Huskers Battle 'Jays Tuesday Night

The Nebraska men's basketball team looks for its second straight win Tuesday evening, as the Huskers welcome Creighton to Pinnacle Bank Arena as part of the 2021 Gavitt Tipoff Games. Tipoff between the Huskers and Bluejays is set for 6 p.m.  A limited number of 300 Level tickets for Tuesday's game are available by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets, calling the NU Athletic Ticket Office at 800-8BIGRED during business hours or at the PBA Box Office beginning Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. 
 

Game 3: Nebraska vs. Creighton Date: Nov. 16 Tipoff:  6:01 p.m. Arena: Pinnacle Bank Arena (15,000) Tickets: Huskers.com/Tickets Creighton Bluejays 2021-22 Record: 2-0 (0-0 Big East) Head Coach:  Greg McDermott Record at Creighton: 255-125 (12th year) Career Record: 355-320 (28th year) Nebraska 2021-22 Record: 1-1 (0-0 Big Ten) Head Coach: Fred Hoiberg Record at Nebraska: 15-46 (3rd year) Career Record: 130-102 (8th year) TV: FS1 Play-by-Play:    Kevin Kugler Analyst:    Nick Bahe Also available on Fox Sports App  Huskers Radio Network Play-by-Play: Kent Pavelka Analyst:  Jake Muhleisen   On the air: Tuesday's game with Creighton will be carried on the Huskers Radio Network, including KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln, KXSP (590 AM) in Omaha and KRVN (880 AM) in Lexington and will also be available on Huskers.com and the Huskers app.  Tuesday's game will be televised on FS1 with Kevin Kugler and Nick Bahe on the call. It is also available on the web, mobile devices and connected TVs via the Fox Sports app.

Tuesday's matchup is part of the Gavitt Tipoff Games, a series of games between the Big Ten and the Big East conferences. The series is named in honor of Hall of Famer Dave Gavitt, founder of the Big East and a basketball visionary. He had profound and lasting influence on the sport of basketball at the collegiate, professional and Olympic levels. Tuesday's game also marks Creighton's first trip to Pinnacle Bank Arena since 2018, as the last two contests were played in Omaha. 

The Huskers (1-1) overcame a slow start to post a 74-65 win over Sam Houston on Friday night. Nebraska shot just 32 percent and trailed 32-27 at the break but turned the tables in the second half. NU shot 50 percent from the field in the second half and went 19-of-23 from the foul line in the final 20 minutes to pull away in the final five minutes. Freshman Bryce McGowens scored a season-high 29 points on 9-of-13 shooting to place three Huskers in double figures. He became just the second Husker freshmen to post multiple 25-point performances in a season, joining Dave Hoppen, the program's all-time scoring leader. 

NU got a strong boost from Eduardo Andre, who posted career highs in both points (11) and rebounds (seven) in 15 minutes. The 6-foot-11 forward keyed runs in both halves, including five points in an 11-1 run which turned a five-point deficit into a 51-46 advantage. Creighton comes into Tuesday's matchup with a 2-0 record following a 51-44 win over Kennesaw State on Thursday. Alex O'Connell's 13 points paced three Bluejays in double figures, while Ryan Nembhard and Ryan Kalkbrenner added 11 and 10 points, respectively. CU held Kennesaw State to 26 percent shooting, including 3-19 from 3-point range. 

About Creighton
Creighton is 2-0 on the season following wins over Arkansas-Pine Bluff (90-77) and Kennesaw State (51-44). The Bluejays replaced all five starters from a team that 22-9 and reached the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2021. Creighton has been strong defensively, holding its two opponents to 32 percent shooting, including just 24 percent from 3-point range. Greg McDermott is in his 12th year at CU after coaching at Iowa State, Northern Iowa, North Dakota State and Wayne State. McDermott has led the Bluejays to top-three finishes in the Big East in each of the past five years.

Offensively, Duke transfer Alex O'Connell leads Creighton in scoring at 16.5 points per game while also pulling in 7.5 rebounds per contest. Freshman Ryan Nembhard is averaging 13.0 points and 6.0 assists per game while Northwest Missouri State transfer Ryan Hawkins has grabbed a team-high 10.5 rebounds per game while chipping in 11.0 ppg. Sophomore Ryan Kalkbrenner (8.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg) and freshman Arthur Kaluma (9.0 ppg, 6.5 rpg) anchor the interior.

