Huskers Host No. 11 Wisconsin Thursday Afternoon

The Nebraska men’s basketball team returns from a short pause on Thursday afternoon, as the Huskers host No. 11 Wisconsin at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. (central) and will be carried on the Big Ten Network and the Huskers Radio Network. Live video is also available on the Fox Sports app, while the Husker app will feature the Huskers Radio Network call.

The matchup was originally scheduled for Jan. 25, but was pushed back two days to allow for Nebraska to return from its short pause. Fans who had tickets for Tuesday’s originally scheduled game should use those for Thursday’s

game. A limited number of tickets are available at Huskers.com/Tickets, calling 800-8-BIGRED during business hours or at the PBA Ticket Office beginning at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.

The Huskers (6-13, 0-8 Big Ten) have been off since a 78-71 loss to Indiana on Jan. 17. Nebraska shot 47 percent against a Hoosier defense which was second nationally in field goal defense entering the game and was in position to win down the stretch. NU trailed 73-67 with less than three minutes left and got three straight stops on the defensive end, but could not convert offensively before Indiana closed out the game by going 5-of-6 from the foul line in the last minute.

 

NU got 20 points and five rebounds from freshman Bryce McGowens and 19 points, four assists and four steals from Alonzo Verge Jr., but Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis led all scorers with 23 points and 12 rebounds. McGowens
now has five 20-point games, becoming just the fourth Husker freshmen to post five 20-point games in a season.

Despite the loss, Nebraska got an important part of their rotation back on Monday, as Trey McGowens returned after missing the last 15 games following a broken bone in his right foot. McGowens had seven points, two rebounds and two steals in 21 minutes, as he made his first appearance since Nov. 16.

Wisconsin (15-3, 6-2 Big Ten) looks to bounce back following an 86-74 loss to No. 14 Michigan State on Jan. 21. Johnny Davis (25) and Brad Davison (22) combined for 47 points, but Michigan State shot 53 percent from the field, including 59 percent in the first half in racing to a 16-point halftime lead and holding on down the stretch.

 

B1G NUMBER

.397 – Nebraska has been shooting the ball better of late, shooting .466 percent from the floor, including .397 from 3-point range, over the past seven games dating back to Dec. 22. NU is averaging 8.0 3-pointers per game in that stretch.

9.3 – C.J. Wilcher is averaging 9.3 points per game off the bench over Nebraska’s last six contests. The second-year freshmen is shooting 52.5 percent from the field, including 48.7 percent from 3-point range in that stretch.

105 – Alonzo Verge’s 105 assists as of Jan. 24 leads all Big Ten players and matches the total by Dalano Banton in 2020-21. Verge is currently second in the Big Ten with 5.5 assists per game, including a trio of games with at least 10 assists. 

ABOUT WISCONSIN

Under seventh-year coach Greg Gard, the Badgers are 15-3 on the season, including a 6-2 mark in Big Ten play. The Badgers, who replaced a trio of starters from a team that reached the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament, went 9-1 in non-conference action. The Badgers posted wins over Houston, Georgia Tech and Marquette with the only loss coming to Providence without Johnny Davis. Since a road loss at Ohio State in mid-December, Wisconsin had won seven straight games, including road wins at Purdue and Maryland, before falling to No. 14 Michigan State at home on Friday night.

The Badgers feature one of the Big Ten’s best players in Johnny Davis, who is averaging 22.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game while pacing UW in both assists (43) and steals (23). Brad Davison is averaging 15.4 points per game while shooting 37 percent from 3-point range. Davison has 47 of the Badgers 129 3-pointers this season. Tyler Wahl, who did not play against Michigan State because of an injury, is the third Badger in double figures as he averages 11.0 ppg and 5.7 rpg while pacing Wisconsin with 18 blocked shots. Omaha native Chucky Hepburn chips in 7.1 points and 2.0 assists per game.

Series History: Thursday’s matchup is the 35th meeting between the two programs, as Wisconsin has a 20-14 advantage. The Huskers will look to snap a six-game losing streak in the series dating back to the 2018-19 season.

