Huskers Tip Season with ORU Friday

Nebraska Cornhuskers (0-0) 

vs. Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (0-2)

Friday, Dec. 4, 2020, 6 p.m. (CT)

Pinnacle Bank Arena (15,000) – Lincoln, Neb.
Live Video: B1G Network+
Live Radio: Husker Sports Network (5:45 p.m.)
Matt Coatney (PBP), Jeff Griesch (Analyst)
Lincoln (B107.3 FM/1400 AM); Omaha (ESPN 590 AM); Huskers.com, Huskers App, TuneIn

Huskers Tip Season against Oral Roberts Friday

The Nebraska women’s basketball team opens its 2020-21 season by taking on Oral Roberts on Friday at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Tip-off against the Golden Eagles (0-2) is set for 6 p.m. (CT).

Due to Big Ten Conference policies and local directed health measures, no fans will be permitted inside Pinnacle Bank Arena. A live video stream will be available to subscribers of B1G Network+ with free live radio available on the Husker Sports Network with Matt Coatney and Jeff Griesch on the call.

Nebraska is coming off a 17-13 season that would have culminated with a trip to the Postseason WNIT in 2020, but the worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic ended the college basketball season before postseason play could begin.

Nebraska’s 12-player roster features plenty of new faces in 2020-21, with seven newcomers including four transfers and three true freshmen for fifth-year Coach Amy Williams.

While a majority of Nebraska’s roster is new to the program, Oral Roberts has experienced an even more massive overhaul with 12 newcomers on the Golden Eagle 16-player roster.

Last season, Nebraska defeated Oral Roberts 77-67 at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Dec. 14 to improve to 9-1 on the year. The Huskers are 7-0 all-time against ORU with all seven meetings in Lincoln.

Sam Haiby led the Huskers against the Golden Eagles, putting up 20 points, five rebounds and four steals. The junior from Moorhead, Minn., is Nebraska’s top returning scorer from a year ago when she averaged 10.0 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.5 steals.

Kate Cain added 15 points and game highs with eight rebounds and four blocked shots in the victory. The three-time Lisa Leslie Award candidate earned honorable-mention All-Big Ten accolades after averaging 9.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and a Big Ten-best 3.4 blocks per game. The 6-5 senior center who earned her bachelor’s degree in management from Nebraska in May, is Nebraska’s career leader in blocks with 280 after setting the school season record with 101 rejections in 2019-20. Cain is a two-time Big Ten All-Defensive selection.   

Oral Roberts, which finished 2019-20 with a 15-16 overall record that included a 9-7 mark to tie for third in the Summit League, opened its 2020-21 campaign last weekend with a pair of road losses at No. 14 Arkansas and Oklahoma State.

Scouting Oral Roberts 

• Oral Roberts brings an 0-2 record to Lincoln for Friday night’s game against Nebraska. The Golden Eagles opened with a 96-49 loss at No. 14 Arkansas (Wednesday, Nov. 26), before suffering a 73-54 setback at Oklahoma State on Sunday (Nov. 29).

• Head Coach Misti Cussen is in her ninth season at the helm for the Golden Eagles and holds a 124-124 overall head coaching record. After going 15-16 overall and 9-7 in the Summit League last season, ORU was picked to finish fourth in the Summit League Preseason Poll.

• In the season-opening loss to the Razorbacks, ORU lost senior starting guard Keni Jo Lippe in the game’s second minute to an ankle injury. Lippe averaged 18.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 steals last season to earn first-team All-Summit League honors.

• The 5-9 guard from Adair, Okla., who sat out the loss to Oklahoma State with the ankle injury, comes to Nebraska with 1,215 career points. She led all scorers with 21 points in ORU’s 77-67 loss at Nebraska last season.

• The only other returning Golden Eagles to play in last season’s game at Nebraska are senior Regan Schumacher and sophomore guards Gem Summers and Nena Taylor. None of those three players scored, and Taylor has not made an appearance yet for ORU this season.

• Summers is ORU’s scoring leader so far this season, averaging 9.5 points per game off the bench, including a career-high 16 points in a career-high 25 minutes at Oklahoma State.

• Schumacher, a 6-2 center, has averaged 7.0 points and a team-best 7.0 rebounds early this season, including six points and a career-high 12 rebounds at Oklahoma State.

• The rest of the ORU roster is filled with newcomers, including eight freshmen: (Corrie Anderson, Tierney Coleman, Tyaija Coleman, Hannah Giddey, Camryn Hill, Courtlyn Loudermill, Addisyn Moore and Faith Paramore); two sophomore transfers (Sinetra Jones, Bo Teulings); junior transfer Ariel Walker; and redshirt senior transfer Manaya Jones.

• Freshmen Tierney Coleman (7.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg) and Addisyn Moore (1.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg) have started both games for ORU, while junior Ariel Walker has also been in the starting lineup for both games, averaging 6.5 points and 5.5 rebounds. Walker is a 5-5 guard from Allen Community College.

• Tierney Coleman’s twin sister, Tyaija, joined her and Moore as freshmen in the starting five at OSU. All three played high school basketball together in the Dallas metro area at Trinity Christian in Cedar Hill, Texas.

• Another freshman, Faith Paramore, stepped up big for the Golden Eagles with 14 points and seven rebounds in her collegiate debut at Arkansas. She added four points and four rebounds at Oklahoma State to average 9.0 points and 5.5 rebounds through two games.

Nebraska vs. Oral Roberts Series History

• Nebraska leads the all-time series with Oral Roberts 7-0, including a 77-67 victory over the Golden Eagles last season (Dec. 14, 2019) in Lincoln.

