Huskers Look for Third Straight Win

The Nebraska men’s basketball team is back in action on Tuesday night, as the Huskers play host to Tennessee State. Tipoff between the Huskers and Tigers is set for 8 p.m. A limited number of 300 Level tickets 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 Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday’s game is the second of Nebraska’s multi-team event (MTE) with Southern, Tennessee State and South Dakota, as the event will continue until this weekend. NU’s final game of the event will be against South Dakota on Saturday afternoon.

 

The Huskers (3-2) come off a solid 82-59 win over Southern on Sunday. Nebraska relied on its inside game against the Jaguars. Derick Walker, Eduardo Andre and Wilhelm Breidenbach combined for 27 points on 13-of-17 shooting, as Nebraska went 23-of-28 from inside the 3-point line. Walker’s 15 point marked the second straight game with a career high, as he is now 12-fo-13 from the floor in the last two contests. 

Freshman guard Bryce McGowens led four Huskers in double figures, finishing with 18 points and 11 rebounds while also posting seasons highs in both assists (four) and steals (two). The 6-foot-7 freshman leads all conference freshmen in scoring (16.8 ppg) and is second in rebounding (6.8 rpg). McGowens has been more of a playmaker in the absence of his brother Trey, who is out with a foot injury. 

NU was solid defensively, holding Southern to 33.8 percent shooting and turned 16 Jaguar turnovers into 23 points. The Huskers have held four of its five opponents to under 40 percent shooting and are second in the Big Ten in forcing turnovers at an average of 16.7 per game.

Tennessee State (1-3) looks to bounce back from an 83-66 loss at South Dakota on Sunday. The Tigers jumped out to a 22-11 lead in the first 10 minutes, but the Coyotes went on an 18-2 run to take control of the contest. The Tigers pulled to within 63-58 with 6:30 left, but South Dakota used a 10-0 run to put the game out of reach. USD got Tennessee State into foul trouble and proceeded to go 39-of-49 from the foul line. Carlos Marshall Jr. came off the bench for a team-high 16 points to lead three Tigers in double figures.

About Tennessee State

Tennessee State comes to Lincoln with a 1-3 record following an 83-66 loss at South Dakota. TSU opened the season with close losses at Alabama A&M (82-73) and against Norfolk State (66-59) before earning a 111-56 win over Fisk University.  Tennessee State will conclude the MTE with Southern on Sunday.

Penny Collins is in his third year at the school, as he had previously spent time as a Division I assistant at Illinois State and East Tennessee State. He also spent three seasons at Columbia State Junior College, guiding a team that was 0-27 in his first season to 28 and 26 wins in the next two seasons, including an NJCAA Elite Eight showing in 2014.

The Tigers’ roster was retooled from last year with 10 newcomers, including seven transfers. Tennessee has used a 10-man rotation early on, as nine players average double-figure minutes per game. Carlos Marshall Jr. and Dedric Boyd lead TSU in scoring at 12.8 ppg, as both players came off the bench in Sunday’s game against South Dakota. In all, the Tigers have four players averaging double figures, while Kassim Nicholson is at 8.5 points and a team-high 9.5 rebounds per game. As a team Tennessee State is averaging 77.3 points per game while shooting 49 percent from the field and 39 percent from 3-point range. 

Tuesday’s matchup is the first all-time meeting between the Huskers and Tennessee State. NU is 12-2 all-time against current members of the Ohio Valley Conference.

Last Time Out

Bryce McGowens posted his first career double-double, while Nebraska also got a career-high 15 points from Derrick Walker in the Huskers 82-59 win over Southern.

McGowens finished with 18 points along with career-highs in rebounds (11) and assists (four), as the Huskers shot 53 percent from the field, including 61 percent in the second half.  The freshman did most of his damage at the line, going 10-of-10 from the charity stripe, as Nebraska (3-2) went 24-of-30 from the line.

Walker led four Huskers in double figures with 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting as he posted a career high in scoring for the second straight game.  Nebraska controlled the paint, outscoring Southern, 46-20, in the paint.

Nebraska took control early on, jumping out to a 14-4 lead in the first 10 minutes, the Huskers held Southern to 2-of-16 shooting in that stretch. The Jaguars got to within 29-18 on a Jayden Saddler basket with 3:01 left in the half, but the Huskers used a 10-4 run to stretch the lead to 17 at the break.

Southern made one last run, using 7-0 spurt to cut a 19-point deficit to 41-29 with 17:08 left, but Alonzo Verge Jr. keyed a 9-0 Husker run as NU built a 21-point lead with 13:35 left and was in the control the rest of the game,

Verge had 14 points and six rebounds, while Keisei Tominaga added 11 off the bench, as NU went just 4-of-23 from 3-point range, but 23-of-28 inside the arc.

Brion Whitley led Southern with 17 points off the bench in a losing effort. The Jaguars shot 33 percent, including 6-of-21 from 3-point range.

