Huskers Tip New Year at No. 4 Indiana

Nebraska Cornhuskers (10-4, 2-1 Big Ten)

at 4/3 Indiana Hoosiers (12-1, 2-1 Big Ten)

Sunday, January 1, 2023, Noon (CT)

Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall – Bloomington, Indiana

Live TV: ESPN
Courtney Lyle (PBP), Carolyn Peck (Analyst)
Live Radio: Huskers Radio Network (11:45 a.m.)
Matt Coatney (PBP), Jeff Griesch (Analyst)
Lincoln (107.3 FM/1400 AM), Omaha (590 AM), Huskers.com, Huskers App

Huskers Tip Off New Year 2023 at No. 4 Indiana

The Nebraska women’s basketball team returns to Big Ten road action for its third straight game against a top-20 foe when the Huskers take on No. 4 Indiana New Year’s Day in Bloomington.

Tip-off between Nebraska (10-4, 2-1 Big Ten) and the Hoosiers (12-1, 2-1 Big Ten) is set for noon (CT) at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Live television coverage will be provided by ESPN with Courtney Lyle and Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Carolyn Peck on the call. The game also can be heard across the Huskers Radio Network with Matt Coatney and Jeff Griesch on 107.3 FM and 1400 AM in Lincoln, 590 AM in Omaha, the Huskers App and Huskers.com.

Both the Huskers and Hoosiers are battling for position near the top of the Big Ten standings, but both are coming off mid-week losses. Nebraska dropped a 76-59 decision to No. 14 Michigan Wednesday in Lincoln, while Indiana had its 12-game season-opening winning streak snapped with an 83-78 upset at the hands of Michigan State in East Lansing on Thursday.

Jaz Shelley, who is averaging a Big Ten-best 27.0 points per game through three conference games, led the Big Red with 21 points and five assists against Michigan. Shelley has scored 20 or more points in each of NU’s first three league contests, including 31 in a win over Wisconsin (Dec. 7). She had 29 in Nebraska’s road upset at No. 20 Maryland (Dec. 4).

Shelley, a 5-9 guard from Moe, Australia, also leads the Big Ten in conference games with 15 total three-pointers and 5.0 made threes per game. 

Over the last eight games, Shelley is averaging 20.6 points and 5.6 assists while hitting better than 50 percent of her field goal attempts, including 51.8 percent (29-56) of her three-point tries. Shelley leads Nebraska in scoring (15.9 ppg), assists (6.4 apg) and steals (1.4 spg) on the season.

Preseason All-Big Ten center and 2022 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Alexis Markowski leads the conference in rebounding (9.6 rpg) through 14 games. She also ranks second among the Huskers in scoring (13.0 ppg), while leading the team in blocks (1.1 bpg) and ranking second in steals (1.2 spg). The 6-3 center from Lincoln, Neb., owns six double-doubles on the season.

Nebraska Head Coach Amy Williams will take aim at her 300th career win in Sunday’s game at Indiana.

Scouting the No. 4/3 Indiana Hoosiers

No. 4 Indiana heads into Sunday’s game at 12-1 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten after suffering its first loss of the season at Michigan State (83-78) on Thursday in East Lansing. All-Big Ten forward Mackenzie Holmes led the Hoosiers with 32 points and 12 rebounds.

Holmes, a 6-3 senior on the Lisa Leslie Award Watch List, is averaging team bests of 20.8 points and 7.5 rebounds. Holmes is hitting 69.1 percent of her field goals. In her only previous career start against Nebraska in 2020-21, Holmes had 16 points and five rebounds. She averaged 9.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in two games against the Huskers off the bench in 2019-20.

The Hoosiers have missed All-American Grace Berger the past seven games. The 6-0 graduate guard averaged 10.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists in the first six contests in a point guard role for IU this year. She has missed the past seven games with injury.

Last season, Holmes did not play in either No. 6 Indiana’s 72-65 win over the Huskers in Bloomington (Jan. 13, 2022) or in Nebraska’s 72-55 victory over No. 5 Indiana in Lincoln (Feb. 14, 2022). Berger led Indiana in both games against NU, scoring 22 points and grabbing seven rebounds in the home win and managing 20 points and three boards in the road loss to the Huskers.

With the injuries to Berger and former starter Kiandra Browne, and the losses of Nicole Cardano-Hillary, Ali Patberg and Aleksa Gulbe to graduation, Indiana’s starting five is expected to feature five new faces from last year’s matchups with Nebraska.