The series began in the 1903-04 season, as Nebraska won the first meeting, 25-22 over the Badgers in Lincoln before Wisconsin took five of the next six meetings from 1907 to 1955.  Nebraska then won eight straight games before the Badgers won the next five meetings, including the first four in Big Ten play, before the Huskers topped the No. 9 Badgers in the final regular-season game in 2013-14. The Huskers are 4-14 against Wisconsin since joining the Big Ten (3-13 in regular season; 1-1 in Big Ten Tournament).

 

WORTH NOTING

• Thursday’s game with No. 11 Wisconsin will be the Huskers’ sixth game against a ranked opponent this season and fifth in the month of January. The five games against AP ranked opponents in one month will tie a school record set four other times, most recently in February of 2010 when NU was in the Big 12 Conference. The other times that NU has faced five ranked teams in a month were in January of 2002, February of 1995 and February of 1992.

 

• Derrick Walker is one of four NCAA players – and two from power conferences – shooting over 70 percent from the field and the free throw line as of Jan. 24. Walker, who is averaging 9.8 ppg, is the only one of the four averaging more than seven points per game. While Walker has shot nearly 60 percent from the field in his three college seasons, the biggest improvement has been at the free throw line. Entering this season, Walker was a career 38 percent free throw shooter.

 

• Walker enters the Wisconsin game shooting 70.8 percent from the field, but does not qualify for NCAA minimums (5 FG/gm). He has shot 50 percent or better in 13 of the last 15 games, while one of the two games he didn’t was a game where he didn’t have a field goal attempt against Michigan. The last Huskers to shoot at least 60 percent and average double figures were Kimani Ffriend and Steffon Bradford in 2000-01.

 

NCAA Players w/ 70% FG and FT Pct.

H/T – CBB Reference

• Alonzo Verge Jr. reached the 1,000-point plateau following a 19-point effort against Indiana on Jan. 17. Verge became the fourth current Husker to go over 1,000 career points, joining Kobe Webster, Trey McGowens and Trevor Lakes. Verge has averaged 14.3 points per game during his collegiate career, which also included two seasons at Arizona State. He also scored over 1,600 points in his two years at Moberly (Ill.) Junior College.

 

• Nebraska has produced a total of 11 20-point efforts this season (Bryce McGowens-5; Alonzo Verge Jr.-4; Kobe Webster-1; Keisei Tominaga-1). Last season, NU had  12 20-point efforts in 27 contests. Bryce McGowens’ five 20-point games this season is tied for third all-time by a Husker freshman and is the most by any NU freshman since Joe McCray had a school-record 10 in 2004-05.

20-Pt. Games by NU Freshmen

 
• Nebraska guard Bryce McGowens ranks third nationally among all true freshmen in scoring at 15.7 points per game as of Jan. 23 following his 20-point game against Indiana. McGowens is one of only four true freshmen nationally averaging at least 15 points per game. McGowens, who leads all Big Ten freshmen in scoring and is second in rebounding, is on pace to break NU’s freshman single-season scoring mark (15.5, Joe McCray, 2004-05). Only six freshmen in school history with the most recent being Ryan Anderson in 2006-07.

NCAA True Freshman Scoring Leaders (As of Jan. 23)

 
• Nebraska players have combined for eight double-doubles (Verge-4; Walker-3; B. McGowens-1) this season after just having three in 2020-21. The last time NU had 10 double-doubles as a team in a season was 2007-08 (17). In all, NU has six players who have had at least one double-double in their respective careers (Trevor Lakes-2; Kobe Webster-1; Lat Mayen-1).
 
• Nebraska’s 15 3-pointers against Kennesaw State on Dec. 22, were not only a season high, but marked just the sixth time since 1990 that Nebraska hit at least 15 3-pointers in a game. It was NU’s highest total since Nov. 6, 2018.
 
• Alonzo Verge Jr.’s 16-point, 12-assist performance against Kennesaw State on Dec. 22 marked the eighth points-assist double-double by a Husker in Fred Hoiberg‘s two-plus seasons at Nebraska (Cam Mack-4; Dalano Banton-1; Alonzo Verge Jr.-3). Over the previous 30 years (1989-90 to 2018-19), it occurred just five times. Verge is only the second Husker to have multiple points-assists double-doubles in the same season since 1990.
 
• Alonzo Verge Jr. has become more of a playmaker during his time at NU. He is second in the Big Ten with 5.5 assists per game after averaging 2.9 assists per game during his two-year career at Arizona State. Verge has three games with 10+ assists as of Jan. 24, while the rest of the conference has combined for five. Verge’s 5.5 assists per game ranks 20th nationally as of Jan. 23.

