Huskers Head to Rutgers Saturday Afternoon

Nebraska wraps up a two-game road trip Saturday afternoon, as the Huskers travel to Rutgers for a matchup with the Scarlet Knights. Tipoff from Jersey Mike's Arena in Piscataway, N.J. is slated for shortly after 1 p.m. (central) and the matchup will be carried on the Big Ten Network and the Huskers Radio Network. Live video is also available on the Fox Sports app, while the Husker app will feature the Huskers Radio Network call.

The Huskers (6-9, 0-4 Big Ten) comes off a 79-67 loss at No. 10 Michigan State on Wednesday. Behind a solid start and strong play from Derrick Walker Jr., the Huskers were within striking distance for most of the contest, trailing 60-54 with just under seven minutes remaining, but Michigan State used a 12-2 spurt to pull away. Walker led four Huskers by matching his career high with 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting, while Bryce McGowens and Kobe Webster added 13 markers apiece. Max Christie's 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting led four Spartans in double figures.
 

Game 16: Nebraska at Rutgers Date: Saturday, Jan. 8 Tipoff:  1:06 p.m. (CT) City: Piscataway, N.J. Arena: Jersey Mike's Arena (8,000) Nebraska Cornhuskers 2021-22 Record: 6-9, 0-4 B1G Head Coach: Fred Hoiberg Record at Nebraska: 20-54 (3rd year) Career Record: 135-110 (8th year) Rutgers Scarlet Knights 2021-22 Record: 8-5, 2-1 B1G Head Coach: Steve Pikiell Record at Rutgers: 88-82 (6th year) Career Record: 285-256 (18th year) Series Info Series History: Nebraska leads, 9-6 Last Matchup: Nebraska 72, Rutgers 51 (3/1/21) On the Air Radio: Saturday's game 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.  TV/Online: Saturday's game will be televised on the Big Ten Network with Wayne Randazzo and Rapheal Davis on the call. It is also available on the web, mobile devices and connected TVs via the Fox Sports App.

Walker has been the biggest beneficiary of the Huskers tweaking their offense in late December, as the junior forward is averaging 14.0 points on 75 percent shooting. 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game over the last three contests. Walker is posting career bests in scoring (9.9 ppg), rebounding (6.3 rpg), blocks (1.3 bpg) and steals (1.0 spg) while shooting 78 percent from the field. Walker joins Iowa's Keegan Murray as the only Big Ten players averaging at least one block and steal per game through Wednesday's action.

Rutgers (8-5, 2-1 Big Ten) has won three straight games since returning from its pause on Dec. 30, culminating with a 75-67 victory over Michigan on Tuesday evening. Geo Baker led all scorers against the Wolverines with 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting while Ron Harper Jr. added 20 points, including 5-of-6 from 3-point range. The Scarlet Knights shot 48 percent, including 11-of-23 from 3-point range, while limiting Michigan to 3-of-15 from the 3-point line.

The matchup with Rutgers continues a challenging stretch for the Huskers, as NU's first five games in January are all against teams which made the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Following Saturday's game, the Huskers will host Illinois on Tuesday before traveling to No. 3 Purdue on Friday.

B1G Numbers
3 - Alonzo Verge's three games with 10+ assists ties for fourth nationally, and matches the most by any power conference player in 2021-22 (also Kentucky's Sahvir Wheeler) as of Jan. 5. Verge never had 10+ assists in his two seasons at Arizona State.

8 - Nebraska players have combined for eight double-doubles in the first 15 games of the season following Derrick Walker's effort on Jan. 2. NU's highest team total since joining the Big Ten is nine set in 2013-14 and 2019-20.

70/70 - Derrick Walker is one of just nine players nationally shooting better than 70 percent from the field and from the free throw line as of Jan. 5. Among Big Ten players, he joins Purdue's Zach Edey in that club. 

About Rutgers
Rutgers comes into Saturday's game as winners of four of its last five games, including a 75-67 win over Michigan on Tuesday night. The Scarlet Knights are coached by Steve Pikiell, who is in his sixth season at the school. Last year, Rutgers went 16-12 and earned the program's first NCAA bid since 1991 before falling in the final minute to a Houston squad which reached the Final Four. Rutgers returned three starters and 12 letterwinners from last year's NCAA Tournament team.

