Huskers Host Southern Utah Saturday Afternoon

The Husker men's basketball team looks to rebound from a tough opening-night loss, as the Huskers play host to Southern Utah this Saturday, Nov. 9, in a matinee matchup. Tipoff at Pinnacle Bank Arena is slated for 1 p.m., and a very limited number of tickets are available. Those tickets can be purchased online at Huskers.com/Tickets, by calling the NU Athletic Ticket Office at 800-8-BIGRED or at the PBA Ticket Office 90 minutes before tipoff.

Saturday's game will not be televised, but carried online on BTN+ (subscription required) with Dustyn Stortzum and Buzzy Caruthers on the call. Saturday's game is one of three regular-season BTN+ broadcasts in 2019-20 and information on how to subscribe is at btnplus.com.

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. 

On Tuesday, Nebraska was unable to withstand a flurry of 3-pointers from UC Riverside in a 66-47 loss. The Highlanders opened the second half by hitting seven of their first nine shots from 3-point range, turning a four-point halftime lead into an 18-point advantage.

The Huskers, who had just two returning players from last year's team, got off to a hot start and built an early nine-point lead, but cold shooting was NU's downfall. The Huskers shot just 29 percent from the floor, including 6-of-23 from 3-point range and 9-of-19 from the foul line.  Sophomore Cam Mack nearly posted a double-double in his debut with 11 points and nine rebounds, while senior grad transfer Matej Kavas came off the bench and added 10 points in a losing effort. In all, every point scored by NU against UC Riverside was by a player making his Husker debut.

Southern Utah comes into Saturday's game with a 1-0 record after routing Bethesda, 110-66, in its season opener on Tuesday night. Dre Marin's 20 points led five Thunderbirds in double figures, as Southern Utah shot 54 percent, including 62 percent in the first half when they took a 62-31 lead into the locker room. Southern Utah returns four starters from a team that went 17-17 in 2018-19 and reached postseason play for the second time in school history and adds a trio of Division I transfers.

 

GAME 2: NU vs. SOUTHERN UTAH Date: Sat., Nov. 9 Time: 1:01 p.m. (CT)  Location: Lincoln, Neb. Arena: Pinnacle Bank Arena Tickets:  Huskers.com/Tickets NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS 2019-20 Record: 0-1 Head coach: Fred Hoiberg     Record at Nebraska: 0-1 (1st year)     Career NCAA Record: 115-57 (6th year) SOUTHERN UTAH THUNDERBIRDS 2019-20 Record: 1-0 Head coach: Todd Simon      Record at Southern Utah: 37-63 (4th year)     Career Record: 46-71 (5th season) 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. 991

SCOUTING SOUTHERN UTAH
Todd Simon begins his fourth season at Southern Utah after previously working at UNLV and former prep powerhouse Findlay Prep. Simon's teams have increased their win totals in each of the past three seasons, including a 17-17 record and a CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament appearance in 2019. Prior to taking the SUU job, he was at UNLV for three seasons, serving as the interim coach during the second half of the 2015-16 season as the Running Rebels went 9-8. 

This season, the Thunderbirds were picked to finish fourth in the Big Sky Conference preseason poll. SUU returns three players who started at least 15 games from last season.  Fifth-year senior Cameron Oluyitan returns after earning Big Sky Newcomer-of-the-Year honors in 2019 after transferring from Boise State. He averaged a team-high 13.1 points per game while adding 51 3-pointers. Oluyitan had 15 points, seven assists and four steals in the opener.  Fifth-year senior Dwayne Morgan, who began his career at UNLV, returns after he averaged 13.0 points per game in four contests last season before suffering a season-ending injury. Morgan tallied 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting in 19 minutes on Tuesday.  Dre Marin returns after averaging 8.9 points and 3.0 assists per game and had a game-high 20 on Tuesday. Harrison Butler (10.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg) and Arizona State transfer Andre Adams (9.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg) are the other returning starters back in 2019-20. SUU also adds a trio of transfers in Jakolby Long (Iowa State), Daouda N'Diaye (Illinois State) and John Knight III (Utah State). Long and Knight combined for 30 points in Tuesday's opener. 

