Huskers Ring in New Year vs. No. 17 Michigan State

The Nebraska men’s basketball program opens 2021 on Saturday night, as the Huskers will host No. 17/18 Michigan State.

Tipoff from Pinnacle Bank Arena between the Huskers and Spartans is slated for 7 p.m. and will be carried on BTN with Larry Punteney and Shon Morris 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’s matchup with the Spartans marks the fourth straight game against a ranked opponent to begin Big Ten play, marking the first time it has occurred in program history. In all, five of the Huskers’ first 11 games in 2020-21 are against ranked foes.

 

The Huskers (4-6, 0-3 Big Ten) looks to snap a three-game losing streak following a 90-54 loss at No. 25 Ohio State on Wednesday. Nebraska shot just 28.3 percent from the floor, including 21 percent in the first half, as the Buckeyes built a 37-21 halftime lead. NU went just 5-of-33 from 3-point range, while committing 15 turnovers which led to 21 Buckeye points.

Teddy Allen led NU 13 points and has now reached double figures in all 10 games in his first season as a Husker. The 6-foot-6 wing leads the Huskers and is sixth in the Big Ten in scoring at 17.7 points per game. He is one of three Huskers averaging double figures for the Huskers, joining guard Dalano Banton (13.4 ppg) and Trey McGowens (10.6 ppg). 

If the Huskers are to break into the win column, NU will need to knock down some shoots, as the Huskers are shooting just 34 percent in Big Ten play, including 25 percent from 3-point range.

Michigan State (6-3, 0-3 Big Ten) looks to break a losing ski of its own, as the Spartans have dropped three straight to begin Big Ten play after a perfect non-conference slate. On Monday, the Spartans shot just 25 percent in an 81-56 loss at Minnesota. Aaron Henry led MSU with 11 points, but Michigan State shot just 16 percent in the first half, as Minnesota built a 36-16 advantage. Minnesota held Joey Hauser to six points on 1-of-8 shooting.

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT

Sophomore point guard Dalano Banton ranks in the top 10 in the Big Ten in assists (sixth) rebounds (eighth) and steals (eighth).

NUMBERS TO KNOW

1 – Dalano Banton is one of two Big Ten players – also Ayo Dosunmu of Illinois – to rank in the top 10 in the conference in both rebounding and assists as of Jan. 1.

3 – The Huskers had a season-low three assists in the loss at Ohio State, its lowest total since having three in a double OT win over Cincinnati in 2014-15.

5 – Nebraska has five 20-point performances through the first 10 games, including four by Teddy Allen and one by Kobe Webster. 

7.5 – Rebounds per game for Yvan Ouedraogo over the last four games. He is also shooting 63 percent from the field and averaging 7.3 points per game in that stretch. 

8.6 – Nebraska’s 3-pointers per game, which is on pace to be the second-highest average per game in school history.

10 – Number of seasons where Nebraska has had multiple 100-point games. The 2020-21 campaign is the first time since 1995-96.

30- Nebraska is 30th nationally in tempo according to KenPom as of Jan. 1. The Huskers are one of four Big Ten teams currently in the top 50 as of Jan. 1. Two of the three fastest tempos will meet on Saturday with NU and Michigan State (41st).

SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE

Under Hall of Fame Coach Tom Izzo, the Spartans have been the flagship program in the Big Ten over the last two-plus decades. The Spartans have made eight Final Fours in the last 22 seasons and were 22-9 before last season was ended by the COVID-19 pandemic.  MSU was playing its best basketball when the season ended, closing Big Ten play with five straight wins to share the regular-season crown with Wisconsin and Maryland at 14-6. 

MSU won its first six games this season, including a 75-69 win at Duke and 10-point win over Notre Dame, before a slow start in Big Ten play. MSU, which opened with three of its first four on the road, opened Big Ten action with a loss at Northwestern before setbacks against nationally ranked Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The Spartans average 78.4 points per game and is second in the conference in assists (21.1), but is shooting just 44 percent as a team. MSU lost a pair of draftees

from last season, including Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman Sr., but return the bulk of the lineup from last year. 

Junior transfer Joey Hauser has been an impact performer in his first season as a Spartan, leading MSU in both scoring (13.1 ppg) and rebounding (8.1 rpg) while shooting 51 percent from the floor and 39 percent from 3-point range. Aaron Henry averages 11.9 ppg and a team-high 4.4 assists per game, as MSU has seven players averaging at least 6.6 points per game. 

Series History: Michigan State leads the all-time series, 18-9, in a series that dates back to February of 1920. The Huskers are 3-10 against Michigan State since joining the Big Ten, while the Spartans have won the last six meetings. Since joining the Big Ten, NU has faced a ranked Spartan team in 10 of the 14 meetings including Saturday’s contest. MSU’s 70-64 win in 2019 ended the Huskers’ 20-game home win streak, while NU’s win in East Lansing in 2014 was the Huskers’ last top-10 road win. 

Last Meeting: Dachon Burke Jr. had 18 of his 21 points in the first half, but Nebraska was unable to slow down Michigan State in an 86-65 loss at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Feb. 20, 2020.

