NU basketball hopes to improve record against Michigan Wednesday

It's beyond crunch time for Nebraska men's basketball program.

With a loss Wednesday the Huskers dropped to .500 for the season and 3-8 in their first season in the Big Ten Conference.

But for the fifth time with NU coach Doc Sadler at the helm it appears as if the Huskers will finish below .500 in conference play.

But that doesn't have the sixth-year coach with a southern drawl fazed. He knew that the new conference would be difficult for NU. After all, there are eight Big Ten squads ranked in the top 50 in RPI according to realtimerpi.com.

And since his team has a record similar to what he would have expected at the beginning of the season his strategy remains unchanged.

"I understand where we're at," Sadler said. "We've still got seven games and basically all of them are like I thought they'd be. If we play very, very well and we make some shots, we got a chance to make it a great season still."

The Huskers' remaining games are against opponents that range from the bottom, 12th place Penn State, to NCAA Tournament-caliber teams like Wednesday's opponent Michigan.

The No. 22 Wolverines come to Lincoln for a 7:30 tip-off, televised on Big Ten Network, looking to improve upon their 7-4 Big Ten record in order to try and break out of a tie for third-place in the conference with Wisconsin.

MU won't be overlooking the game. A victory against the Huskers will be important for the Wolverines moving forward.

"It's going to be a challenge, just like it has been for everyone the last two years," Michigan coach John Beilein said. "If you want to win a game in Lincoln, you better be playing some really good basketball. It's another step that we have to make with seven games left.

"A win in Lincoln (Wednesday) would be tremendous for us."

And the Huskers know the importance of the win down the stretch. That's why they're zoned in and focused on MU as it makes its first trip to the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

Nebraska needs to stay alert and not make mistakes against the Wolverines if it wants to pull off another upset against a top 25 team, forward Brandon Ubel said.

"We've gotta come in and we've gotta be focused," Ubel said. "We'll play good defense for 30 seconds then we'll give up the offensive rebound. And that's the kind of plays that kills us down the stretch."

But the Huskers will have to keep plugging away down the stretch without a big presence. With NU's big man Jorge Brian Diaz likely gone for the season, bench players Mike Fox, Christopher Niemann and guard heavy lineups will likely have to fill the gap.

But Diaz's absence doesn't have Ubel and company too worried about the games ahead. Diaz missed five games earlier in the season due to the same foot problem so the Huskers will need to execute like they did during that stretch again.

"A couple guys are going to have to play more minutes than they're used to," Ubel said. "We know what it's like, we just need to have a good game plan going into Michigan knowing how to guard and how to guard smart."

But as the Huskers first Big Ten season draws to a close without Diaz and toward a below-.500 finish, NU's faithful are getting pessimistic.

And as fans grumble about his team's performance, Sadler remains unaffected.

He still thinks that there's life in the 2011-2012 Huskers.

"I know some people disagree with me," he said. "Luckily, those people really don't matter. You know it's a matter of what these guys out here think and they've still got a lot of confidence and they still got a lot of fight in them.

"I believe that a hundred percent."

robbykorth@dailynebraskan.com