Series History: NU has won all four previous meetings with Southern Utah, but the teams have not played since a 94-61 Husker win in 2009.

LAST TIME OUT
UC Riverside used hot shooting from the 3-point line and capitalized on Nebraska's cold shooting to take a 66-47 win, spoiling the debut of new Husker Coach Fred Hoiberg.

The Highlanders went 8-of-15 from 3-point range in the second half to break open a four-point halftime lead. DJ McDonald came off the bench for UC Riverside and had 15 points, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range, to lead four players in double figures.

For Nebraska, sophomore point guard Cam Mack led the Huskers with 11 points and nine rebounds, while Matej Kavas came off the bench to add 10 for Nebraska, which shot just 29 percent, including 6-of-26 from 3-point range.

UC Riverside scorched the nets in the first nine minutes of the second half, hitting 7-of-9 from distance to turn a 32-28 lead into an 18-point advantage at 53-35. McDonald went 3-of-3 from beyond the arc in the run, as the Highlanders took command in
that stretch and Nebraska was unable to get within 15 the remainder of the contest.

Dragen Elkaz had 14 points, while George Willborn III finished with 13 points and a game-high 18 rebounds for the winners.

The Huskers got off to a quick start offensively, but could not sustain the momentum as UC Riverside took a 32-28 lead into the break. Despite shooting 35 percent, including 3-of-13 from 3-point range, the Huskers were within striking distance, as they turned nine Highlander turnovers into 10 points.

Nebraska began with a blistering start, hitting six of its first seven shots from the floor in building a 16-7 lead after a Haanif Cheatham free throw in the first half. The Huskers lead 20-12 after an Yvan Ouedraogo basket, but the Highlanders used a 10-2 run to pull even at 22 all after a Willborn 3-pointer. Consecutive 3-pointers from McDonald and Elkaz stretched the lead to six before Kavas scored four straight points to make it a two-point game before Elkaz's tip-in beat the first-half buzzer.

DID YOU KNOW
• 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. That does not count players who sat out last season, such as Dachon Burke Jr.

• Nebraska's five international players (Thorir Thorbjarnarson, Matej Kavas, Dalano Banton, Shamiel Stevenson and Yvan Ouedraogo) ties for eighth nationally and matches the most by a power confernce team (also Cal, Colorado, Syracuse and TCU). 

• Matej Kavas enters the Southern Utah game needing just 10 points to reach 1,000 for his collegiate career. Kavas came off the bench and had 10 points in the opener. 

• Jervay Green had three blocked shots against UC Riverside in the opener. During his two-year junior college career at Western Nebraska CC, he blocked multiple shots just three times in 67 games.

• Dating back to his sophomore season at Robert Morris, Burke had scored 10+ points in 10 straight games before being held to seven on Tuesday. In 2017-18, Burke was not held out of double figures in consecutive games.

• Nebraska is 102-13 (.886) in non-conference home games since the start of the 2006-07 season, including 39-8 (.830) since Pinnacle Bank Arena opened in 2013.

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. 

• He joined a group which includes 1,000-point scorers Tai Webster, Ryan Anderson, Cookie Belcher and Tyronn Lue. 
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. 

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).

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).

TRANSFERS BRING MUCH-NEEDED EXPERIENCE
While Nebraska has only one player who has previously played at Nebraska (Thorir Thorbjarnarson), a good portion of the roster has Division I experience. The Huskers feature six transfers who have combined for more than 3,000 points at the Division I level. Dachon Burke Jr. is the only returnee in the group after he began his collegiate career at Robert Morris before sitting out the 2018-19 season at Nebraska.
 

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

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.
NU is the only school in the country with two of the top 10 junior college transfers in 2019.  They are also the two highest rated junior college players signed by the Huskers since 2011, the first year listed in the database. 

