Nebraska Scouting Report

The Cornhuskers play an almost jarring style of basketball compared to other Big Ten teams. And fittingly, this spunky Nebraska team, who are overachieving preseason expectations, are led by 6' Keisei Tominaga hailing from Japan and 6'10" Reink Mast bringing his skills over from the Netherlands. Filling in the rest of the roster are high effort players that play intelligently on offense and defense. Also, as a personal testament, Pinnacle Bank stadium, I believe affectionately called the Vault, is a tough venue to play at if Nebraska gets rolling on offense.

Nebraska Offense

With newcomer Reink Mast taking the place of Derrick Walker, Nebraska continues its five out style of offense that centers around Mast as a hub in the middle of the floor and player movement around him. Nebraska has general sets that head coach Fred Hoiberg likes to start in, but the players have the freedom to read and react to how defenses are playing. Overall, Nebraska plays a more pro-style offense with the movement creating a lot of threes, 46% of their possessions end with a triple, and they pass the ball well with the movement, assisting on 60% of their made shots.

Player Profiles PTS/REBS/AST 2PT%/3PT%/FT%

#30 - Keisei Tominaga 14/2/1 64%/35%/85%

• Off the ball, guard is trailing around screens without letting him back cut

• On the ball, guarding him straight up

  • Aware of him looking to use his momentum on every catch to drive

  • Taking away his step back going to his right hand

• In ball screens, playing him with ice coverage to force him left

  • He's very good in the floater range so the big needs to be active

#51 - Reink Mast 13/9/3 52%/30%/80%

• On the perimeter, the big is giving Mast a slight cushion (4-5 feet) to play him for the drive

  • With his passing, bigs need to have active hands

• In the pick and roll or dribble handoffs, the big is playing in drop coverage

• In the post, the big is playing strong with vertical hands early to contest. A double coming from the weakside low man to double from the middle if Edey is not guarding Mast

  • He has lowers his eyes when making his moves and exposes the ball to help defenders

• He will shoot from the perimeter in transition or kick-out opportunities

• He is aggressive driving the ball into space going left or right

#3 - Brice Williams 13/5/2 48%/37%/88%

• On ball, playing him neutral on the drive and ready to contest on the catch

  • Favors his left hand and has an effective right to left crossover

  • Likes to catch and shoot if given space

• Off ball, looking to help off of him on the weakside with a tight closeout

• In the post, the guard stays solid with help stunting before recovering

  • He has been more of a passer in the post, help defense be ready to recover quickly

#4 - Juwan Gary 12/6/1 64%/34%/69%

• Off ball, expect him to be active cutting to the rim

• On ball, have to be there on the catch to contest or pressure the ball

  • Has not shown the desire to drive or to create plays off the dribble

• Have to get a body on him when the shot goes up (leads the team with 3 offensive rebounds a game)

• In the post, he wants to get to his right hand hook

#10 - Jamarques Lawrence 7/4/3 44%/28%/72%

• On ball, stay tight to takeaway his jumper and force him to the rim into help

  • Gap defense can be aggressive digging at his handle

• Off ball, defender can be more active helping and recovering

• He wants to get to his pull up

#0 - CJ Wilcher 8/2/1 63%/42%/87%

• Playing him like a shooter on and off ball.

  • Especially aggressive shooting out of dribble handoffs

  • In his last 4 high major games, he has shot 1/4 from two point range and 7/15 from three

#1 - Sam Hoiberg 4/3/2 40%/38%/68%

• Both off and on ball, it is important to always be close enough to tightly contest his threes

  • Forcing him away from his left hand and funneling his drives towards help

  • He has struggled when dealing with fast closeouts towards his body while shooting

#53 - Josiah Allick 6/4/1 53%/27%/67%

• On ball, sag slightly to cut of his drives and ready to play drop for dribble handoffs

  • Likes spinning to his left when he dribes right

• Off ball, helping into the lane to compress cutting lanes

• For rebounds, he is going to crash hard and he is elusive getting around box outs

