Basketball Game Preview: West Holt Huskies vs. O'Neill Eagles

West Holt is 2-8 against O'Neill since December of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The West Holt Huskies will venture away from home to square off against the O'Neill Eagles at 7:00 p.m. West Holt is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 56.4 points per game this season.

O'Neill will be up against a hot West Holt squad: the team just extended their winning streak to three. West Holt blew past Neligh-Oakdale 61-26 on Tuesday. With the Huskies ahead 43-6 at the half, the match was all but over already.

Lincoln Konrad was his usual excellent self, putting up ten points in addition to seven boards and five assists. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 2.1 steals per game. Gabriel Monasterio also deserves some recognition as he grabbed his first steal of the season.

Meanwhile, O'Neill played a tough game on Tuesday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They were outmatched by Norfolk Catholic and fell 71-38. The defeat continues a trend for the Eagles in their matchups with the Knights: they've now lost three in a row.

Despite the loss, O'Neill saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Braxen Eichelberger posted 11 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Bodie Latzel, who had six points.

O'Neill's defeat dropped their record down to 8-7. As for West Holt, their win bumped their record up to 13-3.

Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: West Holt has been crashing the rebounds this season, having averaged 36.2 boards per game. However, it's not like O'Neill struggles in that department as they've been averaging 33.7 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.

West Holt didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against O'Neill when the teams last played back in January of 2024, but they still walked away with a 47-41 victory. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was O'Neill's Drew Morrow, who scored 25 points along with five boards and three steals. Now that he won't be playing on Thursday, will it be easier for West Holt to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.