 The Scarlet Knights got off to a slow start and were 4-4 following a loss at Illinois on Dec. 3. Rutgers stunned No. 1 Purdue, 70-68, behind a 30-point effort from Ron Harper Jr., including a game-winning 3-pointer from halfcourt. Since then, Rutgers is 4-1, including three straight wins following an 18-day pause in December.

The Scarlet Knights are led by Ron Harper Jr., who averages a team-best 15.3 points per game to pace three Scarlet Knights in double figures. Harper, who also averages 7.3 rebounds per game, leads Rutgers with 39 3-points and hit 5-of-6 from 3-point range in Tuesday's win over Michigan. Senior Geo Baker recently returned from injury and is averaging 12.7 points and 4.2 assists per game while shooting almost 40 percent from 3-point range. Clifford Ororuyi is the third player averaging double figures with 11.8 points and a team-high 7.6 rebounds per game.

Series History: Saturday's matchup will be the 16th all-time meeting with the Scarlet Knights. Nebraska leads the all-time series 9-6 and has won eight of the 12 meetings since Rutgers joined the Big Ten. Saturday's game will be the first of two meetings this month as the teams will play in Lincoln on Jan. 29. Prior to the Scarlet Knights joining the Big Ten, the two teams split a home-and-home series in 2006 and 2007. The only other meeting was a 19-point Rutgers win at the 1999 Hoop and Quill Classic in St. Charles, Mo.

Last Meeting: Behind a career-high 25 points from Lat Mayen, Nebraska put together its most complete effort of the season in a 72-51 win over Rutgers on March 1, 2021. Mayen scorched the nets, hitting 9-of-11 from the field, including 5-of-7 from 3-point range, as Nebraska led wire to wire. He had 20 of his points in the first half, as the Huskers raced out to a 43-25 cushion.
Mayen was one of three Huskers in double figures, as Derrick Walker posted a then-career-high 14 points and six rebounds, while Trey McGowens added 12 points and five assists.

The Huskers shot 52 percent from the field, including 55 percent in the opening stanza, and had 19 assists, including 14 in the first half.  Nebraska limited Rutgers to just 39 percent shooting, including 3-of-23 from 3-point range, and out-rebounded the Scarlet Knights, 38-28.
 
Last Time Out
Four Huskers scored in double figures at Michigan State, and Nebraska tied its season high with 12 steals, but NU struggled with its shot in the second half in a 79-67 road loss to the 10th-ranked Spartans Wednesday evening.

Nebraska trailed by just four at halftime and it was still a two-possession game with seven minutes remaining before Michigan State pulled away with a 12-2 run. The Huskers hung in until the end despite shooting just 41 percent from the field in the second half. NU shot 45.0 percent in the game, but Michigan State knocked down 51.8 percent of its shots.

Derrick Walker tied his career high with 16 points and was 8-of-9 from the field. Bryce McGowens finished with 13 points, while Kobe Webster (13) and C.J. Wilcher (10) combined for 23 points off the bench. Alonzo Verge Jr. added five points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals.
Nebraska's defense forced Michigan State into 19 turnovers. Eight different Huskers had at least one steal to contribute to Nebraska's season-high-tying 12 takeaways. The Huskers outscored the Spartans in the paint (34-28), points off turnovers (20-16) and fast-break points (19-14) and bench points were even at 27 apiece, but Michigan State's strong shooting was the difference. When they did miss, the Spartans pulled down 11 offensive rebounds, outscoring Nebraska 16-7 in second-chance points.

Max Christie led the Spartans with a career-high 21 points, going 7-of-9 from the field including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Three other Spartans joined Christie in double figures.
 
