Nebraska's post depth is now a concern with injuries to Breidenbach, Keita
Nebraska will try to keep its postseason hopes alive when it travels to Iowa for Sunday’s regular-season finale.
As things stand right now, the Huskers might have to do so without two significant pieces of their frontcourt rotation.
Head coach Fred Hoiberg said on Friday that forward Wilhelm Breidenbach was dealing with a plantar fascia injury in his foot. The 6-foot-10 sophomore did not practice on Thursday and was limited during Friday’s session.
Hoiberg said Breidenbach was “feeling quite a bit better” on Friday, but his availability against the Hawkeyes remains questionable.
Blaise Keita unlikely to return at Iowa
Nebraska is also preparing to be without center Blaise Keita for the third-straight game on Sunday. The sophomore missed seven of 11 games to a high ankle sprain against Queens on Dec. 20.
He suffered another ankle injury late in NU’s win over Maryland on Feb. 19, and he has yet to practice fully since.
The Huskers will try slightly increasing Keita’s workload on Saturday to see how his ankle responds. But Hoiberg didn’t seem confident that the 6-11, 241-pounder would be ready to return in Iowa City.
“It’s pretty doubtful that we’ll have him back…” Hoiberg said. “We’re hoping that if not Sunday, then we can get him back next week. He’s going to be important if we’re going to have any opportunity to go on a run, a lot of it because of depth when you have to play a lot of games in a short amount of time.
“Our focus right now, obviously, is on Sunday, and then we’ll go from there. But not having Blaise, yeah, it does affect us, especially on the glass. He gives us a big body out there that allows us to play more one-on-one in the post. Right now, obviously, protecting Derrick (Walker) is a big part of what we have to do with our game planning.”
Denim Dawson should be back in the mix
Should one or both players miss the game at Iowa or any of next week’s Big Ten Tournament in Chicago, post depth could be a real issue.
Because of Walker’s importance on offense, the Huskers have leaned on guys like Breidenbach and Keita to give him rest and help keep him out of foul trouble.
With their respective injuries, there’s a good chance that NU will go back to a player who went from a starter to getting phased out of the rotation the past few weeks.
Forward Denim Dawson started eight straight games midway through the year, playing an average of 27.1 minutes over that stretch.
Since his last start at Michigan on Feb. 8, though, the redshirt freshman has seen a total of 12 minutes over the past four contests. He didn’t play at all at Rutgers or in Tuesday night’s loss to Michigan State.
But Hoiberg said Dawson’s morale hadn’t wavered during his up-and-down role this season. The 6-6 native of San Bernadino, California, will undoubtedly be back in the mix at Iowa and will likely be counted on through the Big Ten Tournament.
“Denim has handled it great,” Hoiberg said. “He’s coming in here every day and continuing to get work, and we’ve talked to him about that. He’s going to get an opportunity on Sunday, there’s no question about that… And then we’re going to need him in the Big Ten Tournament as well.
“That’s been the thing with this group – whatever their role has been, there’s been acceptance in that role. That’s one of the most important things you can have if you’re going to have success as a team, is to have that buy-in.
“With Denim, when we met with him the other day, we talked about the games we felt he would get a chance and to continue to come in and work. He’s done exactly that.”
