Huskers Take on No. 10 Michigan

No. 6 Seed Nebraska Cornhuskers (23-7, 11-7 Big Ten)

vs. No. 3 Seed Michigan Wolverines (22-5, 13-4 Big Ten)

Friday, March 4, 2022 (approx. 7:30 p.m.)

Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament

Gainbridge Fieldhouse – Indianapolis, Ind.

Live Television: BTN (Sloane Martin, Christy Winters Scott)
Live Radio: Huskers Radio Network (7 p.m.)
Matt Coatney (PBP), Jeff Griesch (Analyst)

Lincoln (107.3 FM & 1400 AM), Omaha (ESPN 590 AM), Huskers.com, Huskers App

Huskers Tangle with Top 10 Wolverines Tonight 

The No. 6 seed Nebraska women’s basketball team will shoot for its third win over a top-10 team this season when the Huskers battle AP No. 10 and No. 3 seed Michigan in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Tip time for Nebraska’s game Friday will be approximately 7:30 p.m., or 25 minutes after the completion of the first game of Session 5 between No. 7 Northwestern and No. 2 Iowa, which begins at 5:30 p.m. (CT).

All games from the first round through the semifinals will be televised live by the Big Ten Network, with Sloane Martin and Christy Winters Scott on the call in the evening session games. Meghan McKeown will provide sideline coverage for the first 12 games of the tournament, before coverage switches to ESPN2 for the Big Ten Championship Game on Sunday at 4 p.m.

Matt Coatney and Jeff Griesch will call the action on the Huskers Radio Network (B107.3 FM/1400 AM in Lincoln, along with 590 AM in Omaha), the Huskers App and Huskers.com.

The Huskers (23-7, 11-7 Big Ten) will face the Wolverines (22-5, 13-4) following Nebraska’s 92-74 run past Illinois in Thursday’s second round. Jaz Shelley tied a career high with 32 points while setting the Nebraska record with nine three-pointers. Her 9-of-13 effort from behind the arc also tied the overall Big Ten Tournament record.

Big Ten Freshman of the Year Alexis Markowski added 22 points, nine rebounds and a career-high three blocks. The 6-3 Markowski hit a trio of first-half threes to help Nebraska set the Big Ten record with 15 three-pointers as a team against the Illini.

The Huskers, who are 10-3 since resuming competition after a COVID pause (Jan. 17-26), have won six of their last seven games – all by double digits, including a 72-55 win over AP No. 5 Indiana. 

Nebraska notched its first win of the season over an AP Top 10 opponent with a 79-58 victory over then-No. 8 Michigan in Lincoln (Jan. 4). Markowski made her first career start in that game in place of an injured Bella Cravens. Ruby Porter also did not play in that game for Nebraska because of illness. Michigan’s Laila Phelia did not play in the first meeting between the two teams.

No. 6 Nebraska Cornhuskers (23-7, 11-7 Big Ten)

34 – Isabelle Bourne – 6-2 – So. – F – 11.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg

40 – Alexis Markowski – 6-3 – Fr. – F/C – 13.3 ppg, 7.9 rpg

1 – Jaz Shelley – 5-9 – So. – G – 13.1 ppg, 6.8 rpg

3 – Allison Weidner – 5-10 – Fr. – G – 7.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg

4 – Sam Haiby – 5-9 – Jr. – G – 10.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg

Off the Bench

14 – Bella Cravens – 6-3 – Jr. – F – 6.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg

21 – Annika Stewart – 6-3 – Fr. – F – 5.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg

32 – Kendall Coley – 6-2 – Fr. – F/G – 2.4 ppg, 1.7 rpg

5 – MiCole Cayton – 5-9 – Gr. – G – 2.2 ppg, 1.1 rpg

11 – Ruby Porter – 5-10 – Fr. – G – 2.1 ppg, 0.9 rpg

10 – Whitney Brown – 5-8 – Fr. – G – 1.7 ppg, 0.7 rpg

15 – Kendall Moriarty – 6-1 – Fr. – G – 1.6 ppg, 0.4 rpg

Head Coach: Amy Williams (Nebraska, 1998)

Sixth Season at Nebraska (95-82); 15th Season Overall (288-191)

