• Nebraska’s 2012 Recruiting Class
• Huskers fall 30-13 in Capital One Bowl
• Nebraska vs South Carolina in the Capital One Bowl
• Nebraska gets hammered in Michigan
• Huskers fall 28-25
• Blackshirts are back after 24-3 win over Michigan State
• Nebraska rolls by Minnesota and eyes Michigan State next
• Second half pushes Nebraska past Ohio State
• Thoughts after loss in Madison
• Nebraska heads into Big10 play 4-0
• Huskers improve to 2-0
• Huskers open up with 40-7 win
• Bubba Starling signs with the Royals
• Nebraska and Iowa to play in the “The Heroes Game”
• New Nebraska Football Gloves from Adidas

The Nebraska Cornhuskers cruised to an 80 to 51 win over the Hornets of Alabama State.  Nebraska was led in scoring by Steve Harley with 16. Ryan Anderson, Sek Henry and Toney McCray also scored in double figures. NU showed some new starters as both Cookie Miller and Alonzo Edwards were in the starting lineup.

The Huskers finally got their offense going to start a game. While the Hornets are not a formidable defensive team they do have size and athleticism.  Nebraska shot an amazing 14 of 25 (56%) from 3 point range.  The Huskers used some pressure during the first three quarters of the game, but it did not seem an attempt to turn the other team over as much as it was to delay them getting into their half court offense. The Hornets 7’ 1” center only scored 4 points in the game and was not effective as he only played 16 minutes tonight.  The Hornets put on some fairly tight full court pressure over the last 5 minutes of the game that kept the game from getting too lopsided at the end.  Nebraska was satisfied to just run the clock and try and get good shots.  The lead of 50 to 25 at the half extended out to nearly 40 points before Alabama State brought the final deficit down to 29.

The play of Alonzo Edwards was fairly impressive. He was able to battle on the block against their center and played well on the offensive end of the court getting 5 points and 1 offensive rebound. He had a very nice block and showed flashed of potential. During his minutes in the first half he seemed to grasp the offensive system NU was running, but he was mainly on the low block.  If Alonzo can continue to develop he can play a critical role once conference season gets here. Tonight he played 14 minutes, if he gives NU 15 quality minutes a night it will probably mean a win or two more in league play.

As mentioned earlier, the Huskers were on fire from three tonight. Alabama State was giving them some open looks, but even when they were guarded they were still making threes.  It was good to see the team finally get the offense on track. The only thing that slowed it down was when the Hornets went into a zone for about 10 minutes in the second half. NU got Paul Velander in the game and broke the zone down with outside shots. They still made an effort to get the ball inside on offense, but it was difficult against a zone with Alabama State’s height advantage.

From the sounds of things, it appears that Eshaunte Jones will be having ankle surgery and taking a medical redshirt this year. It was pretty clear that his ankle was not right, and with Doc’s approach he will be more of a benefit as a healthy senior than his would be as a gimpy freshman.  It was good that he was able to get some game action and play a little to get a feel for the level of competition. He showed the ability to be able to shoot lights out and really score the basketball.  He will be fun to watch in future years.

Overall, good win and a feel good night for the Huskers as the end of the bench was able to get some playing time to close the game out.  Unfortunately though no points for Nick Krenk, Ben Nelson or Cole Salomon but at least they got a chance to get some playing time.  Next up is Arizona State which will be a very tough game.  Nebraska was fortunate to get a win against them last year in Lincoln.  If the Huskers can win the game against Arizona State they should be able to closeout an undefeated non-conference season.

Go Big Red – Corey

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