Mack, who was listed as the top JC point guard in the country, starred at Salt Lake Community College in 2018-19, averaging 19.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game while topping the team in assists (7.6 apg), steals (2.4 spg) and blocked shots (0.6 bpg). Mack totaled five 30-point games, including a 40-point outburst against Casper College, and dished out 10 or more assists nine times, including a season-best 14 in one contest. Mack nearly began his Husker career with a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds vs. UC Riverside.

Green was rated as the No. 2 combo guard after spending two years at Western Nebraska Community College. Last season, he garnered second-team NJCAA All-America honors, averaging 23.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. Green ranked eighth nationally in scoring and was the Region IX Player of the Year. He had six 30-point games as a sophomore, highlighted by a school-record 51-point performance against Iowa Lakes CC. In that game, Green was 10-of-14 from 3-point range. 

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 45 percent shooter from 3-point range, and has shot 40 percent or better in all three of his seasons at Seattle. Kavas' .449 career percentage ranks fourth among active Division I players, as he went 2-of-3 from long distance in the opener.  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' 177 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 Returning 3-Point Shooters in Division I (as of Nov. 6)

No.	Player, Schools	Yr.	GP	3pt.	Att	Pct.
1.	Justin Jaworski, Lafayette	Jr.	60	147	321	.458
2.	Noah Baumann, San Jose St./USC*	Jr.	61	121	265	.457
3.	Tyrell Gumbs-Frater, Coastal Carolina	Sr.	49	98	218	.450
4.	Matej Kavas, Seattle/Nebraska	Sr.	85	178	399	.449
5.	Brendan Barry, Dartmouth	Sr.	81	159	357	.445
6.	Sam Hauser, Marquette/Virginia*	Sr.	101	246	553	.445

*-Sitting out 2019-20 season

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 St., 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. 

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

HUSKERS TO PLAY FIVE GAMES VS. RANKED TEAMS
Nebraska is currently scheduled to play five regular-season games against teams in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches preseason top-25 polls. The Huskers will have two meetings against No. 18/16 Ohio State (Jan. 11 in Columbus; Feb. 27 in Lincoln) and single matchups against top-ranked Michigan State (Feb. 20 in Lincoln), No. 7/8 Maryland (Feb. 11 in College Park) and No. 23/22 Purdue (Dec. 15 in Lincoln). The Huskers will face four other opponents (Illinois, Creighton, Michigan and Wisconsin) that received votes in the AP or coaches polls. Last year, the Huskers played a school-record 11 games against ranked opponents.

HUSKERS POST PERFECT ITALIAN TRIP
The Huskers got a head start on the 2019-20 season by traveling to Italy for 10 days last August. NU visited Rome, Florence and Como during the trip while also going 4-0 against teams from Italy and Lithuania.
Fans can relive the trip, as the Big Ten Network produced a three-part documentary (The B1G Trip: Nebraska Basketball) which began airing on the network on Monday, Oct. 28. Additional airings can be found at btn.com/shows and can also be streamed via the web, smartphones, tablets and connected devices through the Fox Sports app.

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.

ROBY EARNS SECOND-ROUND SELECTION
 Isaiah Roby ended Nebraska's NBA Draft drought, as he was selected in the second round by the Detroit Pistons (No. 45 overall) before his rights were traded to Dallas. It was the highest a Husker basketball player had been picked since Tyronn Lue went with the No. 23 pick in the 1998 NBA Draft. 

RULE CHANGES FOR 2019-20
The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved the following rule changes for the 2019-20 season. 
• The 3-point line was moved back to the international basketball distance of 22 feet, 1¾ inches in Division I men's basketball. 

• The shot clock will reset at 20 seconds after a field goal attempt hits the rim and the offensive team rebounds the ball in the front court.

• Players will be assessed a technical foul should they use derogatory language about an opponent's race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation or disability.

• Coaches will be allowed to call live-ball timeouts in the last two minutes of the second half and the last two minutes of any overtime periods. Previously, coaches weren't allowed to call any live-ball timeouts during the game. 

 • In the last two minutes of the second half or the last two minutes of any overtime, instant replay review can be conducted if a basket interference or goaltending call has been made.