Offensive Sets/Motion

Double Stagger Chin Back Screen Ball Screen

Indicators

• Ball Reversal with Tominaga in the corner

How to Defend

• Trail the guard through each screen to stay connected

• Bigs dropping off of bigs

Horns Chin Zoom

Indicators

• Double big horns set with Tominaga handling the ball

How to Defend

• Guards trailing tight behind

• Bigs dropping off the bigs to clog passing lanes

Double Stagger Split Action

Indicators

• Tominaga handling the ball

• Non-Tominaga player coming off the stagger and throwing it back to Mast

How to Defend

• Guarding trailing through the stagger

• Switching the split action (One defender high, one defender low)

Double Double Stagger Pin Down

Indicator

• Tominaga in the corner, runs off the double and "ghosts" the ball handler

• The top big following Tominaga to the other side

How to Defend

• Guards trailing each screen (No back cuts/fouling)

• Bigs dropping on the pin down

Iverson Horns Back Screen Pin Down

Indicators

• Iverson cut from Tominaga

• Two bigs in the horns formation

How to Defend

• Guard trailing Tominaga

• Big dropping to help the Guard

• Pin down, guard bump Mast with the big recovering

Tominaga Ball Screen

Indicators

• Tominaga rejecting the stagger

How to Defend

• Guard is staying tight to Tominaga and communicating the back screen

• Icing the ball screen, forcing Tominaga left with the big dropping

Back Screen Ball Screen

Indicators

• Brice Williams bringing the ball up the court

• Nebraska has used a back screen to move Williams into the post to start the Wisconsin and Indiana game

How to Defend

• Communicating the back screen and play it straight up

• Switch the tight ball screen

Horns Mast Iso

Indicators

• Mast getting the ball

• Obvious players clearing the middle of the floor

How to Defend

• Big sagging off to give a cushion against the drive

• Help side recognizing the isolation and offering help

Nebraska Defense

Predicted Matchups

Braden Smith - Jamarques Lawrence

Lance Jones - Brice Williams

Fletcher Loyer - Keisei Tominaga

Kauffman-Renn - Juwan Gary

Zach Edey - Reink Mast

Man to Man (No Middle Defense)

On Ball (No Middle)

1. Heavily forcing the ball to the baseline

2. Closes out to the high side

3. Not going to foul by reaching in or swiping down

Off Ball (Zone)

1. Low man on the weakside pulled across the rim line

2. High man zoning the weakside

3. Weakside will switch interchanges to maintain the low help

4. Little gap defense because of the early help from the weakside

Ball Screen (Hard Hedge)

1. Guards playing in an ice coverage normally trailing over the top

2. Bigs wanting the hedge but will play a drop if they do not see the screen coming

3. Low man on the weakside guards the roller

4. NOTE. I could see them doubling the ball handler or switching with non-Mast bigs

5. They switch dribble hand offs

Post (Baseline Double)

1. The big plays a hand and foot over the top to deter the entry

2. The primary defender is committing to defending the middle

3. The low man is coming to double with the weakside ready to rotate out of the double

4. They will stop doubling if cuts are effective

1-3-1 zone is a possible defense as well

How to Score vs Nebraska

• Playing aggressively out of the post double

  • Cutting to the high post or from the baseline

  • Attacking long closeouts to get into the middle of the defense

  • Generating weakside corner threes

• Pick on Tominaga and Williams

  • Make Tominaga defend ball screens and position him as the low man that has to double

  • Cut behind Williams and force him to navigate screens

• Slipping the big into the short roll area against the hard hedge (TKR)

  • Looking to pass for a layup or a weakside three

  • TKR looking to drive from the free throw line area

• Re-screening (Edey)

  • Look for the re-screen to spring Smith or passing to Edey early on the roll

• Dribble handoffs to open drives to the middle of the floor

Purdue's Gameplan

Offensive Keys

1. Dominate through the post with passing

   1. Front court having more than 8 assists with less than 4 turnovers

2. Guards hitting their three point attempts

   1. Shoot over 35% from three on 20+ attempts

3. Win the possession battle

   1. Less than 12 turnovers

   2. Rebound 35% of misses or 12 offensive rebounds

Defensive Keys

1. Contain Mast and Tominaga

   1. Less than 25 points combined

2. Defend the three point line

   1. Hold them to under 30 percent shooting from three

3. Guards doing their jobs and not allowing easy offense

   1. Less than 6 points from back cuts

   2. No defenders jumping on shot fakes