Huskers Look for Win No. 20 on Sunday Against Minnesota

Huskers Look for Win No. 20 on Sunday Against Minnesota
The Nebraska men's basketball team looks to continue their late-season run on Sunday, as the Huskers face the Minnesota Golden Gophers.  Sunday's game is a sellout with a crowd of over 15,000 anticipated, the third straight sellout this month for the Big Red. Sunday's game will be televised on BTN and available on the Huskers Radio Network.

Nebraska (19-8, 9-7 Big Ten) comes into Sunday's game riding a three-game win streak following an 85-70 win at Indiana on Wednesday night. Keisei Tominaga and Jamarques Lawrence combined for 39 points, including nine 3-pointers, as Nebraska matched a season-high with 14 3-pointers en route to its first Big Ten road win of the season. Nebraska held Indiana to just 42.6 percent shooting and forced 10 turnovers which led to 15 Husker points. 

Nebraska's defense has shined during the second half of Big Ten play. Over the last six games, NU is averaging 69.5 points per game, which is eight points per game fewer than during January. The Huskers have held all six opponents to under 43 percent shooting and has climbed to 47th nationally in defensive efficiency. 
Nebraska enters Sunday's game with a 16-1 home mark and can match the school record for home wins in a season on Sunday. NU won 17 home games three times in program history, most recently in 2010-11. 

Minnesota (17-9, 8-7 Big Ten) has been playing its best basketball of late and comes off an 88-79 win over Ohio State on Thursday night.  Elijah Hawkins had 24 points and seven assists while Dawson Garcia had 22 points and nine rebounds. Minnesota shot 50 percent from the field, including 8-of-19 from 3-point range, and enjoyed a 32-26 advantage on the glass. 

Numbers to Know
4 - Jamarques Lawrence became just the fourth player in school history to go 5-of-5 from 3-point range in a game, joining Ryan Anderson (at Rutgers, 12/2/06), Brian Conklin (Missouri, 2/7/04) and Cary Cochran (at Missouri, 1/6/01).

9.4 - NU leads the Big Ten with 9.4 3-pointers per game as of Feb. 23, an average which is on pace to challenge the single-season school record for 3-pointers per game (9.5/gm, 2001-02). The Huskers are 10-4 this season when hitting at least 10 3-pointers.

18 - Nebraska has won its 18 games dating back to last season when holding an opponent to 70 points or less. This season, NU is 14-0 following the win over Indiana on Feb. 21.

.972 - Keisei Tominaga's free throw percentage in Big Ten play, as he is 36-of-37 from the foul line in conference play. Last year, Tominaga was a 78 percent free throw shooter in Big Ten action. 

11 - Fred Hoiberg has 11 career wins against top-10 teams and 28 wins over ranked opponents in his collegiate coaching career. This season, NU has wins over No. 1 Purdue and No. 6 Wisconsin.

2 - Rienk Mast became only the second Husker in the last 25 years to post a 30-point, 10-rebound game with his performance against Ohio State on Jan. 24. He joined Aleks Maric, who accomplished the feat four times in his career from 2005 to 2008.

9- Nine members of the Husker men's basketball team were named to the NU Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll for the fall semester announced on Feb. 22. The group includes Josiah Allick, Henry Burt, Jeffrey Grace III, Sam Hoiberg, Rienk Mast, Eli Rice, Keisei Tominaga,  C.J. Wilcher and Brice Williams.  Mast was one of 72 Huskers across all sports with a perfect 4.0 GPA.

Worth Noting 
• Nebraska has already exceeded its win total from last season (16) and the 19 wins this season are the most by the Huskers since the 2018-19 season. Under Fred Hoiberg, NU has increased its win total in each of the past three years, the first time that has happened in the program since the mid-1960s (1963-64 to 1965-66).

• Nebraska will look for its 20th win of the season on Sunday. Nebraska has won 20-or-more regular-season games just six times in school history (1919-20, 1965-66, 1977-78, 1990-91, 1992-93, 2017-18). NU has a total of 13 seasons with 20 or more wins in school history. 

• Nebraska enters Sunday's game with a 19-8 record, which matches the Huskers' best 27-game mark since joining the Big Ten in the 2011-12 season (also 19-8 in 2017-18).  The last time NU had a better record after 27 games was a 22-5 mark in 1990-91. The Huskers were also 19-8 in 1991-92 and 1992-93. 

