%20--%3e%3csvg%20version='1.1'%20id='Nebraska_N'%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20xmlns:xlink='http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink'%20x='0px'%20y='0px'%20viewBox='0%200%20163%20152'%20style='enable-background:new%200%200%20163%20152;'%20xml:space='preserve'%3e%3cstyle%20type='text/css'%3e%20.st0{fill:%23FFFFFF;}%20%3c/style%3e%3cg%3e%3cpath%20class='st0'%20d='M159.1,144c-2.3,0-4.1,1.8-4.1,4s1.8,4,4,4s4-1.8,4-4S161.2,144,159.1,144z%20M159,151.2c-1.8,0-3.2-1.4-3.2-3.2%20s1.4-3.2,3.2-3.2c1.7,0,3.2,1.5,3.2,3.2C162.2,149.8,160.8,151.2,159,151.2z'/%3e%3cg%3e%3cpath%20class='st0'%20d='M157.4,145.6h1.4c0.6,0,0.8,0,1.1,0.2c0.4,0.2,0.6,0.6,0.6,1.1c0,0.4-0.1,0.7-0.3,1c-0.1,0.2-0.3,0.2-0.6,0.4%20h-0.1l1.1,2.1h-0.8l-1-2h-0.6v2h-0.8L157.4,145.6L157.4,145.6z%20M158.6,147.7c0,0,0.3,0,0.4,0c0.4-0.1,0.6-0.3,0.6-0.8%20c0-0.3-0.1-0.5-0.4-0.6c-0.1,0-0.1,0-0.6,0h-0.4v1.4L158.6,147.7L158.6,147.7z'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3cg%3e%3cpath%20class='st0'%20d='M147,0H93h-5v5v35v5h5h5v24.8L55.2,2.3L53.7,0H51H5H0v5v35v5h5h5v62H5H0v5v35v5h5h54h5v-5v-35v-5h-5h-5V82.2%20l42.8,67.5l1.5,2.3h2.7h46h5v-5v-35v-5h-5h-5V45h5h5v-5V5V0H147z%20M150,5v35v3h-3h-7v66h7h3v3v35v3h-3h-46h-1.6l-0.9-1.4L52,75.3%20V109h7h3v3v35v3h-3H5H2v-3v-35v-3h3h7V43H5H2v-3V5V2h3h46h1.7l0.9,1.4L100,76.7V43h-7h-3v-3V5V2h3h54h3V5z'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3cpath%20class='st0'%20d='M103,87L103,87L51,5H5v35c0,0,7.8,0,10,0c0,3.3,0,68.7,0,72l0,0c-2.2,0-10,0-10,0v35h54v-35c0,0-7.8,0-10,0l0,0%20c0-2.6,0-47,0-47l52,82h46v-35c0,0-7.8,0-10,0l0,0c0-3.3,0-68.7,0-72c2.2,0,10,0,10,0V5H93v35c0,0,7.8,0,10,0%20C103,42.6,103,87,103,87z'/%3e%3c/svg%3e)
The Nebraska men's basketball team looks for its second straight win on Friday night, as the Huskers host the Southern Jaguars. Tipoff at Pinnacle Bank Arena is slated for 7 p.m., and a very limited number of tickets are available for Friday's game. They can be purchased by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets, by calling the NU Athletic Ticket Office during business hours or at the PBA Ticket Office 90 minutes before tipoff.
Friday's game is the U.S. Marines Corps' annual Toys for Tots drive, as fans are encouraged to bring new, unwrapped toys to the game. Cash donations for the cause will also be accepted, as collection spots will be located at Pinnacle Bank Arena entrances.
