Huskers Return to Action vs. Islanders

The Nebraska men's basketball team hits the court for the final time in 2019 on Sunday afternoon, as the Huskers take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.  Tipoff at Pinnacle Bank Arena is set for 1 p.m. and a limited number of tickets are available for purchase by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets or at the Pinnacle Bank Arena box office beginning 90 minutes prior to tipoff.

The Kids Zone on the North Concourse will open 90 minutes prior to tipoff and will be open until 12:45 p.m. Sunday's game will also feature a halftime performance from the legendary Red Panda. 

Sunday's matchup will be carried nationally on BTN with Chris Vosters and Nick Bahe on the call. The game can also be streamed via the web, smartphones, tablets and connected devices through the Fox Sports app.

Fans can follow all of the action across the state of Nebraska on the Learfield IMG College 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.
 

GAME 13: Nebraska vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Date:   Sun., Dec. 29 Time: 1:03 p.m.  Location:  Lincoln, Neb. Arena:  Pinnacle Bank Arena Tickets: Huskers.com/Tickets NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS 2019-20 Record: 5-7 (1-1 Big Ten) Head coach: Fred Hoiberg     Record at Nebraska: 5-7 (1st year)     Career NCAA Record: 120-63 (6th year) TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI ISLANDERS 2019-20 Record: 4-8 Head coach: Willis Wilson     Record at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi: 128-139 (9th year)     Career Record: 346-386 (26th year) BROADCAST INFO Television: BTN     Play-by-play: Chris Vosters           Analyst: Nick Bahe     Online Broadcast: Fox Sports App Radio: Learfield IMG College 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

Nebraska (5-7) looks to bounce back from a disappointing 75-74 loss to North Dakota on Dec. 21. In that game, the Huskers rallied from an eight-point deficit to take a 71-69 lead after a Matej Kavas 3-pointer, but could not hold on for the win. De'Sean Allen-Eikens free throw with 7.3 seconds left broke a 74-all tie, while Dachon Burke missed a potential game winner at the buzzer for NU. Cam Mack led four Huskers in double figures with 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, while Kavas came off the bench for a season-high 12 points, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range. 

Mack runs a balanced Husker offense, as the sophomore is averaging 13.0 points and 6.7 assists per game, piloting an attack that has eight players averaging at least 5.8 points per game.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (4-8) comes to Lincoln looking to snap a three-game losing streak after a 71-67 setback at Central Arkansas on Dec. 21. In that game, Islander guard Myles Smith put on a show with a 31-point effort, including 6-of-10 shooting from 3-point range, but Texas A&M-CC could not hold on, as Central Arkansas rallied in the final four minutes for the win. Smith leads the Islanders at 16.7 points per game.

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT
Cam Mack is one of 11 players in Division I - and two in the Big Ten -  with three double-figure assists performances in 2019-20. Mack is 13th nationally with 6.6 assists per game through the Huskers' first 12 contests.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
1.20-to-1 - Nebraska's assist-to-turnover ratio for the season, but since the loss to Georgia Tech on Dec. 4, it is 1.49-to-1, while averaging 16.0 assists per game in that stretch.

.455 - Thorir Thorbjarnarson is tied for seventh in the Big Ten in 3-point percentage entering the weekend. He is 15-of-33 from long range this season after going a combined 6-of-28 behind the 3-point stripe in his first two years. 

8 - Nebraska has had eight of its nine eligible scholarship players reach double figures this season. The Huskers have three players currently averaging double figures.  

17.6 - Points per game for junior guard Dachon Burke over the last three games, as he is shooting 51 percent from the floor, including 47 percent from 3-point range, during that stretch.  
 
5.8 - Rebounds per game for freshman Yvan Ouedraogo, which is fourth among all Big Ten freshmen. His rebounds per game is on track to be the highest by a Husker freshman since Aleks Maric grabbed 6.3 rebounds per game in 2005-06.

50- Returning point total from last season, all by Thorir Thorbjarnarson. That is the lowest by any power conference team since the 2009-10 season.

SCOUTING TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi comes to Lincoln with a 4-8 mark after dropping a 71-67 decision to Central Arkansas on Dec. 21. In that game, Myles Smith led the Islanders with a career-high 31-point effort, including six 3-pointers, and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds while no other player reached double figures. TAMU-CC led 40-29 at the break but was outscored 42-27 in the final 20 minutes in dropping its third straight game.  Nebraska will be the third power conference team the Islanders have faced in 2019-20 after losing at Vanderbilt (71-66) and at Texas A&M (63-60). In all, six of the 12 games the Islanders have played have been decided by six points or less.

