Huskers Close Regular Season at Northwestern

The Nebraska men’s basketball team closes the regular season Sunday afternoon, as the Huskers travel to Northwestern in the first matchup of the season between the two schools. Tipoff from Welsh-Ryan Arena is set for shortly after 12:30 p.m.

Sunday’s game between the Huskers and Hawkeyes will be televised on BTN with Brandon Gaudin and Len Elmore 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.

Nebraska is locked into the 14th seed of the tournament and will play on Wednesday evening, most likely against either Penn State or Minnesota in the second game of the evening.

Nebraska (7-18, 3-15 Big Ten) looks to bounce back after falling at Iowa, 102-64, on Thursday. The Hawkeyes shot 51 percent and hit 16 3-pointers in taking control midway through the first half. Iowa was the first opponent since Jan. 2 to shoot over 50 percent from the floor and put four players in double figures. For the Huskers, Kobe Webster had a team-high 17 points, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range, while Lat
Mayen posted his first career double-double with 14 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.

Mayen has played well over the past week, averaging 16.0 ppg on 58 percent shooting, including 54 percent from 3-point range, and 6.3 rebounds per game in Nebraska’s last three games. The 6-foot-9 forward now shooting 37 percent from 3-point range, including 38 percent in Big Ten action.

Northwestern (8-14, 5-13 Big Ten) comes into Sunday’s game looking to extend a two-game win streak following a 60-55 win over Maryland on Wednesday. The Wildcats scored the final six points in the final 2:52, as Ryan Young’s basket with 1:30 left gave the hosts the lead for good. Boo Buie led three Wildcats in double figures with 15 points, while Chase Audige and Pete Nance added 14 and 12, respectively. The Wildcats shot just 36 percent from the field, but forced 15 Terp turnovers and outscored Maryland 15-0 off the bench.

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT

Kobe Webster is averaging 10.5 points per game on 42 percent shooting over the Huskers’ last four games dating back to Feb. 25. Webster has reached double figures three times in that stretch, including a team-high 17 points at No. 5 Iowa on Thursday.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

.372  – Over the last five games, NU is shooting 37.2 percent from 3-point range, averaging 9.2 3-pointers per game in that span.

3 – According to KenPom, the Huskers’ strength of schedule ranks fourth nationally as of March 5. According to the site, the Big Ten has 14 of the 16 toughest schedules in the country.

3 – Lat Mayen’s double-double was the third by a Husker this season and the first since Dec. 17.

4 – Lat Mayen’s 25-point night against Rutgers marked the 11th 20-point game for the Huskers in 2020-21. He joins Trey McGowens, Kobe Webster and Teddy Allen as Huskers to accomplish the feat this season.

6 – Nebraska has six games with at least 10 steals this season following an 11-steal effort against Rutgers. NU had just two in 2019-20. The Huskers are third in the Big Ten with 7.2 steals per game.

10 – The Huskers have had 10 players reach double figures at least once this year as Thorir Thorbjarnarson became the latest to do it on Feb. 27.

30 – Nebraska is 30th nationally in tempo according to KenPom as of March 4. The Huskers and Illinois (74th) are the only two Big Ten teams in the top-100 nationally in adjusted tempo.

SCOUTING NORTHWESTERN

Northwestern comes into Sunday’s regular-season finale with an 8-14 record and is locked into the 12/13 game next Wednesday in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament.

Chris Collins is in his eighth season at the school and got the Wildcats off to a 6-1 start, highlighted by wins over Michigan State, Indiana and Ohio State. Northwestern then struggled, dropping 13 straight games from Dec. 29-Feb. 21 before a 67-59 win at Minnesota broke the string.

The Wildcats, who returned four starters and 11 letterwinners from last season, feature four double-figure scorers and seven players that average at least five points per game. Sophomore transfer Chase Audige leads the Wildcats in scoring at 12.5 ppg and 1.5 steals per game, while junior Miller Kopp is at 11.3 ppg. Pete Nance paces Northwestern in rebounding (6.6) and blocked shots (17) while chipping in 11.2 ppg. The Wildcats have three players with at least 30 3-pointers, as Audige and Boo Buie are tied for the team lead with 38.

Series History: Nebraska and Northwestern meet for the 18th time on Sunday, as the Huskers hold an 9-8 lead in a series that dates back to 1933. Nebraska is 6-7 against Northwestern since joining the Big Ten in 2011-12. Northwestern won both meetings in 2019-20 by five points, including an overtime win in Lincoln.