Series History: Nebraska and Creighton are meeting for the 55th time in series history on Tuesday night, as Creighton holds a 28-26 lead. The Bluejays have won nine of the past 10 meetings, with the only Husker win coming in the last meeting in Lincoln in 2018. Nebraska is looking for consecutive home wins in the series for the first time since winning three straight times under Doc Sadler (2006-08-10). Tuesday's game will be the fourth head coaching matchup between Nebraska's Fred Hoiberg and Creighton's Greg McDermott. Besides the last two seasons, Iowa State beat Creighton, 91-88, at the Global Sports Hy-Vee Challenge in Des Moines, Iowa on Nov. 21, 2010.

Last Season:  Teddy Allen had 26 points and nine rebounds, but Nebraska was unable to withstand No. 8 Creighton's second-half run in falling 98-74. Nebraska battled toe-to-toe with Creighton for 25 minutes and was within 55-51 after Trey McGowens' 3-pointer with 14:42 remaining, but the Bluejays seized control with a 23-2 spurt, hitting 9-of-11 shots from the floor, including four 3-pointers.

Marcus Zegarowski's 22 points led five Bluejays in double figures, as Creighton improved to 4-1 on the season. Creighton shot 52 percent from the field, including 61 percent in the second half, and turned 25 Nebraska turnovers into 38 points.  For Nebraska, McGowens had 15 points, while Dalano Banton added 12 points and seven boards, as the Huskers shot 44 percent, including 11-of-26 from 3-point range.

Last TIme Out
Bryce McGowens' 29 points led three Huskers in double figures, as Nebraska overcame a 10-point second-half deficit to post a 74-65 win over Sam Houston on Nov. 12. McGowens totaled 29 points – tying the second-highest total by a freshman in school history – on 9-of-13 shooting, including four 3-pointers and five rebounds for Nebraska. NU also got 13 points, seven assists and four steals from Alonzo Verge Jr., while Eduardo Andre provided a big spark off the bench with 11 points and seven boards – both career bests - in 15 minutes.

Nebraska trailed 37-27 in the opening minutes of the second half before using runs of 6-0 and 10-1 to take a 51-45 lead with 10:30 left after Andre scored five straight Husker points. Nebraska took control with a 14-5 second-half run, holding Sam Houston State to one field goal in a six-minute stretch to build a 67-57 with 2:26 left.

Savion Flagg led Sam Houston (1-1) with 31 points, but was the only Bearkat in double figures. NU held Demarkus Lampley – a returning all-conference performer - to just seven points on 2-of-14 shooting, as Sam Houston shot just 37.5 percent from the field.

Worth Noting
•-NU's roster features four players, including a pair of starters, from last season's game in Omaha (Trey McGowens, Lat Mayen, Kobe Webster and Jace Piatkowski). Webster faced Creighton last year, and also when he was at Western Illinois in 2018-19, a game he posted his only career double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds. In addition, transfers Alonzo Verge (ASU), C.J. Wilcher (Xavier) and Keon Edwards (DePaul) all faced the Bluejays at their previous schools.

•-Bryce McGowens joined rare company on Friday against Sam Houston with his 29-point effort. It tied for the second-highest performance by a freshman in school history and was the most since Shavon Shields also had 29 at Penn State in 2013. McGowens, whose 25-point effort against WIU set a record for a Husker freshman in his debut, became just the ninth freshman to post multiple 20-point efforts. Only Joe McCray (10, 2004-05), Jerry Fort (6, 1972-73) and Dave Hoppen (5, 1982-83) have more 20-point performances than McGowens.

•-Tuesday's game against Western Illinois featured two of the highest-scoring debuts by any Husker in the last 50 years. Alonzo Verge Jr. (26) and Bryce McGowens (25) became just the third and fourth Huskers in the last five decades to score 20+ points in a Husker debut.

•-Alonzo Verge Jr. posted his first career double-double in Nebraska's opener with 26 points, a career-high 13 rebounds and five assists against Western Illinois. Last year, only two Big Ten players had a game with at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists - Illinois Ayo Dosunmu (vs. North Carolina A&T) and Purdue's Trevion Williams (vs. Ohio State).

•-Prior to Tuesday. the last Husker to have at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a game was Lance Jeter (27 points, 10 rebounds, five assists) in an overtime loss to Iowa State on Feb. 26, 2011.

