Huskers Shoot for Upset of Top 25 Minnesota

Nebraska Cornhuskers
vs. 23/25 Minnesota Golden Gophers
Sunday, January 20, 2019, 5 p.m. (CT)
Pinnacle Bank Arena (15,000) - Lincoln, Nebraska
Live Television: ESPN2
Live Radio: Husker Sports Network (4:45 p.m.)
Matt Coatney (PBP), Jeff Griesch (Analyst)
Lincoln-B107.3 FM; Omaha-ESPN 590 AM
Huskers.com, Huskers App, TuneIn

Huskers Shoot for Upset of Top 25 Minnesota
• The Nebraska women’s basketball team returns to Pinnacle Bank Arena Sunday afternoon to tangle with top-25 Minnesota.
• Tip off between the Huskers (8-9, 3-3 Big Ten) and Golden Gophers (13-4, 2-4 Big Ten) is set for 5 p.m. (CT) in Lincoln. Live radio coverage (beginning at 4:45 p.m.) can be heard in Lincoln on B107.3 FM, in Omaha on ESPN 590 AM, in Lexington on KRVN 880 AM, and across the state on the Husker Sports Network. Free live audio can be found at Huskers.com, the Huskers App and on TuneIn.
• Live national television coverage will be provided by ESPN2 with LaChina Robinson and Tiffany Greene on the call.
• Nebraska is coming off a strong 77-67 road win at Illinois Thursday, while Minnesota completed a season series sweep with a a 78-50 win at Wisconsin. Minnesota lost to Illinois 66-62 in Minneapolis (Jan. 6). The Gophers also lost to Michigan 76-60 in Ann Arbor (Dec. 31) just three days after the Huskers ran to a 70-56 win over the Wolverines in Lincoln (Dec. 28).
• Minnesota will be Nebraska’s fourth ranked opponent in the past five games and the third straight at Pinnacle Bank Arena. The Golden Gophers come to Lincoln at No. 23 in the AP Poll and No. 25 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, after climbing as high as No. 12 in the rankings earlier in the season after opening 12-0.
• Last week, the Huskers suffered home losses to current No. 9 Maryland and No. 20 Rutgers at Pinnacle Bank Arena. The Big Red also suffered a narrow 77-71 road loss at current No. 22 Iowa, which rolled to an 81-63 win at Minnesota on Monday night.
• Minnesota will be Nebraska’s seventh opponent that has been ranked in the top 25 this season (Drake, Miami, Louisville, Iowa, Maryland, Rutgers), including the fifth school ranked at game time (at No. 24 Miami, at No. 5 Louisville, at No. 19 Iowa and vs. No. 9 Maryland). The Big Ten has six teams ranked in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 (No. 9 Maryland, No. 17 Michigan State, No. 20 Rutgers, No. 22 Iowa, No. 23 Minnesota and No. 25 Indiana).
• Five of Nebraska’s losses this season have been by two possessions or less, with three of those coming against teams that have been ranked in the top 25 this season. Nebraska’s three double-digit losses have all been to top 25 teams at game time.
• Nebraska is the only team in the Big Ten with two freshmen as its top two scorers, and the Huskers are the only team in the conference with two non-starters leading the team in scoring.
• Leigha Brown, a 6-1 freshman from Auburn, Ind., leads Nebraska with 10.4 points per game including 13.7 points in Big Ten play. Fellow freshman Sam Haiby, a 5-9 guard from Moorhead, Minn., has added 10.0 points per game off the bench.
• Nebraska’s active roster is one of the most collectively inexperienced in the Big Ten, entering Sunday’s game with just 10,022 cumulative collegiate minutes. Minnesota is the only team in the Big Ten with less collective experience than Nebraska, as the Gophers have combined for just 9,641 collegiate minutes from its active roster.
• Minnesota features four active seniors who have combined for nearly 40 percent of Minnesota’s total minutes played this season.
• Nebraska has just one active senior, Maddie Simon, who has provided less than 10 percent of Nebraska’s total minutes on the year.