The NU-Southern will not be televised, but carried online on BTN+ (subscription required) with Dustyn Stortzum and Buzzy Caruthers on the call. Friday's game is one of three regular-season BTN+ broadcasts in 2019-20 and information on how to subscribe is at btnplus.com.
| GAME 4: VS. SOUTHERN Date: Fri., Nov. 22 Time: 7:01 p.m. (CT) Location: Lincoln, Neb. Arena: Pinnacle Bank Arena Tickets: Sold Out TOYS FOR TOTS NIGHT Friday's game is the U.S. Marines Corps' annual Toys for Tots drive, as fans are encouraged to bring new, unwrapped toys to the game. Cash donations for the cause will also be accepted, as collection spots will be located at Pinnacle Bank Arena entrances beginning at 5:30 p.m. NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS 2019-20 Record: 1-2 Head coach: Fred Hoiberg Record at Nebraska: 1-2 (1st year) Career NCAA Record: 116-58 (6th year) SOUTHERN JAGUARS 2019-20 Record: 2-2 Head coach: Sean Woods Record at Southern: 9-27 (2nd year) Career Record: 147-186 (11th year) BROADCAST INFO Television: None Online Broadcast: BTN+ Play-by-play: Dustyn Stortzum Analyst: Buzzy Caruthers Radio: Learfield-IMG Husker Sports Network, including 590 AM (Omaha), 1400 AM (Lincoln) and 880 AM (Lexington) Play-by-play: Kent Pavelka Analyst: Jake Muhleisen Online Radio: Available on Huskers.com, Huskers App, TuneIn.com/Huskers and TuneIn App. SiriusXM (Internet): Ch. 372 XM: Ch. 372 |
Fans can follow all of the action across the state of Nebraska on the Learfield-IMG Husker Sports Network with Kent Pavelka and Jake Muhleisen on the call. The game will also be available on Huskers.com, the Huskers app and TuneIn radio. The pregame show begins one hour prior to tipoff.
Nebraska (1-2) got off the schneid in its last performance, posting a 90-73 win over South Dakota State on Nov. 15. Sophomore Cam Mack's 24-point effort paced four Huskers in double figures, as the Huskers shot 57 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes to build a 24-point halftime lead. Dachon Burke Jr. and Haanif Cheatham had 17 points apiece for NU, while Kevin Cross had 10 points off the bench as Nebraska scored 90 or more points in regulation for the first time since last December.
Mack has been the catalyst to the Huskers' attack in the early going, as the junior college transfer leads the Huskers in scoring (16.0 ppg), assists (6.0 apg) and steals (1.7 spg). NU has enjoyed a balanced attack with three players averaging double figures while three others have at least 5.0 points per game. NU has been solid on the defensive end, holding opponents to 41 percent shooting and forcing over 18 turnovers per game in the early going.
Southern comes in with a 2-2 mark following a 121-55 victory over Ecclesia College on Monday night. The Jaguars' two losses have come at Murray State and at New Mexico State.
SCOUTING SOUTHERN
Southern comes to Lincoln with a 2-2 record after a 121-55 win over Ecclesia on Monday night. Damiree Burns had 33 points on 14-of-19 shooting off the bench to pace four players in double figures. The Jaguars' two losses have come at Murray State and at WAC favorite New Mexico State. In that game, Southern was within six with 3:09 left before NMSU closed the game on a 15-5 spurt for the win.
Head Coach Sean Woods is in his second year at Southern after previously serving as the head coach at Morehead State (2012-16) and Mississippi Valley State (2008-12). He guided each of those schools to postseason bids, including an NCAA bid at Mississippi Valley State in 2012. Woods played collegiately at Kentucky, where he started three seasons, including the 1991-92 team that lost to Duke in the Elite Eight, and had his No. 11 retired by the school.
The Jaguars returned just one starter and four players from last season's team. Siena transfer Ashante Shivers averages 10.5 points per game and is shooting 39 percent from 3-point range, while Cal State Bakersfield transfer Darius Williams is averaging 8.0 points and 7.0 boards per game. Damiree Burns leads SU in scoring at 11.8 points per game but did not take a shot in the Jaguars' first two games. Cal State Fullerton transfer Amel Kuljuhovic is averaging 8.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
Series Record: Nebraska has won both of the all-time meetings between the two schools, including an 81-76 victory in the most recent meeting on Dec. 20, 2016. In that game, Jeriah Horne led four Huskers with 18 points, as he hit 7-of-9 shots from the field, including four 3-pointers. Nebraska is 23-1 all-time against current members of the SWAC.
LAST TIME OUT
Cam Mack poured in a career-best 24 points and was one of four Huskers in double figures, helping Nebraska defeat South Dakota State, 90-73, on Nov. 15.