Worth Noting 

•-Nebraska has been opportunistic on the defensive end, ranking second in the Big Ten in turnover margin (+6.0) and fifth in steals per game (7.33). NU is second in the conference in forcing 16.7 turnovers per game and is averaging 22.6 points per game off opponent turnovers.

•-Nebraska has gotten production from its bench over the last four games, averaging 32.3 points per game in that stretch. NU has gotten six double-figure efforts from its bench in the last three contests. 

•-Nebraska has produced four 20-point scores in the first five games of the season (Bryce McGowens-2; Alonzo Verge Jr.-1; Kobe Webster-1). Last year, four players combined for a total of 12 20-point efforts. 

•-One area where Nebraska has made significant stride is reducing turnovers. The Huskers are currently fourth in the Big Ten at 10.7 turnovers per game Sunday’s games. Last season, NU was last in the conference with 14.1 turnovers per game. The Huskers have jumped from 205th to 25th in turnover ratio this season. Kobe Webster and Alonzo Verge Jr. have combined for better than a 2.6-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio through the first five games. 

•-Bryce McGowens leads all Big Ten freshmen at 16.8 points per game while shooting 47 percent from the floor.  He is the only freshman in the top-10 in the Big Ten in scoring through Sunday’s games. He is also second among Big Ten freshmen in rebounding at 6.8 per game. McGowens is bidding to become only the seventh Husker freshman in school history to average double figures and the first since 2007.

•-Alonzo Verge Jr. has become more of a playmaker during his time at NU. He is fifth in the Big Ten with 4.8 assists per game and has a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Both numbers are significantly improved from his time at Arizona State. 

 •-The return to Kobe Webster has stabilized the Husker backcourt, especially following the injury to Trey McGowens. Webster average 11.0 ppg on 57 percent shooting while also dishing out eight assists without a turnover in 70:20 of action last week. 

•-Bryce McGowens joined rare company on Nov. 12 against Sam Houston with his 29-point effort. It tied for the second-highest performance by a freshman in school history and was the most since Shavon Shields also had 29 at Penn State in 2013. 

McGowens, whose 25-point effort against WIU set a record for a Husker freshman in his debut, is one of nine Husker freshmen to post multiple 20-point efforts. Only Joe McCray (10, 2004-05), Jerry Fort (6, 1972-73) and Dave Hoppen (5, 1982-83) have posted more 20-point performances than McGowens. 

•-The season opener against Western Illinois featured two of the highest-scoring debuts by any Husker in the last 50 years. Alonzo Verge Jr. (26) and Bryce McGowens (25) became just the third and fourth Huskers in the last five decades to score 20+ points in a Husker debut.

•-Alonzo Verge Jr. posted his first career double-double in Nebraska’s opener with 26 points, a career-high 13 rebounds and five assists against Western Illinois. Last year, only two Big Ten players had a game with at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists – Illinois Ayo Dosunmu (vs. North Carolina A&T) and Purdue’s Trevion Williams (vs. Ohio State). 

•-Prior to the Western Illinois game, the last Husker to have at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a game was Lance Jeter (27 points, 10 rebounds, five assists) in an overtime loss to Iowa State on Feb. 26, 2011. 

•-The season opener against WIU marked only the third time since 2007 that Nebraska had two players score 25-or-more points in a game. It also marked the fourth time that NU had multiple 20-point scorers in a game in Fred Hoiberg‘s tenure.

 

Toys for Tots Set for Saturday against South Dakota
Saturday’s game with South Dakota is the annual Toys for Tots game for the Huskers. Marines from Toys For Tots Nebraska will be collecting donations at Pinnacle Bank Arena prior to Saturday’s 1 p.m. game.  Fans can donate new, unwrapped toys or make a cash donation at either the South Lobby or North Entrance at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Toys for Tots will distribute the donated toys to needy children in the community. For more information, please visit omaha-ne.toysfortots.org

Trey McGowens Undergoes Surgery

Nebraska guard Trey McGowens underwent surgery on Nov. 17 to repair a broken fifth metatarsal in his right foot. The injury occurred during the first half of Nebraska’s game against Creighton. According to Nebraska Men’s Basketball Athletic Trainer R.J. Pietig, the injury will sideline McGowens for between six and eight weeks, and McGowens is expected to have a full recovery. McGowens, who had started all 30 games since transferring to Nebraska prior to last season, is averaging 6.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.  He ranked second on the team in both scoring (10.7 ppg) and assists (2.3 apg) in 2020-21.

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 a consensus top-20 recruiting class which features five-star recruit Bryce McGowens. 

The backcourt 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. McGowens suffered a foot injury against Creighton and will be out 6-to-8 weeks. Arizona State transfer Alonzo Verge Jr. has provided an immediate impact in the Husker backcourt, ranking fifth in the Big Ten in assists (4.8 apg) while adding 14.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. McGowens has lived up to his five-star label early on, as he averages team bests in both scoring (16.8 ppg) and rebounding (6.8 rpg). Kobe Webster (11.0 ppg, 2.7 apg) has shared ball-handling duties since returning to action on Nov. 16, while newcomers C.J. Wilcher (7.8 ppg) and Keisei Tominaga (5.0 ppg) have providing shooting and scoring punch.

