2019-20 Nebraska Season Review

Nebraska Women's Basketball Review
• 3-Game Improvement Over 2018-19 
• Rising Home Attendance
  (No. 20 in Nation, 4,397 per game)
• Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year (Leigha Brown)
• Big Ten All-Defensive Team (Kate Cain)
• No. 48 in Final Massey Ratings
• 1 of 10 Big Ten Teams in Final NCAA RPI Top 100
• 8 Games vs. Big Ten Teams in Final NCAA RPI Top 20
• 14 Games vs. Teams in Final NCAA RPI Top 50
• 15 Consecutive Seasons with 100 Percent Graduation Success Rate
• 8 Academic All-Big Ten Selections

Postseason Worthy Huskers See Season End Early
• The Nebraska women's basketball team produced gains on and off the court throughout 2019-20, but the Huskers had their season come to a premature close because of the coronavirus outbreak.
• Nebraska, which produced a three-game improvement in the win column over its 2018-19 season, finished with a 17-13 overall record. The Huskers were not only postseason eligible, but likely to host at least a first-round WNIT game at Pinnacle Bank Arena. That announcement was scheduled to come on Monday, March 16, but the NCAA and Triple Crown Sports (WNIT) both announced prior to the scheduled selections that the remainder of the 2019-20 college basketball season was canceled.
• Despite the disappointment, fourth-year Nebraska Coach Amy Williams and her Huskers had plenty of reasons to be proud in 2019-20.
• Going head-to-head against the highest quality of Big Ten competition since the Huskers joined the conference in 2011-12, Nebraska ranked No. 48 in the final Massey Ratings.
• The Huskers, who battled their way to a 7-11 Big Ten mark despite playing eight games against conference foes that finished in the final NCAA RPI Top 20, were one of 10 Big Ten teams to finish in the NCAA RPI Top 100.
• Nebraska produced its best record at home (13-4) since 2015-16, while posting its highest average home attendance mark (4,397) since 2016-17. The Huskers ranked No. 20 nationally in average home attendance - their 11th straight season in the top 25 in the NCAA attendance rankings.
• The Huskers ranked fifth among Big Ten teams in attendance, as the conference featured nine of the top 30 schools nationally in average home attendance.
• Individually, sophomore Leigha Brown led the Huskers in scoring (14.4 ppg), which ranked 10th in the Big Ten. Brown was named Nebraska's first Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year and was an honorable-mention All-Big Ten selection.
• Junior Kate Cain earned her second spot on the Big Ten All-Defensive team, while smashing Nebraska's career blocked shot record (280). The 6-5 Cain also set the Husker season record with 101 blocks, which led the Big Ten. She joined Brown as an honorable-mention All-Big Ten choice.

Brown Named Big Ten Sixth Player of The Year
• Leigha Brown was named the Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year by both the conference coaches and media following the conclusion of the 2020 league regular season.
• The 6-1 guard/forward from Auburn, Ind., led the Huskers in scoring with 14.4 points per game, while adding 3.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists off the bench. 
• Brown finished 10th in the Big Ten in scoring and was the only non-starter to rank among the top 25 scorers in the conference. She scored 22 points in each of Nebraska's final three games of 2019-20.
• She led the Huskers in free throws made (116) and attempted (152) while shooting 76.3 percent at the line. Brown was the first Husker guard to make 100 free throws in a season since 2013 WNBA first-round draft pick Lindsey Moore in 2012-13 (121-150, .807).

Cain Earns Second Spot on All-Defensive Team 
• The greatest shot-blocker in Nebraska history, Kate Cain earned a spot on the Big Ten All-Defensive Team for the second time in her career in 2020. She was also an honorable-mention All-Big Ten selection.
• In Big Ten regular-season play, Cain led the conference in both blocks (3.6 bpg) and defensive rebounds (6.7 drpg).     
• Cain, who has shattered the Nebraska career block record (280), joined the Big Ten's all-time top 10 in blocks. 
• The 6-5 Cain broke her own school single-season record by notching 101 blocks in 2019-20. She set the previous record with 100 blocks in 2017-18.
• Cain, who was among the 20 initial candidates for the 2020 Lisa Leslie Award, averaged 9.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and a Big Ten-best 3.4 blocks per game in 2019-20. Her 101 blocks ranked third nationally while her 3.4 blocks per game ranked fourth.
• She had five Big Ten double-doubles in 2019-20, including 12 points, 12 rebounds, seven blocks and a career-high four steals at No. 19 Northwestern (Feb. 16).
• Cain had 14 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocks against Ohio State (Feb. 2).
• After going without a block for the only time in 2019-20 at No. 20 Maryland (Jan. 16), Cain had multiple blocks in 11 consecutive games, including at least five blocks in six straight games from Minnesota (Jan. 30) to Northwestern (Feb. 16).

Husker Nuggets
• The Big Ten finished with 11 teams in the final top 64 of the Massey Ratings: Maryland (4), Northwestern (8), Indiana (11), Iowa (17), Ohio State (19), Michigan (27), Rutgers (30), Purdue (41), Nebraska (48), Michigan State (50), Minnesota (62).
• The Huskers played a whopping 16 games against teams that finished in the top 50 in the Massey Ratings in 2019-20.
• The Big Ten had 10 teams finish in the NCAA RPI Top 100. The Huskers played 17 games against teams that finished in the top 100 among the 351 Division I women's basketball schools.
• Nebraska allowed 65.5 points per game in 2019-20, an improvement of 4.6 points per game compared to its scoring defense average (70.1 ppg) in 2018-19. 
• The Huskers held opponents to 37.4 percent shooting from the field in 2019-20, an improvement of 3.7 percent (.411) compared to 2019-20. 
• Nebraska led the Big Ten in blocked shots (6.3 bpg) in 2019-20, while shattering the school record with 188 blocks on the season. 
• The Huskers have produced the top three blocked shot totals in school history in each of the last three seasons (188, 2019-20; 163, 2017-18; 156, 2018-19).
• Kate Cain has produced the top three individual block totals in school history each of the past three seasons (101, 2019-20; 100, 2017-18; 79, 2018-19).
• Nebraska ranked second in the Big Ten in total rebounds (39.8 rpg) and defensive rebounds (28.3 rpg) in 2019-20.
• The Huskers ranked fourth in the Big Ten in field goal percentage defense (.374), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.0) and free throw percentage (.729) in 2019-20.
• NU's bench outscored opponent reserves in 25 of 30 games in 2019-20. The Husker bench has outscored opposing benches in 53 of the last 60 games, including double-digit edges 37 times.
• In 2019-20, NU's bench outscored opposing benches 781-479 (26.0-16.0 ppg) an average of 10 points per game. Over the last two seasons, Nebraska's bench has outscored opponent reserves 1,701-954 (28.4-15.9 ppg).
• Nebraska has hit 10 or more threes 20 times in the last three seasons (92 games), including five times in the last 21 contests. Through the first 20 seasons with the three-point shot in women's basketball (1988-2007), Nebraska hit 10 threes in a game just six times (311 games).