Worth Noting

• While Lincoln is nearly 1,300 miles from Piscataway, Saturday's game at Rutgers will be a homecoming for a trio of Huskers from the tri-state area. C.J. Wilcher (Plainfield, N.J.), Quaran McPherson (Queens, N.Y.) and Jackson Cronin (Great Neck N.Y.) all hail from hometowns which are less than two hours away from the Rutgers campus. In fact, Wilcher's hometown is just 9.3 miles from Jersey Mike's Arena.
  Among NU's basketball staff, assistant coach Matt Abdelmassih (Brooklyn, N.Y.), strength coach Kurt Joseph (Morganville, N.J.) recruiting coordinator Athan Katsantonis (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) and graduate manager Hallice Cooke (Union City, N.J.) all have ties to the area. Cooke won two NJSIAA Tournament of Championships at the RAC (now Jersey Mike's Arena) when playing at St. Anthony's High School.  Of the group, only Abdelmassih was at Nebraska during the Huskers' previous trip to Rutgers in January of 2020.
• Nebraska players have combined for eight double-doubles (Verge-4; Walker-3; B. McGowens-1) in 15 games this season after just having three in 2020-21. The last time NU had 10 double-doubles as a team in a season was 2007-08 (17). In all, NU has six players who have had at least one double-double in their respective careers (Trevor Lakes-2; Kobe Webster-1; Lat Mayen-1).
• Nebraska's 15 3-pointers against Kennesaw State on Dec. 22, were not only a season high, but marked just the sixth time since 1990 that Nebraska hit at least 15 3-pointers in a game. It was NU's highest total since Nov. 6, 2018.
• Nebraska is starting to find its shot from 3-point range, as the Huskers are 30-of-75 (.400) in the last three games. In the previous five games, NU shot just 21 percent from beyond the arc.
• Alonzo Verge Jr.'s 16-point, 12-assist performance against Kennesaw State on Dec. 22 marked the eighth points-assist double-double by a Husker in Fred Hoiberg's two-plus seasons at Nebraska (Cam Mack-4; Dalano Banton-1; Alonzo Verge Jr.-3). Over the previous 30 years (1989-90 to 2018-19), it occurred just five times. Verge is only the second Husker to have multiple points-assists double-doubles in the same season since 1990. 
• Nebraska guard Bryce McGowens ranks third nationally among all true freshmen in scoring at 15.6 points per game as of Jan. 5. McGowens is one of only three true freshmen nationally averaging at least 15 points per game as of Jan. 5. McGowens, who leads all Big Ten freshmen in scoring and is second in rebounding, is on pace to threaten NU's freshman single-season scoring mark (15.5, Joe McCray, 2004-05). 
• Nebraska has produced a total of ten 20-point efforts in the first 15 games of the season (Bryce McGowens-4; Alonzo Verge Jr.-4; Kobe Webster-1; Keisei Tominaga-1). Last season, NU had just 12 20-point efforts in 27 contests. McGowens' four 20-point games this season already ranks fourth all-time among Husker freshmen and is the most by any NU freshman since Joe McCray had a school-record 10 in 2004-05.
• For most of the year, the Huskers have done a good job of limiting turnovers, but NU has averaged 18.0 turnovers the last three contests before committing just eight turnovers in the overtime loss to Ohio State on Jan. 2. Following the MSU game, Nebraska now ranks 46th nationally in turnover rate after ranking 205th in that category last year. Fred Hoiberg's teams have traditionally been among the nation's best in that category. Prior to last season, his last three teams ranked in the top 30 nationally in that category. 
• Alonzo Verge Jr. has become more of a playmaker during his time at NU. He is second in the Big Ten with 5.7 assists per game after averaging 2.9 assists per game during his two-year career at Arizona State. Verge has three games with 10+ assists as of Jan. 5, while the rest of the conference has combined for four. Verge's 5.8 assists per game ranks 22nd nationally as of Jan. 5.
• Bryce McGowens joined rare company on Nov. 12 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. 
• Nebraska has been opportunistic on the defensive end, forcing a Big Ten high 16.3 turnovers per game as of Jan. 5. NU leads the Big Ten in steals (8.4 spg) and ranks fourth in turnover margin (+3.7 per game). NU has 10-or-more steals five times, including three of the past four contests.
• Alonzo Verge Jr. is fourth in the conference in steals with 1.7 per game, as he is one of three starters averaging at least a steal per game. NU looks to regain the services of Trey McGowens later this month, as the junior was fifth in the Big Ten in steals per game in 2020-21, but has been out since Nov. 16 with a broken bone in his foot.
• Nebraska added a player over the break as Denim Dawson enrolled for the start of the spring semester. Dawson, a 6-foot-6 wing who attended Southern California Academy as a postgrad. He played at Orange Lutheran in 2020-21, averaging 16 points and five rebounds per game as the school reached the California Division 2AA CIF-SS quarterfinals last spring. Dawson, who started practicing on Dec. 29, is expected to redshirt this season.
• Nebraska's 2021-22 roster features a trio of college graduates in Derrick Walker, Alonzo Verge Jr. and Kobe Webster. Walker became the first member of his family to get a degree when he graduated in May of 2021, while Webster (2020, Western Illinois) and Verge (2021, Arizona State) came to Nebraska as graduate transfers.

