Huskers Trek to Penn State on Sunday

The Nebraska men’s basketball program begins a three-game road trip Sunday afternoon, as the Huskers travel to University Park, Pa., to take on Penn State.

Tipoff between the Huskers and Nittany Lions is slated for 3:01 p.m. (central) and will be carried on BTN with Brandon Gaudin and John Beilein 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.

 

Sunday’s game begins a stretch of three road games in four days for the Big Red. Following Sunday’s game, the team will head to Maryland for games with the Terrapins on Tuesday and Wednesday, ending a stretch of seven games in 12 days since Feb. 6.

Nebraska looks to bounce back following a heart-breaking 77-72 overtime loss to No. 6 Illinois late Friday night. The Huskers rallied back from a five-point second-half deficit and led 64-58 after Lat Mayen’s 3-pointer with 2:55 remaining in the second half, but could not hold on down the stretch. Nebraska took a 66-64 lead on Dalano Banton’s basket with 37.8 seconds left, but Ayo Dosunmu tied it with a basket with 23 seconds left. The Huskers had a chance to win in regulation, but was unable to get a shot off. Dosunmu had 17 of his game-high 31 points in the last three minutes of regulation and overtime.

Mayen led three Huskers in double figures with a career-high 16 points, while Trey McGowens and Teddy Allen added 15 apiece for the Big Red.  Mayen has tied or set a career high in two of the Huskers’ three games this week and is averaging 14.0 ppg over the Huskers’ last five contests after a slow start to Big Ten play.

Penn State (7-9, 4-8 Big Ten) comes off a 60-58 loss at Michigan State on Tuesday night. The Nittany Lions erased a 13-point second-half deficit and led 58-54 with 3:16 left, before the Spartans closed the game on a 6-0 run to escape with the win. Senior John Harrar led Penn State with 17 points and 14 rebounds, while Myreon Jones added 15 in the losing effort. 

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT

Eduardo Andre has given the Huskers’ a big spark off the bench over the last three games. Andre, who played just 16 minutes in NU’s first six Big Ten games, has played 33 minutes over the last three games. NU is +14 when he has been on the floor. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW

+1 – Nebraska’s rebounding margin against Illinois, as the Illini entered the game leading the Big Ten in rebounding (+7.8 per game). NU has out-rebounded three of its last six opponents since Jan. 2 (MSU, WIS, ILL).

6.8 – Rebounds per game for Dalano Banton, as he bids to become only the second Husker to average at least seven rebounds per game over the last decade (Ed Morrow, 7.5, 2016-17).

7 – The Huskers’ seven 3-pointers were its highest total since joining on pause on Jan. 11. NU has improved its 3-point percentage in each of the last four games since returning to action. 

    at Michigan State    .176 (3-17)

    at Minnesota    .200 (3-15)

    Wisconsin    .333 (5-15)

    Illinois    7-20 (.350)

8 – NU has eight 20-point performances on the season (Teddy Allen-6; Trey McGowens-1; Kobe Webster-1). In addition, NU has had nine players reach double figures at least once this season. 

39 – Nebraska is 39th nationally in tempo according to KenPom as of Feb. 12. The Huskers are the only Big Ten team in the top 75 nationally.

SCOUTING PENN STATE

The Nittany Lions are led by interim coach Jim Ferry, who was on the staff for three seasons before being named the interim coach in the fall. Ferry has been a collegiate head coach for 20 seasons, including stops at Plymouth (N.H.) State, Adelphi (N.Y.), Long Island University-Brooklyn and Duquesne.

Penn State returned four starters from a team that went 21-10 and was on its way to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011 before the COVID-19 pandemic ened the 2019-20 season. The Nittany Lions went 3-1 in non-conference play including a 20-point win at Virginia Tech and a three-point win over VCU. The only blemish was a 92-88 overtime los to Seton Hall. 

PSU was 1-3 when the Nittany Lions had to pause, but are 4-4 since returning to action on Jan. 17, including wins over Rutgers, Northwestern, Wisconsin and Maryland. PSU is 6-2 at the Bryce Jordan Center this season with the losses to Seton Hall and Illinois. 

The Nittany Lions use an eight-man rotation which features a trio of double-figure scorers in Myreon Jones (14.8 ppg), Izaiah Brockington (13.9 ppg) and Seth Lundy (11.0 ppg) and two others that average at least nine points per game. Jones and Lundy have combined for 61 of PSU’s 136 3-pointers on the season. John Harrar averages 9.2 points on 60 percent shooting and a team-high 8.8 rebounds per game. PSU is disruptive on the defensive end, ranking second in the Big Ten with 7.8 steals per game. 

Series History: Sunday’s game is the 21st meeting with Penn State holding a 11-9 advantage. The two teams were originally scheduled to meet on Jan. 30, but the Huskers’ COVID-19 pause prevented that pause. Since Nebraska joined the Big Ten, the Huskers are 8-9 against the Nittany Lions (8-7 in regular season; 0-2 in Big Ten Tournament).  The teams played three times before Nebraska joined the Big Ten, a home-and-home series in 1980 and 1981 and in the second round of the 1995 NIT. The Huskers will be looking for their first win in State College since a 68-64 win on Jan. 19, 2013. In that game, Shavon Shields scored a game-high 29 points, including 10-of-11 from the field and 8-of-8 from the foul line. 

