Huskers Close Non-Conference Action on Friday

Huskers Close Non-Con Slate  with South Carolina State

The Nebraska men's basketball team looks for its fourth straight win on Friday night, as the Huskers return home to face South Carolina State in the final non-conference matchup of the season.

Tipoff between the Huskers and Bulldogs is set for 6:30 p.m. and tickets are available for the matchup by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets, calling 800-8-BIGRED during business hours (Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-5 p.m.) or at PBA beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday. The game will be carried on the Huskers Radio Network and streamed on B1G+ with Jessica Coody and Erick Strickland on the call.

Nebraska (10-2) comes off a nine-day break following an 83-75 win over North Dakota on Dec. 20. Nebraska rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit by scoring 51 points and shooting 58 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes. C.J. Wilcher led six Huskers in double figures with a season-high 16-point effort, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range, while Juwan Gary posted his second straight double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Wilcher has given the Huskers scoring punch off the bench in recent weeks, averaging 9.0 ppg on 48 percent shooting over the last four games. He is also shooting 50 percent from 3-point range in that span. His 16-point outburst was not only a season best, but also the fourth time this season that a Husker reserve led the team in scoring.  

A win over South Carolina State on Friday will cap one of the most successful non-conference slates in school history. NU has finished non-conference play with one loss only four times (10-1, 2018-19; 10-1, 2003-04; 12-1, 1991-92; 11-1, 1977-78) since World War II. 

South Carolina State (4-10) begins a two-game road trip on Friday and comes off a 101-84 win over Brewton-Parker on Dec. 22. The Bulldogs, who are playing their 10th road game of the season, are led by Davion Everett, who averages 10.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.

Numbers to Know

1.44 -Nebraska's assist-to-turnover ratio this season, which is sixth in the Big Ten as of Dec. 27. NU's best assist-to-turnover ratio in the last decade is 1.32, set in the 2018-19 season. That season, NU had 9.96 turnovers per game, the lowest average since assists were tracked in 1978-79.

2 - Nebraska matched a school record with two turnovers in the win over Duquesne on Nov. 22, matching a record originally set in 2013. As of Dec. 28, it ties for the lowest total by a power conference team in 2023-24.

2 - Number of power conference players averaging at least 10 points, nine rebounds and three assists per game this season as of Dec. 27 - Nebraska's Rienk Mast and Duke's Kyle Filipowski. Only six Division I players are averaging those marks in 2023-24.

4 - The 14-point deficit against North Dakota was NU's largest comeback of the season and fourth time under Fred Hoiberg that Nebraska has overcome a double-digit deficit. It was also NU's largest comeback vs. a non-conference foe since the 2014-15 season. 

6 - Nebraska placed a season-high six Huskers in double figures in the win over North Dakota on Dec. 20.  The group did not include Rienk Mast, who did not play in the win because of surgery two days earlier. 

8.8 - NU ranks second in the Big Ten with 8.8 3-pointers per game as of Dec. 27.  NU has averaged more than 8.0 3-pointers/game just twice in program history (2001-02 and 2020-21).

11 - Juwan Gary's 11 offensive rebounds against Kansas State on Dec. 17 were the most by a power conference player in 2023-24 as of Dec. 27. According to Sports Reference, only two power conference players - Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe (vs. Duke in 2021) and Washington's Nate Roberts (vs. Northern Illinois in 2021) - have grabbed more offensive boards in a game over the last five seasons.

13.5 - Nebraska leads the Big Ten and ranks 11th nationally in fewest fouls per game (13.5) entering this week's action. NU also ranked in the top 20 nationally in that category in 2022-23 (14.1, 16th).