•-The season opener against WIU marked only the third time since 2007 that Nebraska had two players score 25-or-more points in a game. It also marked the fourth time that NU had multiple 20-point scorers in a game in Fred Hoiberg's tenure.

Opponent (Year)	Result	25+ Points Players
Wisconsin (2013-14)	W, 77-68	Terran Petteway (26); Shavon Shields (26)
at Michigan State (2018-19)	L, 76-91	James Palmer Jr. (30); Glynn Watson Jr. (25)
Western Illinois (2021-22)	L, 74-75	Alonzo Verge Jr. (26); Bryce McGowens (25)

Huskers in the Gavitt Tipoff Games
For this season, the Huskers' annual in-state matchup with Creighton is part of the Gavitt Tipoff games. The 2021-22 season marks the sixth time the event has been held with the Big Ten posting a 2-0-3 record in the conference challenge, posting 5-3 wins in both 2018 and 2019 and splitting matchups in 2015, 2016, 2017.  Last year, the conferences mutually agreed to cancel the 2020 series after the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the start of the 2020-21 NCAA basketball season and presented scheduling and timing issues.

Nebraska is 1-2 all-time in Gavitt Tipoff Games and have not played in the event since an 80-57 win over Seton Hall in 2018. That is the only other time NU has hosted a Gavitt Tipoff Games contest, as the Huskers traveled to Villanova (2015) and St. John's (2017).

Throughout the eight-year series, each Big Ten program is slated to take part a minimum of four times, while each Big East team is scheduled to participate a minimum of six times.

Huskers Look to Take Advantage of Experience
Nebraska's 2021-22 roster has plenty of college experience, as Derrick Walker, Kobe Webster, Alonzo Verge, Lat Mayen and Trevor Lakes all begin their fifth season of college eligibility. Lakes and Webster are "Super Seniors" who took advantage of their free year of eligibility.  Nebraska returns three players who have scored at least 1,000 points at the college level. Walker, who turned 24 on Tuesday, and third-year walk-on Jace Piatkowski are the only players remaining from Fred Hoiberg's first team at Nebraska.

The Huskers' starting lineup on Friday against Sam Houston was older than the lineup the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder started the same evening against Sacramento.

Starting Lineups (Nov. 12, 2021)

Nebraska	Age	Oklahoma City	Age
Derrick Walker	24	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	23
Alonzo Verge Jr.	23	Luguentz Dort	22
Lat Mayen	23	Darius Bazley	21
Trey McGowens	22	Jeremiah Robinson-Earl	21
Bryce McGowens	19	Josh Giddey	19

A Look at the Huskers
Head Coach Fred Hoiberg begins his third season at the helm of the Husker program with a strong returning corps back for the first time in his tenure. The Huskers return three starters and seven letterwinners while welcoming a consensus top-20 recruiting class which features five-star recruit Bryce McGowens.

The backourt returnees are led by fourth-year junior Trey McGowens, who averaged 10.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in 2020-21. The combo guard is averaging 8.5 points, 6.0 rebound and 1.5 steals per game this season while typically guarding the opponent's top defender. Arizona State transfer Alonzo Verge Jr. has provided an immediate impact in the Husker backcourt, ranking sixth in the Big Ten in scoring (19.5 ppg) and third in assists (6.0 apg). McGowens has lived up to his five-star label early on, as he leads the Big Ten in scoring at 27.0 ppg, while grabbing 5.5 rebounds per game. NU has relied on newcomers C.J. Wilcher and Keisei Tominaga to provide depth, as Kobe Webster (8.1 ppg, 38 percent from 3-point range) works his way back from an injury. NU went with a four-guard lineup in the opener, as Wilcher made the start.

The Huskers' frontcourt got a boost back on Friday, as Lat Mayen returned to action after missing the opener because of an injury suffered in the Colorado exhibition.  Mayen, who averaged 8.6 ppg and 4.5 rpg last season, played 18 minutes in his return. Derrick Walker has been steady inside, leading NU in rebounding at 8.0 per game, while averaging 5.5 points on 60 percent shooting per contest. Eduardo Andre, who had 11 points and seven boards against Sam Houston, Top-100 recruit Wilhelm Breidenbach, DePaul transfer Keon Edwards and Trevor Lakes have also seen action in the Husker frontcourt.

Super McGowens Brothers

Trey and Bryce McGowens are on the court together for the same team for the first time since they were kids, and provided early highlights for the Big Red. The McGowens brothers are one of 14 brother combos on the same college roster this season and are combining for 35.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game.