Willis Wilson is in his ninth year as head coach at the school and has guided the Islanders to a trio of 20-win seasons and four postseason appearances, including the CIT title game in 2017. Prior to taking the TAMU-CC program, he spent 16 seasons at Rice, finishing his tenure as the school's winningest coach.

Smith, a 6-foot junior guard, paces the Islanders in scoring at 16.7 points per game, while shooting 41 percent from 3-point range. One of two returning starters, he also pulls down 5.6 rebounds per game and is third on the team in both assists and steals. Jashawn Talton also averages double figures, as he scores 12.7 points per game and hauls in a team-high 7.4 rebounds per contest. In all, TAMU-CC has five players averaging at least seven points per game, and the team allows just 65.3 points per game.

Series History: The matchup is the first between Nebraska and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, while Nebraska is 10-2 all-time against current Southland Conference members.
 
LAST TIME OUT
De'Sean Allen Eikens' free throw with 7.3 seconds broke a 74-all tie, as North Dakota withstood Nebraska's final attempt to hold on for a one-point victory at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Dec. 21.

Eikens hit the first free throw, but missed the second and Dachon Burke Jr. grabbed the rebound and raced down the court for Nebraska's final attempt, but his baseline jumper was off the mark to give UND the upset.

Nebraska, which trailed by as many as eight points with just over eight minutes remaining, rallied behind the shooting of Matej Kavas, who had nine of his season-high 12 points in the final eight minutes. His 3-pointer started an 8-0 run that tied the score at 61- all with 5:49 left. UND would regain the lead at 64-61 on a 3-point play from Marlon Stewart. Nebraska trailed 69-66 before a Burke basket and Kavas' fourth 3-pointer of the night with 1:42 left gave Nebraska its first lead since the opening minutes, but Allen-Eikens' conventional 3-point play with 1:25 left put the visitors up one.

The Huskers trailed 74-71 before Mack tied the game at 74 with 34.3 seconds remaining in regulation, setting up the final sequence.
 
DID YOU KNOW
• Texas A&M Corpus-Christi is third first-time opponent on the Huskers' non-conference schedule.

• The Huskers have already played three overtime games in the first 12 games of 2018-19, posting a 1-2 record. NU's single-season record is four, set five times, most recently in 2007-08. As of Dec. 27, Nebraska has played in three of the Big Ten's seven overtime games, while the Huskers' three overtime games is third nationally and leads all power conference teams.

• Despite the longer 3-point line this season, Nebraska's two returnees are shooting significantly better from beyond the arc than at any point of their career. Both players are averaging more than a 3-pointer per game, which are the highest rates of their career.
 
Huskers' 3-Point Improvement

Player	Career 3-Pct. Entering 2019-20	3/GM	19-20 3Pt Pct.	3/GM
Burke	.333	0.89	.380	1.58
Thorbjarnarson	.214	0.17	.455	1.25

 
• One of the biggest points of emphasis for Hoiberg and his staff has been to shoot better from 3-point range, and that work has paid off. Over the last nine games dating back to Nov. 22, NU is shooting 38 percent from 3-point range and averaging 9.3 3-pointers per game after shooting just 23 percent in the first three games of the season.
 
Huskers' 3-Point Improvement

Category	Before Nov. 22	Since Nov. 22
Games	3	9
3 Pt. Pct.	.231	.384
3-Pointers/Gm	6.0	9.3
Att./Gm	26.0	24.3

• With three players averaging double figures, Nebraska has relied on its balance. In its first 12 games, NU has put at least four players in double figures nine times. The Huskers put five players in double figures against Washington State on Nov. 25 and at Creighton on Dec. 7.

• It is not surprising that Nebraska has relied on its 3-point shooting, as Hoiberg's Iowa State teams led the Big 12 in 3-pointers in four of his five seasons at the school. The Huskers are on pace to average 8.5 3-pointers per game, a total which would rank second in school history and be the most since the 2001-02 campaign.
 
