While the casuals may not be watching, the month of November is where programs across the country can build their resumes for a run in March. The Friars have their first real opportunity to do that this Saturday at Mohegan Sun. Coming off their 83-56 victory over Maine in their season opener the Friars will travel south to take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Nebraska is coming off their best season in program history where they reached the Sweet 16 for the first time before eventually falling to the University of Iowa. Pryce Sandfort leads a handful of returners for a Nebraska team that’s looking to build off their success last season. The Cornhuskers have won a program record 23 consecutive games against non-conference opponents.
For the Friars not only is it an opportunity to get a resume building win it is also an opportunity to shake an ugly trend of recent years. While Mohegan Sun is a relatively easy neutral site for fans to get to the success at the casino in Uncasville, CT has been lacking. In the last ten seasons the Friars have gone 2-6 at Mohegan Sun. It’s a trend the Friars would like to reverse especially when you consider they will be playing games there for the foreseeable future.
Here are a few things we will be watching for on Saturday night.
The Crowd
Coach Bryan Hodgson and the school have been asking for Friar fans to make their way to Mohegan Sun all week long. In an appearance on the Divine Providence Podcast Bryan Hodgson mentioned that Nebraska’s fans travel well, and he expects them to make the trip. PC has been trying to incentivize students to make the trip by offering free bus transportation from the school.
In what appears to be a big moment for the program we’d expect the Friar fans to show up in droves. A win would set up the rest of the non-conference schedule nicely for the Friars and with the revitalized fanbase due to the new coaching staff the fans will make their presence known. Nebraska will certainly bring a coalition of fans but if PC can get a crowd split of at least 70/30 and make it feel like a game at the AMP it could go a long way in helping the Friars get the upset.
Get to Mohegan!
Turnovers and the 3-pt Line
These are the two margins PC needs to keep close if they want to walk out of the game with a victory. Taking care of the basketball and making three-pointers are the two things the Cornhuskers have done well under head coach Fred Hoiberg. Last season the Cornhuskers ranked 14th nationally in three-pointers attempted per game and 17th in three-point makes. They also checked in 31st nationally in fewest turnovers per game at 9.7. One game into the season the Cornhuskers are thriving in those two areas once again. Against Le Moyne the Cornhuskers took 30 threes, making 14 of them, and only turned it over eight times.
The good news is under Bryan Hodgson the Friars are also a team that will attempt plenty of threes and emphasize taking care of the basketball. Additionally, the Friars aggressive style of defense will look to generate a lot of turnovers from the opposition. Against Maine the Friars forced the Black Bears into 23 turnovers and PC was able to convert those into 29 points. We don’t expect those kinds of numbers against a team like Nebraska but if the Friars can keep the margins close in the turnover and the three-point department it should bode well for their chances.
Byrd v Sandfort
This is by far going to be the biggest matchup we will see on Saturday. The two-time Mountain West All-Defensive team and reigning Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year Miles Byrd against Nebraska’s leading scorer and a 1st Team All-Big Ten player in Pryce Sandfort should make for great television. Last season Sandfort averaged 18.1 ppg on 47.9% shooting from the floor, including 41.6% on three-pointers on nearly nine attempts per contest. Byrd is coming off a game where he stuffed the stat sheet with ten points, five rebounds, three assists, and a staggering seven steals.
Sandfort won’t always be covered by Byrd with defensive rotations and switches but expect Bryan Hodgson to have his best defender covering Sandfort as much as possible. Additionally, the Friars will probably hope that Byrd can give them just a little more in the scoring department than the ten points he got against Maine. If Miles Byrd outplays Sandfort I don’t see a way in which the Friars would lose this game.
The Injury Report
The injury report is worth monitoring going into this game. For Nebraska they had a full roster in their opener with the exception of Belmont transfer big man Sam Orme. According to Jake Bartecki of News Channel Nebraska, Orme was expected to see a significant role with the Nebraska team but is nursing a hamstring issue which “didn’t feel right” going into the game and he missed their first contest. In his absence the Cornhuskers leaned on South Dakota St transfer Damon Wilkinson and former Butler and BC big man Boden Kapke in the frontcourt.
For the Friars it appears the injury bug is a little more dire. Devin Vanterpool, the scoring guard who transferred in from FAU, has yet to appear in a game for the Friars as he missed the two exhibitions and the season opener with an ankle injury. Coach Hodgson is calling him a gametime decision going into Saturday. During the season opener starting center Arrinten Page banged knees with a defender and only ended up playing six minutes. Per Bill Koch of the Projo it was reported Page would undergo imaging for his knee on Tuesday. Jon Rothstein then reported that Hodgson said that Page is day-to-day. If Page can’t go expect to see plenty of Jacob Bannarbie, who had a 14-pt 10 rebound effort against Maine. Obviously, the Friars would like a healthy roster for this game but it appears that may not be the case.
How to Watch
- When: Saturday, November 7, 7:00 p.m. ET
- Where: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT
- TV: FS1
- Event: Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off. URI and Monmouth play the opener of the doubleheader at 4:00 p.m. ET.
- Tickets: Ticketmaster or the Mohegan Sun Arena box office
Prediction
PC 84 Nebraska 78
Go Friars!
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