1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Nebraska Basketball countdown in to Michigan State: December 29th, 12:25pm

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

Austin and Jake talk about the buildup to Nebraska basketball's big time showdown with Michigan StateAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Back to one-on-one with DP, sponsored by the Downtown Lincoln Foundation on 93-7 the ticket. We are back here on one-on-one with D-P on a Monday as we get ready for a very busy week. As you mentioned, Austin earlier today, we know Nebraska and Utah will play the final football game for Nebraska this season here on Wednesday. But a very exciting week for Nebraska basketball as well as we kind of count down the days to Friday will be the big game with Michigan State. You're not counting down the day to New Hampshire? Well, it's just one day. But, I mean, that could be interesting as well. We just hope it's not.

I think in that kind of category. Though we'll see, maybe sounds like there, you know, Ugi Yer's Avisius is available, but, you know, at the last game, you know, just starting to get back into it. So they didn't want to play them at that time. So maybe we'll see the first Ugi appearance before the end of the year. End of the season. Yes, end of the year, TBD.

Yeah, probably. you know we'll see if that happens one way or another i don't know if i was trying to look to see if they had updated the polls yet um but i think nebraska still at a rank number 13 like they were last week yeah yeah would have updated not playing many games at this point yeah not not i don't think anybody or many teams played too many games last week so um that was the through the christmas break but you're right new hampshire uh at least a game to pay attention to tomorrow night it'll be a late one as well michigan state by the way both of those will be eight p m tips um this will be tomorrow of course from pinnacle bank arena but you know again don't want to overlook new hampshire

but they're four and eight if nebraska loses uh if that's the one that that knocks Nebraska off right before obviously a top 15 showdown uh with michigan state then well then we're all just going to be disappointed yeah which has not been the norm for this nebraska men's basketball basketball program the last three years you know they've generally done a good job of avoiding disappointments like this. I mean, had a spot for a letdown at Creighton two years ago now, two matchups ago, didn't do it, one on the road and won. Sure, maybe fell flat last year in East Lansing,

Mackey Arena, but tough places to win. Like to see Nebraska, you know, shows some signs there. But at home, Nebraska's been pretty good. Last year's team, for all its warts, again, ended up winning 20 games. So I'm anticipating Friday being probably Bach, the biggest game of Fred Hoyberg's tenure in Nebraska, at least to this point. Yeah, I certainly

feel like that, or close to it. Again, you know, there's, you know, obviously an NCAA tournament game, you know, that sort of stuff circumstantially could be pretty big. But as far as a home game against Michigan, you know, a top 15 matchup where Nebraska is building the program. But I do want to say this, you know,

because I am kind of looking over at New Hampshire, is that I, not to do that because, not because of New Hampshire, but because Nebraska at that time would conclude, an undefeated non-con if they're able to get that done and again all likelihood is that they will but that's not something to kind of be overlooked here as part of this this 12 and no start for Nebraska of course you have the wins against Wisconsin and Illinois to start off the conference

2 and oh as well but yeah I wonder how often that that's happened in uh in in Nebraska basketball history can't be too much yeah no I'm scrolling back right now so even the so 2018 19 team Tim Miles last year dropped the game, the neutral site to Texas Tech and that would have been the one non-con loss for that group. The year before

2017-18 Nebraska lost on the road at St. John's and the Gavitt games, then lost the opening round of their multi-team event against UCF before and then losing to Craton by 10 on the road and in Kansas by one point

at home as well. And that would have been probably the best shot. Obviously, that 13-14 team didn't make it through unscathed. They actually lost to UMass and UAB back-to-back before beating Georgia in a super consolation game in that multi-team event lost at Creighton as well. And then at Cincinnati, actually, and I think that was just a return game. Maybe as the next year it happened. But yeah, no, it's super rare for Nebraska to make it through the non-conference unscathed.

