at 8 p.m. and is televised on BTN.

It is available on the Huskers Radio Network with Kent Pavelka and Jeff Smith on the call, including KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln, KCRO (660AM) and KIBM (1490 AM) in Omaha and KRVN (880 AM) in Lexington. The pregame show begins an hour before

The line: Nebraska is favored by 1 1/2.

What a win would mean: The No. 23-ranked Huskers will look to match their best start in school history, as NU opened the 1977-78 season with 10 straight wins. In addition, counting last year’s four wins to end the year at the College Basketball Crown, NU can also tie the school mark for the longest win streak in school history with a win on Wednesday. The mark is held by the 1990-91 Huskers who won a school-record 14 games on their way to a school-record 26-win season.