Huskers Announce Schedule, New Season Tickets On Sale Wednesday

The Nebraska women’s basketball team unveiled its full season schedule on Tuesday, including a 15-game home slate at Pinnacle Bank Arena that features nine Big Ten Conference contests.

Overall, Nebraska’s 29-game regular-season schedule will feature 18 games against teams that qualified for postseason play in 2018, including 12 games against 2018 NCAA Tournament teams.

During the offseason, the Huskers have approached nearly a 100 percent renewal rate among their 2017-18 season ticket holders, and tickets for potential new season ticket holders will go on sale Wednesday, Aug. 22 at 10 a.m. (CT) through the Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office at Huskers.com or by calling 1-800-8-BIGRED.

Single-game reserved tickets for Nebraska’s 15 home contests at Pinnacle Bank Arena (14 regular season plus one exhibition) will be $15 per game, but new reserved season tickets can be purchased for just $150 - a savings of $75 over the single-game reserved ticket price for the season. Season tickets are also $20 less overall than a year ago, so there has never been a better time to become a new Nebraska women’s basketball season ticket holder.

The Huskers, who posted the nation’s top turnaround in 2017-18 in their second season under Big Ten Coach-of-the-Year Amy Williams, return four starters and each of their top five scorers from a team that went 21-11 overall and tied for third in the final Big Ten regular-season standings at 11-5. Nebraska advanced to the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament and ranked among the nation’s top-25 teams in average home attendance for the ninth consecutive season, attracting nearly 4,400 fans per game to Pinnacle Bank Arena.

“We are very excited to announce our schedule for the upcoming season.  We have compiled a challenging non-conference schedule which we feel will help prepare us for Big Ten play.  Husker fans are the greatest fans in the country, and we will lean heavily on them this season to support our team as we attack this challenging schedule.”

Nebraska will be challenged early and often at home and away in 2018-19. After an exhibition game (Nov. 3) against a Nebraska-Kearney team that produced 21 victories in 2017-18, the Huskers will tip off the regular season at home against 2018 NCAA Tournament qualifier and Missouri Valley Conference champion Drake on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Nebraska won a dramatic double-overtime thriller over the Bulldogs in Des Moines last December, before Drake reeled off 21 consecutive victories to earn an NCAA Tournament bid.

The game against Drake will be the first of four games against 2018 NCAA Tournament teams during an 11-game non-conference schedule, which also includes a road trip to NCAA Women’s Final Four participant Louisville on Thursday, Nov. 29, as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

The Huskers will face another ACC foe on Friday, Nov. 23, when they compete at the Miami Thanksgiving Classic. The Hurricanes matched Nebraska’s 21-11 record last season and posted a 10-6 ACC mark before advancing to the NCAA Tournament. 

Nebraska will close its two-game stay in Miami by battling Radford on Sunday, Nov. 25. The Highlanders went 24-9 last season, including 15-3 to finish second in the Big South before advancing to the second round of the WNIT. In the WNIT first round, Radford knocked off Penn State. 

Following the two games in Miami and the ACC/Big Ten Challenge game at Louisville, the Huskers will play their fourth consecutive game against a 2018 postseason qualifier when they clash with Creighton at D.J. Sokol Arena in Omaha on Sunday, Dec. 2. The Jays finished with 19 wins and advanced to the NCAA Tournament second round last season.

The Huskers return to Pinnacle Bank Arena for their longest home stand of the season to face Kansas (Dec. 5), San Jose State (Dec. 8) and Denver (Dec. 15) before closing non-conference competition at Arkansas (Dec. 18).

After a break to celebrate the holidays, the Huskers return to Pinnacle Bank Arena on Friday, Dec. 28 to tip off Big Ten regular-season play against Michigan. Nebraska’s first four games in the league will feature top-six finishers from the final 2018 Big Ten standings, including defending conference regular-season and tournament champion Ohio State in Columbus on Monday, Dec. 31. 

The Huskers will stay on the road to battle Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Thursday, Jan. 3. The Hawkeyes tied Nebraska for third in last year’s final standings and joined the Huskers, Michigan and Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament.

Nebraska will be back home to face 2018 Big Ten runner-up Maryland on Tuesday, Jan. 8, at Pinnacle Bank Arena. The Terps, who handed the Huskers three of their 11 losses last season, will play Nebraska twice in the regular season again in 2018-19. The first game against Maryland starts a stretch of four home games in a five-game span for the Huskers, including a Sunday, Jan. 13 contest with Rutgers.

After a brief road trip to Illinois (Jan. 17), the Huskers will play 2018 NCAA Tournament qualifier Minnesota (Jan. 20) and Northwestern (Jan. 24) at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Nebraska reaches the halfway point of conference play at Wisconsin (Jan. 27), before playing the first of two games against Purdue (Jan. 31) in West Lafayette, Ind. The Boilermakers will complete the season series at Nebraska 11 days later (Feb. 10). The Huskers will host 2018 WNIT champion Indiana at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Sunday, Feb. 3, before completing their season series at Michigan (Feb. 7). Nebraska completes its season series with Maryland one week later in College Park, Md., on Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14).

Nebraska begins the final stretch of conference play against Michigan State at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Sunday, Feb. 17. After completing its two-game season series with Northwestern in Evanston, Ill. (Feb. 21), the Huskers will close regular-season home action against Iowa on Monday, Feb. 25. That game will represent Senior Night for Lincoln Pius X graduate Maddie Simon and 2018-19 graduate transfer Kristian Hudson.

The Huskers cap Big Ten regular-season play at Penn State on Saturday, March 2, before heading to the 2019 Big Ten Tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, March 6-10.

The announcement of the NCAA Tournament field will be made on Monday, March 18. The NCAA first- and second-rounds will be held March 22-25 at 16 campus sites, before NCAA Regionals in Albany, N.Y., Chicago, Ill., Greensboro, N.C., and Portland, Ore. The NCAA Women’s Final Four will be held at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla., April 5-7.