Huskers Open 2022-23 Season vs. Maine on Monday

After a pair of exhibitions, the Nebraska men’s basketball team tips off the 2022-23 season on Monday, Nov. 7 against Maine. Tipoff from Pinnacle Bank Arena between the Huskers and Black Bears is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be carried online on B1G Plus (subscription required).  Tickets are available for the contest by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets, contacting the Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office at 800-8-BIGRED during business hours (8 a.m.-5 p.m., Mon.-Fri.) or at the Pinnacle Bank Arena Ticket Office beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.

The Huskers, who begin their 127th season on Monday, went 1-1 during its two exhibition contests. NU defeated Chadron State 87-60 on Oct. 23 before falling at Colorado, 72-61, in a charity exhibition on Oct. 30. Defensively, the Huskers have shown improvement, holding both opponents under 45 percent shooting from the field, including a combined 26 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. Of the 11 players who saw action against Colorado, eight had not played a regular-season game at NU.

In Sunday’s loss to Colorado, the Huskers battled back from a slow start and were in the game until J’Vonne Hadley’s 3-point play with 1:32 remaining made it a 12-point game. Emmanuel Bandoumel led three Huskers in double figures with 14 points and a pair of steals, while Juwan Gary and Sam Griesel added 11 and 10 points respectively. The three were also NU’s top three scorers in the Huskers’ first exhibition contest.

One bright spot in the loss to Colorado was the performance of redshirt freshman Oleg Kojenets, who scored six points and grabbed three rebounds in 15 minutes of work against the Buffaloes. The 7-foot, 232-pound freshman played just six minutes in NU’s win over Chadron State and took advantage of the opportunity with Derrick Walker not dressing on Sunday.

Maine begins its season on Monday under the direction of first-year coach Chris Markwood, who was an assistant at Boston College in 2021-22. Markwood was a former player at the school and later began his coaching career at the school. The Black Bears went 6-23 in 2021-22.

Last Time Out

Emmanuel Bandoumel had 14 points to lead three Huskers in double figures as Nebraska battled before falling 72-61 to Colorado in a charity exhibition game between the two programs Sunday afternoon in Boulder. The Huskers rallied from a 17-point first-half deficit to five in the later stages of the first half and had opportunities to close the Buffaloes lead in the second half, but were unable to complete the comeback. Bandoumel had 10 of his 14 points in the second half, while Juwan Gary and Sam Griesel had 11 and 10 points, respectively for the Huskers. In all, the Huskers held CU, which won 21 games and finished fourth in the Pac-12 last season, to 43.3 percent shooting, but shot just 41 percent, including 6-of-25 from 3-point range. KJ Simpson led all scorers with 17 points, including six in a 13-6 spurt to open the second half for the hosts, while J’Vonne Hadley had 11 points and eight rebounds for CU.

Quick Notes From the Colorado Exhibition

• • With the loss, the Huskers fell to 62-7 all-time in exhibition games dating back to the 1966-67 season and snapped a 19-game win streak in exhibitions dating back to the 2007-08 season.

• • Ticket proceeds from the Nebraska-Colorado matchup will go to survivors and first responders of last December’s Marshall Fires in Boulder County.

• • Nebraska falls to 2-1 all-time in charity exhibition games, as NU won the 2020 matchup with Colorado in Lincoln (82-67) and a 2017 win at Mississippi State (76-72).

• • Nebraska put three players in double figures for the second straight time during exhibition play.

• • All 11 scholarship players who dressed played in Sunday’s game, as the Husker bench out-scored Colorado’s reserves 26-19.

Numbers from the Exhibition Games

• • 2.5-to-1 – Assist-to-turnover ratio for Sam Griesel in the two exhibitions after posting a 1.7-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio at NDSU last year. Griesel also averaged 12.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game in the Huskers’ two contests.

• • 12.0 – Despite breaking in an entirely new backcourt, Nebraska has averaged just 12.0 turnovers per game in the two exhibition games.