NU used a strong first-half performance to take control, shooting 57 percent in leading by as many as 31 in the opening half minutes to take a 51-27 lead into the locker room.
The Huskers raced off to a 12-2 start, as Dachon Burke Jr. and Hannif Cheatham combined for nine early points for the Big Red, as both players finished with 17 markers. Kevin Cross was the fourth Husker to post double figures with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting off the bench.
SDSU was within 26-14 before the Huskers blitzed the Jackrabbits with a 19-2 spurt. NU held the visitors to one field goal in a five-minute span, as the Huskers took their largest lead of the half at 45-14 on a Yvan Ouedraogo putback.
Nebraska held the Jackrabbits to 27 percent shooting, including 1-of-13 from 3-point range, in the first half and never led by fewer than 17 the rest of the evening.
DID YOU KNOW
• Fred Hoiberg and Southern Coach Sean Woods faced off one time as college players, as Kentucky beat Iowa State 106-98 in the second round of the 1992 NCAA Tournament. Woods had 18 points and nine assists in that game, while Hoiberg, a freshman on that ISU team, had two points, but led the Cyclones with eight rebounds.
• Hoiberg's 2011-12 team at Iowa State played a Woods-coached team at Mississippi Valley State, escaping with a 67-65 win on Dec. 31, 2011 at Hilton Coliseum.
• Through Tuesday's action, Cam Mack and Michigan State's Cassius Winston are the only Big Ten players in the top 10 in both scoring and assists.
• Cam Mack is one of only four power conference players - and the only one in the Big Ten - averaging at least 15.0 points, five rebounds and five assists per game as of Nov. 19.
Power Conference Players Averaging 15.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 5.0 apg.
| Player | School | PTS | TRB | AST |
| Payton Pritchard | Oregon | 20.3 | 6.3 | 5.8 |
| Kira Lewis Jr. | Alabama | 22.3 | 6.3 | 5.7 |
| David Duke | Providence | 15.8 | 5.0 | 5.3 |
| Cam Mack | Nebraska | 16.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
Courtesy: CBB at Sports Reference
• Matej Kavas enters the Southern game needing just six points to reach 1,000 for his collegiate career. Kavas could break out on Friday, as he has only had one other stretch in his collegiate career when healthy where he went two games without a 3-pointer. As a freshman at Seattle, he went two straight games without a 3-pointer, but then proceeded to go 9-of-14 over the next three contests from beyond the arc. Last season, Kavas had a three-game stretch when he returned from his shin injury, but played a combined 10 minutes in those games.
• Through the first three games, 77.2 percent of the Huskers' offense has come from players who were added in the offseason, including six of Nebraska's top seven scorers.
• Nebraska enters Friday's game leading the Big Ten in turnover margin at +4.7 per game, as the Huskers have committed an averaged of 11.7 turnovers per game in the first three contests while playing at one of the fastest paces in the Big Ten.
• Beginning with next Monday's Cayman Islands Classic opener against Washington State, the Huskers will play their next five non-conference games away from home (3 in Cayman Islands Classic, at Georgia Tech and at Creighton), the longest stretch of non-conference games away from home since the 2000-01 season. The Huskers' next home game is Dec. 15 against Purdue.
• Mack's 13-point, 11-assist performance vs. Southern Utah on Nov. 9 marked just the sixth time in the last 30 years that a Husker has had a points-assist double-double.
Husker Points/Assists Double-Doubles (Last 30 years)
| No. | Pts. | Asst. | Opponent |
| Cam Mack | 13 | 11 | vs. Southern Utah, 11/11/19 |
| Glynn Watson Jr. | 10 | 10 | vs. Cal State Fullerton, 12/20/18 |
| Lance Jeter | 10 | 10 | vs. Kansas, 2/5/11 |
| Lance Jeter | 12 | 12 | at Kansas State, 2/7/10 |
| Sek Henry | 11 | 11 | at TCU, 11/21/09 |
| Tom Wald | 11 | 11 | vs. Appalachian State, 12/31/94 |
• Nebraska is 103-14 (.880) in non-conference home games since the start of the 2006-07 season, including 40-9 (.814) since Pinnacle Bank Arena opened in 2013.
