Texas Longhorns at Nebraksa Cornhuskers Preview: Can the Huskers hand the Horns their first conference defeat?

Texas is on fire.  Since the embarrassing loss at Southern Cal the Longhorns have won 17 of their last 18, only falling in overtime to Connecticut.  Just to understand their dominance, Texas is outscoring opponents by .26 points per possession in Big 12 play according to John Gasaway's Tuesday Truths.  To put that stat in perspective, in an average game (67 possessions), Texas is winning by over 17 points.  That's dominant--no other major conference team comes close. Texas is doing it with terrific defense, where it's holding opponents to a ludicrous .84 points per possession (the next closest in the conference are Kansas and Nebraska with 1.02).

Nebraska isn't to be overlooked though.  The Huskers have only lost one game at home, to Kansas.  They play tough defense and are fairly formidable on offense at home.  Unfortunately losing Christian Standhardinger doesn’t bode well for Nebraska’s season.

Keep an eye on Jordan Hamilton and Tristan Thompson.  Thompson is one of the best defenders in the country (give him a lot of credit for Texas’ win against Kansas), and Hamilton can flat out score.  For Nebraska Lance Jeter is going to be crucial offensively.  He really sets the tone offensively for this team, and they’re going to need to be on their A offensive game against Texas.