Nebraska Cornhuskers (8-9, 3-3 Big Ten)
44 - Kayla Mershon - 6-3 - Fr. - F - 3.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg
31 - Kate Cain - 6-5 - So. - C - 7.4 ppg, 6.8 rpg
3 - Hannah Whitish - 5-9 - Jr. - G - 8.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg
5 - Nicea Eliely - 6-1 - Jr. - G - 7.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg
33 - Taylor Kissinger - 6-1 - So. - G - 9.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg
Off the Bench
32 - Leigha Brown - 6-1 - Fr. - F - 10.4 ppg, 2.6 rpg
4 - Sam Haiby - 5-9 - Fr. - G - 10.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg
13 - Ashtyn Veerbeek - 6-2 - Fr. - F - 8.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg
24 - Maddie Simon - 6-2 - Sr. - F - 7.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg
14 - Grace Mitchell - 6-2 - Jr. - F - 1.1 ppg, 1.1 rpg
11(out) - Kristian Hudson - 5-5 - Sr. - G - 2.4 ppg, 1.6 rpg
Head Coach: Amy Williams (Nebraska, 1998)
Third Season at Nebraska (36-42); 12th Season Overall (229-151)

23/25 Minnesota Golden Gophers (13-4, 2-4 Big Ten)
5 - Taiye Bello - 6-2 - Jr. - F - 10.6 ppg, 12.3 rpg
41 - Annalese Lamke - 6-3 - Sr. - C - 11.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg
3 - Destiny Pitts - 5-10 - So. - G/F - 12.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg
21 - Jasmine Brunson - 5-8 - Jr. - G - 8.0 ppg, 2.2 rpg
23 - Kenisha Bell - 5-9 - RSr. - G - 19.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg
Off the Bench
12 - Mercedes Staples - 5-10 - Fr. - G - 3.8 ppg, 1.2 rpg
25 - Palma Kaposi - 6-2 - Sr. - F - 2.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg
31 - Irene Garrido Perez - 6-1 - Sr. - F - 1.9 ppg, 0.6 rpg
20 - Kehinde Bello - 6-2 - Jr. - F - 1.6 ppg, 1.6 rpg
11 - Delaynie Byrne - 6-2 - Fr. - F - 1.0 ppg, 0.7 rpg
Head Coach: Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota, 2004)
First Season at Minnesota (13-4); First Season Overall (13-4)

Scouting The Minnesota Golden Gophers
• Head coach Lindsay Whalen brings her first Minnesota team to Lincoln trying to build momentum after snapping a four-game losing streak with a 78-50 win at Wisconsin on Thursday.
• Whalen, a four-time WNBA Champion with the Minnesota Lynx and a two-time Olympic gold medalist with Team USA, returned to her alma mater and opened her coaching career with a 12-0 record while leading the Golden Gophers to a No. 12 AP ranking to close the 2018 calendar year.
• After opening Big Ten play with a 74-56 win over Wisconsin in Minneapolis (Dec. 28), the Gophers suffered a 76-60 loss at Michigan (Dec. 31).
• A 66-62 loss to Illinois (Jan. 6) in Minneapolis followed, before back-to-back double-digit losses to ranked Michigan State (86-68, East Lansing, Jan. 9) and Iowa (81-63, Minneapolis, Jan. 14).
• Minnesota is led by unanimous first-team All-Big Ten senior point guard Kenisha Bell, who is averaging 19.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.2 steals. Bell is shooting just 25 percent (7-28) from three-point range and 68.9 percent at the free throw line. Entering the season, Bell was a 33 percent shooter from long range and a 75 percent shooter at the line in her Gopher career.
• The only Gopher guard shooting better than 31 percent on the season is junior guard Jasmine Brunson, who has hit just 11-of-30 threes (.367) on the year. Brunson is averaging 8.0 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists on the season.
• As a team, Minnesota is shooting 30.3 percent (73-241) from beyond the three-point arc, including just 25.9 percent (21-81) through six Big Ten games.
• Sophomore guard/forward Destiny Pitts, who was the 2018 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, leads Minnesota with 34 threes on the year but has knocked down just 30.9 percent (34-110) of her long-range attempts. Last season, Pitts hit 37.3 percent (90-241) of her threes. Pitts ranks second among the Gophers with 12.6 points per game, while adding 3.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists.
• Minnesota’s inside starters Annalese Lamke and Taiye Bello have not attempted a three this season. Lamke, a 6-3 senior center, is averaging 11.4 points and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 56.2 percent from the field. Bello, a 6-2 junior forward, gives Minnesota four starters averaging double figures with 10.8 points and a team-best 12.1 rebounds. Bello has hit 56.1 percent of her shots and leads the Gophers with 22 blocks on the year.
• Minnesota, which finished 24-9 overall last year and 11-5 in the Big Ten in a tie for third with Nebraska before advancing to the NCAA Tournament second round, has been hit with the losses of experienced guards Carlie Wagner (graduation) and junior Gadiva Hubbard (injury).
• Hubbard averaged 13.6 points while shooting nearly 35 percent (69-198) from three-point range and better than 86 percent from the free throw line while playing 35 minutes per game last year.
• Wagner’s loss has been even more significant. The first-team All-Big Ten guard averaged 18.7 points per game last year, while hitting 101-of-245 three-point attempts (.412). Wagner finished her career as Minnesota’s No. 3 all-time scorer with 2,215 points. She hit 307 threes in her career.
• Minnesota’s starters have played 84.2 percent (1,010 of 1,200) of the Gophers’ minutes in Big Ten play. The five Gophers who come off the bench have combined for just 38 points (6.3 ppg) through six conference games, and 16 of those points came at Wisconsin Thursday.
• Nebraska’s five-player bench has scored 202 points (33.7 ppg) in an average of 83 minutes per game in league play.