I would guess it hasn't happened since the 80s or 90s. I would guess so, too. So it's been a miraculous season for Nebraska thus far. And now it's just kind of about, okay, well, how much better can this get? And that's part of the reason I've been continuing to kind of say is I'm excited for this team because there's a couple pieces on it that should continue to grow, if not just grow within their role. And so this team that's ranked 13th and it's such an odd spot for Nebraska fans to look at it,

obviously, you know, eventually there's going to come a loss in the loss column. And so, you know, you might not, you can say, well, whatever is the peak or whatever. But I just feel like there's, there's room to grow for this team to get better. And, and, you know, it just feels good, knowing that there's several different pieces that can kind of step up. I mean, we saw that with the last outing that they had. That was, you know, this is a season for the most part, your best players have been clearly ranked mass and Price and Stanford. I think they're fighting for, you know, kind of all big 10 recognition, but they were off a little bit.

And, you know, it maybe partially led to a little bit of a deficit there against North Dakota at the beginning of the half, but, you know, the players that stepped up. Obviously, remember that game, they switched kind of running the offense there through Bear K. He was able to get the triple double. But, you know, DeMarcus Lawrence was especially hot out of the break. Sam Hoyberg played a big part in putting some distance in that game. Braden Frager was the leading score in that game. actually, you know, other than the West Georgia again,

it was the first time figure was the leading score for Nebraska since the first game. So there's just so many, so many options for Nebraska, even if one of your best players is having an off night that they can fight through it. And again, that's changed kind of the narrative. And they had to fight through it themselves was, you know, kind of coming into the season, everybody, including myself,

was saying, well, what happens if they don't make threes on a given night? And they've kind of proven that that's not the only way that they're able to get a win. Do you have Nebraska stats up in front of you? Yes. Oh, I can't ask you the question. Oh, well, I can take them down. For the text line,

what do you think Nebraska's three point percentage is this year? 402, four, six, four, six, eight, five. The thing that I want to see Nebraska come back with a renewed focus on out of the break is going to be free throw shooting. They're at 74% as a team, which is not atrocious. And they don't shoot a lot of them, but it's because Nebraska doesn't necessarily shoot a lot of them. I think Nebraska

needs to have a better percentage than that's 74. Part of that is Barry Cable Eugenjell gets fouled a lot and at a consistent free throw shooter. Even, you know, a guy like rinkmast on the season, he's at 80%. I would have guessed a little lower than that. That's fine. But rinks at 80% price Sanford

at 89 and Brain Frager at 84. I mean, Marcus Lawrence is shooting 65% on free throws and only shooting one and a half per game. He's got to get downhill more and that's got to be at 80%. Sam Hoyberg. Only shooting two free throws a game at 68%, right? Barcate is 66%.

Okay, fine, whatever. You live with that from a big man who we know has some shooting and in touch issues. You look at Jared Garcia. He's 86%. That's solid, but he's going to be a low volume guy. Kail Jacobson, depending on how much he plays, is only at 53% from the free throw line. Nebraska's system is such that they don't get to the free throw line much,

but there have been some time to Bach where I'm just holding my breath for Nebraska at the free throw line. missing front ends, not converting one-in-ones, that could come back to bite this team. It's a little thing, and it's not nearly as bad as it was for the first few years under Fred Hoyberg. But, man, I do still kind of hold my breath when most of Nebraska's players go to the free throw line. Big Bank Hank is close at 32. Cubsker, 39% is way too high. 2563Bach is actually the closest.

Nebraska right now, as a team, is shooting 34.9% from three. sub 35% right in that that ballpark you would have thought coming into the year that would have been the death now for Nebraska if they're not up a little bit higher than that in the 36 37 maybe even 38% range but they're getting away with it because why because they're shooting 31 threes per game they're still getting their points from three yes they come in spurts no Nebraska hasn't had a game in a while where it's been hot in in both halves just shooting the absolute cover off the ball but this is the gambit for Nebraska. I think they are who they are as a team. Maybe they get a little bit better through the

course of the year. Maybe they get a little bit worse when the defenders get longer, more in tune with what Nebraska is going to do. But I think Nebraska is a 35% three point shooting team pretty truly. And that's fine because of the number they take. If they were a 35% three point shooting team on 20 attempts per game or 23 attempts per game, that's a problem. Teams are going to dare you to shoot. But when Nebraska is taking 31 threes per game, you make 35% of them, that's like 10 on the low end, a 12 on the high end of what you're shooting for your percentage. And that's fine. That's 30 to 36 points from three every game. So if Nebraska is going to shoot 37, 38% from three on 31 attempts per game, they will be unstoppable. But if Nebraska shoots

