Huskers Battle Buffs in Charity Exhibition

On the air: Sunday’s game with Colorado will be carried on the Huskers’ Radio Network, including KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln, KXSP (590 AM) in Omaha and KRVN (880 AM) in Lexington, and will also be available on Huskers.com and the Huskers app. The pregame broadcast with Kent Pavelka and Jake Muhleisen begins one hour before tipoff.  Fans can also watch Sunday’s matchup with the Buffaloes online at B1G+ with Jessica Coody and Buzzy Caruthers on the call. To watch online or on mobile devices, visit bigtenplus.com.
 

The Nebraska men’s basketball team looks for its second exhibition win on Sunday, as NU faces the Colorado Buffaloes in a charity exhibition game. The contest takes place this Sunday, Oct. 31, with tipoff taking place at 11 a.m. A limited number of 300 Level tickets for Sunday’s game are available by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets, calling the NU Athletic Ticket Office at 800-8BIGRED during business hours or at the PBA Box Office beginning at 9:30 a.m. Net proceeds from Sunday’s game will go to three local organizations: the TeamMates mentoring program; the YWCA of Lincoln for its Employ402 program and the Nebraska Greats Foundation.

Nebraska comes off a 97-58 win over Peru State on Wednesday. In that game, the Huskers shot 62 percent, including 76 percent in the second half, and placed four players in double figures. Alonzo Verge Jr. came off the bench to score 20 points and dish out eight assists, while Derrick Walker Jr. and Keon Edwards had 12 points apiece. NU showed balance with 13 players breaking into the scoring column, while 10 players combined to dish out 25 assists.

Colorado, which went 23-9 last year and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament, opened exhibition play on Wednesday with a 78-48 win over Colorado School of Mines. KJ Simpson led three Colorado players in double figures with 12 points, while Lawson Lovering and Evan Battey added 10 points apiece. Colorado’s defense allowed just 28 percent shooting, including 6-of-20 from 3-point range.

 

A Look at the Huskers

Head Coach Fred Hoiberg begins his third season at the helm of the Husker program with a strong returning corps back for the first time in his tenure. The Huskers return three starters and seven letterwinners while welcoming eight scholarship newcomers.

The returnees are led by fourth-year junior Trey McGowens, who averaged 10.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in 2020-21. He is joined by returning starters Lat Mayen (8.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and Derrick Walker Jr. (5.9 ppg, 4.8 rpg), as the trio combined for 70 starts last year. McGowens and Mayen started all 27 games, while Walker started the Huskers’ final 16 games after he was ruled eligible on Jan. 10. NU also returns a trio of key reserves in Kobe Webster (8.1 ppg, 38 percent from 3-point range), Eduardo Andre (2.7 ppg, 2.1 rpg) and Trevor Lakes (3.7 ppg, 1.1 rpg).

The newcomers include a recruiting class which was ranked in the top-15 nationally by ESPN, as well as three Division I transfers. Bryce McGowens is one of the top-25 recruits in the country and was a five-star recruit by several recruiting services after averaging 21.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.1 blocks per game last season. He was the Gatorade South Carolina Player of the Year and was selected to the Jordan Brand roster. Wilhelm Breidenbach was a top-100 recruit by ESPN as he averaged 15.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game at national power Mater Dai High School before he suffered a season-ending injury. Junior college transfer Keisei Tominaga earned NJCAA All-America honors after 16.3 points per game and shooting 48 percent from 3-point range. Tominaga played in the Olympics for his native Japan and ranked among the leading scorers in the event despite being the youngest competitor in the field.

The transfers are led by fifth-year senior Alonzo Verge Jr., who averaged 14.0 points, 3.8 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game at Arizona State. In 2019-20, he was the Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year as he averaged 14.6 points per game, including a 43-point outburst. Both C.J. Wilcher (Xavier) and Keon Edwards (DePaul) were both top-100 recruits in high school and come to NU with four years of eligibility remaining. Wilcher played in 15 games for Xavier, averaging 3.3 points per game, while Edwards saw action in five games for DePaul.

