Huskers Open Big Ten Play at Michigan State on Saturday

Huskers Open Big Ten Play at Michigan State on Saturday
The Nebraska men's basketball team opens Big Ten Conference action this Saturday, as the Huskers travel to Michigan State.  Tipoff from the Breslin Center in East Lansing is set for shortly after 11 a.m. (central), and the matchup between the Huskers and Spartans will be shown on BTN and carried on the Huskers Radio Network as well as on Huskers.com and the Huskers app. 

Nebraska (6-1) comes off one of its best offensive performances in recent years in a 103-72 win over North Florida last Sunday. The Huskers shot a season-high 58 percent from the field, dished out 22 assists and put five players in double figures, led by Connor Essegian's 22 points. The 1.33 points per possession was NU's best PPP totals since Nov. 22, 2023, and was the fifth-highest single-game total in six years under Fred Hoiberg. The 103 points was NU's most against a Divison I team since scoring 106 against Mississippi Valley State in 2018. Nebraska took control with an early 18-1 run and built a 21-point halftime lead by shooting 58.8 percent from the field, including 6-of-12 from 3-point range. 

Essegian comes off the best week of his career, averaging 25.5 points per game on 56 percent shooting, including 12 of 23 from 3-point range. The 6-foot-4 junior guard also tied or set career highs in points (29 vs. USD), assists (five vs. USD) and steals (two vs. UNF) in NU's two games last week. Essegian had as many 20-point games last week (two) as he did in his two seasons at Wisconsin. 

Michigan State (7-2) comes off a 90-72 win at Minnesota Wednesday night. In that game, the Spartans put four players in double figures and shot 53 percent from the field, including 11-of-22 from 3-point range. Coen Carr led MSU with 12 points, while Xavier Booker and Jaxon Kohler added 11 points apiece. MSU enjoyed a 39-27 advantage off the glass while holding the Gophers to 44 percent shooting. 

Numbers to Know
103 - Nebraska's 103 points against North Florida marked the program's first 100-point game since 2021 and 45th in school history.  NU is now 9-2 under Fred Hoiberg when scoring at least 90 points with both losses coming in overtime. 

3- Nebraska is one of three teams since 2019-20 to post multiple road wins in the CHI Health Center against Creighton, joining Marquette and Villanova. Of Creighton's three double-figure home losses since 2019-20, two are to the Huskers (2022 and 2024). NU's 11-point win marked Creighton's worst home loss since 2019.

11- Nebraska is one of 12 Big Ten teams in the top 50 of the NET on Dec. 5. That matches the SEC for the most teams in the top 50. NU is currently 35th in the NET.

29.0 - Nebraska has gotten great production from its bench in the early going, averaging 29.0 points per game over the first seven games. 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 35-4 (.897) when holding opponents to 70 points, including 30 straight wins, since a 65-62 overtime loss to No. 4 Purdue on Dec. 10, 2022.

3,768 - Career points scored between Brice and his father, Henry, who played at Charlotte from 1988 to 1992. Entering Satruday's game at Michigan State, Brice (.8262) is just above Henry (.8222) in career free throw percentage.

.947 - Nebraska is 18-1 at home in non-conference play over the last two-plus seasons and is 33-9 (.785) at home in non-conference action in Fred Hoiberg's six seasons at Nebraska.

11/17 - The date of the last two games where a Husker had at least 15 points, three blocks and three steals: Berke Büyüktuncel (15-3-3 vs. Saint Marys, 11/17/24) and Aleks Maric (21-4-4 vs. Alabama A&M, 11/17/07).

92% - Nebraska is tied for fourth in the Big Ten with a 92 percent GSR rate, as the NCAA released its most recent rankings on Nov. 20. That includes all 18 members in the Big Ten Conference for the 2024-25 academic year. 

Worth Noting 
• Opening Big Ten Conference play on the road is old hat for the Huskers. Saturday's game at Michigan State will mark the sixth straight year and eighth time in the last nine seasons NU opened on the road.  The last time NU won a conference opener on the road was in 2016-17 at No. 16 Indiana.

• Entering this week's round of Big Ten games, Nebraska and Oregon are the only Big Ten teams with true road wins so far in 2024-25. Oregon won 78-75 at Oregon State on Nov. 21, while Nebraska won 74-63 at No. 14 Creighton on Nov. 22.

• The Huskers have won three of their last four true road games dating back to last season, all three by double figures (at Indiana, at  Michigan, at Creighton).

• Since the loss to Saint Mary's on Nov. 17, Nebraska's offense has made significant strides. NU is averaging 91.0 points per game on 50 percent shooting and has averaged just 8.3 turnovers per game in that stretch. 

• Connor Essegian comes off the best offensive week of his career, averaging 25.5 ppg on 56 percent shooting, including 52 percent from 3-point range. He is just the second Husker - and first one since Cary Cochran in 2002 - to have six-or-more 3-pointers in consecutive games. 

• Over the last 11 games dating back to last season, Brice Williams is averaging 19.0 points per game on .480 shooting and has six 20-point efforts in that span. He has reached double figures in 11 straight games, the longest stretch of his career. He enters the Michigan State game needing just 15 points away from the 1,400 point mark for his career. 