• Nebraska's 14 first-year players on the roster matches TCU for the most in the nation in research done by the Utah SID John Vu. Only four teams (TCU-14, Nebraska-14, East Carolina-13 and Utah-12) have at least 12 newcomers on their 2019-20 rosters. Nebraska returns a national-low 1.9 percent of its scoring from last season.
Fewest Returning PPG from 2018-19
| No. | School | Returning PPG | Pct. of Scoring |
| 1 | Nebraska | 2.0 PPG | 1.9% |
| 2. | Tulane | 10.8 PPG | 12.2% |
| 3. | South Dakota St. | 15.8 PPG | 16.9% |
| 4. | Virginia Tech | 13.3 PPG | 18.1% |
| 5. | Washington | 13.9 PPG | 19.8% |
Courtesy: Virginia Tech SID office
SETTING A FAST PACE
Not only are the Huskers adjusting to a whole new roster, but playing at a significantly faster pace than in previous years. The Huskers are 84th nationally in adjusted tempo, averaging more than 72 possessions in a 40-minute game. NU is currently fourth in the Big Ten in tempo after ranking eighth in the Big Ten and 238th nationally in 2018-19.
• Hoiberg's first Iowa State team in 2010-11 jumped from 93rd to 34th nationally in tempo and ranked in the top 40 nationally in tempo in four of his five seasons in Ames, including top-15 nationally in his last two campaigns.
• In the KenPom era (1997-present), only one Husker team has ranked among the top 100 nationally in tempo - the 1999-2000 Huskers under Danny Nee.
JUCO ADDITIONS AMONG THE NATION'S BEST
Two of the cornerstones of the Huskers' recruiting class were junior college transfers Cam Mack and Jervay Green. Mack (third) and Green (eighth) were both ranked in the top 10 nationally by JUCORecruiting.com in the 2019 recruiting class and have played a crucial role for the Huskers early in 2019-20.
Mack, who was listed as the top JC point guard recruit in the country, enters the Southern game leading the Huskers in scoring (16.0 ppg), assists (6.0 apg) and steals (1.7 spg), while posting a nearly 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. He is fourth in the Big Ten in assists and also ranks in the top 12 in scoring and steals.
• Mack has been the only Husker in double figures in all three games, including a season-high 24-point performance against South Dakota State. He had 11 points and nine rebounds in the opener before nearly pulling a triple-double against Southern Utah on Nov. 9 with 13 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds. His 11 assists against the Thunderbirds were the most by a Husker since the 2009-10 campaign.
• Last season at Salt Lake CC, Mack averaged 19.1 points, 7.6 assists and 5.9 rebounds per game, ranking fifth nationally in assists per game. He totaled nine double-doubles and three triple doubles as a freshman and dished out 10-or-more assists nine times.
Green was rated as the No. 2 combo guard after a stint at Western Nebraska CC, has been a jack-of-all-trades for the Big Red, averaging 9.7 points per game along with 2.7 assists, 1.3 blocks, 1.7 steals and 3.7 rebounds per game, ranking in the top three on the team in assists, blocks, steals and rebounds.
• Green dished out a season-high five assists and added six points and four rebounds in the win over South Dakota State.
• He nearly had a double-double against Southern Utah with 18 points and a team-high eight rebounds, as he sent the game into overtime with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
• Green garnered NJCAA All-America honors at WNCC, averaging 23.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. He was eighth nationally in scoring and had six 30-point games, including a school-record 51-point outburst.
CHEATHAM MAKES IMPACT ON BOTH ENDS
Fifth-year senior Haanif Cheatham has been one of the leaders for a young Husker team. The guard from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is NU's most experienced player, as he played in 80 games between Marquette and Florida Gulf Coast before transferring to Nebraska for his final year.
Cheatham got off to a slow start in the first two games, but enjoyed a breakout performance against South Dakota State, finishing with 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting, six rebounds and three assists. Cheatham's biggest impact has been on the defensive end, where he has the ability to guard multiple spots. A former top-100 recruit, Cheatham was named Marquette's top defensive performer in each of his two full seasons at Marquette.
