Huskers and Maryland to Begin Two-Game Series

The Nebraska men’s basketball team concludes a grueling run with a pair of games at Maryland this week. The Huskers and Terrapins will clash at the XFINITY Center on both Tuesday and Wednesday with start times set for 6 p.m. (central) on both nights.

Both games will be televised on BTN with Kevin Kugler, Brian Butch (Tues.) and Jess Settles (Wed.) on the call. The game can also be streamed via the web, smartphones, tablets and connected devices through the Fox Sports app.

Fans can follow all of the action across the state of Nebraska on the Learfield IMG College Husker Sports Network with Kent Pavelka and Jake Muhleisen on the call. The game will also be available on Huskers.com, the Huskers app and TuneIn radio. The pregame show begins one hour prior to tipoff.

The series with Maryland will end a segment of the schedule where NU played seven games in 12 days since returning to action on Feb. 6. Last season, Nebraska played seven games in the entire month of February. NU has not played more than eight games in February since joining the Big Ten in 2011-12. NU will play a minimum of nine this month and could add more as games are rescheduled.  

Nebraska comes off a 62-61 win at Penn State on Sunday afternoon. The Huskers saw an 11-point second-half lead vanish before Teddy Allen’s go-ahead basket with 12.3 seconds left provided the winning margin. The Huskers won the game on the defensive end, holding Penn State to 32.3 percent shooting, including 25 percent in the second half to break a 35-all tie. Since returning to action, NU has held four of its five opponents to under 40 percent shooting. 

Senior guard Kobe Webster provided the Huskers with a spark off the bench against Penn State, contributing 13 points, including a trio of 3-pointers. Webster, a grad transfer who began his career at Western Illinois, averages 7.0 ppg off the bench and is third on the team with 21 3-pointers.

Maryland comes off a 72-59 win over Minnesota Sunday evening. Aaron Wiggins had a game-high 17 points to lead four Terrapins in double figures, as Maryland shot 53 percent from the field, including 10-20 from 3-point range.  Maryland jumped out to a 16-3 lead and led the rest of the evening, although Minnesota cut a 18-point second-half deficit to nine in the final minutes. Maryland led the Gophers to 32 percent shooting. 

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT

Derrick Walker has provided a physical presence for the Huskers since becoming eligible on Jan. 10. He is averaging 5.3 points on 57 percent shooting along with 4.8 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 1.2 steals per game. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW

5 – The Huskers have made steady shooting improvement from 3-point range since returning from their pause. NU has improved its 3-point percentage each time out since returning on Feb. 6.

 

8 – NU has eight 20-point performances on the season (Teddy Allen-6; Trey McGowens-1; Kobe Webster-1). In addition, NU has had nine players reach double figures at least once this season.

10 – The combined margin of the four all-time Nebraska-Maryland games in College Part. The last three games have all been decided by two points.

19 – Assists at Penn State, which ties for the second-highest total by the Huskers in a Big Ten game under Fred Hoiberg. The only time NU had more assists was on Dec. 15, 2019, against Purdue (22).

 

42 – Nebraska is 42nd nationally in tempo according to KenPom as of Feb. 15. The Huskers are one of only two Big Ten teams (also Illinois) in the top 100.

2017-18 – The last time NU won consecutive road games (at Rutgers, at Wisconsin, at Minnesota). 

SCOUTING MARYLAND

Maryland comes into Tuesday’s game with an 11-10 record, including a 5-9 mark in Big Ten play. The Terrapins had a front-loaded Big Ten schedule with 10 ranked conference opponents in its first 13 games. Maryland has taken advantage with road wins at Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin, but are just 2-5 at home in Big Ten play. 

Maryland had two replace two key cogs in its Big Ten co-championship team in first-round pick Jalen Smith and Anthony Cowan Jr., but returned three starters and four of its top six scorers from last season. 

Coach Mark Turgeon’s team is led by junior Eric Ayala, who averages 14.2 points per game to lead a balanced attack. Maryland has three double-figure scorers and two others who average at least eight points per game. Aaron Wiggins averages 12.7 points per game and 5.3 rebounds per game, while Donta Scott is at 12.2 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds per game. Maryland shoots 46 percent as a team, including 35 percent from 3-point range. 

SERIES HISTORY

Tuesday’s meeting is the 11th meeting between the two teams, all since the Terrapins joined the Big Ten in 2014-15. Maryland leads the series, 7-3, with seven of the 10 meetings decided by five points or less.  Maryland had won the first five meetings before Nebraska snapped the string with a win in College Park on Jan. 1, 2017. Maryland has been ranked in seven of the previous 10 meetings, including four times in the top-10. 

Last Meeting: A short-handed Husker team gave No. 9 Maryland all it could handle in a 72-70 loss on Feb. 11, 2020.   The Huskers, who trailed by 14 in the opening minutes of the second half, used a late rally to put themselves in position to pull the upset. NU trailed 71-64 with less than a minute to play before a 6-0 run made it a one-point game. After Maryland missed the front end of a 1-and-1, Nebraska had a chance to take the lead, but Cam Mack had his potential game-winning layup blocked by Jalen Smith, who then made his first free throw with 0.7 seconds remaining before intentionally missing the second, and the clock expired on the rebound.