• Nebraska is one of four Big Ten teams that currently ranks in the top-50 nationally in both offensive and defensive efficiency in KenPom, joining Purdue, Wisconsin and Michigan State as of Feb. 22. 

• The Huskers are 16-1 inside Pinnacle Bank Arena this season, which matches the most wins in a season since the facility opened in 2013-14. A win Sunday would tie NU's record for most home wins in a season. 

• NU goes for its 10th Big Ten win of the season on Sunday. A win would give the Huskers a .500 mark in Big Ten play for the first time since the 2017-18 season. NU has finished .500 or better in Big Ten play just twice since joining the conference (2013-14 and 2017-18). 

• Nebraska enters the Minnesota game averaging 77.3 points per game to rank fourth in the Big Ten in scoring offense as of Feb. 23.   It is NU's highest points per game average since the 1995-96 season (80.2 ppg) and it would rank 10th on the Husker single-season chart.   NU has climbed from 149th to 38th nationally in offensive efficiency in KenPom as of Feb. 23. NU's highest average since joining the Big Ten is 73.3 points per game in 2021-22.

• Nebraska has already broken several long losing streaks to teams this season. The Feb. 10 win over Michigan snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Wolverines. It marked the fifth streak of at least seven games snapped this season: Michigan State (11 games); Michigan (eight games); Kansas State (seven games); Indiana (seven games) and Northwestern (seven games).

•  Nebraska leads the Big Ten and ranks 23rd nationally with 9.4 3-pointers per game as of Feb. 23. NU has 255 3-pointers this season, a total which is third on NU's single-season chart. The Huskers are just 15 3-pointers away from matching the school record set in 2018-19 (36 games). 

• A few Huskers are approaching milestones heading into Sunday's game with Minnesota. Keisei Tominaga:  Is five points away from moving past Terrance Badgett for 36th on NU's career scoring list...Needs 51 points to become the 31st player in school history to reach 1,000 points at Nebraska. C.J. Wilcher: Is eight points from 800 for his career and 750 points at Nebraska...Is 20 points away from cracking the top-60 scorers on NU's career list.

• With the win over No. 6 Wisconsin on Feb. 1, Nebraska has two top-10 wins for the first time since 2013-14 and the sixth time in school history (2023-24, 2013-14, 1993-94, 1991-92, 1990-91 and 1957-58).  The 1957-58 team was coached by Jerry Bush, the grandfather of current Husker Head Coach Fred Hoiberg. 

•  The Huskers have been one of the most consistent teams in the Big Ten for the last year. NU is 25-11 over the last 36 games dating back to Feb. 1, 2023, which ranks second only to Purdue in the Big Ten in winning percentage in that span. 

• While NU's offense garners much of the headlines, the Huskers rank second in the Big Ten in field goal defense, holding opponents to .400 shooting percentage. NU has held seven straight foes to under 43 percent dating back to Jan. 27. 

• Nebraska enters Sunday's game ranked fourth in the Big Ten in free throw shooting at 75.7 percent.  It is on pace to be one of NU's highest season percentages in school history and the highest since the 2011-12 team set a school record with a .766 free throw percentage.  In Big Ten play, Nebraska is shooting 77.9 percent from the line as a team. 

• The Huskers are 25-6 under Fred Hoiberg when scoring at least 80 points, including 20-3 over the last three seasons. All three losses have come in overtime (104-100 in 4OT at NC State on Dec. 1, 2021; 87-82 in OT at Rutgers on Jan. 17, 2024; 87-84 at Illinois on Feb. 4, 2024). NU had won its last 17 games when reaching the 80-point plateau before the OT loss at Rutgers.

• One strength of the Huskers has been getting to the free throw line. NU has shot more free throws in 17 of 27 games in 2023-24 and its +73 differential is fifth in the Big Ten as of Feb. 23. NU is also second in the conference in keeping people off the line, allowing 16.6 free throw attempts per game. 

• Nebraska's bench has provided a spark, averaging a conference-best 23.1 points per game as of Feb. 23. The Huskers' leading scorer has come from the bench eight times (Hoiberg-Lindenwood; Wilcher-five times; Gary-Stony Brook; Allick-Iowa), and NU has had 24 double-figure efforts from its bench in 2023-24.

