Walker Highlights Big Ten Nominees

A trio of Nebraska players were honored Tuesday morning as the Big Ten announced its all-conference selections from both the coaches and media.

Derrick Walker leads the trio, as he was a second-team selection by the Big Ten coaches, while the media listed the senior as an honorable-mention pick. Keisei Tominaga was named honorable mention by both the coaches and media, while Sam Griesel was Nebraska’s sportsmanship honoree.

Walker becomes the first Husker since 2018 to earn at least second-team honors, following a season where he leads the Huskers in scoring (13.7 ppg), rebounding (7.3 rpg), assists (3.8 apg), field goal percentage (.587) and blocked shots (0.7 bpg). He is one of two power conference players to lead his team in scoring, reboundng and assists.  Walker finished the regular season ranked 19th in the Big Ten in scoring and in the top 10 in rebounding (ninth), assists (eighth) and field goal percentage (.587, second). He has five 20-point games, including a career-high 23 points against Maryland and five games of at least 10 rebounds.  In Big Ten play, he averaged 13.6 points per game on 56 percent shooting along with 6.7 rebounds (11th) and 3.8 assists per game (10th).

Tominaga earned his first Big Ten honor, as he enters the conference tournament averaging 12.8 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range. One of only two Huskers to play all 31

regular-season games, Tominaga leads NU in 3-pointers (64) and 3-point percentage (.403). During conference play, he led NU in scoring at 14.2 ppg to rank 15^th in the conference while also ranking among Big Ten leaders in field goal percentage (.510, seventh) and 3-pointers per game (2.4, fifth) as he shot 41 percent from beyond the arc. He had seven of his eight 20-point games during Big Ten contests, including a career-high 30-point effort against Penn State.

Griesel is honored for his contributions on and off the court. The senior was NU’s third-leading scorer (11.8 ppg) while dishing out 3.8 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game. He has 18 double-figure games, including three double-doubles. Off the court, he has been active in the Huskers’ outreach efforts this year and coordinated a blood drive last month that saw the Red Cross raise 78 units of blood for the Lincoln community.

The Huskers return to action on Wednesday, as they take on Minnesota in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament. Tipoff is set for around 8 p.m. on BTN and the Huskers Radio Network.