• • 17.0 – Points per game for Juwan Gary in Nebraska’s two exhibition games on 50 percent shooting. Gary averaged 6.5 points per game for Alabama last season.  Gary’s collegiate high in points is 19 (vs. Houston, at Florida).

• • 27- Offensive rebounds for the Huskers in the two exhibitions. Last season, the Huskers were 13th in the Big Ten in offensive rebounding with 7.3 per game.

A Quick Look at Nebraska
Fred Hoiberg begins his fourth season at Nebraska with a veteran-laden team. The Huskers are led by sixth-year senior Derrick Walker, who averaged 9.5 points and a team-high 6.0 rebounds per game. Walker set Nebraska’s single-season field goal percentage record last year, hitting 68.3 percent of his shots from the field. He is also among the Big Ten’s top returning rebounders and shot blockers from last season.

While Walker is the only returning starter, NU also welcomes back three players who saw extensive action last year in C.J. Wilcher, Keisei Tominaga and Wilhelm Breidenbach.  Wilcher played in all 30 games, including a pair of starts, and was NU’s sixth man for most of 2021-22.  The 6-foot-5 guard led Nebraska with 52 3-pointers and shot over 40 percent from beyond the arc in averaging 8.1 points per game in his first season as a Huskers.

Tominaga played in 30 games, including 11 starts and averaged 5.7 points per game. He was third on the team with 36 3-pointers, and spent the summer with the Japanese National Team. Tominaga averaged more than 15.0 ppg in two major tournaments with Japan.

Breidenbach also returns after missing most of last season with a knee injury suffered last December. A former top-100 recruit, he was the Huskers’ top big man off the bench last year and averaged 3.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game before his injury.

Nebraska’s three Division I transfers – Sam Griesel, Juwan Gary and Emmanual Bandoumel – helped their respective schools to a combined .661 winning percentage and five postseason appearances in their collegiate careers. In addition, junior college transfer Blaise Keita led Coffeyvillle Community College to an NJCAA National title in 2021. Griesel, a Lincoln native, was a first-team All-Summit League guard and has scored nearly 1,000 points at the Division I level. Bandoumel was a double-figure scorer in each of the last two seasons at SMU and was a three-year starter for the Mustangs. Gary averaged 6.5 points and 3.4 rebounds per game while making 16 starts for Alabama last season. As a redshirt freshman in 2020-21, he helped the Crimson Tide to an SEC title and an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance. Keita averaged 12.8 points and 9.8 rebounds per game in junior college last season and closed the year with four double-doubles in his final five games.

A trio of redshirts who could find significant playing time include Denim Dawson, who arrived at winter break last season, along with Oleg Kojenets and walk-on Sam Hoiberg. Quaran McPherson, who also redshirted a year ago, was poised to find a spot in the Huskers’ rotation until suffering a season-ending knee injury in August.

Nebraska also adds a pair of freshmen as part of a top-30 recruiting class in Ramel Lloyd Jr. and Jamarques Lawrence. Both players helped their high school teams to national top-20 finishes in 2021-22.

For Openers

Nebraska begins its 127th season of basketball on Monday against Maine. Here are some facts and figures about season openers for the Husker basketball program.

• • Nebraska is 85-41 (.674) all-time in season openers and has won 19 of the past 21 season openers dating back to an 87-83 setback at Oral Roberts to begin the 2000 season.

• • The Nov. 7 start is one of the earliest starts in program history. It marks the fifth time in program history that the Huskers opened before Nov. 10.

• • Nebraska has scored 70+ points in eight of the last eight season openers dating back to the opening of Pinnacle Bank Arena in 2013-14.

Revamped Husker Coaching Staff
In addition to nine new faces on the Husker roster (six scholarship and three walkons), the Husker staff also has several new faces this season.

• • Assistant Coach Adam Howard comes to Nebraska after spending the last four seasons at South Alabama, helping the program to 75 wins in that span after the program had seven straight losing seasons. Last year, South Alabama won 21 games, the school’s highest total since 2008. Howard also coached at Troy, Tennessee, Southern Miss and Morehead State after playing collegiately at Western Kentucky.