 Haanif Cheatham led the second-half comeback by scoring 18 of his game-high 20 points in the final period. Thorir Thorbjarnarson added 15 for the Huskers, while Matej Kavas provided a big boost off the bench, chipping in 11 points.  

 Smith (16 points, 13 rebounds), Donta Scott (10 points, 10 rebounds) and Anthony Cowan (13 points, 10 assists) all had double-doubles for Maryland. Eric Ayala joined that trio in double figures with 16 points, as he knocked down 4-of-8 from beyond the arc.

LAST TIME OUT

Nebraska built an 11-point second-half lead and held on, as the Huskers escaped Penn State with a 62-61 win on Feb. 14.

Nebraska led 60-49 before the Nittany Lions scored 12 straight to take a 61-60 lead on Myreon Jones’ four-point play with 1:58 remaining. PSU led with just under 20 seconds left when Nebraska forced a turnover and Allen drove for the go-ahead hoop. 

The Huskers, who held Penn State to 32 percent shooting, got the stop they needed on the final possession on a steal from Trey McGowens with 1.8 seconds remaining. The win snapped NU’s 26-game Big Ten losing streak and was the Huskers’ first road win since Jan. 14, 2019. 

Allen led three Huskers in double figures with 14 points, while Kobe Webster and McGowens added 13 and 10 points, respectively, as Nebraska picked up its first win in University Park since 2013.

The Huskers took control by opening the second half on a 10-2 run, taking a 45-38 lead after five straight points from McGowens, who had eight of his 10 points in the surge. PSU eventually cut the margin to 54-49 on a Seth Lundy basket, but Nebraska rattled off six straight points to build a seemingly comfortable 60-49 cushion after Allen’s basket with 8:43 left. 

Nebraska, which was shooting 56 percent at that point in the game, went ice cold, as Penn State clawed back. NU went over 8:30 without a basket, as the hosts inched closer before Jones’ four-point play gave PSU its first lead of the half. 

STORYLINES

• Since returning from their pause, the Huskers jumped right back into the Big Ten grind. Nebraska is in the midst of playing seven games in a 12-day stretch, covering five states. When the Huskers return home on late Wednesday/early Thursday, it would have covered nearly 4,300 miles since Feb. 5. NU has four scheduled regular-season games, along with four others which were previously postponed. 

• Nebraska’s two-game series with Maryland is a first for the Huskers in the Big Ten era, and the first time NU has faced a conference opponent on consecutive days since 1921, when the Huskers were part of the Missouri Valley Conference. 

The Huskers have played the same opponent on consecutive days more than 100 times in program history using dates in the media guide, including seven times since World War III.  All of those back-to-back games since the 1950s have been against teams from the West Coast (1950-at Washington; 1953-at Oregon; 1956-at UCLA; 1962-USC; 1963-at USC; 1965-Cal; 1966-at Cal; 1967-at Washington State and at Hawaii; 1976-at Hawaii). Early in program history, it was common to play an opponent on consecutive days. In fact, the 1919-20 Huskers played 11 sets of back-to-back games on their way to a 22-2 mark that season.

• Last time NU faced same opponent in consecutive games at any point: Baylor (March 7 & 11, 2009 – Big 12 Tournament)
• Last time NU faced same opponent in consecutive games in regular season: Missouri (Jan. 18 & 22, 1997)
• Last time NU faced the same opponent on consecutive days: at Hawaii on Dec. 2-3, 1976
• Consecutive conference opponent (back-to-back days): Iowa State, March 4-5, 1921.  
• Consecutive Big Ten opponent (back-to-back days): Indiana, Feb., 5-6, 1920. 

• One area where the Huskers have made significant improvement since returning to action is on the defensive end. NU has allowed 12.2 fewer points per game over the five games, while holding teams to 38 percent shooting, including 27 percent from 3-point range. NU held three straight opponents (Michigan State, Minnesota, Wisconsin) under 40 percent shooting, which is the first time the Huskers have done that in conference play since 2017-18. NU held No. 6 Illinois to its second-lowest total in regulation this year on Friday before limiting Penn State to 32 percent shooting on Sunday.

• The Big Ten had 11 teams in the top 55 of the NET rankings on Feb. 14, including four of the top eight spots. Currently, one remaining regular-season opponent is outside the top 55 of the NET. 

• Teddy Allen is tied for sixth among all power conference players averaging 16.7 points per game as of Feb. 14. Allen is currently sixth in the Big Ten in scoring and the only newcomer in the top 10 of the Big Ten in scoring.  His scoring average is on pace to be one of the highest scoring averages by a first-year Husker. The current mark is 18.1 points per game by All-Big Ten performer Terran Petteway in 2013-14. 

Highest Scoring NU Newcomers

• The biggest beneficiary of Derrick Walker’s insertion into the Husker attack has been Lat Mayen, who moved to his natural stretch four spot after playing in the post for the first half of the season.  In the six games since Walker returned, Mayen is averaging 12.0 points per game on 46 percent shooting and 5.0 rebounds per game. In NU’s first four conference games, he averaged just 5.5 ppg on 31 percent shooting.