BURKE SHOWS SCORING TOUCH
The other returnee from the 2018-19 season, Dachon Burke Jr. waited in the wings after transferring from Robert Morris. A 6-foot-4 guard, Burke has quickly shown the skills to flourish in Fred Hoiberg's attack, averaging 12.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Burke has reached double figures twice, including a 17-point, seven-rebound effort against South Dakota State on Nov. 15. Two years ago, Burke was one of the best players in the Northeast Conference, averaging 17.6 points per game while adding 5.8 rebounds and a conference-best 2.1 steals per contest.
CROSS LIFTS BENCH PRODUCTION
Freshman Kevin Cross has been an early contributor for the Huskers. The 6-foot-8 freshman from Little Rock, Ark., has been the first Husker off the bench in all three games and ranks third on the team in scoring at 11.0 points per game while adding 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game.
• Cross was efficient against South Dakota State, finishing with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and two blocked shots.
• Against Southern Utah, he had a team-high 19 points, becoming the first freshman in 73 games to pace the Huskers in scoring. His 19 point effort was the highest by a Husker rookie since Shavon Shields in 2013.
• Cross has lost nearly 20 pounds since arriving on campus this summer, and showed glimpses of his potential during NU's trip to Italy, reaching double figures twice in four contests.
• He has helped the NU reserves combine for nearly 21 points per game during the first three contests.
OUEDRAOGO ADDS NAME TO SHORT LIST OF TRUE FROSH
Freshman Yvan Ouedraogo became the first true freshman to start a season opener at Nebraska since 2013 when he started against UC Riverside on Nov. 5.
• Ouedraogo, who became the first true freshman to start in the frontcourt since Brandon Ubel in 2009, had nine points, three rebounds and a pair of steals and a blocked shot in 21 minutes of action.
• He is just the 11th true freshman and 13th freshman overall to start a season opener in the last 25 years at Nebraska, joining a group which includes 1,000-point scorers Tai Webster, Ryan Anderson, Cookie Belcher and Tyronn Lue.
• He has started all three games for the Huskers, averaging 5.7 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game. Ouedraogo snared a team-high 12 rebounds against South Dakota State on Nov. 15.
Ouedraogo, who doesn't turn 18 until after the 2020 Big Ten Tournament, played for the French U-18 squad at the 2019 European Championships in July, averaging 4.0 points, 3.6 rebounds per game as France went 6-1 and finished fifth in the competition.
KAVAS IS ONE OF NATION'S TOP SHOOTERS
Senior transfer Matej Kavas comes to Nebraska with a reputation as one of the nation's top 3-point shooters. The 6-foot-8 guard is a career 44 percent shooter from 3-point range, and has shot 40 percent or better in all three of his seasons at Seattle. Kavas' .442 career percentage ranks fifth among active Division I players. As a sophomore at Seattle, Kavas led the WAC in both 3-point percentage (.464) and 3-pointers per game (2.8).
• To put Kavas' shooting in perspective, Nebraska's career mark for career 3-point percentage is .432 by Brian Conklin (2001-04) and only five players in school history have shot 40 percent in their Husker career with a minimum of 100 3-pointers.
• Kavas' 179 career 3-pointers would ranks sixth on NU's career list while his 91 3-pointers as a sophomore would top NU's single-season mark (Cary Cochran, 89, 2001-02).
Top Active 3-Point Shooters in Division I (as of Nov. 20)
| No. | Player, Schools | Yr. | GP | 3pt. | Att | Pct. |
| 1. | Luke Avdalovic, Northern Ariz. | So. | 32 | 82 | 164 | .500 |
| 2. | Justin Jaworski, Lafayette | Jr. | 63 | 156 | 341 | .457 |
| 3. | Tyrell Gumbs-Frater, Coastal Carolina | Sr. | 52 | 107 | 236 | .453 |
| 4. | Nate Darling, Delaware | Jr. | 67 | 98 | 220 | .445 |
| 5. | Matej Kavas, Nebraska | Sr. | 87 | 179 | 405 | .442 |
WHAT'S BACK FOR THE HUSKERS
Nebraska returns one letterwinner and one other player from last year's team that went 19-17 and reached the second round of the NIT. Junior guard Thorir Thorbjarnarson was the only player who has seen regular-season action for the Huskers entering the 2019-20 campaign. He averaged 2.0 points and 2.1 rebounds per game last year.
