Coming off of their first loss of the season, No. 14 Indiana basketball needs to fixate on certain Cornhuskers in order to get things back on track on Wednesday.
Fred Hoiberg and Nebraska are coming off of one of their best wins over the past 10 seasons, taking down No. 7 Creighton on the road, 63-53, on Sunday. It’s the Huskers’ highest-ranked win since taking down No. 3 Texas on February 19, 2011.
Juwan Gary, Emmanuel Bandoumel, and Keisei Tominaga all deserve a nod as players that can make an impact on the game without impacting the box score. Gary can dominate the glass alongside Derrick Walker; Bandoumel is a pest on defense and leads this team; Tominaga is the best shooter on the team.
But despite those other Husker players, here are my three key Cornhuskers that the Hoosiers need to fixate on to rebound from their first loss of the season in Piscataway:
Three Cornhuskers to fixate on for No. 14 Indiana basketball
3. C.J. Wilcher – Sophomore Guard – #0
2022-23 stats: 9 GP, 30.6 MIN, 10.2 PPG, 1.6 TOV, 1.9 3PM, 36.2 3P%
Last season, Wilcher started just two of the 32 games he appeared in after transferring from Xavier after his freshman year. Wilcher, already this season, has started all nine games and has shown flashes of what he can do out on the court.
In Sunday’s miracle win over No. 7 Creighton, Wilcher played 34 minutes but registered only two points on 1-for-7 shooting and 0-for-5 from beyond the arc, to go along with four turnovers.
While it was a less-than-impressive performance by the sophomore guard, Wilcher has two games this season with 15+ points and leads the Huskers in total made threes (17) this season. Wilcher has the ability to go off on any given night, and given the history in Assembly Hall, we could see Wilcher throwing up three-pointers and some, unluckily, falling in.