"Good things happen when we play through Derrick"
Fred Hoiberg understands the importance of having Derrick Walker on the floor for the Big Red, and Walker's play has been a focal point for the Huskers.  Walker, who is in his third year at NU, has provided the Huskers a much-needed inside threat since becoming eligible last January.
The 6-foot-9 center is enjoying his best year in 2021-22, averaging 9.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.1 steals per game while shooting over 78 percent from the field. He is seventh in the Big Ten in blocks per game and 20th in rebounds per game.

• Walker has played his best against NU's ranked opponents, averaging 13.7 points on 78 percent shooting, 7.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.6 steals per game in three contests.
• He turned in a strong performance at No. 10 Michigan State with 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting to match his career high in points.
• Walker has been in double figures nine times in NU's last 12 games, and tied or set a career best in scoring in three straight games, including 16 points on 7-of-7 shooting against Tennessee State on Nov. 23.
• He matched a school record with 15 consecutive made field goals from Nov. 21 to Nov. 27.
• Walker has three double doubles since Dec. 1 including 12 points and 13 rebounds in a career-high 50 minutes in the four OT loss at NC State. In the loss at No. 18 Auburn, he had 10 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. Walker's most recent double double came against No. 13 Ohio State when he had 15 points, 10 rebounds and four steals against the Buckeyes.

 Super McGowens Brothers
The high-flying duo of Trey and Bryce McGowens will be sidelined for a bit, as Trey recovers from a broken foot suffered against Creighton on Nov. 16, but is expected back in the coming weeks.  The 2021-22 season marked the first time the brothers were on the same court together since they were kids and provided a number of early highlights.

• Bryce is 12th in the Big Ten in scoring at 15.6 ppg while grabbing 5.7 rebounds per game as of Jan. 5. He ranks among the B1G leaders in scoring, free throw percentage and minutes played.
• A three-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week (Nov. 15, Nov. 29, Dec. 20), he leads all conference rookies in scoring and is second in rebounding.
• He is the only Husker freshmen in either the Big 12 (1996-97 to 2010-11) or Big Ten (2011-12 to present) eras to be a three-time honoree as a freshman.
• McGowens has reached double figures in scoring 11 times, including four 20-point efforts. His most recent 20-point game was a 24-point, nine-rebound effort in the 4OT loss at NC State on Dec. 1. McGowens has been in double figures in each of the last five games dating back to Dec. 11.
• He collected his first career double-double on Nov. 21 against Southern with 18 points and 11 rebounds. McGowens also had four assists and two steals in 31 minutes.
• 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 29 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, as he has started 94 of 96 games at the college level for Pittsburgh and Nebraska and scored over 1,000 career points.

• Trey started the first three games and was averaging 6.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game before suffering his injury midway through the first half against Creighton on Nov. 16. McGowens also drew the opponent's top perimeter defender and shared point guard duties. He helped limit Sam Houston's Demarkus Lampley, a returning first-team all-conference performer, to 2-of-14 shooting on Nov. 12.
• 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.
• The McGowens brothers are one of 15 brother combos on the same college roster this season.

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 14.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.6 steals per game. The 6-foot-4 guard from Chicago ranks in the top five of the Big Ten in both assists (second) and steals (fourth) as of Jan. 5.

• He has a 1.56-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio after posting a 1.29-to-1 ratio in his two seasons at Arizona State.
• His 5.73 assists per game would rank fifth in school history.
• Verge is sixth in the Big Ten with four double-doubles (vs. W. Illinois, vs. Tennessee State, at NC State and Kennesaw State).
• He collected his fourth double-double of the year with 16 points and a career-high 12 assists in the win over Kennesaw State.
• He had his fourth 20-point effort of the season with 21 points, five assists, five rebounds and four steals in the loss to Kansas State on Dec. 19.
• Verge posted his second career 30-point game against Michigan on Dec. 7, as he had 31 points and eight boards. It was his first 30-point game since the 2019-20 season when he was at Arizona State.
• Verge nearly had a triple-double in the Huskers' epic game at NC State on Dec. 1 with 25 points, a career-high 11 assists and nine rebounds before fouling out in the fourth OT.
• He led NU with 18 points and 10 assists in the Huskers' win over Tennessee State on Nov. 23.
• 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.