No. 3 Michigan Wolverines [10/9] (22-5, 13-4 Big Ten)

00 – Naz Hillmon – 6-2 – Sr. – F – 21.1 ppg, 9.3 rpg

33 – Emily Kiser – 6-3 – Sr. – F – 9.7 ppg, 8.2 rpg

3 – Maddie Nolan – 5-11 – Jr. – G – 9.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg

23 – Danielle Rauch – 5-8 – Sr. – G – 6.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg

32 – Leigha Brown – 6-1 – Sr. – G – 14.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg

Off the Bench

5 – Laila Phelia – 6-0 – Fr. – G – 8.5 ppg, 2.9 rpg

1 – Amy Dilk – 6-0 – Sr. – G – 2.9 ppg, 1.7 rpg

44 – Cameron Williams – 6-3 – So. – F – 2.9 ppg, 1.5 rpg

34 – Izabel Varejao – 6-4 – Jr. – C – 2.4 ppg, 0.9 rpg

24 – Michelle Sidor – 5-9 – Jr. – G – 1.4 ppg, 0.8 rpg

10 – Jordan Hobbs – 6-3 – Fr. – G – 1.2 ppg, 0.3 rpg

30 – Elise Stuck – 6-1 – So. – G/F – 1.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg

25- Whitney Sollom – 6-4 – So. – F – 1.0 ppg, 0.7 rpg

12 – Ari Wiggins – 5-8 – Fr. – G – 0.6 ppg, 0.8 rpg

Head Coach: Kim Barnes Arico (Montclair State, 1993)

10th Season at Michigan (215-107); 26th Season Overall (485-313)

Nebraska Numbers to Watch

• Nebraska’s two wins over top-10 opponents represent the second time in school history the Huskers have posted multiple wins over top-10 teams in the same season, joining the 2009-10 campaign when NU recorded three top-10 victories.

• Through games March 3, the Huskers ranked among the top 25 teams nationally in 14 statistical categories, including assists (5th, 535), total rebounds (6th, 1,283), scoring offense (9th, 79.0), assists per game (9th, 17.8 apg), assist-to-turnover ratio (13th, 1.26), three-point field goals made (13th, 259), rebounds per game (15th, 42.8 rpg), scoring margin (16th, +15.8 ppg), defensive rebounds per game (18th, 29.3 rpg), three-point field goal percentage (18th, .362, three-point field goals made per game (19th, 8.6 pg), three-point field goal attempts (22nd, 716), rebound margin (23rd, +7.6 rpg) and field goal percentage (24th, .460)

• Nebraska leads the Big Ten in scoring margin (+15.8 ppg), total rebounds (42.8 rpg), field goal percentage defense (.376) and three-point field goals made per game (8.6).

• Nebraska ranks ninth nationally in scoring offense with 79.0 points per game. The only time in the last 25 years NU has averaged more than 75 points per game in a season came in 2009-10 (77.4 ppg). That Husker team went unbeaten in the regular season, won the Big 12 regular-season title and advanced to Nebraska’s first NCAA Sweet Sixteen as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.    

• Sophomore point guard Jaz Shelley has pulled down 196 total rebounds in 881 minutes this season. In two seasons (971 minutes) at Oregon (2019-20, 2020-21), the 5-9 Shelley totaled 70 rebounds.

• Shelley needs four rebounds to become the first Nebraska guard to get 200 total rebounds since Brandi Jeffery (209, 2014-15). The only other Husker guard to pull down 200 boards since the turn of the century was Keasha Cannon-Johnson (227, 2001-02; 251, 2003-04).

• Jaz Shelley leads Nebraska with 30 blocked shots in 29 games. She had six blocks in 55 games over two seasons at Oregon.

• In 30 games in 2021-22, Nebraska owns 216 steals. The last time NU had 200 steals in a season came with 221 in 2018-19. Last season, the Huskers had just 120 steals in 26 games.

• Nebraska’s minus-21 foul disparity (28-7) at Iowa (Jan. 16) marked the largest foul differential in program history (by NU or opponent) in 1,458 games over 48 seasons. It marked the first time in history that a Husker team held a negative foul differential of greater than 17. In NU’s other 29 games this season, the Huskers own a positive foul differential of +1.7.