Most 3-Pointers/Game in School History

No.	School	Games	3-Pointers/Game
1.	2001-02	28	9.54
-	2019-20	12	8.50
2.	2006-07	31	7.87
3.	2018-19	36	7.50

 
• Nebraska enters Sunday's game third in the Big Ten in turnover margin at +2.3 per game. The Huskers have forced an average of 14.3 turnovers per game to rank third in the Big Ten while averaging 12.0 turnovers per game to rank fourth. During his tenure at Iowa State, Hoiberg's teams ranked in the top three in the Big 12 in fewest turnovers per game in four of his five seasons at the school.

• Nebraska has 10 double-figure scoring runs this season and at least one double-digit run in four of the last six games following the North Dakota game.

• 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 and the 50 returning points is the lowest by any power conference team since 2009 according to noted statistician Ken Pomeroy.
 
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
 
• Cam Mack's triple-double against Purdue was the first by a Husker in school history and the first by a Big Ten player this season. As of Dec. 26, only 11 players have had a triple-double this season.

•- Cam Mack is the only Husker in the last 30 years to have multiple points-assist double-doubles in the same season as he had one against Southern Utah on Nov. 9 and at Indiana on Dec. 13 in addition to his triple double.  In fact, it is only the seventh time in the last 30 years that a Husker has had a points-assists double-double. His consecutive points-assists double-double was the first since Brian Carr in December of 1985 (vs. UC-Irvine and Creighton).
 
Husker Points/Assists Double-Doubles (Last 30 years)

No.	Pts.	Asst.	Opponent
Cam Mack	11	12	vs. Purdue, 12/13/19
Cam Mack	15	10	at Indiana, 12/13/19
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

 
THE CHASE FOR 1,000
Despite having only 50 points returning from last season, a pair of Huskers are quickly closing in on 1,000 career points at the collegiate level.

Senior Haanif Cheatham enters the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi contest with 995 points during his career and is five points away from 1,000 for his career. Cheatham, who previously played at Marquette and Florida Gulf Coast, is averaging 12.8 points and shooting a career-best 53.7 percent from the field.

Junior guard Dachon Burke Jr. comes into Sunday's game with 974 points following his 10-point effort against North Dakota. Counting his two seasons at Robert Morris, he needs 26 points to reach that plateau. Burke's season high is 25 points at Indiana on Dec. 13. On the year, he leads NU in scoring at 13.4 ppg, while shooting 43 percent from the floor, including 38 percent from 3-point range.

They will join Matej Kavas, who went over 1,000 career points on Nov. 22. Kavas now has 1,045 career points between his time at Seattle and Nebraska.
 
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 15th nationally in offensive tempo, as their average possession is 15.1 seconds per possession through the North Dakota game.

• In his five seasons as a college coach, Hoiberg's teams have ranked in the top 20 in offensive tempo four times, including top-10 rankings in both 2014 and 2015.

• Hoiberg's first Iowa State team in 2010-11 jumped from 67th to 20th nationally in offensive pace and ranked in the top 40 nationally in adjusted 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 adjusted tempo - the 1999-2000 Huskers under Danny Nee. The Huskers' quickest offensive tempo in the last decade was in 2017-18 when the
Huskers were 140th in offensive tempo.
 
JUCO STANDOUTS MACK AND GREEN STEP INTO LINEUP
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 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi game averaging 13.0 points per game while leading the Huskers in assists (6.7) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2-to-1). He is also second on squad in rebounding (4.8 rpg) and steals (1.4 spg).

• Mack ranks third in the Big Ten in assists and sixth in steals and is one of only three Big Ten players - Mack, Maryland's Anthony Cowan and Rutgers' Geo Baker - rank in the top-10 in both categories as of Dec. 26.

• His 6.7 assists per game is on pace to rank third in school history, trailing only Brian Carr, who averaged 7.9 assists per game in 1984-85 and 6.7 assists per game in 1985-86.

• He recorded the first triple-double in program history against Purdue on Dec. 15 with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists, setting season bests in both rebounds and assists in NU's 70-54 win.

• Mack is one of only five players nationally - and two in the Big Ten - to have at least three points-assists double-doubles this season. He is tied with Zavier Simpson of Michigan for second nationally.  He also had 13 points and 11 assists against Southern Utah on Nov. 9 and 15 points and 10 assists at Indiana on Dec. 13.

• He's reached double figures 10 times, including a season-high 24-point performance against South Dakota State on Nov. 15.