However, senior guard Sara Scalia is more than familiar with starting against the Huskers. She owns six career starts as a Minnesota Golden Gopher against Nebraska, averaging 15.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.0 steal against the Big Red. Last season as a Gopher, she averaged 21.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in a pair of losses to the Huskers. Scalia is averaging 11.1 points and 3.5 rebounds this season for Indiana.

Another transfer guard, Sydney Parrish, has averaged 12.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and a team-best 1.9 steals in her first season as a Hoosier. Parrish, a 6-2 junior guard from Fishers, Ind., was a teammate of Nebraska guard Jaz Shelley at Oregon in 2020-21. Parrish averaged 6.0 points and 2.7 rebounds in each of her two seasons in Eugene. She was the 2020 Indiana Miss Basketball and a McDonald’s All-American at Hamilton Southeastern High School.

Freshman Yarden Garzon has played a major role in Indiana’s successful start. The 6-3 guard from Ra’anana, Israel is averaging 12.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists. She is also shooting a blistering 51.7 percent (31-60) from three-point range.

Chloe Moore-McNeil, a 5-11 junior guard, has moved into the starting five for Indiana after performing well as the primary Hoosier off the bench last season. Moore-McNeil is averaging 9.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and a team-best 6.2 assists. McNeil (.368), joins Parrish (.357), Scalia (.316) and Garzon (.517) in giving the Hoosiers four dangers three-point shooters around the dominant inside presence of Holmes.

Moore-McNeil averaged 7.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 2.5 steals in 27.5 minutes per game off the bench in two games against Nebraska last season.

Indiana owns solid wins this season over North Carolina (87-63) and Tennessee (79-67) and opened Big Ten play with wins over Illinois (65-61) and Penn State (67-58).

The Hoosiers are averaging an impressive 82.5 points per game while shooting a glossy 51.5 percent from the field, 36.1 percent from three-point range and 75.5 percent from the free throw line on the year. However, those numbers have dipped to 70 points per game and just 29.5 percent from three-point range over three Big Ten games. However, IU has still made 50.6 percent of its shots overall and 76.3 percent of its free throws in league play. Indiana owns a minus-0.7 rebound margin and a minus-2.7 turnover margin in Big Ten play.

Nebraska vs. Indiana Series History

Indiana leads the all-time series with Nebraska, 10-6, but the Huskers knocked off No. 5 Indiana 72-55 at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln (Feb. 14, 2022) in the last meeting between the two schools

Nebraska’s win, which featured five Huskers in double figures led by 14 points apiece from Jaz Shelley and Sam Haiby, snapped a six-game winning streak for the Hoosiers in the series with Nebraska. Alexis Markowski added a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds, while Isabelle Bourne pitched in 10 points. Allison Weidner contributed 11 points off the bench in her last game as a non-starter for the Huskers.

Nebraska went 7-for-15 from three-point range in last year’s win over the Hoosiers, while Indiana hit just 2-of-23 three-point attempts at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

In Indiana’s 72-65 win over the Huskers in Bloomington last season (Jan. 13, 2022), Alexis Markowski led the Huskers with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Shelley contributed 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds. 

Nebraska trailed by 17 points in the third quarter last season in Bloomington, before rallying to cut the deficit to 68-65 with 24 seconds left. Markowski had 11 points for the Huskers in the fourth.

Sunday’s game marks the fifth consecutive time that Nebraska has faced a top-25 Hoosier team.

 Nebraska is 2-6 all time in Bloomington, including five consecutive road losses in the series. NU’s last win at Assembly Hall came on Feb. 21, 2015 (67-64). Three of the five losses have been by single digits.

The series is tied 4-4 in Lincoln and the two teams have never met on a neutral court.

A total of 14 of 16 meetings in the series have been as Big Ten foes, beginning with a 62-48 Husker win in Lincoln (Jan. 5, 2012). Nebraska won the first four meetings as conference opponents, including a 67-38 win in Bloomington on Jan. 10, 2013 – NU’s fewest points ever allowed to a Big Ten foe in a conference game.

Shelley On Top of Big Ten Stats

Jaz Shelley leads the Big Ten in scoring (27.0 ppg) and three-pointers (15) through three games.

Shelley opened Big Ten play with 29 points on 6-of-10 three-point shooting in Nebraska’s historic 90-67 upset of No. 20 Maryland in College Park (Dec. 4).

