Lincoln – James Palmer Jr. will continue his pre-draft preparations this week, as the senior was invited to play in this week’s Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. The four-day event features 64 of the top seniors in the country and scouts from both the NBA and overseas.

Palmer is the third Husker in the last four years to play in the event, joining Tai Webster (2017) and Shavon Shields (2016) in the invitation-only event. Competition begins Wednesday night and live streaming is available on https://www.portsmouthinvitational.com/. Palmer will play at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, and he will play Thursday or Friday depending on Wednesday’s result. Palmer is playing on the Norfolk Sports Club team, as the 64 players are split into eight teams for the event.

Palmer finished his senior year setting school records in points (708), free throws attempted (282), free throws made (215) and minutes played (1,269).

This past season, he averaged 19.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game, ranking third in the Big Ten in scoring and fourth in steals. A third-team All-Big Ten selection and a first-team All-District pick by the USBWA, Palmer had 18 20-point games as a senior, including a 34-point effort against Rutgers in the Big Ten Tournament. He is also one of just five Big Ten players in the last 50 years to have 200 field goals and 200 free throws in a season.

In his two-year career at Nebraska, Palmer finished with the second-highest career scoring average in Husker history (18.5 points per game) as he started all 69 games in that span.