 

About Colorado

Colorado looks to duplicate the success of the 2020-21 campaign where the Buffaloes went 23-9 and reached the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.  Tad Boyle begins his 12th season at the school, and the Buffaloes have won 20-or-more games each of the past three seasons. The Buffs, who were picked to finish sixth in the Pac-12, are led by returning honorable-mention All-Pac 12 selection Even Battey, who averaged 10.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game and Eli Parquet, who started 31 games and was named to the Pac-12 all-defensive team. Battey was recently named a preseason All-Pac 12 selection, while sophomore Jabari Walker was an honorable-mention pick. Walker was also on the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year watch list after averaging 7.6 points and 4.3 rebounds while shooting 53 percent as a true freshman in 2020-21. Like the Huskers, Colorado also brings in one of the nation’s best recruiting classes, as the Buffaloes’ five-member class was ranked 13th by 247Sports.

Series History: Nebraska holds a 77-71 edge in a series which dates back to the 1902-03 season. The teams shared the same conference from 1947-48 to 2010-11. Sunday’s trip will be the Buffaloes’ first to Pinnacle Bank Arena. Boyle and Hoiberg met three times in 2010-11, when Hoiberg was at Iowa State, with Colorado winning two of the three meetings. Both teams won on their home court, while Colorado beat ISU, 77-75 in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.

 

Exhibition History

Nebraska is 60-6 all-time in exhibition games dating back to the 1966-67 season and has won its last 18 exhibition games since a 54-50 loss to SIU-Edwardsville in 2006.  In all, NU has won 29 of its last 30 exhibition games dating back to 2001.

• This is the second time Nebraska has played in a charity exhibition game, as the Huskers traveled to Mississippi State during the 2017-18 season, a 76-72 victory.

• The 2021-22 season marks the first time that Nebraska has played two exhibition games since the 2017-18 season (at Mississippi State; Northwood). That season also featured a charity exhibition game.

 

Last Time Out

Nebraska shot a blistering 76 percent in the second half, pulling away from Peru State, 97-58, in an exhibition game Wednesday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Nebraska used second-half runs of 16-2, 14-1 and 19-3 to take control in the second half after leading by only eight at the break. NU was 22-of-29 from the floor in the final 20 minutes, including 7-of-9 from 3-point range.

Grad transfer Alonzo Verge Jr. led four Huskers in double figures with 20 points, eight assists and three steals and had eight of his points in the 16-2 spurt after Peru State pulled to within 39-33. Derrick Walker Jr. and Keon Edwards added 12 while Eduardo Andre had 10 points and six boards in the second half.

In all, the Huskers shot 62.1 percent from the field and had 25 assists to only nine turnovers, while holding Peru State to 35 percent shooting, including 27 percent in the second half.

Peru State made one last run, cutting NU’s lead from 20 to 11 and trailed 64-50 following a 3-pointer from Tonje Durham with 11:20 left, but could get no closer as Nebraska went on a 9-0 run over the next three minutes to put the game out of reach.

The Huskers shot 48 percent in the first half and got strong performances from Walker and Verge in taking a 39-31 halftime lead. Walker had 12 points, as he hit his first five shots, while Verge came of the bench and tallied seven assists and six points for the Big Red in the opening half.

Leading 16-14, the Huskers used a 9-2 run to stretch their lead to 25-16 after a 3-pointer from Keon Edwards. The Bobcats, who went 7-of-14 from the 3-point arc in the first half, stayed within striking range and trailed 31-27 after Jibril Harris’ fourth 3-pointer of the half.  The Huskers responded with a 7-2 run and built a 38-29 lead after Lat Mayen’s 3-pointer with 1:17 left in the half.

