The Nebraska women’s basketball team is set to take on three 2022 NCAA Sweet Sixteen qualifiers during its nine-game home Big Ten schedule at Pinnacle Bank Arena, after the conference announced the Big Red’s 18-game league slate on Wednesday.
The Huskers, who finished 24-9 overall and advanced to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament before earning a 2022 NCAA Tournament berth, will take on Michigan (Wednesday, Dec. 28, Elite Eight), 2022 Big Ten regular-season co-champion Ohio State (Saturday, Jan. 14, Sweet 16), Maryland (Sunday, Jan. 22, Sweet 16) and Big Ten regular-season and tournament champion Iowa (Sunday, Feb. 18, NCAA 2nd Round) at Pinnacle Bank Arena as part of its loaded conference schedule. Overall, eight of Nebraska’s Big Ten contests will come against teams that won at least one NCAA Tournament game in 2022.
No television designations or game times were announced by the conference. Those will come at later dates as details are finalized by the conference and its TV partners. Season tickets for Nebraska women’s basketball at Pinnacle Bank Arena are available now at huskers.com/tickets.
“We thoughtfully and intentionally poured and poured and poured, we used every second we had available to put out the most competitively balanced and equitable schedule that we could.” Big Ten Vice President for Women’s Basketball Megan Kahn said. “In our scheduling model here in the Big Ten, we’ve elected that tough teams are going to play like teams. (Our) 18 (game-schedule) has been very good to us given the success of our teams in the NCAA Tournament. We’ve had 19 NCAA Tournament selections in the past three seasons. The last two years we’ve had four teams advance to the Sweet Sixteen. The last two years we’ve also had an Elite Eight team.”
Nebraska, which tied a school record with 16 home victories a year ago, opens Big Ten home action on Wednesday, Dec. 7 against Wisconsin, after tipping off conference play against perennial power Maryland on the road in College Park on Sunday, Dec. 4. The tip with the Terps provides the marquee matchup of the opening weekend of Big Ten play. The first of two games in the season series with the Terrapins will cap a four-game road stretch for the Huskers that spans two weeks and includes clashes with SEC contender Mississippi State in Puerto Rico (Nov. 26) and at Virginia Tech in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge (Dec. 1).
The Big Red’s Big Ten home opener with Wisconsin (Dec. 7) will tip a five-game stand that includes three non-conference games (Samford, Wyoming, Kansas) prior to the holiday break, before culminating with the first of two regular-season showdowns against Michigan. Nebraska defeated the Wolverines in Lincoln last season before beating the eventual NCAA Elite Eight qualifiers in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals in Indianapolis.
The Huskers then hit the road for a New Year’s Day showdown with 2022 NCAA Sweet Sixteen qualifier and Big Ten Tournament runner-up Indiana in Bloomington on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023. Nebraska split the season series with the Hoosiers a year ago. The New Year’s Day game at Indiana will be a marquee game for the conference and will cap a four-game Big Ten-opening stretch where the Huskers face three 2022 NCAA Sweet Sixteen teams.
Nebraska will receive its first mid-week bye of Big Ten play before traveling to Rutgers (Saturday, Jan. 7). The Huskers then play a pair of Big Ten home games against Penn State (Wednesday, Jan. 11) and 2022 NCAA Sweet Sixteen qualifier Ohio State (Saturday, Jan. 14).
After a mid-week road trip to Purdue (Jan. 18), the Huskers return home for another big game against Maryland (Sunday, Jan. 22). Nebraska then receives its second mid-week bye in January before traveling to Iowa City to clash with the Hawkeyes (Saturday, Jan. 28).
Nebraska returns home for a Thursday night battle with Michigan State (Feb. 2), before heading to Northwestern to collide with the Wildcats (Monday, Feb. 6). The Huskers return home to face Illinois (Thursday, Feb. 9), before heading to Michigan for a Super Bowl Sunday game with the Wolverines to complete the regular-season series. Nebraska makes it back-to-back road battles with a short turnaround at Minnesota (Wednesday, Feb. 15), before a Saturday showdown with Iowa at Pinnacle Bank Arena (Feb. 18).
The Huskers conclude Big Ten regular-season road action at Illinois (Wednesday, Feb. 22) before wrapping conference home action against Northwestern (Sunday, Feb. 26) to complete the season series against both of the Big Ten’s teams from Illinois.
“I think Nebraska could be one of the most dangerous teams in this league,” Big Ten Network Women’s Basketball Analyst Meghan McKeown said on the B1G Network women’s basketball conference schedule reveal special as part of B1G Today. “They return a ton of starters from last season and they added some key pieces from the transfer portal.”
Big Ten Network host Dave Revsine responded with his own praise for the Big Red.
“They were a great story last year. Jaz Shelley, the transfer was incredible,” Revsine said. “Alexis Markowski turned out to be the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and really a fabulous player and a ton of fun to watch.”
The Big Ten Tournament will be held in Minneapolis (March 1-5).
Nebraska’s 2022-23 Big Ten Schedule
Dec. 4 (Sunday) – at Maryland
Dec. 7 (Wednesday) – Wisconsin
Dec. 28 (Wednesday) – Michigan
Jan. 1 (Sunday) – at Indiana
Jan. 7 (Saturday) – at Rutgers
Jan. 11 (Wednesday) – Penn State
Jan. 14 (Saturday) – Ohio State
Jan. 18 (Wednesday) – at Purdue
Jan. 22 (Sunday) – Maryland
Jan. 28 (Saturday) – at Iowa
Feb. 2 (Thursday) – Michigan State
Feb. 6 (Monday) – at Northwestern
Feb. 9 (Thursday) – Illinois
Feb. 12 (Sunday) – at Michigan
Feb. 15 (Wednesday) – at Minnesota
Feb. 18 (Saturday) – Iowa
Feb. 22 (Wednesday) – at Illinois
Feb. 26 (Sunday) – Northwestern
March 1-5 – Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament (Target Center, Minneapolis)
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