• The Huskers finished non-conference action with a 10-1 mark, matching their best non-conference record since joining the Big Ten (also 2018-19).  

About Minnesota
Minnesota has been one of the surprises in the Big Ten with a 17-9 record, including 8-7 in conference play. The Gophers have won five of their last seven contests, including wins over Northwestern and Michigan State. 

The Gophers feature one of the best big men in the conference in Dawson Garcia, who played at Marquette and North Carolina before returning to his home state. Garcia is averaging 17.7 ppg on 47 percent shooting and a team-high 6.6 rebounds per game. Minnesota has four players averaging double figures while Elijah Hawkins is at 9.1 points per game and is second nationally with 7.6 assists per game. Freshman Cam Christie is averaging 11.0 ppg while shooting 42 percent from 3-point range while Mike Mitchell Jr. (10.5 ppg) and Pharrel Payne (9.4 ppg. 6.2 rpg) also average double figures.

Series History: Nebraska and Minnesota will meet for the 86th time on Sunday, which is the most between the Huskers and any other Big Ten member. It is NU’s longest-running series in the Big Ten, dating back to February of 1902. The Gophers lead the all-time series, 59-26, while the Huskers have won 11 of the past 17 meetings. Minnesota snapped NU's four-game win streak in the 2023 Big Ten Tournament and won the first meeting in December in Minneapolis. The home team has won 16 of the past 18 meetings on campus dating back to March of 2012, with NU posting wins in Minneapolis in 2019 and 2023. Prior to joining the Big Ten in 2011-12, NU and Minnesota met in non-conference action every year from 1995 until 2004 after not playing for 16 years. 

Last Meeting: Brice Williams had a team-high 18 points, but Nebraska went ice cold in the final 20 minutes, as Minnesota rallied for a 76-65 victory on Dec. 6. Williams had 17 of his 18 points in the opening 20 minutes, but Nebraska shot just 29.2 percent in the second half, while Minnesota shot 59 percent in the second half and overcame a 15-point halftime deficit by outscoring the Huskers, 52-26 after halftime.
Jamarques Lawrence had a then-career-high 16 points while Juwan Gary had 11 off the bench, but the Huskers committed 18 turnovers, nearly double their season average coming into the night, including 12 in the second half. 

Joshua Ola-Joseph led five Golden Gophers in double figures with 15 points.

Last Time Out
Jamarques Lawrence had a career-high 19 points, including six points and three assists in a decisive 14-1 second-half run, as Nebraska picked up a crucial 85-70 win at Indiana on Feb. 21.

Lawrence played the best all-around game of his career, finishing with 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including a perfect 5-of-5 from 3-point range, while adding five assists and six rebounds, as Nebraska picked up its first conference road win.

Indiana had nearly erased a 22-point deficit and was within 59-56 with 11:27 remaining before Lawrence ignited the run with a 3-pointer before finding Juwan Gary and Josish Allick on consecutive baskets to stretch the lead back to 10. The sophomore continued the run with another 3-pointer before he found Keisei Tominaga on a basket to give NU a 16-point lead with 6:19 left, and the Huskers led by double figures the rest of the night.

Keisei Tominaga led NU with 20 points, including four 3-pointers, while Brice Williams and Juwan Gary added 18 and 15 points, respectively. NU shot nearly 50 percent from the field and had 19 assists and just eight turnovers in the victory. 

Mackenzie Mgbako led Indiana with 22 points while Kel’el Ware added 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Postgame Notes vs. Indiana
• Jamarques Lawrence had a career-high 19 points off the bench topping his previous high of 16 at Minnesota on Dec. 6, 2023.

• Lawrence went 5-of-5 from 3-point range, tying a career high in 3-pointers. He also tied a school record, becoming the fourth Husker to shoot 5-of-5 from 3-point range. 

• Keisei Tominaga posted his fifth 20-point game of the season and 14th of his career with 20 points.

•-Nebraska scored 85 points, the 15th time with at least 80 points this season.

•-Nebraska tied a season high with 14 3-pointers, and is now 10-4 when hitting at least 10 3-pointers in a game. 

•-Nebraska’s win completed the first season sweep by the Huskers since 2013-14 and picked up its first win in Bloomington since 2019.

•-The 51 points marked Nebraska’s highest scoring first half in conference play since joining the Big Ten in 2011-12.