Sam Orme is close enough to return that Nebraska is already mapping out what his presence could mean for the offense.
The transfer big man has spent the last few days working at full speed in non-contact drills, and Huskers coach Fred Hoiberg said Thursday that the next step will be how Orme responds once the team ramps things up.
"He has done full-speed non-contact the last couple of days," NU head coach Fred Hoiberg said Thursday. "And we'll see how he reacts."
Orme has been out because of a hamstring injury, and Brian Christopherson of 247Sports reported that he did not play in any of Nebraska’s exhibition games. The Huskers will hold him out Friday, then look to get him into some contact work on Saturday. From there, the team will decide whether he’s ready for the season opener on November 2 against LeMoyne.
Hoiberg made it clear Nebraska isn’t interested in forcing the issue.
"I've said this all along: We're taking a very precautionary approach to this," Hoiberg said during a meeting with the media on Thursday. "Those hamstrings/quads, those types of things, can be tricky and linger on if you try to rush back. So we'll see how he's doing on Saturday, and if he's ready to go on Monday, we'll throw him out there."
There’s also a decent chance Nebraska simply waits another week. The Huskers may not need Orme unless things go sideways, which could push his debut to the following Saturday against Providence.
Whenever he does get back, Nebraska expects him to widen the floor and add another dimension to the attack. The 6-foot-10 Orme averaged 12.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.8 assists last year, and Hoiberg pointed to both his size and shooting touch as major assets.
"He's got great size. Obviously, his biggest strength is his ability to shoot the ball.
He was a 42% three-point shooter a year ago at Belmont," Hoiberg said. "But he's more than that.
He can put the ball on the deck. They used him in a lot of ways."
That "They" was former Belmont coach Casey Alexander, now at Kansas State. Nebraska’s final exhibition game against the Wildcats gave Hoiberg a better chance to study how Belmont used Orme and take a few ideas for his own group.
"They did a lot of really unique things with Sam as a playmaker," the Nebraska basketball head man said. "And we added a couple of those to our sets.
In the last game I thought we executed them really well ... So that gave us a chance to steal some things, and add to the package some sets that fit with our group as well."
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