Top-25 Nationally in Assists/GM Under Hoiberg

 
• Nebraska has been opportunistic on the defensive end, forcing a Big Ten high 15.3 turnovers per game as of Jan. 24. NU ranks second in steals (7.8 spg) and ranks fourth in turnover margin (+2.4 per game). NU has 10-or-more steals five times this season.
 
• Nebraska’s Oleg Kojenets and Wisconsin’s Markus Ilver were teammates at Western Reserve Academy in Ohio last season.
 
• Nebraska added a player over the break as Denim Dawson enrolled for the start of the spring semester. Dawson is a 6-foot-6 wing who attended Southern California Academy as a postgrad. He played at Orange Lutheran in 2020-21, averaging 16 points and five rebounds per game as the school reached the California Division 2AA CIF-SS quarterfinals last spring. Dawson, who started practicing on Dec. 29, is expected to redshirt this season.
 
• Nebraska’s 2021-22 roster features a trio of college graduates in Derrick Walker, Alonzo Verge Jr. and Kobe Webster. Walker became the first member of his family to get a degree when he graduated in May of 2021, while Webster (2020, Western Illinois) and Verge (2021, Arizona State) came to Nebraska as graduate transfers.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Bryce McGowens had a team-high 20 points, but Indiana was able to hold off Nebraska and post a 78-71 victory over Nebraska on Jan. 17. The Huskers trailed by as many as 10 in the second half, but rallied and was within 73-67 with 2:56 remaining. NU got three consecutive stops on the defensive end, including a pair of steals from Alonzo Verge Jr., but were unable to cut into the Indiana lead. NU was forced to foul down the stretch and hit 5-of-6 from the foul line to put the game away.

Alonzo Verge finished with 19 points, four assists and four steals in the loss, as Nebraska shot 47 percent from the floor against a Hoosier team which was second nationally in field goal percentage defense entering the game. Trayce Jackson-Davis had 23 points and 12 rebounds to lead three Indiana players in double figures. Race Thompson had 12 points and seven boards while Jordan Geronimo added 10 points off the bench.

 

“GOOD THINGS HAPPEN WHEN WE PLAY THROUGH DERRICK”

Fred Hoiberg understands the importance of having Derrick Walker on the floor for the Big Red, and Walker’s play has been a focal point for the Huskers.  Walker, who is in his third year at NU, has provided the Huskers a much-needed inside threat since becoming eligible last January.

The 6-foot-9 center is enjoying his best year in 2021-22, averaging 9.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.1 blocks and 1.0 steals per game while shooting nearly 71 percent from the field. He is 11th in the Big Ten in blocks per game and 22nd in rebounds per game as of Jan. 24.

• Walker has played his best against NU’s ranked opponents, averaging 12.6 points on 67 percent shooting, 6.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game in five contests against ranked foes.
• He joins Iowa’s Keegan Murray as the only two Big Ten players currently averaging more than 1.0 steal and 1.0 block per game.
• In the Huskers’ loss to No. 25 Illinois, he finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, while helping to limit Kofi Cockburn to 8-of-18 shooting.
• He turned in a strong performance at No. 10 Michigan State on Jan. 5 with 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting to match his career high in points.
• Walker has been in double figures 11 times in NU’s last 14 games, and he tied or set a career best in scoring in three straight games, including 16 points on 7-of-7 shooting against Tennessee State on Nov. 23.
• He matched a school record with 15 consecutive made field goals from Nov. 21 to Nov. 27.
• Walker has three double-doubles since Dec. 1 including 12 points and 13 rebounds in a career-high 50 minutes in the four OT loss at NC State. In the loss at No. 18 Auburn, he had 10 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. Walker’s most recent double-double came against No. 13 Ohio State on Jan. 2 when he had 15 points, 10 rebounds and four steals against the Buckeyes.

MCGOWENS BROTHERS REUNITED ON COURT
The Indiana game on Jan. 17 marked the first time that Trey and Bryce McGowens were back on the court together in two months. Trey had missed the previous 15 games after breaking a bone in his foot against Creighton.  This season marked the first time they have shared the court since they were kids.