• According to research by noted basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy, the 50 returning points on Nebraska's 2019-20 roster is the lowest total for a power conference team since 2009, when Indiana returned just 28 points from the previous season.
• Since 2000, it is only the fourth time where the Huskers have returned less than 40 percent of the team's scoring output from the previous year (also 2012-13, 2009-10 and 2001-02). In that stretch, the lowest was 24 percent in 2012-13.
• The seven returning starts are the lowest in the last 20 years (41 entering 2001-02).
What's Returning (Last Five Seasons)
| Category | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | 2017-18 | 2016-17 | 2015-16 |
| Pct. of scoring | 1.9 | 73.4 | 50.0 | 45.8 | 40.0 |
| Pct. of rebounding | 4.2 | 61.4 | 44.9 | 51.9 | 33.3 |
| Pct. of assists | 6.2 | 71.5 | 48.9 | 52.6 | 51.1 |
| Pct. of blocked shots | 3.3 | 67.2 | 47.4 | 64.3 | 15.6 |
| Pct. of steals | 5.4 | 68.0 | 61.1 | 51.6 | 52.6 |
| Pct. of minutes | 4.2 | 74.5 | 55.4 | 52.4 | 42.4 |
RETOOLING A ROSTER IN SIX WEEKS
Fred Hoiberg and his staff retooled the Nebraska roster following his introduction in early April. The Huskers signed a recruiting class that was in the top 50 nationally in just six weeks. The 14-member class includes 11 scholarship players and three walk-ons and is a mixture of grad transfers, transfers, JUCOs and freshmen.
2019 Recruiting Class Highlights
• Ranked No. 41 nationally by 247Sports, the program's second-highest class ranking since joining the Big Ten.
• Features two of the top-10 recruits nationally by JUCORecruiting.com, the highest two JC signees NU has signed this decade.
• Includes five Division I transfers who have combined for more than 2,300 points, 1,000 rebounds and 350 assists at their previous schools.
• Has two Division I transfers (Dalano Banton and Haanif Cheatham) who were top-100 recruits in high school and two freshmen who were both top-150 recruits in 2019 by 247Sports (Kevin Cross and Ivan Ouedraogo).
• Contains two high school state players of the year (Akol Arop and Samai Curtis) and two others who were first-team all-state in 2019 (Cross and Charlie Easley).
• Includes players from seven states (Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Texas) and three countries (Canada, France and Slovenia).
FROM COLLEGE TO THE NBA AND BACK AGAIN
Nebraska's Fred Hoiberg is in an exclusive club, as he is one of just 10 current Division I coaches to coach in Division I and in the NBA. He spent three-plus seasons with the Chicago Bulls, guiding the Bulls to the NBA Playoffs in 2016. Hoiberg's 270 regular-season NBA games are the most of the 10 former NBA coaches in the collegiate ranks. Hoiberg also brings five years of NBA front office experience, as he worked with the Minnesota Timberwolves from 2005 to 2010.
| Coach, School | NBA Head Coach, Years |
| Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska | Chicago, 2015-18 |
| Larry Krystkowiak, Utah | Milwaukee, 2007-08 |
| Terry Porter, Portland | Milwaukee, 2003-05; Phoenix 2008-09 |
| Lon Kruger, Oklahoma | Atlanta, 2000-03 |
| Eric Musselman, Arkansas | Golden State, 2002-04; Sacramento, 2006-07 |
| Mike Dunlap, Loyola Marymount | Charlotte, 2012-13 |
| Darrell Walker, Ark. Little Rock | Toronto, 1996-98; Washington, 1999-2000 |
| John Calipari, Kentucky | New Jersey, 1996-99 |
| Leonard Hamilton, Miami | Washington, 2000-01 |
| Lindsey Hunter, Miss. Valley State | Phoenix, 2013 |
HUSKER FAMILY TIES RUN DEEP FOR HOIBERG
While Fred Hoiberg grew up in Ames and played his high school (Ames High School) and college basketball (Iowa State) there, he was born in Lincoln and has numerous ties to the city and to the University of Nebraska.
• Fred's father (Eric) and mother (Karen) both earned their undergraduate degrees from Nebraska in 1966. In fact, Eric earned his undergraduate degree, Master's degree, and Ph.D. in sociology from the university. His 1973 dissertation was "Socio-economic status, residential location, and intrametropolitan mobility: a longitudinal analysis".