Nebraska vs. Minnesota Series History
• Nebraska leads the all-time series with Minnesota 12-9, including a 79-74 Husker win in Minneapolis (Dec. 31, 2017) in the lone meeting between the two NCAA Tournament teams last season. Nebraska owns a 7-4 edge as Big Ten foes.
• Maddie Simon scored 16 of her team-high 18 points in the second half to lead the Huskers back from an eight-point third-quarter deficit on the road at Williams Arena. Simon added eight rebounds, five assists and three steals in the best all-around game of her career. Hannah Whitish and Nicea Eliely each contributed 14 points and Taylor Kissinger pitched in nine points and six rebounds in the victory.
• Nebraska is 9-3 all-time against Minnesota in Lincoln, but the Gophers won the last meeting between the two teams in Lincoln 79-69 OT (Feb. 4, 2017). The Huskers are 2-6 against Minnesota in Minneapolis and 1-0 against the Gophers in the Big Ten Tournament (March 7, 2014).
• Although women’s basketball was not a full varsity sport at Nebraska until 1975-76, a women’s team from Nebraska suffered its first defeat at Minnesota in 1904 after going unbeaten between 1897 and 1903. Two weeks after the first meeting with Minnesota, Nebraska beat the same team in Lincoln.
• Minnesota’s Laura Coenen scored 42 points for the Gophers in a 90-79 win over the Huskers on Nov. 30, 1984. That effort is tied for the most points by any opponent in a game against the Huskers.

Husker Nuggets
• Through games Jan. 17, Nebraska sophomore Taylor Kissinger was leading NCAA Division I in three-point shooting percentage (.494).
• The Husker bench has outscored opponents in each of NU’s 17 games this year, including double-digit advantages in 13 games.
• Overall, Nebraska’s bench has outscored opposition benches 559-275 (32.9-16.2 ppg) for a plus-16.7 margin.
• Nebraska is the only team in the Big Ten with two players off the bench (Leigha Brown, 10.4 ppg; Sam Haiby, 10.0 ppg) as its top two scorers.
• Nebraska is also the only team in the Big Ten with two freshmen as the team’s top two scorers.
• Nebraska’s bench outscored the opposition 149-53 over the final four non-conference games, including a season-high 45 points at Arkansas. NU’s bench posted a season-best scoring differential (+37) in its last non-conference home game by outscoring Denver’s bench, 40-3.
• Nebraska’s bench has scored 40 or more points five times, including 45 at Arkansas, 42 points against San Jose State, 41 points against Drake, 40 against Denver and 40 at Illinois.
• In Nebraska’s Big Ten-opening win over Michigan (Dec. 28), the Husker bench outscored the Wolverine bench 28-10, including 14-0 in the fourth quarter.
• In a 78-69 win at Ohio State, the Husker bench outscored Buckeye reserves, 35-24.
• At No. 19 Iowa (Jan. 3), Nebraska’s bench outscored the Hawkeye bench, 28-11,  before outscoring No. 9 Maryland’s bench, 28-14 (Jan. 8). NU’s bench outscored the Rutgers bench, 34-17 (Jan. 13) and outlasted the Illinois bench, 40-39 (Jan. 17). Nebraska owns a 202-115 (33.7-19.2, +14.5 ppg) edge off the bench in Big Ten play.
• At least one Nebraska freshman has led the Huskers in scoring in 11 of 17 games this season (Haiby-5; Brown-5; Veerbeek-2).

