Nebraska vs Iowa match-up in the paint

[nu2u]

Advantage Iowa. This is where Iowa can impose their will IMO, even with 2 freshman starters. Iowa has more skill overall here and are deeper as well.

Iowa
Tyler Cook 6ft9 Fr.
Cordell Pemsl 6ft8 Fr.
Ahmad Wagner 6ft7 Soph
Dom Uhl 6ft9 Junior

Nebraska
Tshimanga 6ft11 Fr.
Jacobson 6ft9 Soph.
Morrow 6ft7 Soph.
Roby 6ft8 Fr.

Both teams start underclassmen in the low post. Overall, I believe that Iowa's post players are quicker and better scorers.

Tshimanga - a foul prone big body "project" type of player averaging only 10m and 3 ppg. Both Pemsl and Cook have much better footwork and are quicker. A must feed to the post when Tshimanga is playing. Knock down the FTs.

Jacobson - Nebraska's 2nd leading rebounder. Will play 25 or more minutes. But again, not an agile defender - isolate Jacobson and take him on a dribble drive for a high percentage shot. Would love to see him matched with Baer at some point. I could be wrong but I think a lot of his scoring comes in transition.

Morrow - at 6'7, NE's best rebounder. A lot of his points are 2nd chance or put-backs but he can create also. Also a tough defender but will use all his fouls fighting for rebounds. Get a body on him right away on every shot. Iowa's advantage is diminished if Morrow is able to grab more than a couple offensive. RBs. In a lot of ways, he is key to this game for Nebraska.

Roby - I did not watch Nebraska's B10 games but it appears Roby really came on strong against Indiana. May be an X factor if he plays like that vs Iowa.

I'm usually a proponent of the 3PT shot as the deciding factor but this contest favors Iowa under the basket IMO and that should be the primary point of attack (even though 3PT shooting will again be important).

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

Depends on the officials and what type of game they allow.

 

[nu2u]

Depends on the officials and what type of game they allow.

This is true but if the refs are calling them close and it becomes a war of attrition, Iowa should be in an even more favorable positon since they have more post players off the bench. Of course, the refs could also call them closer against the visitors which is certainly a possibility.

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

This is true but if the refs are calling them close and it becomes a war of attrition, Iowa should be in an even more favorable positon since they have more post players off the bench. Of course, the refs could also call them closer against the visitors which is certainly a possibility.

The later is my concern. Besides Morrow, Nebraska is nothing special inside. Jacobson would rather play outside it seems at times. If they are getting ticky tack touch calls though, it's a game changer.

 

[Kurt Warner]

Pemsl sure seems taller than 5'8"

 

[nu2u]

Pemsl sure seems taller than 5'8"

yeah nice catch

 

[Ronman]

Pemsl sure seems taller than 5'8"

It's those lifts.

 

[Hawkeye_311]

Pemsl sure seems taller than 5'8"

That's with the afro.

 

[Hawksfor3]

Nebraska has one senior like we do. That's Webster. We should really defend him and Watson. Size-wise, I think we match up well there. I don't know why, but I feel that Ahmad could be a force in this game. They're young and quick, but so are we.

 

[Hawksfor3]

This is true but if the refs are calling them close and it becomes a war of attrition, Iowa should be in an even more favorable positon since they have more post players off the bench. Of course, the refs could also call them closer against the visitors which is certainly a possibility.

Morrow is grabbing 8.5 and Jacobson 9.0 boards/game. Hawks better block out and jump like they mean it.

 

[DanL53]

Morrow is grabbing 8.5 and Jacobson 9.0 boards/game. Hawks better block out and jump like they mean it.

Jacobson gets 5.9 boards per game. Their total rebounding is 39. Iowa gets 40.

 

[CanadaHawk]

@NE will be a good lesson in blocking out. If Iowa blocks out Morrow, they have a good chance of controlling the boards. If they don't, he's such a quick jumper that he can be a force there. A big key to winning this game.

 

[BeepBeepInMyJeep]

This is true but if the refs are calling them close and it becomes a war of attrition, Iowa should be in an even more favorable positon since they have more post players off the bench. Of course, the refs could also call them closer against the visitors which is certainly a possibility.