• NU has relied on its depth during the early going, with five players averaging at least 8.9 points per game. Eight different players have posted double-figure efforts while only Brice Williams has reached double figures in all seven contests.  In addition, two others have scored at least eight points at least once this season. Williams and Connor Essegian are the only two Huskers in the top 40 of the Big Ten in scoring as of Dec. 3.

• Nebraska has been prolific at getting to the foul line during the early portion of the season. Nebraska ranks in the top 20 nationally in both free throws made and attempted while also hitting 77.5 percent from the foul line. 

• Nebraska's 77.5 percent shooting from the line is ahead of last season's mark of 76.0 percent which was the third-highest total in school history. The Huskers have shot 80 percent or better from the foul line in four of the past six games.

• One area where Nebraska has excelled early on is converting on opponent turnovers. Nebraska is averaging 20.4 points per game off opponent turnovers in the first seven games and had at least 11 points off turnovers in each of the first seven contests. Nebraska enjoyed a 25-2 advantage in points off turnovers in Sunday's win over North Florida. 

• With its 6-1 start in 2024-25, Nebraska is 35-15 over the last 50 games dating back to the start of February 2023. NU's .700 winning percentage trails only Purdue in that stretch.  

• Nebraska is averaging 9.7 steals per game to rank third in the Big Ten as of Dec. 3. Sam Hoibeg is eighth in the conference in steals at 2.0 per game, while Juwan Gary ranks 15th with 1.5 steals per game. Hoiberg,whose older brother Jack played at Michigan State from the 2017-18 season until the 2020-21 campaign, matched his career high with four steals in the win over North Florida on Sunday. 

•  Berke Büyüktuncel has been a factor for the Huskers in the opening three weeks of the season. The 6-foot-10 sophomore leads NU in rebounding (6.7 rpg), blocked shots (1.0 bpg) while chipping in 10.2 ppg on a team-high 60 percent shooting.  Büyüktuncel has tied or set career highs in nearly every offensive category during NU's first six games. He had reached double figures in each of his last three games and was on his way to his first career double double with six points and six boards before an injury sidelined him after just 12 minutes against South Dakota. He did not play against North Florida because of the injury. Last year at UCLA, Büyüktuncel had just two double-figure games in 26 contests.

• Nebraska enters Saturday's Big Ten opener averaging 83.3 points per game to rank sixth in the Big Ten. NU has scored 70+ points in six of the seven games, including three games with at least 80 points.  The Huskers had scored 80-or-more points in five straight games before the streak was snapped against Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 9. It marked the first time NU had scored 80-or-more points in five consecutive games since a 10-game stretch between Nov. 25-Dec. 19, 1995. 

• 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, 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.

• Nebraska was one of 24 teams nationally that finished in the top 50 both in offensive and defensive efficiency in KenPom in 2023-24. NU was one of four Big Ten programs to accomplish that in 2023-24, joining Purdue, Wisconsin and Michigan State.  It marked the first time that Nebraska has been ranked in the top 50 in both offensive and defensive efficiency in the KenPom era (1996-97). 
• The Huskers are 38-2 under Fred Hoiberg when scoring at least 80 points, including 3-0 this season. 

• The Huskers are 32-3 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. NU is out-rebounding teams by nearly 6.1 rebounds per game.

About Michigan State
Under Hall of Fame Coach Tom Izzo, the Spartans have been the flagship program in the Big Ten for three decades. Izzo is in his 30th season running the Spartan program and has taken the Spartans to eight Final Fours and 26 straight NCAA Tournaments. The Spartans returned one starter and eight letterwinners from a team that won 20 games and reached the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

The Spartans have been tested during the early portion of the season, facing No.1 Kansas in the Champions Classic as well as coming off three games in the Maui Invitational last week. MSU went 2-1 in Maui with wins over Colorado and North Carolina. On Wednesday, the Spartans began Big Ten play with an 18-point win at Minnesota.

MSU has relied on its depth, as 10 players are averaging at least 14 minutes per game and no MSU player is averaging 30 minutes per contest. Jaden Akins tops the Spartans at 12.4 points per game while Omaha transfer Frankie Fidler is at 10.9 per game. Nine of the 10 players in the MSU rotation are averaging at least 5.0 points per game, as MSU is shooting 48 percent as a team. Jaxon Kohler is grabbing a team-high 7.9 rebounds per game as the Spartans are out-rebounding teams by nearly 10 rebounds per game to rank in the top-20 nationally in that category. 

Series History: Michigan State leads the all-time series, 23-10, in a series that dates back to February of 1920. The Huskers are 3-16 against Michigan State since joining the Big Ten, snapping MSU's 10-game win streak in the series with a 77-70 win in Lincoln last season. Since joining the Big Ten, NU has faced a ranked Spartan team in 11 of the 19 previous meetings. Nebraska's last win over Michigan State in East Lansing was a 72-71 win over the No. 9 Spartans on Jan. 20, 2016. 