Worth Noting 

• Nebraska's 10-2 record matches NU's best 12-game mark since opening the 1994-95 season with an 11-1 mark in its first 12 contests. The Huskers were also 10-2 on four other occasions (2003-04, 2007-08, 2010-11 and 2018-19) since 2003-04. Nebraska opened the season with seven straight wins, marking just the fifth time in program history that Nebraska opened the season with seven straight wins.
• Nebraska enters the South Carolina State game averaging 76.5 points per game. It is NU's highest points per game average since averaging 80.2 points per game in the 1995-96 season.
• Juwan Gary has posted back-to-back double-doubles entering Friday's game with South Carolina State. The last Husker with three straight double-doubles is Isaiah Roby from Feb. 10-18, 2018. Roby is the only Husker to post three straight double-doubles in the Big Ten era (2011-12 to present).
• After scoring 83 points against North Dakota, Nebraska is now 21-4 under Hoiberg when scoring at least 80 points, including 16-1 over the last three seasons. The only loss was a 104-100 quadruple overtime game at North Carolina State on Dec. 1, 2021. NU has won its last 14 games when reaching the 80-point plateau.
• Nebraska held Kansas State to 46 points in holding the Wildcats to its fewest points since the 2020-01 and third-fewest total at home since Bramlage Coliseum opened in 1988.  It marked the fewest points NU allowed on the road since joining the Big Ten and was only the second time NU had held an opponent under 50 points on the road since the 2011-12 season. Nebraska allowed just 0.68 points per possession, its lowest total in the Big Ten era.
• One strength of the Huskers has been getting to the free throw line. NU has shot more free throws in 10 of 12 games in 2023-24 and its +67 differential ranks fourth in the Big Ten as of Dec. 28.  After getting to the line a season-low four times at Kansas State on Dec. 17, NU went 14-of-19 from the line against North Dakota in its last contest.
• Nebraska enters Friday's game ranked fourth in the Big Ten in free throw shooting at 74.2 percent.  While it is still early in the season, it is on pace to be one of NU's highest season percentages. NU has not shot over 74 percent from the foul line since the 2011-12 season when NU shot a school-record 76.6 percent. 
• Over the last seven games, Nebraska is shooting 82.2 percent (97-of-118) from the charity stripe, including the two best totals in Hoiberg's five seasons.  NU's 19-of-20 effort against Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 26 was its best percentage (min. 20 att.) since going 20-of-21 (.952) against Minnesota on Nov. 26, 1995.
• The Huskers are 16-5 over the last 21 games dating back to Feb. 1, 2023. A big reason for that is NU's offense, as NU has averaged 75.5 ppg on 46 percent shooting in that stretch.  NU posted its seventh 80-point game of the season against North Dakota. In the previous four seasons, NU had just 14 games of 80 or more points.
• Nebraska won its first seven games by 10 or more points. It was just the second time in over 100 years - the other was from Dec. 3-30, 1990 - that the Huskers won seven straight games by double figures.
• Nebraska's bench has provided a spark, averaging 22.3 points per game in the first 11 contests. The Huskers' leading scorer has come from the bench four times (Hoiberg-Lindenwood; Wilcher-Rider and North Dakota; Gary-Stony Brook) and NU has had 10 double-figure efforts from its bench in 2023-24.  Juwan Gary's 20-point effort against Duquesne on Nov. 22 marked the seventh time under Fred Hoiberg that NU had a player score at least 20 points off the bench.
• C.J. Wilcher graduated earlier this month with a degree in child, youth & family studies but will go through graduation ceremonies during the spring. Wilcher, who began his collegiate career at Xavier before transferring to Nebraska before the 2021-22 season, is a three-time Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Roll member and earned Academic All-Big Ten honors in 2023. He will be the fifth college graduate on the 2023-24 Husker roster, joining Josiah Allick, Jarron Coleman, Rienk Mast and Brice Williams.

About South Carolina State
South Carolina State comes to Lincoln with a 4-10 record following a 101-84 win over Brewton-Parker on Dec. 22. In that game, Davion Everett came off the bench for the first time this season and had 21 points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes of work. He was one of four double-figure scorers from the bench in the win, as SCSU shot 50 percent in the second half en route to outscoring Brewton-Parker 57-40 in the final 20 minutes. 

Erik Martin is in his second season in charge of the Bulldog program after serving as an assistant to Bob Huggins for 16 seasons at West Virginia and one season at Kansas State. Martin played collegiately at both TCU and Cincinnati, where he helped the Bearcats to a Final Four appearance in 1992.

The Bulldogs, who wrap up non-conference action with a trip to Oklahoma State on Dec. 31, have been tested during the 2023-24 season. The Bulldogs have faced South Florida, Tulsa, Missouri, and Pittsburgh during non-conference action. Everett leads the Bulldogs in both scoring (10.4 ppg) and rebounding (7.0 rpg), as he grabs an average of 3.5 offensive boards per game. SCSU has nine players averaging at least five points per game and 11 players averaging double-figure minutes. Wilson Dubinsky is the team's top 3-point threat with 30 of the team's 69 3-pointers and is shooting 35 percent from beyond the arc, as he averages 8.6 points per game.

Series History: Nebraska owns a 2-0 record against South Carolina State, but the programs have not met since an 83-57 Husker win on Nov. 17, 2013. The other meeting came during the 2008-09 season when the Huskers downed the Bulldogs, 77-63. NU is 14-0 all-time against the current members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC).

Last Time Out
Nebraska put six players in double figures and used a strong second-half surge to fight off North Dakota, 83-75, on Dec. 20. 

The Huskers overcame a 14-point second-half deficit by shooting 58 percent from the floor after halftime en route to out-scoring North Dakota, 51-33, in the final 20 minutes. The 10-2 start marks NU’s best 12-game start since the 2018-19 campaign.

C.J. Wilcher led six Huskers in double figures with 16 points off the bench, including four 3-pointers, while Jamarques Lawrence and Keisei Tominaga had 14 markers apiece.  Tominaga had seven of his 11 second-half points in a 14-1 run that saw the Huskers nearly completely erase a 46-32 deficit in the first five minutes of the second half. The Huskers had runs of 12-0 and 9-0 in the first nine minutes after halftime, as the Huskers eventually built a 57-51 lead.

North Dakota stayed within striking distance and was within 68-67 after B.J. Omot’s basket with 4:33 left before Lawrence took over. The sophomore had eight of his 14 points in a 11-2 spurt that gave the Huskers a 10-point lead with 46 seconds left to finally subdue the Fighting Hawks.

Juwan Gary posted his second straight double-double with 12 points and 12 boards, while Brice Williams and Josiah Allick added 12 and 10 points, respectively.