Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.LINCOLN — At practice, the Nebraska men's basketball team neither looks nor acts like a team stuck in the basement of the Big Ten standings.
Players entered Tuesday's workout with heads high and a bounce in their step. The call to the film room drew no grumbling. On the court, focus during instructional periods was strong, and scout work was completed with a solid combination of work and camaraderie.
Does that mean the Huskers (9-8, 1-5 Big Ten) are ready to pull an upset, against either No. 11 Indiana (15-3, 3-3) at the Devaney Center on Wednesday or No. 6 Ohio State (16-3, 4-2) on Saturday?
"It seems like we're getting closer and closer," NU senior wing Toney McCray said. "Our schedule has been pretty tough so far."
How tough? Five of the first six Big Ten opponents are ranked or have been ranked in the Associated Press Top 25, as are the next two.
"We've got two home games against two really good teams," McCray said. "We're going to try to set the tone the first five minutes of the game and try to get it to carry over to the last five minutes."
Nebraska knocked off three ranked teams at home last season (No. 3 Texas, No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 22 Missouri).
That led to coach Doc Sadler being asked Tuesday about getting a "signature win" this season.
"I don't know what a 'signature win' is," Sadler said, then added with a wry smile, "but if you're going by rankings ... it looks like every week in this league you're going to have an opportunity to get one of those so-called signature wins."
Three of Nebraska's five Big Ten losses have been close — by five points apiece on the road against Illinois and Wisconsin and a 13-point setback to Michigan State that was 53-50 with less than seven minutes left.
"I think we've got it in us," Sadler said. "We've been in a lot of close ballgames. One thing my teams at Nebraska have done is always competed. Maybe I haven't helped them enough to get consistently over (the hump)."
Sadler said he's not making excuses, noting you are what your record says you are.
"We're 1-5," he said. "But we've been right there in four of the six games. So there's no reason to be down.
"Like I told our team, go back and look at Michigan a year ago. They started out 1-6 (and still made the NCAA tournament). That doesn't mean that it's automatically going to happen. But what you see gives you hope."
Indiana comes to Lincoln a little angry after its first two-game skid of the season, losing to Minnesota and Ohio State.
"We haven't played up to the standards we had been playing with," IU coach Tom Crean said. "We're just not making shots the way we had.
"When you shoot the ball at a pretty high rate, it brings a lot of energy. The difference between being a team that's good and one that's trying to be a lot better is that your energy continues to be where it needs to be on defense when the shots aren't going in."
The Hoosiers normally are sparkling shooters. They lead the Big Ten in points (80.8), field-goal shooting (49.5 percent) and 3-point shooting (45 percent).
Nebraska, meanwhile, has held its past three opponents to 59, 58 and 50 points, respectively.
"They are very hard-nosed," Crean said of the Huskers. "And they are very well coached. We don't have any questions about how hard this game is going to be."
»NOTES: Indiana freshman center Cody Zeller is among the 25 players who made the midseason list for the Wooden Award, the national player of the year honor. ... Indiana last played in Lincoln in 1942. ... Nebraska is virtually injury-free after dealing with several sprains and strains the past month. ... Tickets for as little as $10 are available for the game.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1024, lee.barfknecht@owh.com
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