• Bryce leads the Big Ten and is tied for fifth nationally in scoring at 27.0 ppg as of Nov. 14. Currently, he is one of seven freshmen nationally averaging 20.0 ppg during the first week of the season. McGowens is shooting 52 percent from the floor, 39 percent from 3-point range and 81 percent from the line.

• He is just the second Husker freshman to ever put up multiple 25-point games, as he had 25 in the opener against Western Illinois and 25 in the win over Sam Houston. He joins Dave Hoppen, who accomplished the feat during the 1982-83 season (27 vs. K-State; 25 vs. Iowa State).

• As a high schooler, he totaled 2,341 points, including 285 3-pointers and was selected for the 2021 Iverson Classic. He was also selected to the Jordan Brand Classic, but the event was not held

•Last season, he was the Gatorade South Carolina Player of the Year, averaging 21.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists per contest for Legacy Early College and Coach BJ Jackson. 

• Trey has been a proven performer throughout his career, has he has started 93 of 95 games at the college level for Pittsburgh and Nebraska and scored over 1,000 career points. He is also ranks 26th nationally among Division I players with 168 steals.

• The elder McGowens is averaging 8.5 points, 6.0 rebound and 1.5 steals per game, while drawing the opposition's top scoring threat. In Friday's win, he helped limit Sam Houston's Demarkus Lampley, a returning first-team all-conference performer, to 2-of-14 shooting.

• Last season, Trey averaged 10.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.1 assist per game, while starting all 27 games. He reached double figures 17 times in 2020-21, including a season-high 20 points against No. 17 Michigan State.

McGowens, Verge Among Top Impact Newcomers
Nebraska guards Bryce McGowens and Alonzo Verge Jr. were listed among the top impact newcomers by ESPN's Jeff Borzello. The list featured the top 91 players -- and a handful of other notables -- whose wearing of new jerseys in the 2021-22 college basketball season will have the most substantive impact on their teams. McGowens, a five-star recruit and consensus top-25 recruit, was ranked No. 25 overall, including 11th among all freshman nationally. Verge, who came to Nebraska after playing two seasons at Arizona State, was No. 33 overall and 21st among all transfers entering 2021-22.

Zo Takes the Point
Alonzo Verge took over the point guard duties from 2021 NBA Draft pick Dalano Banton, and Verge has provided an immediate impact, averaging 19.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game. The 6-foot-4 guard from Chicago enters the week ranked sixth in the Big Ten in scoring, third in assists and eighth in steals.

• He posted his first collegiate double-double in the opener with 26 points - the most points ever in a Husker debut - a career-high 13 rebounds and five assists.

• Verge was a combo guard during his two seasons at Arizona State, where he teamed with current Kansas guard Remy Martin in one of the highest scoring backcourts in the Pac-12.

• He averaged 14.0 points, 3.8 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game in 2020-21, ranking among the Pac-12 leaders in scoring (15th), assists (seventh), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.55-to-1, sixth), steals (1.2, 13th) and free throw percentage (.809, 13th).

• In his first season at ASU, he was the 2020 Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year and an honorable-mention all-conference pick after averaging 14.6 points per game, 3.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game.

• A two-time NJCAA All-American at Moberly Area (Ill.) CC, he ranked in the top three nationally in both scoring and assists in 2018-19. He tallied 1,086 points (30.9 ppg in 35 games), but also dished out 8.2 assists per game en route to first-team accolades.

Husker Recruiting Class Seeing Stars
The Huskers brought one of the nation's top recruiting classes to campus this fall. The class is ranked as high as 13th by ESPN as well as 18th by 247Sports and 21st by Rivals and is the third-highest ranked class in the Big Ten.

 Nebraska's five signees are headlined by five-star Bryce McGowens and four-star recruit Wilheim Breidenbach, both of whom were top-100 recruits. McGowens was a consensus top-25 recruit who played in the Iverson Classic and was selected to the Jordan Brand team. NU rounded out the class with junior college All-American Keisei Tominaga and freshmen Oleg Kojenets and Quaran McPherson.

The Huskers three incoming transfers, who do not count in recruiting rankings included a pair of former top-100 recruits in C.J. Wilcher (Xavier) and Keon Edwards (DePaul), while Alonzo Verge spent the last two seasons at Arizona State, where he was the Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year in 2020.