• Nebraska has hit 259 threes this season – the most in school history surpassing the 250 made threes in 2017-18 when the Huskers earned their last NCAA Tournament bid.

Scouting the Michigan Wolverines

• No. 3 seed Michigan enters the Big Ten Tournament ranked No. 10 by the Associated Press, No. 9 by the coaches and No. 14 in the NET. 

• The Wolverines were 12-1 and 3-0 in the Big Ten when they traveled to Lincoln and suffered a 79-58 loss to the Huskers on Jan. 4. After the loss to the Big Red, Michigan reeled off eight straight wins to improve to 20-2 and 11-1 in the Big Ten, closing the stretch with wins over conference co-champions Ohio State and Iowa sandwiched around a win over Indiana.

• However, Michigan closed the regular season 2-3 in its last five games with losses to Northwestern, Iowa and Michigan State, while also beating the Spartans and top-15 Maryland. 

• First-team All-Big Ten forward Naz Hillmon leads Michigan in scoring (21.1 ppg) and rebounding (9.2 rpg). The 6-2 forward has hit 57.3 percent of her shots from the field and 74.2 percent of her free throws. Hillmon had 10 points and seven rebounds in the regular-season loss to the Huskers.

• Leigha Brown has added 14.5 points and 3.3 rebounds on the season but has battled injury late in the year, missing five straight games before returning to play 13 minutes and score nine points in the regular-season finale at Iowa. Brown had 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals in 37 minutes in the loss to Nebraska in Lincoln.

• Senior forward Emily Kiser has been a reliable scorer (9.7 ppg) and rebounder (8.2 rpg) while starting all 27 games this season alongside 5-8 senior guard Danielle Rauch (6.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg).          

• Third-year guard Maddie Nolan has made 23 starts and is averaging 9.4 points and 4.3 rebounds, while knocking down a team-best 60 three-pointers (.441).

• Freshman Laila Phelia, who was the USBWA National Freshman of the Week following her 12-point, five-rebound performance in Michigan’s overtime win over Baylor, has started late in the season in place of Brown and is averaging 8.5 points and 2.9 rebounds on the season.

• Michigan also gets regular contributions from Cameron Williams (2.9 ppg, 1.5 rpg), Izabel Varejao (2.4 ppg, 0.9 rpg) and past All-Big Ten guard Amy Dilk (2.9 ppg, 1.7 rpg), who has been limited throughout the season after suffering an injury in the first game of the season.

• Coach Kim Barnes Arico is in her 10th season leading Michigan and her 26th year as a head coach. The Wolverines finished 16-6 and 9-4 in the Big Ten last year while advancing to their first-ever NCAA Sweet Sixteen, before losing to No. 5 Baylor, 78-75 in overtime in San Antonio.

• Michigan is averaging 73.1 points and hitting 45.4 percent of its field goal attempts, including 32.1 percent of its threes, while making just 4.9 threes per game. The Wolverines own a Big Ten-best plus-10.5 (40.6-30.1) team rebounding margin but a minus-0.3 turnover margin. Michigan is surrendering just 61.4 points per game while holding opponents to 38.8 percent shooting.

Nebraska vs. Michigan Series History

• Nebraska owns a 15-7 edge in the all-time series with Michigan, including a 79-58 run past the Wolverines in Lincoln (Jan. 4).

• In her first career start in place of an injured Bella Cravens, Big Ten Freshman of the Year Alexis Markowski put up 20 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Jaz Shelley added a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. The Huskers hit 8-of-20 threes while holding the Wolverines to 1-of-12 from long range in NU’s largest victory margin ever over a top-10 team.

• Prior to Nebraska’s win in January, each of the last four games in the series had been decided by six points or less. NU is 8-3 all-time against Michigan in Lincoln. The Huskers are

• The series has been evenly matched as Big Ten foes, with Nebraska owning a 9-7 edge since joining the conference in 2011-12. 

• Nebraska was 6-0 against Michigan as non-conference foes dating back to the first meeting between the two teams on Nov. 28, 1980 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln. The Huskers won 118-92 in the highest scoring game in Nebraska women’s basketball history.