• 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 nationally after a stint at Western Nebraska CC, has been a jack-of-all-trades for the Big Red, averaging 9.6 points along with 4.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. He ranks on the top three on the squad in rebounding, assists, steals (1.0 spg) and blocks (0.5 bpg). Green returned to action against North Dakota after missing the previous two games for a violation of team rules.

• He has been in double figure five times, including a season-high 22 points in an overtime win over Southern on Nov. 22. His two 3-pointers helped key a 10-0 spurt in overtime to seal the win.

• Green nearly posted a double-double against Washington State on Nov. 25 with 16 points and eight rebounds in 27 minutes.

• He nearly had a double-double against Southern Utah on Nov. 9 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 in 2019, 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 coming to Nebraska for his final year.

Cheatham has played some of the best basketball of his career over the last month. Over Nebraska's last eight games, he's averaging 15.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, while typically guarding the opponent's top scoring threat.

• Cheatham has reached double figures in seven of the Huskers' last eight games, including a 21-point, six-rebound performance at Indiana on Dec. 13. He had six straight double-figure efforts from Nov. 25-Dec. 13, the second-longest streak of his collegiate career.

• Cheatham posted his first career double-double with 14 points and a career-high 11 rebounds at Georgia Tech on Dec. 4.

• He was in double figures all three games of the Cayman Islands Classic, averaging 19.0 ppg including a career-best 26-point effort against South Florida to garner all-tournament honors.

A former top-100 recruit out of high school, he 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 a team-high 13.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

Burke has reached double figures eight times, including a 25-point effort against Indiana on Dec. 13 and a 21-point performance against South Florida on Nov. 27. Burke leads the Huskers in 3-pointers (19) and is shooting nearly 40 percent from 3-point range.

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.
 
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.

• He is one of the youngest players in the country, as he won't turn 18 until after the 2020 Big Ten Tournament.

• Ouedraogo has started all 12 games for the Huskers, averaging 5.8 points and a team-high 5.8 rebounds per game in just over 20 minutes per game.

• He could become just the third freshman to lead NU in rebounding in a season, joining Aleks Maric (2005-06) and John Turek (2001-02).

• Ouedraogo has played some of his best basketball recently, averaging 8.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game over the Huskers' last three contests.

• Ouedraogo has grabbed five or more rebounds in five of the Huskers' last six games dating back to Nov. 27.

• His 10 rebounds against Indiana marked the second-highest rebounding total for a Husker freshman in his first conference game, trailing only Dave Hoppen in 1983.

• He enjoyed his offensive effort of the season with 11 points, including six in overtime, and four rebounds against Southern on Nov. 22. He snared a team-high 12 rebounds against South Dakota State on Nov. 15.

• 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.
Ouedraogo played for the French U-18 squad at the 2019 European Championships in July, as France went 6-1 and finished fifth in the competition.
 
CROSS LIFTS BENCH PRODUCTION
Freshman Kevin Cross has been a key contributor for the Huskers. The 6-foot-8 freshman from Little Rock, Ark., has been the first Husker off the bench in all 12 games and ranks fifth on the team in scoring at 7.3 points per game while chipping in 4.3 rebounds per game.

• Cross is seventh among Big Ten true freshmen in scoring and fourth in rebounding as of Dec. 26.

• He comes off a nine-point, five-rebound effort against North Dakota on Dec. 21, marking the third straight game he has grabbed at least five rebounds. He has five-or-more rebounds seven times this season.

• Cross has been in double figures four times off the bench, including a season-high 19 points against Southern Utah. He became the first freshman in 73 games to pace the Huskers in scoring, while his 19-point effort was the highest by a Husker rookie since Shavon Shields in 2013.

• He played a complete game in the win over Washington State, scoring 14 points, grabbing a season-high eight rebounds and blocking two shots in 27 minutes

• Cross played a big role in NU's comeback against Southern, scoring all eight of his points in the second half as the Huskers overcame an eight-point deficit.

• He was efficient against South Dakota State, finishing with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and two blocked shots.
 
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 shot 40 percent or better in all three of his seasons at Seattle. Kavas' .435 career percentage ranks 11th among active Division I players.

• 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 comes off his best performance of the year, hitting 4-of-5 3-pointers against North Dakota on Dec. 21. It was the 18th time in his career he had 4-or-more 3-pointers in a game.

• As a sophomore at Seattle, Kavas led the WAC in both 3-point percentage (.464) and 3-pointers per game (2.8).

• Kavas' 186 career 3-pointers would ranks third 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).