Keisei for 3
The addition of Keisei Tominaga has helped the Huskers' 3-point shooting. The 6-foot-2 guard is fourth on the team in scoring at 8.1 points per game while connecting on a team-high 27 3-pointers entering the Rutgers game. He has also committed just six turnovers in 316 minutes this season.

Tominaga started slowly as he had just three points in his first three games, but is averaging 9.8 points per game on 40 percent shooting in NU's last 12 games dating back to Nov. 19. He has six double-figure games in that stretch, including a career-high 23 points against South Dakota on Nov. 27 and 18 points in the win over Kennesaw State on Dec. 22.

Last summer, Tominaga represented Japan in 3x3 basketball in the Tokyo Olympics, helping Japan reach the medal round. He finished third among all players in scoring (6.9 ppg), fourth in 1-point shooting (74 percent) and seventh in 2-point shooting (36 percent).  He was one of only two active NCAA players to play in the Olympics, joining Virginia's Francisco Caffaro, who played for Argentina in men's basketball. 
 
Four OT Thriller at NC State
Nebraska's four-overtime game at NC State on Dec. 1, was one for the record books. The four OT game matched Nebraska's school record set in 1979 and was the longest Big Ten game in at least a decade. It tied for the second-longest Division I game in the past 10 seasons, trailing only a five OT game between Louisville and Notre Dame on Feb. 9. 2013.

• It was the longest game in Big Ten/ACC Challenge history, but was one of three OT games in the 2021 challenge. The Big Ten won the challenge, 8-6, with three of the six losses coming in overtime.
• It marked only the eighth time in school history where both teams scored over 100 points.
• The 100 points NU scored marked the 44th 100-point game in school history, but only the fifth time that NU scored 100 points and lost.
• Nebraska had a pair of double-doubles from Alonzo Verge (25 points/11 assists) and Derrick Walker (12 points, 13 rebounds). Verge (assists) and Walker (rebounds) both set personal bests on their way to double-doubles.

Husker Injury Update
Fred Hoiberg announced Dec. 22 that freshman forward Wilhelm Breidenbach underwent season-ending leg surgery for an injury suffered in Nebraska's game against Michigan on Dec. 7.  Breidenbach, a 6-foot-10, 227-pound forward from Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., had played in each of Nebraska's first 10 games, averaging 3.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game.

Breidenbach joins starting guard Trey McGowens, who underwent surgery on Nov. 17 to repair a broken fifth metatarsal in his right foot. He is expected back in mid-January.  McGowens had started all 30 games since transferring to Nebraska prior to the 2020-21 campaign. He ranked second on the team in both scoring (10.7 ppg) and assists (2.3 apg) in 2020-21.
 
NU Graduation Success Rate Hits All-Time High of 95 Percent
Nebraska student-athletes have posted a 95 percent NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR), continuing the Huskers' long tradition of being a national leader in the classroom. The NCAA released its GSR scores on Dec. 2, with Nebraska improving its GSR for the 11th straight year.

• The 95 percent GSR rate for all student-athletes ranks third among 14 Big Ten schools. On the national scale, Nebraska's GSR is tied for 10th out of 130 FBS institutions. The 95 percent GSR rate marks the 11th straight year Nebraska has increased its GSR.

• The Husker men's basketball program achieved a 100 percent GSR for the second straight season and was one of 13 Husker programs to post a 100 GSR in the latest rankings. NU was one of five Big Ten teams with a perfect GSR this year.
 
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 Wilhelm 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.

While McGowens has been one of the Big Ten's top newcomers, Tominaga and Breidenbach have made significant contributions. Tominaga has played in all 15 games, averaging 8.1 points per game while leading NU with 27 3-pointers. Breidenbach was Nebraska's top frontcourt reserve before suffering a season-ending injury against Michigan on Dec. 7. He played in NU's first 10 games and averaged 3.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game.
 