• • Assistant Coach Ernie Zeigler comes to Lincoln after spending six years on Ben Howland’s staff at Mississippi State. The Bulldogs had four postseason appearances between 2018-22. Zeiger spent six seasons as the head coach at Central Michigan (2007-12) and previously served stints at UCLA, Pittsburgh, Kansas State, Detroit and Bowling Green.

• • Emmanuel Tommy joined the staff as Director of Player Development. He was an assistant coach at Alabama A&M last season and had worked on the administrative side at both McNeese State and South Alabama.

• • Two familiar faces in new positions are graduate managers Michael Bania and Payden Borders, both of whom worked as managers in the Husker program. Both graduated from Nebraska last May.

Looking at Maine
Maine will have a retooled roster under first-year coach Chris Markwood, who returns to Maine after spending the 2021-22 season as an assistant at Boston College. Markwood is a Maine native who played collegiately at Notre Dame and at Maine, serving as a captain as a senior at Maine in 2004-05. Following his playing career, he started his coaching career on the Maine staff before stints at Vermont, Northeastern and Boston College. Markwood and his staff have eight new players on the 2022-23 roster while also returning nine players from last year’s squad. Maine was picked ninth in the preseason America East Conference.

• • The Black Bears return two starters in Ja’Shonte Wright-Mcleish (7.4 ppg, 18 starts) and Adefolarin Adetogun (3.9 ppg, 16 starts), but all nine of their returners started multiple games in 2021-22.

• • Senior guard LeChaun Duhart the team’s top returning scorer at 8.5 points per game, as he played in just 13 games, including 12 starts. Duhart, who was Maine’s leading scorer in 2020-21 (11.0 ppg) had a career-high 22 against Rutgers last season.

• • Monday’s game against Maine is the first meeting between the two schools. Nebraska has played just two games against current members of the America East Conference, the fewest of any Division I conference. Both games were against Maryland-Baltimore County (1989, 2008).

Trio of Transfers Added in 2022-23
Nebraska added three Division I transfers in the offseason in Sam Griesel (North Dakota State), Emmanuel Bandoumel (SMU) and Juwan Gary (Alabama). The trio has combined for nearly 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in their college careers.
If history is any indication, it will be likely that one of these three will pace NU in scoring, as a newcomer has topped the Husker scoring chart in each of the three seasons under Fred Hoiberg. Of the eight players who have averaged double figures under Hoiberg, all eight have been in their first year of competition at Nebraska.

Adding Experience

Homegrown Huskers
The 2022-23 roster features four in-state products in Sam Griesel (Lincoln), Sam Hoiberg (Lincoln), Henry Burt (Omaha) and Cale Jacobsen (Ashland). Griesel is the Huskers’ first scholarship recruit since Jake Muhleisen in the early 2000s. While Griesel is expected to make his first start as a Husker, he has starting experience in the building during his college career. While at North Dakota State, he started both games for the Bison in the 2020 Golden Window event at PBA, averaging 9.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. He had nine points and 12 rebounds in a 79-57 loss to the Huskers. No current Husker played against Griesel in that contest.

Pushing the Pace
One trait of a 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 three seasons according to KenPom, including top-20 rankings in 2019-20 (16th) and 2021-22 (19th). NU has been the only Big Ten team to rank in the top-50 in any of the past three seasons.

• • In his eight seasons as a college head coach, Hoiberg’s teams have ranked in the top-50 in tempo six times, including four 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.

Playing with Pace (Adjusted Tempo per KenPom)

Walker Looks to Continue Efficient Shooting
Nebraska returns one of the most efficient big men in college basketball in Derrick Walker. The 6-foot-9 forward averaged 9.6 points per game on 68.3 percent shooting from the field in 2021-22. He broke NU’s single-season field-goal percentage that was held by Larry Cox since the  1975-76 season. Walker was the only Big Ten player and one of just 14 players in Division I to shoot at least 65 percent and average at least eight points per game last season.