• Sam Haiby led the Huskers with 20 points and four steals, while Kate Cain contributed 15 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots. Keni Jo Lippe led the Golden Eagles with a game-high 21 points to go along with seven rebounds and three steals.

• All seven games in the series have been played in Lincoln, and the Huskers have produced a double-digit win in all seven contests.

    Nebraska 77, Oral Roberts 67, Dec. 14, 2019 (Lincoln)

    Nebraska 89, Oral Roberts 53, Dec. 29, 2013 (Lincoln)

    Nebraska 80, Oral Roberts 67, Dec. 20, 2012 (Lincoln)

    Nebraska 70, Oral Roberts 51, Dec. 2, 2009 (Lincoln)

    Nebraska 95, Oral Roberts 62, Dec. 31, 1990 (Lincoln)

    Nebraska 110, Oral Roberts 61, Dec. 5, 1989 (Lincoln)

    Nebraska 100, Oral Roberts 87, Nov. 27, 1987 (Lincoln)

Husker History of Home-Opening Success

• Nebraska’s season opener against Oral Roberts marks the latest home-opening game on the calendar in school history. NU’s previous latest home tip came with a 61-59 win over Kearney State on Dec. 2, 1976.

• The only other December home opener in school history came with an 86-79 win over Arizona State at the Devaney Center on Dec. 1, 1992.    

• Nebraska owns a history of season-opening success on the Huskers’ home court. NU improved to 43-3 in home season openers with a a 68-46 victory over Alabama A&M on Nov. 6, 2019. 

• NU is 6-1 at Pinnacle Bank Arena in season openers, including the win over Alabama A&M last year. The lone loss came on Nov. 7, 2018, with an 83-77 loss to Drake. In the first regular-season game in the history of Pinnacle Bank Arena, Nebraska powered its way to a 77-49 win over UCLA on Nov. 8, 2013.

• Nebraska’s only season-opening home losses have come to Drake (2018), South Dakota State (Nov. 19, 2005) and Kansas (Nov. 21, 1980).

• Nebraska has been strong in its first four home games every season. In fact, NU is 159-25 (.864) in the past 46 years in its first four home contests, including 39-7 in Game No. 2. 

• Nebraska is 37-9 in Game No. 3 and 40-6 in Game No. 4.

2020-21 Husker Season Preview 

• Nebraska officially tipped off practice for the 2020-21 season with an afternoon workout at the Hendricks Training Complex in Lincoln on Wednesday, Oct. 14.

• Nebraska’s 12-player roster for the 2020-21 campaign is led by 6-5 senior center Kate Cain. NU’s career blocked shot leader is coming off a junior season in which she set the school single-season mark with 101 blocks. Cain, who earned her bachelor’s degree in management from Nebraska in just three years in May of 2020, was recently projected as a WNBA middle second-round pick by DraftSite.com. She was one of four Big Ten players projected in the top three rounds.

• Cain is joined by returning starter Sam Haiby. The 5-9 junior guard ranked second on the team in scoring (10.0 ppg) and assists (3.3 apg) while leading NU in steals (1.5 spg) in 2019-20.

• The Huskers also will be bolstered by the return of sophomore Isabelle Bourne. The 6-2 forward from Canberra, Australia played in all 30 games a year ago, averaging 5.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. Bourne, who has been a regular in the Australian National Team program for several years, joins Cain and newcomers Bella Cravens and Annika Stewart in the front court.

• Stewart adds more size at 6-3 while also being able to stretch the floor. The freshman out of Wayzata High School in Minneapolis, Minn., averaged 20.0 points and 8.1 rebounds while hitting 41.5 percent (39-94) of her three-pointers and 89.5 percent (51-57) of her free throws as a senior in 2019-20. The first-team Minnesota Class 4A All-State selection was ranked as the No. 35 post player in the nation by ESPN in 2020.

• Cravens, a 6-3 junior transfer from Laie, Hawaii, averaged 10.4 points and a Big Sky Conference-leading 8.5 rebounds per game last season at Eastern Washington. Cravens was also one of the top shot-blockers in the Big Sky the past two seasons, totaling 96 blocks in 60 games. She was an honorable-mention All-Big Sky choice as a sophomore in 2019-20.

• Another member of the Australian National Team program, freshman Ruby Porter will be part of a revamped Husker backcourt this season. Porter, a 5-10 guard from Adelaide, was a member of the Australian U17 National Team that competed at the 2018 World Championships, while also being a key player on the Australian U18 3×3 National Team that won the Asia Cup in the summer of 2019. 

• Junior college transfer Ashley Scoggin adds a dangerous three-point threat. Scoggin hit nearly 40 percent of her threes and 95 percent of her free throws last season as a redshirt freshman at Salt Lake City Community College. The 5-7 guard from Dallas, Ore., averaged 10.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists in helping the Bruins to the NJCAA Region 18 title.

• Texas Tech transfer Nailah Dillard and California transfer MiCole Cayton also join the Huskers, along with freshman Whitney Brown. The 5-8 guard was a two-time All-Nebraska player at Grand Island Northwest. As a senior, Brown averaged 17.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.0 steals.

• Makenzie Helms and Trinity Brady return to the Big Red backcourt as sophomores in 2020-21. Helms was Nebraska’s Lifter-of-the-Year for women’s basketball in 2020. The 5-8 guard from East Haven, Conn., appeared in 13 games after recovering from leg injuries early in the season. She contributed in each of Nebraska’s final seven games of 2019-20. Brady also battled injuries as a true freshman.