• Bryce is 14th in the Big Ten in scoring at 15.7 ppg while grabbing 5.5 rebounds per game as of Jan. 24. He ranks among the B1G leaders in scoring, free throw percentage and minutes played.
• A three-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week (Nov. 15, Nov. 29, Dec. 20), he leads all conference rookies in scoring and is second in rebounding.
• He is the only Husker freshmen in either the Big 12 (1996-97 to 2010-11) or Big Ten (2011-12 to present) eras to be a three-time honoree as a freshman.
• McGowens has reached double figures in scoring 14 times, including five 20-point efforts. His most recent 20-point game was against Indiana on Jan. 17, as he finished with 20 points and five rebounds.
• He collected his first career double-double on Nov. 21 against Southern with 18 points and 11 rebounds. McGowens also had four assists and two steals in 31 minutes.
• He is just the second Husker freshman to ever put up multiple 25-point games, as he had 25 in the opener against Western Illinois and 29 in the win over Sam Houston. He joins Dave Hoppen, who accomplished the feat during the 1982-83 season (27 vs. K-State; 25 vs. Iowa State).
• As a high schooler, he totaled 2,341 points, including 285 3-pointers and was selected for the 2021 Iverson Classic. He was also selected to the Jordan Brand Classic, but the event was not held.
• Last season, he was the Gatorade South Carolina Player of the Year, averaging 21.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists per contest for Legacy Early College and Coach BJ Jackson. 

Trey has been a proven performer throughout his career, as he has started 94 of 97 games at the college level for Pittsburgh and Nebraska and scored over 1,000 career points.

• Trey is averaging 6.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game in four contests. He started NU’s first three games prior to his injury before coming off the bench against Indiana in his return.
• Considered NU’s best defender, McGowens usually is assigned to the opponent’s top perimeter scorer. He helped limit Sam Houston’s Demarkus Lampley, a returning first-team all-conference performer, to 2-of-14 shooting on Nov. 12, while McGowens grabbed a season-high nine rebounds.
• Last season, Trey averaged 10.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, while starting all 27 games. He reached double figures 17 times in 2020-21, including a season-high 20 points against No. 17 Michigan State.
• Trey has ranked among the conference leaders in steals in each of his first three seasons in college. He is one of only two active power conference players who ranked in the top five in steals in each of the past three seasons (Jamari Wheeler, PSU/OSU).
• In his final season at Pittsburgh (2019-20), he averaged 11.5 ppg, while ranking in the top 15 of the ACC in steals (fourth), assists (3.6, 10th), assist-to-turnover ratio (15th) and minutes played.
• The McGowens brothers are one of 15 brother combos on the same college roster this season.

ZO TAKES THE POINT
Alonzo Verge took over the point guard duties from 2021 NBA Draft pick Dalano Banton, and Verge has provided an immediate impact, averaging 14.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 1.5 steals per game. The 6-foot-4 guard from Chicago ranks among conference leaders in both assists (second) and steals (sixth) as of Jan. 15.

• He has a 1.54-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio after posting a 1.29-to-1 ratio in his two seasons at Arizona State.
• His 5.53 assists per game would rank fifth in school history, while only four players in school history have averaged at least 5.00 assists in a season.
• Verge is eighth in the Big Ten with four double-doubles (vs. W. Illinois, vs. Tennessee State, at NC State and Kennesaw State).
• He nearly collected his fifth double-double of the season with 14 points and nine assists in the loss to No. 25 Illinois on Jan. 11.
• He posted his fourth double-double of the year with 16 points and a career-high 12 assists in the win over Kennesaw State on Dec. 22.
• He had his fourth 20-point effort of the season with 21 points, five assists, five rebounds and four steals in the loss to Kansas State on Dec. 19.
• Verge posted his second career 30-point game against Michigan on Dec. 7, as he had 31 points and eight boards. It was his first 30-point game since the 2019-20 season when he was at Arizona State.
• Verge nearly had a triple-double in the Huskers’ epic game at NC State on Dec. 1 with 25 points, a career-high 11 assists and nine rebounds before fouling out in the fourth OT.
• He led NU with 18 points and 10 assists in the Huskers’ win over Tennessee State on Nov. 23.
• He posted his first collegiate double-double in the opener with 26 points – the most points ever in a Husker debut – a career-high 13 rebounds and five assists.
• Verge was a combo guard during his two seasons at Arizona State, where he teamed with current Kansas guard Remy Martin in one of the highest scoring backcourts in the Pac-12.
• He averaged 14.0 points, 3.8 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game in 2020-21, ranking among the Pac-12 leaders in scoring (15th), assists (seventh), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.55-to-1, sixth), steals (1.2, 13th) and free throw percentage (.809, 13th).
• In his first season at ASU, he was the 2020 Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year and an honorable-mention all-conference pick after averaging 14.6 points per game, 3.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
• A two-time NJCAA All-American at Moberly Area (Ill.) CC, he ranked in the top three nationally in both scoring and assists in 2018-19. He tallied 1,086 points (30.9 ppg in 35 games), but also dished out 8.2 assists per game en route to first-team accolades.