Nebraska trailed just 39-36 at the break, but shot just 28 percent in the second half, while the Spartans shot 61 percent after the break to pull away in the final 20 minutes.

Burke finished the night with 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range. Haanif Cheatam (14 points and five steals) and Yvan Ouedrago (10 points and seven rebounds) joined Burke in double figures. 

Nebraska was within 48-46 before Aaron Henry keyed a 11-1 Spartan surge, scoring six of his 13 points to help MSU take a 59-47 lead. The Huskers chipped away and got within 61-54 after a Jervay Green 3-pointer with 8:54 left, but could get no closer as Michigan State ran off nine straight points to push the lead back to 16.

LAST TIME OUT

Nebraska could not overcome a cold-shooting night, as the Huskers fell at No. 25 Ohio State, 90-54, in Columbus on Dec. 30. 

The Huskers (4-6, 0-3 Big Ten) shot just 28.3 percent on the night, including 24.3 percent in the first half, as Ohio State built a 38-21 halftime lead. 

Nebraska took an early lead and was tied at 13 after a Teddy Allen 3-pointer with 13:15 left in the half, but the Huskers had just one field goal the remainder of the half. Despite the cold spell, NU was within 33-21 after Trey McGowens’ 3-pointer with 2:59 left in the half, but the Buckeyes scored the final five points to push the lead to 17. 

The Huskers pulled to within 14 on a McGowens 3-point play on the Huskers’ first second-half possession, but OSU put the game out of reach with a 12-2 spurt and cruised to the win. 

Allen was the only Husker to finish in double figures, finishing with 13 points. Justin Ahrens led five Ohio State (8-2, 2-2 Big Ten) players in double figures with 18 points, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range while Zed Key added 14 points for OSU, which shot 49 percent from the field and hit 12 3-pointers.

STORYLINES

• Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg will see a familiar face on the opposite sideline on Saturday, as his son Jack is a junior guard at Michigan State. Jack, the second oldest of Hoiberg’s four kids, has played in six games this season and was put on scholarship for the 2020-21 campaign.

• NU will look to snap a 12-game losing streak against ranked opponents which began with a 66-62 loss to Wisconsin in the 2019 Big Ten Tournament. NU’s last win over a ranked team was a 69-61 win over No. 21 Maryland in the second round of the 2019 Big Ten Tournament. 

• Saturday’s game with No. 17 Michigan State ends a six-game stretch where NU faced five ranked teams. The stretch began at No. 8 Creighton (Jan. 11) and has included NU’s first four conference games.

• The Big Ten has a record nine teams ranked in this week’s poll, breaking the old mark of eight set on March 2, 2020. It is the most by any conference since the old Big East had nine teams on March 7, 2011.

• A pair of Huskers are closing in on milestone numbers this weekend. Kobe Webster needs three points to reach 1,500 career points, while Trevor Lakes is one point away from 1,000 career points.

• The break after the Creighton game allowed the Huskers an opportunity to work on cutting down turnovers. After a solid start the first three games, the Huskers averaged nearly 19 turnovers per game, including 25 at Creighton. Over the last four games, NU has cut down its turnovers, averaging 10.0 per game in that span. On the year, NU is currently averaging 12.5 turnovers per game after averaging 11.9 in 2019-20.

• Junior college transfer Teddy Allen is one of five newcomers among power conference players averaging at least 17.0 points per game this season.  Cameron Thomas (LSU), Cade Cunningham (Oklahoma State) and Eugene Omoruyi (Oregon) are the only newcomers on power conference teams averaging more than Allen as of Jan. 1.

• Nebraska enters the weekend ranked sixth in the Big Ten and 77th nationally with 8.6 3-pointers per game. It is not surprising that Nebraska 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 averaged 7.9 3-pointers per game last season, marking NU’s highest per game total since the 2001-02 season. 

 

• The Huskers added some much-needed depth in mid December, as Trevor Lakes and Eduardo Andre made their Husker debuts against Doane on Dec. 17. Andre, a 6-foot-10, 228-pound forward, is averaging 3.8 points and 1.8 rebounds per game while serving as a backup in the frontcourt. Lakes, a 6-foot-7 forward who was cleared by the NCAA on Dec. 17, us averaging 5.0 points and 3.0 rebounds per game while shooting 46 percent from 3-point range.  

• Nebraska has two 100-point games this season following the Dec. 17 win over Doane. It marks the 10th time in school history that Nebraska had multiple 100-point games in a season and the first since 1995-96. Nebraska is now 39-4 all-time when scoring 100+ points. 

• Nebraska has shown the ability to get off to fast starts in 2020-21. NU has outscored its nine opponents by a combined score of 79-46 prior to the first media timeout and has led or tied heading into the first media break in eight of the nine games. The only two times NU has trailed at the first media timeout were one-point deficits to South Dakota and at Creighton.

NEWCOMERS MAKING AN IMPACT

Nebraska added an influx of veterans in 2020-21, gaining the services of seven scholarship players with previous Division I experience as well as Division II transfer Trevor Lakes, who became eligible on Dec. 17. 

