Huskers Look for Fifth Straight Win Monday Night

Huskers Return Home to Face Southern on Monday Night
The Nebraska men's basketball team looks to extend its win streak to five games on Monday night, as the Huskers return home to face Southern in the non-conference finale. 

Tipoff from Pinnacle Bank Arena is set for shortly after 8 p.m. and the game will be shown on BTN and carried on the Huskers Radio Network as well as on Huskers.com and the Huskers app. A limited number of 300 Level tickets are available for purchase for Monday's matchup by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets or at the PBA box office beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Monday.

Nebraska (10-2) is coming off a 3-0 performance at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic following a 78-66 win over Oregon State in the title game on Christmas night. Brice Williams had a game-high 25 points along with a season-high seven rebounds and four assists to pace three Huskers in double figures. Berke Büyüktuncel chipped in a career-high 16 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, and six boards, while Juwan Gary added 14 points and played a key role in holding the Beavers to 39.6 percent shooting.

Nebraska’s defense has played a major role in the Huskers’ four-game win streak, as NU has held its last four opponents to 59.5 points per game on 37 percent shooting while out-rebounding teams by 5.5 rebounds per game. 
Williams is on a torrid stretch, as he is averaging 24.0 points per game on 59 percent shooting along with 4.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists per contest over the last four games. One week after earning national player-of-the-week honors, he earned MVP honors in Hawaii, averaging 22.0 ppg in three games while matching his career high with 32 points at Hawai’i in the semifinals. His performance in the title game carried Nebraska to its first MTE Tournament title since 2000. Williams enters the week ranked third in the Big Ten in scoring at 19.7 ppg.

Southern (5-7) has been off since an 81-52 loss at USC on Dec. 22 to complete a two-game West Coast swing. DaMariee Jones, Jordan Johnson and Dionjahe Thomas tied for team-high honors with 10 points apiece, as the Jaguars were held to 32 percent shooting and out-rebounded 38-25.

Numbers to Know 
986 - Rollie Worster is 14 points away from 1,000 career points. 

1,492 - Brice Williams enters Monday's game needing just eight points to reach 1,500 points for his career. Williams has averaged 11.1 ppg over his 134 career games.

25.1 - Nebraska has gotten great production from its bench in the early going, averaging 25.1 points per game over the first 12 games. Nebraska has gotten 12 double-figure efforts from its bench this season (Morgan-6, Essegian-5; Ulis-1). The Huskers led the Big Ten in bench production last season, averaging 21.4 points per game.

70 - Over the last two-plus seasons, Nebraska has been exceptional when holding opponents to 70 points or less. The Huskers are 39-4 (.909) when holding opponents to 70 points, including 34 straight wins since a 65-62 overtime loss to No. 4 Purdue on Dec. 10, 2022.

3,875 -Career points scored between Brice and his father, Henry, who played at Charlotte from 1988 to 1992. Entering the Diamond Head Classic, Brice (.8313) is just above Henry (.8222) in career free throw percentage, as the pair have nearly 1,000 combined free throw attempts during their college careers (Henry-585; Brice-403).

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 five other occasions (2003-04, 2007-08, 2010-11, 2018-19, 2023-24) since 2003-04.

• A win over Southern on Monday will cap one of the most successful non-conference slates in school history. NU has finished non-conference play with one loss only five times (10-1, 2023-24; 10-1, 2018-19; 10-1, 2003-04; 12-1, 1991-92; 11-1, 1977-78) since World War II. 

• Nebraska looks to extend an 18-game home win streak dating back to last December while a win on Monday would give NU it's second perfect non-conference home mark in the last three years. NU is 18-1 at home in non-conference games over the past three years. Nebraska’s record for consecutive home wins is 20, set two previous times in program history (from 1965 to 1967 and from 2017 to 2019).

• Nebraska's 2024 Diamond Head Classic title marked the program's first MTE event title since the 2000 San Juan Shootout. With the win, Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg became the first coach to win multiple Diamond Head Classic titles, as he coached Iowa State to the 2013 championship.