KEISEI FOR 3
The addition of Keisei Tominaga has helped the Huskers’ 3-point shooting. The 6-foot-2 guard is fifth on the team in scoring at 7.8 points per game while connecting on a team-high 33 3-pointers entering the Wisconsin game. He has also committed just seven turnovers in 398 minutes this season.

Tominaga started slowly as he had just three points in his first three games, but is averaging 8.9 points per game on 42 percent shooting, including 39 percent from 3-point range in NU’s last 16 games dating back to Nov. 19. He has seven double-figure games in that stretch, including a career-high 23 points against South Dakota on Nov. 27 and 18 points in the win over Kennesaw State on Dec. 22. Tominaga had a team-high 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the loss at No. 7 Purdue on Jan. 14.

Last summer, Tominaga represented Japan in 3×3 basketball in the Tokyo Olympics, helping Japan reach the medal round. He 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. 

 

HUSKER INJURY UPDATE

In addition to the players who are finishing health and safety protocols, the Huskers have a pair of scholarship players out with injuries. The most recent was Trevor Lakes, as he will be out indefinitely because of a lingering shoulder injury. Lakes, who underwent surgery on his right shoulder last March, managed the injury throughout the year, but had a recent setback. He had played in eight games, most recently at Rutgers on Jan. 8.

Wilhelm Breidenbach underwent season-ending leg surgery on Dec. 22 for an injury suffered in Nebraska’s game against Michigan.  Breidenbach, a 6-foot-10, 227-pound forward from Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., had played in each of Nebraska’s first 10 games, averaging 3.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game.

 

FOUR OT THRILLER AT NC STATE

Nebraska’s four-overtime game at NC State on Dec. 1, was one for the record books. The four OT game matched Nebraska’s school record set in 1979 and was the longest Big Ten game in at least a decade. It tied for the second-longest Division I game in the past 10 seasons, trailing only a five OT game between Louisville and Notre Dame on Feb. 9. 2013.

• It was the longest game in Big Ten/ACC Challenge history, but was one of three OT games in the 2021 challenge. The Big Ten won the challenge, 8-6, with three of the six losses coming in overtime.
• It marked only the eighth time in school history where both teams scored over 100 points.
• The 100 points NU scored marked the 44th 100-point game in school history, but only the fifth time that NU scored 100 points and lost.
• Nebraska had a pair of double-doubles from Alonzo Verge (25 points/11 assists) and Derrick Walker (12 points, 13 rebounds). Verge (assists) and Walker (rebounds) both set personal bests on their way to double-doubles.

NU GRADUATION SUCCESS RATE HITS ALL-TIME HIGH OF 95 PERCENT
Nebraska student-athletes have posted a 95 percent NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR), continuing the Huskers’ long tradition of being a national leader in the classroom. The NCAA released its GSR scores on Dec. 2, with Nebraska improving its GSR for the 11th straight year.

• The 95 percent GSR rate for all student-athletes ranks third among 14 Big Ten schools. On the national scale, Nebraska’s GSR is tied for 10th out of 130 FBS institutions. The 95 percent GSR rate marks the 11th straight year Nebraska has increased its GSR.
• The Husker men’s basketball program achieved a 100 percent GSR for the second straight season and was one of 13 Husker programs to post a 100 GSR in the latest rankings. NU was one of five Big Ten teams with a perfect GSR this year.

HUSKER RECRUITING CLASS SEEING STARS
The Huskers brought 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 Wilhelm 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.