Last Meeting: Haanif Cheatham had a team-high 20 points, while Yvan Ouedraogo grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds and had 11 points, but it was not enough as Northwestern defeated Nebraska, 81-76, in overtime at Pinnacle Bank Arena on March 1, 2020.

Nebraska overcame a six-point deficit with 4:54 remaining with Cheatham leading the Huskers on an 11-2 run, scoring eight points before Cam Mack’s layup with 1:19 remaining put Nebraska up 67-65. On the

Wildcats’ next possession, Pat Spencer tied the game with a pair of free throws with 47 seconds remaining in regulation. The Wildcats seized control in the opening minutes of overtime, scoring the first seven points to take a 74-67 lead and force a Husker timeout. Nebraska rallied behind the play of Dachon Burke, who scored eight points in the extra period, including a 3-pointer with 44 seconds remaining. On Northwestern’s next possession, Burke stole the ball and fed Ouedraogo, who was fouled with 23.5 seconds left. Ouedraogo missed both free throws and NU was forced to foul. Ryan Young sank a pair of free throws to push the margin to four, and the Huskers would get no closer.

Free throw shooting was a critical factor in the loss, as Nebraska went just 8-of-30 from the charity stripe, while Northwestern went 15-of-20 from the line in the victory.  Cheatham’s 20 points led four Huskers in double figures. Burke added 19, while Mack chipped in 13 to join Ouedraogo in double figures.

LAST TIME OUT

Lat Mayen continued his fine play with his first career double-double, but No. 5 Iowa took control early, posting a 102-64 victory on March 4.

Iowa shot 51 percent from the field and hit 16 3-pointers in snapping Nebraska’s two-game winning streak.  Jordan Bohannon finished with 26 points, including eight 3-pointers, to pace four Iowa players in double figures. Patrick McCaffery added 19 off the bench while Luka Garza and Joe Wieskamp added 14 and 11 markers, respectively.

Mayen posted his first career double-double with 14 points, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range, while Kobe Webster led NU with 17 points, including five 3-pointers, and Dalano Banton added 14 off the bench for NU which has won just once in Iowa City since joining the Big Ten.

Nebraska was within 9-5 early after a Mayen basket before the Hawkeyes ran off eight straight points, including consecutive 3-pointers from Bohannon to push the lead to 17-5. Iowa eventually got the lead to 16, at 32-16, before running off seven straight points to get within 32-23. That would be as close as the Huskers would get as the Hawkeyes strung together 11 straight points, including five from Garza to force a Husker timeout and eventually stretched the lead to 22 at the break.

The Huskers got a Mayen 3-pointer to start the second to pull with 19, but Iowa seized momentum with seven straight points, and the Huskers never got within 20 the rest of the evening.

STORYLINES

• Head Coach Fred Hoiberg returns to Chicago after playing and coaching with the Chicago Bulls. Hoiberg played four seasons with the Chicago Bulls (1999-03) before returning to Chicago to coach the Bulls for three-plus seasons (2015-18), guiding the Bulls to the NBA Playoffs in 2017.

• Husker Assistant Coach Armon Gates spent five seasons (2013-18) on the Northwestern staff as an assistant coach, while Special Assistant to the Head Coach Bobby Lutz coached with the Windy City Bulls in the NBA G-League during the 2016-17 season.

• The Huskers will play in Wednesday’s second game against either Penn State or Minnesota. The Huskers could know their opponent as early as Saturday, as a Minnesota loss to Rutgers would lock the Nittany Lions in as the No. 11 seed.

• Nebraska finishes a frantic month on Sunday, as the Huskers have played 14 games returning from its pause on Feb. 6.  It has been referred to as an NBA schedule, but only eight NBA teams have played more games than Nebraska has since Feb. 6. Nebraska played 11 games in 22 days in February, marking the first time since the 1919-20 season that the program has played double-figure games in February.

• Nebraska will finish playing 19 of its 20 Big Ten games, as the Big will likely lead all power conferences in percentage of games played in research by Taylor Eldridge of the Wichita Eagle. If all seven games are played, the Big Ten will finish third among all conferences at 97.1 percent of conference games, trailing only the Missouri Valley (100%) and Ohio Valley (99.2%).

