Berke Büyüktuncel set to make return vs. No. 15 Michigan

Nebraska forward Berke Büyüktuncel, who has missed the last three games with a sprained left ankle, will play for the Huskers tonight against No. 15 Michigan, head coach Fred Hoiberg announced on his Huskers Radio Network pregame show.

Büyüktuncel was listed as questionable on the Big Ten’s availability report that was released Monday night.

“He will be back in the lineup tonight,” Hoiberg said.

Büyüktuncel injured his ankle with under one minute left in the game against Ohio State on Feb. 9. He missed the next contest, a loss to Maryland, and didn’t travel with the team for its road games at Northwestern and Penn State, a two-game swing out East that Nebraska split with a come-from-behind win over Northwestern and a disappointing 17-point loss at Penn State.

“Berke helps us all across the board, whether he’s playing the four or the five, he’s as good as we got out there, so he covers things up for us,” Hoiberg said on Saturday. “And I think you saw how much we missed him in those last couple games.”

The 6-foot-10 Büyüktuncel has started 21 of the 23 games he’s played this season and is Nebraska’s top rebounder at 5.9 boards per game and shot-blocker with 17 blocks. A stretch big with a solid handle for his size, Büyüktuncel was averaging 7.2 points and 1.3 assists before his injury.

“We’re out there without one of our best, most important players that does a lot of things to cover things up for us,” Hoiberg said. “He rebounds it, he guards multiple positions. He’s always a pressure release on offense against a pressure team that we did not handle well.”