Nebraska Streaks
• Sophomore Kate Cain owns the longest streak of consecutive starts by a Husker with 48.
• Junior Nicea Eliely owns Nebraska’s second-longest streak of starts with 43.
• Nebraska’s bench has outscored the opponent reserves in all 17 games this season.
• Nebraska featured the same starting lineup - Maddie Simon/Kate Cain/Hannah Whitish/Nicea Eliely/Taylor Kissinger for 14 consecutive games before Kayla Mershon assumed Simon’s spot at Illinois.
• Kate Cain has at least two rebounds in every game of her Nebraska career (49).
• The Huskers have knocked down at least one three in 329 straight games dating back to a loss at UTEP on Dec. 20, 2008. Nebraska has hit at least two three-pointers in 208 consecutive games.

Nebraska Numbers to Watch
• (4) Junior Nicea Eliely is four points away from 600 in her career.
• (9) Eliely is nine rebounds from 300 career boards.
• (11) Taylor Kissinger is 11 three-pointers away from 100 in her career.
• (50) Kate Cain is expected to play in her 50th career game on Sunday.

Freshmen Contributing Early for Huskers
• Nebraska has received production early and often from its 2018-19 freshman class. The four-player class, which was ranked among the top 20 recruiting classes in the nation by ESPN last season, features Leigha Brown (10.4 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.2 apg), Sam Haiby (1 0.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.7 apg), Ashtyn Veerbeek (8.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg) and Kayla Mershon (3.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg).
• Leigha Brown, who earned Big Ten Freshman-of-the-Week honors (Jan. 7), leads Nebraska in scoring with 10.4 points per game, including a team-best 13.7 points per Big Ten game. She erupted for a career-high 20 points at No. 19 Iowa (Jan. 3). It was her second straight game leading the Huskers, after scoring a then-career-high 19 points at Ohio State (Dec. 31). She added 18 points and a career-high six rebounds in a narrow loss to nationally ranked Rutgers (Jan. 13). She also had 18 points in the win over San Jose State (Dec. 8), before adding 17 points and a career-high five assists in the win over Denver (Dec. 15).
• Brown, a 6-1 wing from Auburn, Indiana owns eight double-figure scoring efforts and has led the Big Red in scoring five times this season, including three of six Big Ten games.
• Over the last nine games, Brown is averaging 28.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.0 steals per 40 minutes (126 points, 28 rebounds, 15 assists, 9 steals, 183 minutes) while hitting 50.6 percent (39-77) of her shots from the field, including 43.8 percent (14-32) of her threes.
• In her first eight games, Brown averaged 16.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.2 steals per 40 minutes (54 points, 16 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals, 130 minutes), while hitting 34 percent (16-47) of her field goals and 21.7 percent (5-23) of her threes.
• Haiby, a 5-9 guard from Moorhead, Minn., ranks second among the Huskers with 10.0 points per game off the bench. She has led the Huskers in scoring in five games, including against nationally ranked Drake (13) and Miami (14), while also scoring a career-high 20 points at Washington State and adding 17 points at Creighton. She also had 16 points to lead the Huskers at Arkansas (Dec. 18). She owns seven double-figure scoring efforts overall, including 12 points at No. 5 Louisville (Nov. 29) and 12 more in Nebraska’s Big Ten-opening win over Michigan (Dec. 28).
• Haiby also ranks second among the Huskers in assists (2.7 apg).
• Ashtyn Veerbeek ranks third among the Husker freshmen in scoring with 8.3 points per game, while leading the freshmen and ranking second on the team with 6.2 rebounds. Veerbeek erupted for a career-high 19 points to go along with a team-high eight rebounds in the win at Illinois (Jan. 17). She produced her first career double-double with 14 points and  a career-high 14 rebounds in a win over San Jose State (Dec. 8). She had 14 points in 14 minutes in the win over Denver (Dec. 15). She added 14 points for the third straight game at Arkansas (Dec. 18). She owns five double-digit scoring efforts on the year. She also ranks second among the Huskers with 14 blocks.
• Kayla Mershon has pitched in 3.2 points and 2.5 rebounds per game for the Huskers. Her production is on the rise in Big Ten play and she made her first career start at Illinois (Jan. 17). Last week, she scored a career-high eight points against No. 9 Maryland (Jan. 8), before adding seven points against nationally ranked Rutgers (Jan. 13). She had a career-high seven rebounds in a win over Kansas (Dec. 5). The 6-3 forward from Chanhassen, Minn., also has dished out 13 assists and has committed a team-best seven turnovers through 17 games.
• The freshmen have combined for 42.6 percent (542-of-1,271) of Nebraska’s points in just 36.3 percent of the team’s total minutes (1,254-of-3,450) on the season. They also have accounted for just 28.6 percent (77-of-269) of Nebraska’s turnovers.
• Nebraska’s four freshmen are combining to average 31.9 points and 14.5 rebounds per game.