• With road wins at No. 14 Creighton and Hawaii, Nebraska won multiple non-conference road games for the first time since the 2011-12 season and just the second time in the last 25 years. Entering this weekend's action, Nebraska’s two non-conference road wins lead the Big Ten as only Nebraska (2), Oregon (1) and Penn State (1) have won true road games in non-conference action. The only remaining non-conference road game in 2024-25 is when Illinois travels to Duke on Feb. 22. 

• Nebraska enters the weekend as one of 12 Big Ten teams in the top 50 of the NET and moved to 44th following the win over Oregon State. As of Dec. 27, 16 of the 18 Big Ten teams are in the top-100 of the NET.

• Brice Williams earned MVP honors at the Diamond Head Classic, as he averaged 22.0 points per game on 56 percent shooting, 3.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game. Williams is averaging 20.7 ppg on 57 percent shooting in six games this month.

• With a pair of 30-point games in the last two weeks, Williams is just the sixth Husker in the Big Ten era to have multiple 30-point games.  He had 30 points in the win over Indiana on Dec. 13 and tied his career high with 32 points against Hawai’i on Dec. 23. In addition, he is now tied for the Big Ten lead in 30-point games this season with two, joining Rutgers' Dylan Harper and Wisconsin's John Tonje.

• Juwan Gary is playing some of the best basketball of his career over the last three weeks. The senior is averaging 14.5 ppg on 50 percent shooting during Nebraska’s four-game win streak. Gary also has played a major role in holding opponents to 37 percent shooting in that stretch. 

• Sophomore Berke Büyüktuncel joined Williams on the Diamond Head Classic All-Tournament team, as he had a career-high 16 points in NU’s win over Oregon State. The 6-foot-10 sophomore also tied career highs in rebounds against both Murray State and Hawai’i.

• Nebraska's strength has been on the defensive end, and that continued in Hawai'i. The Huskers held Murray State (49) and Hawai'i (55) to season-low point totals and allowed just 66 points to Oregon State in the title game. Entering this weekend's action, NU is now 19th nationally in KenPom's defensive efficiency. 

• Over the last 16 games dating back to last season, Brice Williams is averaging 19.8 points per game on .511 shooting and has nine 20-point efforts in that span. He had reached double figures in 13 straight games before being held to nine points against Murray State on Dec. 22. 

• NU has relied on its depth during the early going, with six players averaging at least 7.7 points per game over the first 12 games. Eight different players have posted double-figure efforts, while three players (Brice Williams, Connor Essegian and Juwan Gary) have recorded 20-point games. In addition to the eight who have reached double figures at least once, two others have scored at least eight points at least once in a game this season. Williams is the only Husker in the top 40 of the Big Ten in scoring as of Dec. 17.

• Nebraska has been prolific at getting to the foul line for most of the season. Nebraska ranks among the Big Ten leaders in free throws made and attempted per game and free throw percentage. NU ranks in the top 50 nationally in free throws made and free throw percentage. As a team, the Huskers went 38-of-44 (.863) during the three games at the Diamond Head Classic. Nebraska's 77.1 percent shooting from the foul line through the first 12 contests is above last year's percentage (76.0). 

• With its 10-2 start in 2024-25, Nebraska is 39-16 over the last 55 games dating back to the start of February 2023. NU's .709 winning percentage trails only Purdue among Big Ten programs in that stretch. NU would still be second if you included the four new Big Ten schools (Oregon, UCLA, Washington and USC). NU went just 33-80 from the start of the 2019-20 season until Feb. 1, 2023.

• One area where Nebraska has excelled early on is converting on opponent turnovers. The Huskers are 58th nationally in forcing turnovers at 14.8 per game as of Dec. 27 after ranking 217th in that category a year ago. Nebraska is averaging 16.5 points per game off opponent turnovers over the first 12 games.

• Nebraska is averaging 8.2 steals per game to rank fifth in the Big Ten as of Dec. 27.  Five Huskers average at least one steal per game led by Sam Hoiberg's 1.5 spg.  Hoiberg is the only player in the Big Ten averaging at least 1.5 steals per game while playing less than 20 minutes per contest. 