Last Meeting:  Haanif Cheatham had 15 points and eight boards to lead three Huskers in double figures, but Nebraska could not sustain a strong start in a 76-64

loss to No. 24 Penn State on Feb. 1, 2020.

Nebraska raced out to an early 9-2 lead and hit its first five field goals, as Cheatham scored 10 of the Huskers’ first 13 points, as Nebraska built a 13-7 lead. The Huskers led 20-18 after a Thorir Thorbjarnarson 3-pointer, but the Nittany Lions ran off nine straight points to take a 27-20 cushion. The Huskers kept fighting, as Dachon Burke Jr. scored seven straight points as part of a 9-2 run, as the Huskers pulled within 31-30 with 4:21 left in the half. NU, which shot 38 percent in the first half, was within striking distance, as Thorbjarnarson’s 3-point play with 46 seconds left in the half made it 38-33. 

Penn State took control by scoring the first eight points of the second half and used a 22-6 spurt in the first 7:12 to build a 60-39 lead. Lamar Stevens and Mike Watkins combined for 13 of the Nittany Lions points 

Stevens and Myreon Jones had 13 points each to lead four Nittany Lions in double figures, while Watkins had 11 points and a game-high 17 rebounds. In addition to Cheatham, Thorbjarnarson had 12 points, while Burke Jr. added 11 markers for the Huskers.

LAST TIME OUT

The Huskers had several chances to knock off sixth-ranked Illinois, but the Fighting Illini prevailed 77-72, in overtime on Feb. 12. 

The Huskers erased a 56-52 deficit with a 9-0 run and eventually took a 64-58 lead after Lat Mayen’s 3-pointer with 2:55 remaining before Ayo Dosunmo scored 10 of his game-high 31 points in the final 2:34 of regulation, including the tying basket with 23 seconds remaining. 

Nebraska, which took a 66-64 lead with Dalano Banton’s basket with 37.8 seconds left, called timeout with 16 seconds left to set up the potential go-ahead basket, but could not pull out the win in regulation. 

Dosunmo got Illinois (14-5, 10-3 Big Ten) going in the extra session, scoring the first five points as the Illini never trailed in overtime. Nebraska cut the deficit to 72-70 on a pair of Teddy Allen free throws with 1:37 left, but could get no closer, as Dosunmu’s jumper with 15 seconds left iced the win. 

Mayen finished with a career-high 16 points to lead three Huskers in double figures, as Trey McGowens and Allen chipped in 15 apiece. 

In addition to Dosunmo, Kofi Cockburn had 21 points and 13 rebounds, but the Huskers held Illinois to 48 percent shooting, including 33 percent from 3-point range, an enjoyed a 40-39 lead on the glass.

STORYLINES

• Since returning from their pause, the Huskers jumped right back into the Big Ten grind. Nebraska is in the midst of playing seven games in a 12-day stretch, covering five states. The Huskers finished their overtime game with Illinois at 10:35 p.m. on Friday before getting up early for testing and a 9 a.m. flight to Penn State. Following Sunday’s game, the Husker will head to Maryland to prepare for two games with the Terrapins. When the Huskers return home on late Wednesday/early Thursday, it would have covered nearly 4,300 miles since Feb. 5. NU has four scheduled regular-season games, along with four others which were previously postponed. 

• One area where the Huskers have made significant improvement since returning to action is on the defensive end. NU has allowed 10.2 fewer points per game over the four games, while holding teams to 39 percent shooting, including 27 percent from 3-point range. NU held three straight opponents (Michigan State, Minnesota, Wisconsin) under 40 percent shooting, while the Huskers held Illinois to its second-lowest total in regulation this year. 

• The Big Ten had 11 teams in the top 50 of the NET rankings on Feb. 13, including four of the top eight spots.  No other power conference had more than seven teams in the top 50 of the NET.  One one remaining regular-season opponent is outside the top 50 of the NET. 

• Teddy Allen is sixth among all power conference players averaging 16.7 points per game as of Feb. 12. Allen is currently sixth in the Big Ten in scoring and is one of two newcomers in the top 10 of the Big Ten in scoring.  His scoring average is on pace to be one of the highest scoring averages by a first-year Husker. The current mark is 18.1 points per game by All-Big Ten performer Terran Petteway in 2013-14. 

• The biggest beneficiary of Derrick Walker’s insertion into the Husker attack has been Lat Mayen, who moved to his natural stretch four spot after playing in the post for a majority of the early season.  In the five games since Walker returned, Mayen is averaging 14.0 points per game on 48 percent shooting and 5.4 rebounds per game. In NU’s first four conference games, he averaged just 5.5 ppg on 31 percent shooting.