Nebraska’s first road trip of the season is a long one. The Huskers (1-0) face Providence (1-0) Saturday in the featured game of the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. Tipoff is listed at 6:05 p.m. CT on FS1, with Kent Pavelka and Jake Muhleisen on the Huskers Radio Network.
It is technically a neutral site. The 9,323-seat arena sits about an hour from the Providence campus.
Numbers to know
- 23: straight regular-season non-conference wins for Nebraska, a school record dating to Nov. 22, 2024.
- 18: straight wins when Nebraska scores at least 80. The Huskers are 53-10 under Fred Hoiberg when they hit 80.
- 1997: the last time Nebraska played in Connecticut, a third-round NIT loss at UConn.
- 1,000: Pryce Sandfort’s career point total passed that mark on his first basket against Le Moyne. He finished with 20.
- 24 and 8: assists and turnovers in the 106-64 opener. Nebraska ranked sixth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio last season.
A brand-new Providence
First-year coach Bryan Hodgson, who led South Florida to 25-9 and both American titles last season, turned over nearly the entire roster. Ryan Mela and John Jackson are the only returnees. The newcomers include Georgetown transfer Malik Mack (13.6 ppg last season), San Diego State transfer Miles Byrd (10.4 ppg), Northwestern transfer Arrinten Page (10.2 ppg) and late addition Elijah Saunders from Maryland.
The Friars opened with an 83-56 win over Maine, forcing 23 turnovers with 17 steals, seven of them from Byrd. UNLV transfer Jacob Bannarbie went 7 for 7 off the bench for 14 points and 10 rebounds.
A reunion
Nebraska guard Taj DeGourville and Byrd were teammates for two seasons at San Diego State and helped the Aztecs reach the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
Also worth knowing
This is the first meeting between the schools. Nebraska is 39-48 all time against the Big East and has two more Big East games ahead, Butler in Chicago on Nov. 22 and at Creighton on Dec. 5. It is also the final season on the call for Pavelka, who announced on Oct. 26 that 2026-27 will be his 40th and last calling Nebraska men’s basketball.
Featured image: Photo: Michael Barera. CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nebraska_vs._Michigan_men’s_basketball_2015_07.jpg.