Up-Tempo Basketball
One trait of any Fred Hoiberg-coached team is to play at a fast pace. The Huskers have led the Big Ten in pace in each of the last two seasons, ranking 16th nationally by KenPom in 2019-20 and 35th in 2020-21. NU has been the only Big Ten team to rank in the top-50 nationally in each of the past two seasons.

In seven full seasons as a college head coach (five at Iowa State and two at NU), Hoiberg's teams have ranked in the top-50 in tempo five times, including three times in the top-20.  Prior to Hoiberg's arrival, the last time a Husker team was in the top-100 nationally in tempo according to KenPom was in 1999-2000 under Danny Nee.
 

Year	Hoiberg-Coached Team	Big Ten Leader
2010-11	Iowa State (34th)	Iowa (100th)
2011-12	Iowa State (128th)	Iowa (70th)
2012-13	Iowa State (30th)	Iowa (95th)
2013-14	Iowa State (12th)	Iowa (29th)
2014-15	Iowa State (10th)	Minnesota (47th)
2019-20	Nebraska (16th)	Nebraska
2020-21	Nebraska (35th)	Nebraska
2021-22	Nebraska (18th)	Nebraska

 
All in the Family
Several members of the 2021-22 Huskers have family members who have played basketball at the college or professional levels. The list is led by former NBA players Eric Piatkowski, who spent 14 years in the NBA after scoring nearly 2,000 career points at Nebraska, and Fred Hoiberg, who played in the NBA for a decade after a standout career at Iowa State. Keisei Tominaga's father didn't play college basketball, but was a center on the Japanese national team at the 1998 FIBA World Championship and played professionally in Japan for a decade.
 

Player	Relative	College (Sport)
Jackson Cronin	Steve (Father)	Tufts (MBB)
Keon Edwards	Kyre (Brother)	Texas A&M-Kingsville
Sam Hoiberg	Fred (Father)	Iowa State/NBA (MBB)
	Jack (Brother)	Michigan State/UT-Arlington (MBB)
Oleg Kojenets	Aleh (Father)	UNC Wilmington
	Jurga Paliaukaite (Mother)	UNC Wilmington
Trey & Bryce McGowens	Bobby McGowens (Father)	Clemson (FB)/South Carolina State (MBB/FB)
	Pam Owens (Mother)	Western Carolina (WBB)
Jace Piatkowski	Eric Piatkowski (Father)	Nebraska (MBB)
Keisei Tominaga	Hiroyuki (Father)	Played Internationally for Japan
Alonzo Verge Jr.	Alonzo (Father)	Eastern New Mexico (MBB)
C.J. Wilcher	Sergio (Father)	Morgan State (MBB)

 
NBA Coaches Go Back to School
Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg is one of nine active NCAA coaches to have coached in the NBA, as he spent three-plus seasons with the Chicago Bulls. Hoiberg's 270 regular-season NBA games rank third among the 10 former NBA coaches in the collegiate ranks.
 

Coach, School	NBA Head Coach, Years
John Calipari, Kentucky	New Jersey, 1996-99
Leonard Hamilton, Miami	Washington, 2000-01
Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska	Chicago, 2015-18
Lindsey Hunter, Mississippi Valley State	Phoenix, 2013
Eric Musselman, Arkansas	Golden State, 2002-04; Sacramento, 2006-07
Rick Pitino, Iona	New York, 1987-89; Boston, 1997-2001
Reggie Theus, Bethune-Cookman	Sacramento, 2007-09
Darrell Walker, Arkansas Little Rock	Toronto, 1996-98; Washington, 1999-2000
Mike Woodson, Indiana	Atlanta 2004-2010; New York, 2011-14

 
It is Academic For Webster
Kobe Webster became the latest Husker men's basketball player to earn CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, as he was a third-team selection in May of 2021. Webster, who graduated from Western Illinois in 2020, has a 3.75 GPA while working on his master's degree in educational administration.

Webster was the first Husker men's basketball player to be honored since Shavon Shields in 2015 and 2016.  NU Head Coach Fred Hoiberg was a two-time Academic All-American at Iowa State (1994 and 1995) and was inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Hall of Fame in 2016. Entering the 2021-22 school year, Nebraska leads all NCAA Division I schools with 347 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.