The Huskers’ frontcourt got a boost back against Sam Houston, as Lat Mayen returned to action after missing the opener because of an injury suffered in the Colorado exhibition.  Mayen, who averaged 8.6 ppg and 4.5 rpg last season, had 19 points in the last three games.  Derrick Walker has been steady inside, averaging 8.0 points on 75 percent shooting along with 5.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. DePaul transfer Keon Edwards moved into the lineup the last two games to give NU a bigger and athletic lineup. True freshman Wilhelm Breidenbach, a top-100 recruit and Eduardo Andre have been NU’s primary bigs off the bench. 

Huskers Look to Take Advantage of Experience

Nebraska’s 2021-22 roster has plenty of college experience, as Derrick Walker, Kobe Webster, Alonzo Verge, Lat Mayen and Trevor Lakes all begin their fifth season of college eligibility. Lakes and Webster are “Super Seniors” who took advantage of their free year of eligibility.  Nebraska returns three players who have scored at least 1,000 points at the college level. Walker, who turned 24 on opening night, and third-year walk-on Jace Piatkowski are the only players remaining from Fred Hoiberg‘s first team at Nebraska. 

The Huskers’ starting lineup against Sam Houston on Nov. 12, was older than the lineup the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder started the same evening against Sacramento. 

Starting Lineups (Nov. 12, 2021)

Bryce McGowens Earns BIg Ten Honor
Nebraska freshman Bryce McGowens was honored on Nov. 15, as he was chosen Big Ten Freshman of the Week. McGowens averaged a Big Ten best 27.0 points per game on 52 percent shooting along with 5.5 rebounds per game in two games last week. He became the second Husker freshman in school history to post multiple 25-point games, joining Dave Hoppen in 1982-83.

In the season opener against Western Illinois, he totaled 25 points – the most ever by a Husker in a debut – and six rebounds. McGowens keyed the win over Sam Houston with 29 points, one shy of Nebraska’s single-game freshman record, on 9-of-13 shooting in NU’s 74-65 win.  McGowens was the first Husker freshman honored by the Big Ten since Glynn Watson Jr. on Feb. 15, 2016.

Super McGowens Brothers 

The high-flying duo of Trey and Bryce McGowens will be sidelined for a bit, as Trey recovers from a broken foot suffered on Nov. 16. This season marked the first time the brothers were on the same court together since they were kids and provided a number of early highlights. 

• Bryce is ninth in the Big Ten in scoring at 16.8 ppg while grabbing 6.8 rebounds per game as of Nov. 21. He is also 10th nationally in freshman scoring while shooting 47 percent from the floor through NU’s first five games. 

• 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. 

• McGowens became the first Husker since 2016 to earn Big Ten Freshman-of-the-Week accolades on Nov. 15, as he averaged 27.0 ppg on 52 percent shooting in a pair of contests.

• 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 25 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, has he has started 94 of 96 games at the college level for Pittsburgh and Nebraska and scored over 1,000 career points. 

• Trey started the first three games and was averaging 6.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game before suffering his injury midway through the first half against Creighton on Nov. 16. McGowens also drew the opponent’s top perimeter defender and shared point guard duties.  In last Friday’s win, he helped limit Sam Houston’s Demarkus Lampley, a returning first-team all-conference performer, to 2-of-14 shooting.

• Last season, Trey averaged 10.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.1 assist 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.

• 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 14.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game. The 6-foot-4 guard from Chicago is fifth in the Big Ten in assists as of Nov. 21.

• He has a 2.0-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio after posting a 1.29-to-1 ratio in his two seasons at Arizona State.

• Verge has been the only Husker in double figures in each of the five games this season.

• 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.

 

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 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, where he was the Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year in 2020.

 

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 large numbers, the two previous teams had just 21 percent (2020-21) and two percent (2019-20) 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 total points – the fewest returning total by any power conference school (Power Five + Big East) in a decade.

 

 
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 nationally in each of the past two seasons.

In seven full seasons as a college head coach (five at Iowa State and two at NU), 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.

 

 
 
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 Isaiah Roby and Dalano Banton.  The pair gives Nebraska multiple NBA players for the first time since the 2008-09 season (Tyronn Lue and Mikki Moore). In addition, Tyronn Lue is beginning his second season as the head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers.

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. Banton spent two years at NU and averaged 9.6 points per game in 2020-21 while leading the Huskers in both rebounding (5.9) and assists (3.9) per game. He became the first Husker since 1974 to lead NU in both rebounds and assists in the same season.

 

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).

 

NBA Coaches Go Back to School

Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg is one of nine active NCAA coaches to have coached in the NBA, as he spent three-plus seasons with the Chicago Bulls. Hoiberg’s 270 regular-season NBA games rank third among the 10 former NBA coaches in the collegiate ranks.

 

 
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 schools with 347 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.