The 5-9 shooting guard from Moe, Australia added 31 points on 7-of-12 three-point shooting in Nebraska’s 82-54 home win over Wisconsin (Dec. 7).

She added 21 points, including a pair of threes, against No. 14 Michigan.

Through three conference games, Shelley is averaging 27.0 points per game while Iowa’s Caitlin Clark ranks second in the league at 26.0 points per contest.

Only four Big Ten players have hit double-digit threes through the first three conference games this season – Shelley (15), Taylor Mikesell (Ohio State, 11), Caitlin Clark (Iowa, 10) and Makira Cook (Illinois, 10).

Shelley was a member of the Big Ten Weekly Honor Roll twice in December (Dec. 12, Dec. 27) for her outstanding play during the previous weeks.

Williams Shoots for 300th Career Win

Amy Williams takes aim at career head coaching victory No. 300 when the Huskers take on Indiana Sunday in Bloomington. She enters the contest against the Hoosiers with 299 wins (106-Nebraska; 96-South Dakota; 97-Rogers State).

Williams already has collected a pair of century club victories this season. She notched her 200th career NCAA Division I victory against Samford (Dec. 10). The milestone win followed closely behind claiming her 100th victory as Nebraska’s head coach with a 73-44 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the Puerto Rico Clasico (Nov. 25).

Sophomore Starter Weidner Out for Season

Allison Weidner will miss the rest of her second season as a Husker after suffering a leg injury early in the fourth quarter of Nebraska’s triple-overtime victory over Kansas (Dec. 21). 

The 5-10 guard from Humphrey, Neb., averaged 10.2 points and 6.2 rebounds through 13 games as a starter for the Huskers to open the season.

Weidner had started 21 consecutive games before missing the first game of her career in the loss to No. 14 Michigan (Dec. 28).

She had produced four straight games in double figures before having her night cut short by injury against Kansas. That stretch began with 13 points and a career-high 15 rebounds to go along with five assists in Nebraska’s first-ever win at No. 20 Maryland (Dec. 4). She added 13 points and a season-high seven assists in NU’s win over Wisconsin (Dec. 7) to improve to 2-0 in Big Ten play. She added the second double-double of her career with 15 points and 11 rebounds in a win over Samford (Dec. 10), before going for 13 points and seven boards in a win over Wyoming (Dec. 18).

Husker Numbers to Watch

Nebraska’s Amy Williams is one win away from the 300th of her collegiate head coaching career, including 97 victories at Rogers State (NAIA, 2007-12), 96 at South Dakota (2013-16) and 106 at Nebraska (2016-present).

Alexis Markowski is tied with her father Andy’s Nebraska career total of 603 points. Andy was a four-year contributor and two-year starter for the Husker men’s basketball team from 1995-96 through 1998-99. Andy finished with 568 rebounds. Alexis achieved her 600th point and 400th career rebound against Michigan (Dec. 28).

Kendall Moriarty has already surpassed her season point total (58-45) from a year ago while tripling her three-point total (9-3) and more than doubling her season rebound total (32-12). She also has tripled her steals total (9-3), more than quadrupled her made free throws (9-2) and matched her season block total (3) from a year ago.

Isabelle Bourne is 33 points away from 1,000 in her career. She is four games away from her 100th career game as a Husker. Her older sister, Callie, recently reached the 1,000-point mark in her fifth season at Idaho State, achieving the milestone at San Diego (Nov. 25) in career game No. 118.

Jaz Shelley is 11 three-pointers away from 129 in her Husker career, which would move her into the top 10 on Nebraska’s career three-point list. Shelley has 118 made threes in just 46 games (2.6 pg) as a Husker. The only player in NU’s top 10 to hit threes at a faster clip in her career is Natalie Romeo, who connected on 155 threes in 55 games (2.8 pg) as a Husker (2014-15, 2015-16). Amy Stephens, one of the greatest shooters and scorers in Nebraska history, hit 129 threes in 57 games (2.3 pg) in the first two seasons of the three-point shot in women’s college basketball (1987-88, 1988-89). Nebraska’s all-time three-point leader, All-American and 2014 Big Ten Player of the Year Jordan Hooper, hit 295 threes in 131 career games (2.3 pg).

Jaz Shelley is 63 points away from 1,000 in her college career (641-Nebraska; 296-Oregon).