 

Playing For a Cause

The reason that Sunday’s matchup is an exhibition game instead of a closed scrimmage, is that the programs are raising money for three local non-profit charities. Net proceeds from Sunday’s contest will go to three local organizations: the TeamMates mentoring program; the YWCA of Lincoln for its Employ402 program and the Nebraska Greats Foundation.Nebraska will return the favor next season, as the Huskers will travel to Colorado for a charity contest to benefit charitable organizions in the Boulder area.

• The mission of the TeamMates Mentoring Program is to impact the world by inspiring youth to reach their full potential through mentoring. The program, which was started by Dr. Tom and Nancy Osborne in 1991, now serves more than 170 school districts across five states.
  
  For more on Teammates Mentoring, visit teammates.org.
• The YWCA’s Employ402 Program is a job readiness program created to address barriers and provide resources for community members seeking mobility, stability, and ingenuity surrounding employment. The Keys Series explores the topics of financial literacy, overcoming barriers, and strengths development.
  
  For more on the YWCA, visit ywcalincoln.org
• The mission of the Nebraska Greats Foundation is to provide medical and financial assistance to in-need former athletes from Nebraska’s 16 four-year Colleges and Universities. The organization was started by Jerry Murtaugh in 2014 and is a member of the Nonprofit Association of the Midlands.
  
  For more on the Nebraska Greats Foundation, visit nebraskagreatsfoundation.org/

What’s Back for the Big Red
For the first time in Fred Hoiberg‘s three seasons, the Huskers return a significant portion of their roster. With three starters (Trey McGowens, Lat Mayen and Derek Walker) and two of its top reserves (Kobe Webster and Eduardo Andre), the Huskers return nearly 50 percent of its scoring and more than 40 percent of its rebounding and assists.

While it may not seem like a large number, the two previous teams had just 21 percent and two percent of its points back from the previous season – the lowest two totals for the Huskers over the last 20 years.  In Hoiberg’s first season, NU returned just one letterwinner and 50 points – the fewest returning total by any power conference school (Power Five + Big East) in a decade.

 

 
Husker Recruiting Class Seeing Stars
The Huskers bring one of the nation’s top recruiting classes to campus this fall. The class is ranked as high as 13th by ESPN as well as 18th by 247Sports and 21st by Rivals and is the third-highest ranked class in the Big Ten.
 Nebraska’s five signees are headlined by five-star Bryce McGowens and four-star recruit Wilheim Breidenbach, both of whom were top-100 recruits. McGowens was a consensus top-25 recruit who played in the Iverson Classic and was selected to  the Jordan Brand team. NU rounded out the class with junior college All-American Keisei Tominaga and freshmen Oleg Kojenets and Quaran McPherson.

The Huskers three incoming transfers, who do not count in recruiting rankings included a pair of former top-100 recruits in C.J. Wilcher (Xavier) and Keon Edwards (DePaul), while Alonzo Verge spent the last two seasons at Arizona State.

 

UP-TEMPO BASKETBALL

One trait of any Fred Hoiberg-coached team is to play at a fast pace. The Huskers have led the Big Ten in pace in each of the last two seasons, ranking 16th nationally by KenPom in 2019-20 and 35th in 2020-21. NU has been the only Big Ten team to rank in the top-50 in each of the past two seasons.

In seven full seasons as a college head coach (five at Iowa State; two at Nebraska), Hoiberg’s teams have ranked in the top-50 in tempo five times, including three times in the top-20.  Prior to Hoiberg’s arrival, the last time a Husker team was in the top-100 nationally in tempo according to KenPom was in 1999-2000 under Danny Nee.

 

 
TREY THE THIEF
Fourth-year guard Trey McGowens led Nebraska with 38 steals in his first season, continuing a trend during his college career. The 6-foot-4 guard was fourth in the Big Ten with 1.4 steals per game while starting all 27 games for the Big Red. It marked the third straight season he ranked in the top five in the conference in steals, as he ranked among the ACC leaders in both 2018-19 and 2019-20.