• Nebraska comes into Monday's game averaging 77.8 points per game.  NU has scored 70+ points in eight of 12 games, including five games with at least 80 points. Last season, NU averaged 77.7 points per game, its highest offensive total since the 1995-96 season. 

• The Huskers are 35-3 over the last two seasons when out-rebounding opponents. NU had won 27 straight games when out-rebounding opponents before the streak was snapped against Saint Mary's on Nov. 17. NU has been out-rebounded only once in 12 games.

• Nebraska comes off one of its most successful seasons in program history. The Huskers went 23-11 in 2023-24 and tied for third in the Big Ten standings before reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013-14. The Huskers’ 23 wins were the most since setting a school-record with 26 wins in 1990-91, while NU’s 12 conference wins also ranked second in school history.

• Nebraska has increased its win total in each of the past three years, marking the first time NU has done that since the mid-1960s (1963-64 to 1965-66). If Nebraska can improve its win total this year, it would mark the first time since a four-year stretch from 1945-46 to 1948-49 that the Huskers improved their win total in four consecutive seasons. 

• Over the past two seasons (2022-23 and 2023-24), NU has won 21 conference games, the highest two-year total since the 1965-66 and 1966-67 teams won 22 conference tilts. The last two seasons under Fred Hoiberg mark just the fourth time in school history that Nebraska has won 20 or more conference games in a two-year span.

• Senior forward Rienk Mast received his master's degree in applied science this weekend. Mast, who is redshirting, earned his undergraduate degree from Bradley in May of 2023.

Scouting Southern
Southern comes to Lincoln with a 5-7 record after falling at USC on Dec. 22. The Jaguars returned three starters and five letterwinners from a team that went 18-14 and finished third in the SWAC for second-year coach Kevin Johnson. Southern played nine of its first 12 games away from home, including games at Iowa, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and USC.  

The Jaguars, who were picked to finish third in the SWAC, have notched a pair of road wins, a 73-70 triumph at Louisiana Tech and a 70-66 victory at Tulsa. Southern comes to town averaging 79.1 ppg and is out-rebounding opponents by nearly four caroms per game. Defensively, the Jaguars are eighth nationally with 10.4 steals per game with six players averaging at least a steal per game.

The Jaguars are balanced with 10 players averaging at least five points per game. Michael Jacobs, a 6-foot-2 guard, averages a team-high 10.6 points per game along with 2.8 assists per game while making just four starts this season. Jordan Johnson is second on the team in scoring at 10.4 points per game and has made a team-high 22 3-pointers. Senior guard Tidjiane Dioumassi dishes out 5.0 assists per game and has a 2.2-to-1 assist to turnover ratio while scoring nine points per game. 

Nebraska leads the all-time series, 4-0 with all four meetings taking place since 2012. The last meeting was an 82-59 Husker win on Nov. 21, 2021. The Huskers are 30-1 against the current members of the SWAC following the win over Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 9.

Last Time Out
Brice Williams led three Huskers in double figures with 25 points, as Nebraska won its first multi-team event since 2000 with a 78-66 win over Oregon State on Dec 25. 

Williams, who was named MVP, finished with 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting along with a season-high seven rebounds and four assists to lead three Huskers (10-2) in double figures. Berke Büyüktuncel added a career-high 16 points and six boards while Juwan Gary chipped in 14 points, as Nebraska improved to 10-2 on the season. Büyüktuncel, who hit 3-of-4 from 3-point range, joined Williams on the all-tournament team.

Oregon State was within 67-63 with less than three minutes to go before the Huskers finally seized control. Williams, who had 15 of his 25 points in the second half, hit a jumper before Büyüktuncel’s third 3-pointer of the night stretched the lead to nine with 1:51 left. 

NU's lead was cut to 72-66 before Williams’ 3-point miss was grabbed by Sam Hoiberg, and the Huskers took advantage as Williams hit a short jumper to push the lead back to eight with 48 seconds remaining to end OSU’s hopes.  

Nebraska shot 56 percent in the second half and out-rebounded the Beavers 18-9, including five offensive boards which led to 11 second-chance points, as NU became the second team to out-rebound OSU this season.