Walker’s Busy Summer
Sixth-year senior Derrick Walker has taken advantage of his final year of college, immersing in a number of different activities since the end of last season.

• • In July, Walker was one of a select group of Big Ten student-athletes, coaches, administrators, conference staff, and other key stakeholders to participate in the Big Life Series: Selma to Montgomery. The trip was a journey to Selma and Montgomery, Ala., for an immersive and educational experience at a key center of the civil rights movement. The group participated in a variety of activities including marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, site of the 1965 Bloody Sunday attack.

• • He organized the inaugural Hoops with the Huskers Special Olympics camp, which allowed members of the Husker basketball program to work with more than 40 Special Olympians on shooting, basketball drills and one-on-one competitions.

• • Walker also started “Tall Boy Trucking” in the offseason, after he purchased a semi-truck last year. Walker hired a driver and the company makes deliveries from coast to coast.

Husker Roster has International Flavor
Nebraska’s 2022-23 roster will once again have an international flavor, as it will feature a quartet of international players in Emmanuel Bandoumel (Canada), Blaise Keita (Mali), Keisei Tominaga (Japan) and Oleg Kojenets (Lithuania). During Fred Hoiberg‘s four seasons at Nebraska, the Huskers have had players from nine countries (Australia, Canada, England, France, Iceland, Japan, Lithuania, Mali and Slovenia).

Three Huskers on Opening-Night Rosters
Nebraska is well represented on NBA Opening Night rosters with Isaiah Roby (San Antonio), Dalano Banton (Toronto) and Bryce McGowens (Charlotte). The group is joined by Tyronn Lue, who begins his third season as head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers.

• • Nebraska’s three active NBA players is the most since the 2007-07 season (Eric Piatkowski, Mikki Moore and Lue)

• • McGowens became the 15th former Husker to make his NBA debut on Oct. 19, as he saw action in Charlotte’s win over San Antonio.

• • Five members of the 2021-22 team are playing professionally, including Bryce McGowens (NBA), Trey McGowens (G League), Lat Mayen (Australia), Alonzo Verge Jr. (Poland) and Kobe Webster (Netherlands).

• • In all, 25 former Huskers are playing professionally around the world, including 10 players from Hoiberg’s three Husker teams.

Huskers to be Tested in 2022-23
Nebraska will have a challenging schedule this upcoming season. The Huskers will play a minimum of 25 power conference teams during the season, including five (St. John’s, Creighton, Boston College, Kansas State and Oklahoma) in non-conference action. Depending on the results of the ESPN Events Invitational, NU could see as many as seven power conference teams during non-conference action, including six away from home.

• • Nebraska will play at least 13 games in the regular season against ranked teams or teams receiving votes in the AP or Coaches Preseason poll. The Huskers will face No. 9/9 Creighton, No. 13/14 Indiana, No. 22/22 Michigan and No. 23/23 Illinois while six other teams (Purdue, Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa, Rutgers, Wisconsin) received votes. NU could also face Memphis during the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando.

• • Nebraska has 16 regular-season games against teams that reached postseason play in 2021-22. The Big Ten had nine NCAA teams in 2021-22, and Nebraska will face that group a combined 13 times (Illinois-2, Iowa-2, Michigan State-2, Purdue-2, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State, Rutgers and Wisconsin). In non-conference action, NU will face Creighton in Omaha and will face Oklahoma in the ESPN Events Invitational opener. The Huskers will also square off against either Seton Hall or Memphis the following day.

McGowens Becomes Highest Drafted Husker since 1998
Bryce McGowens became the second Husker drafted in as many years, as he was the No. 40 pick of the Charlotte Hornets in the 2022 NBA Draft last June. He was the highest Husker drafted since Tyronn Lue went No. 23 overall in 1998. McGowens averaged 16.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game in 2021-22, earning third-team All-Big Ten honors from both the coaches and media.

• • McGowens’ 16.8 points per game ranked third nationally among true freshmen in 2021-22. The top two true freshmen in scoring were Paolo Banchero (Duke) and Jabari Smith (Auburn) and those two were picked first and third, respectively, in the 2022 NBA Draft.