37, 38% from three on 20 attempts per game, teams have really throw up. a wrench in the Nebraska's plans. Have you been able to look at Michigan State so much this year to kind of see how they compare because they do have some of the similar statistics that Nebraska does as far as Michigan State's 35.7

from Beyond the Arc. I was looking at both their assists categories. 19 assists each for each team. Nebraska doing a little bit better job of protecting the ball at this point. But you know, 78 points per game from Michigan State, 83, for Nebraska.

And they've got a few different guys. You know, it seems like they're kind of more kind of a spread out team, if you will. They've got four different guys in double figures. But the top guy, Jackson Kohler, only at 14 points per game there. Have you been able to break down too much of Michigan State as of yet? So this is going to be something Jay and I are going to do on Friday. I'm not going to give away the whole goose. There are a lot of interesting similarities between Nebraska and Michigan State, but some really key differences.

My theory of the case is that Fred Hoyberg, we know his son Jack was up there in East Lansing with Tomizzo for a while. My theory of the case is that Fred Hoyberg saw a lot of what Michigan State did to be one of the most consistently successful programs in the Big Ten and copied a one of what he liked from up there. Like, hey, this is some of the formula to win in the Big Ten. Coachizo probably has some of this right. But it also said, here's what I can tweak.

Here's what I'm more comfortable coaching. Because you mentioned the percentage similarities, yeah, Michigan State shoots 35.7% from three, but guess what? They are 300th in three point rate. They only shoot three is about one-third of the time. So better percentage, lower volume. They don't rely on the three. They also give up a lot of threes, kind of like Nebraska does.

Not quite as many Michigan State allows, but still north of 44% of opponent shots come from three for Michigan State. where the difference is is if Nebraska is going to rely on shooting and spread out offense, Michigan State's going to crash the glass. They're the number one team in the country in defensive rebound rate allowed and number eight in the country

in an offensive rebound percentage. That's what they do with their two bigs. Nebraska does something completely different. We know Michigan State's always going to want to thrive in transition, even with the two big men on the court, whereas Michigan State is sending those two big men to the glass offensively,

Nebraska is getting them back to guard against defensive transition where we know Michigan State likes to live, which even with that, Michigan State, bottom like 20% in the country, bottom 15% in tempo. They will play slow. They will bleed you to that. They will get a good look at the rim come hell or high water. And Nebraska doesn't play much faster than that as well.

Nebraska's got an average tempo of about 70 processions per game. Michigan State is all the way down at about 66 possessions. game, which when you think about it, makes sense. Michigan State wants to play slow and mall you, right? They will create extra possessions on the offensive glass. Nebraska on the flip side likes a very free flowing game. Doesn't like a bunch of stoppages. We'll play faster than Michigan State, but isn't exactly hunting transition opportunities

or playing, you know, seven seconds or less, you know, Mike Dantonie ball. I'm glad I asked the question. Very, very good breakdown. Still left some there for you on Friday as well, as you were saying. And so very interesting, exciting matchup, Michigan State 3 and 1 against top 25 opponents so far this year with just the one loss of Duke. Nebraska is now one of those top 25 opponents. Don't forget that as we're going into that game. All right, let's take quick break.

We'll wrap up one-on-one. Bock of the Blackshirt will be after that. Coming up on 93-7, the ticket. Download our app by searching 93.7. The ticket in your app store. You're listening to one-on-one with DP on 93-7 the ticket and the ticket FM.com. Thank you.