• The Husker coaching staff will be wearing blue pins on Sunday, as part of the Autism Speaks Coaches Powering Forward. The program which began in 2014 after NCAA Coaches Pat Skerry and Tom Herrion embarked on a mission to raise awareness of autism. Inspired by their sons, both diagnosed with autism, they asked coaches to wear the blue puzzle piece pin to help raise awareness of autism.

• Nebraska’s strength of schedule jumped to third nationally by KenPom entering Friday morning. The 2020-21 season marks the second straight season NU has had a strength of schedule in the top 10 nationally in KenPom. NU’s schedule was eighth in 2019-20. The Huskers are just one of only three teams nationally (also Minnesota and Iowa State) to have top-10 strength of schedules by KenPom in each of the last two years.

• Nebraska’s two seniors have stepped up in recent weeks. Kobe Webster is averaging 8.7 points per game and shooting 41 percent from 3-point range over the last nine contests. He has reached double figures four times in that stretch, including 17 points at No. 5 Iowa on Thursday.   Thorir Thorbjarnarson is averaging 5.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game in NU’s last six contests dating back to Feb. 20.  He has dished out five assists in each of the past two games and has set highs at least once in points, rebounds, assists and steals in the last three games.

• Nebraska has gotten improved production from its posts in recent games. Derrick Walker is averaging 8.4 ppg on 65 percent shooting and 5.4 rebounds per game over the past five contests, while freshman Eduardo Andre is chipping in 4.4 points and 77 percent shooting and 3.2 rebounds per game in that same span.

• The Big Ten had nine teams in the top 50 of the NET rankings on March 5, including four of the top eight spots. This season, 12 of the Huskers’ 18 losses have been Quad 1 losses. NU will end the regular season with 20 of its 25 Division I games against Quad 1 or 2 opponents.

• Nebraska has been much better defensively since returning from its pause last month. Over the last 13 games, NU has held seven opponents to 40 percent shooting, while Iowa became the only team to shoot 50 percent from the floor. Despite the performance at Iowa, NU is averaging 7.1 fewer points per game over the past 13 games, while holding teams to 42 percent shooting, including 30 percent from 3-point range.

• Nebraska is on track for one of its most prolific 3-point shooting seasons in school history. NU enters Sunday’s game at Northwestern with 8.2 3-pointers per game which is on pace to rank second in school history.  It is not surprising that Nebraska has relied on its 3-point shooting in Hoiberg’s tenure, as his Iowa State teams led the Big 12 in 3-pointers in four of his five seasons at the school. The Huskers have been shooting significantly better over the last 10 games.

Most 3-Pointers/Game in School History

3-Point Improvement by Game

• 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 14 games since Walker returned, Mayen is averaging 10.4 points per game on 46 percent shooting and 4.6 rebounds per game. In NU’s first four conference games, he averaged just 5.5 ppg on 31 percent shooting. Mayen had his first double-double of the year at fifth-ranked Iowa on Thursday after a 25-point effort against Rutgers on Monday.

• Six current members of the Nebraska basketball team were honored on Feb. 19 with spots on the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll. The Huskers on the list include Lat Mayen, Chris McGraw, Jace Piatkowski, Bret Porter, Thorir Thorbjarnarson, Derrick Walker and Kobe Webster. All Husker student-athletes combined for a school-record fall GPA of 3.325.

DOC FIXES HUSKER DEFENSE

Nebraska has made significant improvements defensively during the 2020-21 season under assistant coach Doc Sadler. One year after ranking 152nd nationally in adjusted defense by KenPom, NU is 35th nationally as of Friday morning.  In Big Ten action, the Huskers have made significant improvement across the board.

• Nebraska ranks 35th nationally in adjusted defense according to KenPom, which would be the best in Fred Hoiberg‘s seven seasons as a college basketball coach. Previously his best defensive team was the 2013-14 Iowa State squad (55th), when Sadler was on the Cyclone staff. It would also be NU’s highest ranking since the 2015-16 season.

• According to Bart Torvik’s T-Rank site, the Huskers’ adjusted defense is third in the Big Ten and 24th nationally since returning from its pause on Feb. 12. The four Big Ten teams above Nebraska in that span is Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Maryland.

• In Sadler’s six seasons at Nebraska, the Huskers ranked in the top-25 nationally in defensive efficiency, including 15th nationally in 2008-09 and 19th in 2007-08.

Making B1G Defensive Strides

Big Ten Games thru March 5