• His maternal grandfather was former Husker basketball coach Jerry Bush. Known as the "Big Bear of the Coliseum," Bush guided NU from 1955 to 1963, and directed two of the greatest upsets ever – a 43-41 victory over top-ranked Kansas and Wilt Chamberlain, and a 55-48 victory over No. 4 Kansas State and Olympian Bob Boozer during the 1957-58 campaign.
• His paternal grandfather (Otto) received his Master's Degree and Ph.D from Nebraska. He joined the faculty of the University of Nebraska in 1948, where he taught sociology and served as director of the community development program in the University of Nebraska Extension Division.
YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN: PART 2
Assistant Coach Doc Sadler brings a unique perspective to the Husker basketball staff, as he returns to Lincoln after serving as the head coach at Southern Miss for the last five seasons. Sadler helped Southern Miss improve its win total in each of the last four seasons, including a 20-13 mark and Conference USA semifinal appearance in 2018-19. Sadler returns to a program that he served as head coach for six seasons, guiding the Huskers to 101 wins and three postseason appearances in his six-year tenure.
It is rare for a coach to return to a program as an assistant coach, as the only other known example is Marty Wilson, who was the interim head coach at Pepperdine in 1996 before returning to the school as an assistant coach in 2008.
FAMILIAR FACES FOR HOIBERG ON HUSKER STAFF
One strength of the Husker coaching staff is a familiarity with each other, as three staff members had worked with Hoiberg as assistant coaches during his previous stint at Iowa State from 2010 to 2015. Matt Abdelmassih also worked under Hoiberg in the front office with the Minnesota Timberwolves, while Bobby Lutz was an assistant coach with the Windy City Bulls in the G League while Hoiberg coached the Chicago Bulls.
Previous Experience with Fred Hoiberg
| Staff Member | Coaching Experience with Hoiberg |
| Matt Abdelmassih, Assistant Coach | Iowa State (2010-15) |
| Doc Sadler, Assistant Coach | Iowa State (2013-14) |
| Bobby Lutz, Special Assistant to the Head Coach | Iowa State (2010-11) |
PINNACLE BANK ARENA SOLD OUT FOR 2019-20 SEASON
Since moving into Pinnacle Bank Arena in 2013, the Huskers have ranked in the top 15 in attendance nationally in each of the past six seasons. The streak will likely continue into 2019-20, as all available season tickets were sold out in August.
• Last season, Nebraska averaged 15,341 fans per home game to rank 10th nationally in attendance, matching the highest rank in school history.
• Nebraska is one of nine schools in the country to average 15,000+ fans per contest in each of the last six seasons, joining Kentucky, Syracuse, Louisville, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kansas and Creighton.
• The Big Ten Conference has led NCAA Basketball in attendance for 43 straight years, dating back to the 1976-77 season. Last season, Big Ten schools drew more than a combined three million fans for the fifth straight year.
Filling Up Pinnacle Bank Arena
| Season | Average | NCAA Rank |
| 2013-14 (1st year of PBA) | 15,419 | 13th |
| 2014-15 | 15,569 | 10th |
| 2015-16 | 15,430 | 11th |
| 2016-17 | 15,427 | 11th |
| 2017-18 | 15,494 | 11th |
| 2018-19 | 15,341 | 10th |
TWO HUSKERS REPRESENT THEIR COUNTRIES
Thorir Thorbjarnarson and Yvan Ouedraogo spent part of the summer representing their home nations. Thorbjarnarson played in three games for Iceland's Senior National Team during the Games of the Small States of Europe, averaging 10 points per game. Ouedraogo played for France's U-18 team at the FIBA European Championships, as the team went 6-1 and earned a fifth-place finish. He averaged 4.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 0.8 steals per game as the second-youngest member of the team.
In addition, former Huskers Tai Webster (New Zealand) and Jorge Brian Diaz (Puerto Rico) represented their nations in the 2019 FIBA World Cup. Diaz started all five games in helping Puerto Rico reach the second round, while Webster averaged 13.4 points and 4.8 assists as New Zealand's starting point guard.