The group combined for nearly 4,000 points along with over 1,300 rebounds and 600 assists in their collegiate careers before joining the Husker program and includes multi-year starters Kobe Webster (Western Illinois), Trey McGowens (Pittsburgh) and Trevor Lakes (Indianapolis).  The Huskers also gain the services of three players (Dalano Banton, Shamiel Stevenson and Derrick Walker) who had to sit out the 2019-20 campaign after transferring to Nebraska.

• Nebraska’s top six scorers are all newcomers, including three double-figure scorers. In all, 89 percent of the Huskers’ offense and 77 percent of its rebounds has come from players who did not play at Nebraska in 2019-20.

• Teddy Allen leads all Big Ten newcomers in scoring and steals heading into the Michigan State game, while Dalano Banton is second among all conference newcomers in assists and third in both rebounds and steals.  

• In all, 35 of Nebraska’s 36 double-figure efforts this season have been by players in their first season of competition at NU. Yvan Ouedraogo’s double-double against Doane is the Huskers’ only double-figure scoring effort by a returnee in 2020-21.

• Nebraska will add additional size and experience next week when junior forward Derrick Walker becomes eligible. Saturday’s game against Michigan State is Walker’s final game of his 11-game suspension from a violation of NCAA rules that occurred while Walker was a member of the Tennessee basketball program in 2018-19.

BANTON POSTS TRIPLE-DOUBLE

 Prior to Fred Hoiberg taking over the Nebraska basketball program, Nebraska never had a triple-double in a regular-season game and now have had one in each of the past two seasons following Dalano Banton’s triple-double against Doane on Dec. 17. In fact, the only two triple doubles in the Big Ten have been by Huskers. Hoiberg has had three players on the college level post a triple double, as Royce White of Iowa State had one in 2012 (10 points, 18 rebounds, 10 assists). 

Nebraska Triple-Doubles Under Hoiberg

A UNIQUE POINT GUARD
It is not often that you a see a point guard handling jump ball duties, but Dalano Banton is not your typical point guard, and NU coach Fred Hoiberg is finding ways to incorporate Banton’s unique skills.  

The 6-foot-9 sophomore provides a unique focal point to the Huskers’ attack and is averaging 13.4 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. He comes into the Michigan State game ranking among the Big Ten leaders in assists (sixth), steals (eighth), rebounding (eighth) and assist-to-turnover ratio (12th). 

A former top-100 recruit, Banton has reached double figures in nine of his 10 outings, including a 15-point, eight-rebound four-assist performance against No. 9 Wisconsin on Dec. 22 and a 17-point effort against No. 19 Michigan on Dec. 25. 

• Banton is one of four power conference players who rank in the top 10 of their respective conferences in both rebounding and assists as of Dec. 30.

• He is one of three players nationally and the only power conference player with a triple double this season. Banton posted his first career triple double with 13

points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists against Doane on Dec. 17. In addition, he nearly posted another triple double against North Dakota State on Nov. 18 with 12 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. 

• Banton is one of only five players nationally averaging at least 13 points, seven rebounds and 4.5 assists per game as of Dec. 30. Two of the five are in the Big Ten with Banton and Illinois’ Ayo Dosunmu.

STEALS = BASKETS

Nebraska’s length on the defensive end has been disruptive during the early portion of the campaign. The Huskers enter the Michigan State contest ranked 62nd nationally with 8.2 steals per game, a total which is second in the Big Ten.

• Teddy Allen (2.0 spg, second), Dalano Banton (1.5 spg, eighth) and Trey McGowens (1.3 spg, 10th) rank among the Big Ten leaders in steals.

• Nebraska had 10+ steals in each of its first three games, marking the first time since the 2016-17 season and just the second time since 2010.

• Allen is the only power conference player and one of 16 players nationally with multiple five-steal games as of Dec. 30. The only other Husker to have multiple five-steal games in a season in the last decade is Glynn Watson Jr., who had three during the 2016-17 campaign.

• Nebraska will look to finish among the top three teams in the Big Ten in steals for the third straight year (2019-20 -7.0, second; 2018-19 (7.2, third).

TEDDY BUCKETS

Junior college transfer Teddy Allen has lived up to his billing as an elite scorer in his first season at Nebraska. The 6-foot-6 junior guard leads Nebraska and ranks sixth in the Big Ten in scoring at 17.7 points per game while also chipping in 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game.  

• Allen, who leads all Big Ten newcomers in scoring and steals, is the only newcomer listed in the top 10 of the Big Ten in scoring as of Dec. 30. 

• He is one of eight players nationally – and the only power conference player – averaging at least 17.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game.

• Allen has a team-high four 20 efforts and is one of six Big Ten players with at least four 20-point games this season.

Allen, who averaged 31.4 points per game at Western Nebraska Community College last season, has reached double figures in all 10 games, including a 25-point effort against No. 19 Michigan on Christmas.  He enjoyed his best performance of the season at No. 8 Creighton on Dec. 11, when he totaled D-1 career highs with 26 points and nine rebounds. He also posted 20-point games against North Dakota State (22) and South Dakota (23). Allen has seven career 20-point games, including three during his freshman season at West Virginia in 2017-18.