This is often how it goes in conference play. But the flip side of a tightly called game is we'll have to get the bigs to sink some FTs. If we go 15-25 or something, that won't get it done.

 

[unoHawkeye]

Nebraska could struggle to guard both Pemsl and Cook, if they play at the same time. So Morrow presumably takes Cook, but who does Nebraska have that's strong enough to bang with CP? If Morrow takes Pemsl, does Nebraska have anybody quick/strong enough to bang with Cook? (I haven't seen Jacobsen play, but I feel like either guy could get him in foul trouble).

I bet Iowa's length in general gives Nebraska fits. What we need to prevent is Glynn Watson driving right past JoBo all night and messing up our defense a la Seton Hall

 

[icwesthawk]

I don't know why, but I feel that Ahmad could be a force in this game.

I am waiting for the game for him to bust out, not sure when, sure hope soon.

 

[DodgerHawki]

Jacobson gets 5.9 boards per game. Their total rebounding is 39. Iowa gets 40.

The total rebounds is nearly even per game, but that's mostly because Iowa plays higher possession games than Nebraska. Huskers rebound 33% of their own misses (good for 46th in the nation), while Iowa rebounds just 70% of its opponents' misses (234th in the country for defensive rebounding percentage). If Iowa is somehow able to rebound 75+% of Nebraska's misses, Iowa could be in very good shape.

 

[Hawksfor3]

IMO if I see JoBo under the basket blocking out, then our bigs should too! Saw that last game where 6'0" was blocking out under the basket. Just sayin'. We're 606-584 in rebounding vs opponents. That's pretty thin. Hit the boards hard big guys!

 

[FairfIowafan1984]

Pemsl sure seems taller than 5'8"

He's 5'10 in shoes.

 

[FairfIowafan1984]

The rebounding almost cost of the Michigan game I don't wanna know how many 2nd Chance points they got or offensive rebounds. Clean that up and we win this game just like the football game by a lot.

If we don't then it's maybe a loss.

 

[unoHawkeye]

We actually out-rebounded Michigan by 3, including tying the offensive rebounding battle. We also only lost the rebounding battle to Purdue by 2, and won the offensive rebounding battle by 4 (If we didn't suck shooting, and they missed a couple shots in the first half, I imagine we likely would have won the boards).

So I don't think rebounding has been much of a problem to start Big Ten play. Scoring in general hasn't been a huge problem so far this year. Which means... Turnovers and defense are what is costing this team games. Keep improving in those areas, and I believe we'll be in good shape going into next year.

 

[garberhawkeye]

We actually out-rebounded Michigan by 3, including tying the offensive rebounding battle. We also only lost the rebounding battle to Purdue by 2, and won the offensive rebounding battle by 4 (If we didn't suck shooting, and they missed a couple shots in the first half, I imagine we likely would have won the boards).

So I don't think rebounding has been much of a problem to start Big Ten play. Scoring in general hasn't been a huge problem so far this year. Which means... Turnovers and defense are what is costing this team games. Keep improving in those areas, and I believe we'll be in good shape going into next year.

Good info, but I would add that we had so many missed shots (37% from the field including ~25% from 3) versus Purdue that our offensive rebound opportunities were much greater than we usually have.

 

[lonewolf52]

Our guards need to be willing to stick their noses in there to get rebounds too. When we played so well against ISU and UNI, I especially noticed this and it made a huge difference.

 

[EastIowaHawk]

I've seen both the BIG Nebraska games and this is going to be a really tough game all around for Iowa. Not saying we can't win, but Nebbie really moves the ball around quickly and they put terrific pressure on the opponent's guards. It's going to be a little more playground ball than our first two games, and should be fun. However, I look for a lot of mistakes and turnovers. Hope we survive.

 

[FairfIowafan1984]

Thank you moss for messing up the game when we had the last shot!!!

 

[unoHawkeye]

Thank you moss for messing up the game when we had the last shot!!!

Jok did the same thing in the first half. I was dumbfounded as to why we were leaving so much time on the clock when we took our last shots

 

[lonewolf52]

You could tell Jok was tired. I would have loved to use him as a decoy and run a give and go with him as the trigger man.