He is one of only four players in power conference programs who have ranked in the top five in steals in each of the past three seasons, joining Jamari Wheeler, LJ Figueroa and Marcus Garrett. McGowens and Wheeler, who has transferred from Penn State to Ohio State, return to college basketball in 2021-22.

 

 
Huskers will be Tested
The Huskers face a 2021-22 schedule which features eight games against teams ranked in the Associated Press preseason poll released on Oct. 18. NU will face No. 22 Auburn in non-conference play as part of Holiday Hoopsgiving, while facing No. 6 Michigan (twice), No. 7 Purdue, No. 11 Illinois, No. 17 Ohio State (twice) and No. 21 Maryland. In addition, NU will also play five other games against teams receiving votes (Michigan State, Indiana and Rutgers) in the preseason poll.
 
ALL IN THE FAMILY
Several members of the 2021-22 Huskers have family members who have played basketball at the college or professional levels. The list is led by former NBA players Eric Piatkowski, who spent 14 years in the NBA after scoring nearly 2,000 career points at Nebraska, and Fred Hoiberg, who played in the NBA for a decade after a standout career at Iowa State. Keisei Tominaga’s father didn’t play college basketball, but was a center on the Japanese national team at the 1998 FIBA World Championship and played professionally in Japan for a decade.
 

 
 Banton and Roby on NBA Rosters
Nebraska had a pair of former players on opening-night NBA rosters with Isaish Roby and Dalano Banton.  The pair gives Nebraska multiple NBA players since the 2008-09 season (Tyronn Lue and Mikki Moore).
Roby, a second-round pick in 2019, is in his second full season with the Oklahoma City Thunder after averaging 8.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game last season. Roby played three seasons at Nebraska and helped the Huskers to a pair of postseason appearances.

Banton was a second-round pick of Toronto in 2021, becoming the Huskers’ second NBA Draft pick in the last three years. A native of Toronto, he became the first Canadian player ever drafted by the Raptors. Banton spent two seasons at NU and averaged 9.6 points per game while leading the Huskers in both rebounding (5.9) and assists (3.9) per game. He was the first Husker since 1974 to lead NU in both rebounds and assists in the same season.

 

It is Academic For Webster

Kobe Webster became the latest Husker men’s basketball player to earn CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, as he was a third-team selection in May of 2021. Webster, who graduated from Western Illinois in 2020, has a 3.75 GPA while working on his master’s degree in educational administration.

Webster was the first Husker men’s basketball player to be honored since Shavon Shields in 2015 and 2016.  NU Head Coach Fred Hoiberg was a two-time Academic All-American at Iowa State (1994 and 1995) and was inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Hall of Fame in 2016.

Entering the 2021-22 school year, Nebraska leads all NCAA Division I programs with 347 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.

 

AN OLYMPIC EFFORT BY TOMINAGA

Nebraska’s 2021-22 roster features an Olympian, as Keisei Tominaga played for his native Japan in 3×3 basketball during the Tokyo Olympics. Tominaga, the youngest player in the eight-team field, helped Japan reach the medal round and finished third among all players in scoring (6.9 ppg), fourth in 1-point shooting (74 percent) and seventh in 2-point shooting (36 percent).  He was one of only two active NCAA players to play in the Olympics, joining Virginia’s Francisco Caffaro, who played for Argentina in men’s basketball. 

Tominaga became the third Husker basketball player to play in the Olympics, joining Aleks Maric (2012, Australia) and Ade Dagunduro (2012, Nigeria).

 

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR

Nebraska’s roster has had an international flavor in recent seasons and that trend will continue in 2021-21. Four members of this season’s roster are from overseas, including Eduardo Andre (London, England), Oleg Kojenets (Kaunas, Lithuania), Lat Mayen (Adelaide, Australia) and Keisei Tominaga (Moriyama Nagoya Aichi, Japan).  In three seasons under Hoiberg, NU has had players on its roster from a host of countries, including Australia, Canada, England, France, Iceland and Slovenia.