• • With Dalano Banton (No. 46 in 2021) and McGowens, Nebraska has players selected in consecutive NBA Drafts for the first time since 1998 and 1999.

• • McGowens was one of nine Big Ten players selected in the 2022 NBA Draft. The nine picks were the most of any conference and the highest total since 10 Big Ten players were selected in the 1990 NBA Draft.

Tominaga Stars on Japanese Team
Keisei Tominaga spent most of the summer playing with the Japanese Senior National Team for the first time. The 6-foot-2 guard made his debut in the FIBA World Cup Asia qualifier in early July and then starred for Japan in the 2022 Asia Cup. In seven games with the Senior National Team, Tominaga averaged 15.9 points per game while shooting 39.3 percent from the 3-point line. His best performance came against Australia in the Asia Cup quarterfinals, when he poured in 33 points on 12-of-20 shooting, including 8-of-15 from 3-point range. His performance helped Japan to its best Asia Cup finish since 2015.

Huskers Annually Rank Among NCAA Attendance Leaders
Since moving into Pinnacle Bank Arena, the Huskers have been among the national leaders in attendance. The Huskers have ranked in the top 15 in attendance every year since 2013-14, ranking in the top 10 on three occasions, most recently 2021-22.

• • Nebraska is one of eight schools in the country to average 15,000+ fans per contest in each of the last seven seasons (2014-20, 2022), joining Kentucky, Syracuse, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kansas and Creighton. The NCAA did not count attendance figures during the 2020-21 season because of Covid-19.

Huskers Add Top-30 Recruiting Class
For the second straight season, Nebraska pulled in a top-30 national recruiting class, as the 2022 class was rated No. 28 by Rivals. The class included incoming freshmen Ramel Lloyd Jr. and Jamarques Lawrence, as well as junior college transfer Blaise Keita. It also included Denim Dawson, who signed with Nebraska in November and enrolled for the start of the spring 2022 semester.

Lloyd was ranked No. 88 nationally by ESPN and was a top-100 recruit in the 247Sports Composite rankings, while Lawrence was ranked among the top 150 players by Rivals at the end of his senior season. Keita was ranked as the No. 1 overall JUCO player by 247Sports and No. 4 by JUCORecruiting.com.  The Huskers’ 2021 freshmen class was ranked as high as 13th nationally by ESPN and also earned top-25 recognition by 247Sports and Rivals.

All in the Family

Several members of the 2022-23 Huskers have family members who have played basketball at the college or professional levels. The list is led by Fred Hoiberg, who played in the NBA for a decade after a standout career at Iowa State. In addition, Ramel Lloyd was a Parade All-American who scored over 1,600 points at the college level at Syracuse and Long Beach State. Both Aleh Kojenets and Jurga Paliaukaite played at UNC Wilmington, while Paliaukaite holds the UNC Wilmington women’s record with 10 blocked shots in a game.  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.

NBA Coaches: Back to School
Fred Hoiberg is one of eight active NCAA coaches to have coached in the NBA, as he spent three-plus seasons with the Chicago Bulls from 2015 to 2018. Hoiberg’s 270 regular-season NBA games rank third among the eight former NBA coaches in the collegiate ranks. He is also one of 23 former NBA players guiding Division I programs in 2022-23

Division I Coaches with NBA Head Coaching Experience

Single-Game Tickets Now on Sale
Single-game tickets for the 2022-23 schedule are now on sale. A select number of 300 Level seats are available for $7 apiece for non-conference games and $10 each for each of the Huskers’ 10 Big Ten matchups, including games with Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State and Iowa. The single-game tickets are one of several options to purchase Husker basketball tickets for the 2022-23 season. In addition, the Six-Game Mini-Plan which allows fans to pick 300 Level seats for any six games during the 2022-23 season for just $30 while supplies last.
To purchase, visit Huskers.com/Tickets or call the Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office at 800-8-BIGRED during business hours (8 a.m.-5 p.m., Mon.-Fri.).