Last Time Out
Connor Essegian’s 22 points led five players in double figures, as Nebraska went over the century mark in a 103-72 win over North Florida on Dec. 1. 

Essegian went 8-of-10 from the field, including six 3-pointers, as Nebraska shot a season-high 58 percent from the field, including 11-of-24 from 3-point range. 

Juwan Gary finished with 18 points and five rebounds, while Brice Williams (17), Andrew Morgan (13) and Ahron Ulis (10) all finished in double figures.  Nebraska had 22 assists, including six by Williams, and just six turnovers while enjoying a 25-2 advantage on points off turnovers. 

The Huskers took control early, using an 18-1 run behind Essegian, who had seven of his 13 first-half points in the spurt, as Nebraska built an 18-4 lead after a Morgan 3-point play capped a 15-0 Husker spurt.  

The Ospreys were within 28-18 after a Jasai Miles 3-pointer, but Gary had five points in a 13-2 Husker run over the next four minutes to extend the lead to 21, at 41-20, and the Huskers kept that 21-point lead heading into the locker room. NU shot over 50 percent from both the field and 3-point line en route to taking a 53-32 halftime lead. 

North Florida, which already upset Georgia Tech and South Carolina in the first month of the season, trimmed a 27-point deficit to 67-52 with 14:15 left but that would be as close as they got, as the Huskers used a 7-0 run, capped by a Sam Hoiberg 3-pointer, to stretch the lead back to 22 with 11:26 left and the Huskers led by at least 19 the rest of the day.  

A Quick Look at the 2024-25 Huskers
Nebraska enters the 2024-25 season with a solid returning group despite the loss of Rienk Mast to season-ending surgery. The Huskers return six players - not including Mast - who saw action a season ago, including returning starters Brice Williams and Juwan Gary. In addition, junior guard Sam Hoiberg was one of three Huskers who played in all 34 games in 2023-24.

• Of the 10 players who have been in the rotation through the first six games, seven are in their first season of action for Nebraska. In all, newcomers account for more than half of NU's minutes (62%), scoring (60%), rebounds (71%) and assists (66%).

• Nebraska's active roster features three players who have started a combined 72 games at Nebraska entering the 2024-25 season: Juwan Gary (37); Brice Williams (34) and Sam Hoiberg (1), but that tells only part of the story. The 16 active players have combined to start 380 career games at the Division I level. That list includes Rollie Worster (101); Brice Williams (61); Andrew Morgan (59); Juwan Gary (55); Braxton Meah (47); Ahron Ulis (27); Connor Essegian (19); Berke Büyüktuncel (8) and Gavin Griffiths (3).  In addition, Rienk Mast has 111 career starts, including 32 games last season at Nebraska, but will redshirt this season.

• Nebraska features one of the oldest rosters in the country. Of the 17 players on the 2024-25 roster, nine have played at least three seasons of college basketball. Juwan Gary, Brice Williams and Rienk Mast are all in their sixth year of college while Braxton Meah, Ahron Ulis and Rollie Worster are beginning their fifth season of college basketball.  According to research by Chris Kowalczyk at VCU, Nebraska is one of 10 programs nationally with at least six players who are in their fifth year or greater in college basketball. 

• After having one active player with previous NCAA Tournament experience last season (Juwan Gary), the 2024-25 Huskers have nine players who have played in the NCAA Tournament. All seven of Nebraska's returnees saw action in the Huskers' game at Texas A&M last spring, while Ahron Ulis played in three tournaments as part of the Iowa program from 2021-23. NU also added Rollie Worster who started for Utah State in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. In addition, Connor Essegian was on Wisconsin's NCAA Tournament team last spring, but did not play against James Madison in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. 

Williams Looks to Build on Postseason Success
Senior guard Brice Williams looks to build in his postseason success of a year ago as he begins his final college season. The 6-foot-7 senior proved to be a go-to scorer in the Huskers' postseason run, averaging 23.3 points per game during the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments.

• His 23.3 ppg after the end of the regular season is the highest by a returning Big Ten player entering 2024-25. Of the seven players who averaged 20+ ppg in the postseason, he is the only one back at a Big Ten school this season. 

• Williams had more 20-point games in three postseason games (three) than in 31 regular-season games (two) during 2023-24. 
Williams comes into the Michigan State game averaging 18.4 points per game to rank eighth in the Big Ten. He has reached double figures in all seven contests, including a pair of 25-point efforts. He comes off a 17-point, six-assist performance in the win over  North Florida.  

• He has reached double figures in each of the last 11 games dating back to last year, the longest stretch of his college career.

• His 18.4 ppg scoring average through six games is among the best six-game starts by a Husker in the Big Ten era (2011-12 to present). 

• He is shooting a career-best 91.8 percent from the foul line to rank third in the Big Ten in free throw percentage. As of Dec. 3, he is second in the Big Ten in free throws made (6.4/gm) and fifth in attempts (7.0). 

• Williams had a season-high 28-point effort against Saint Mary's on Nov. 17, as he went 8-of-12 from the field and was a perfect 11 of 11 from the foul line. 

• He opened the season with a 27-point effort against UTRGV on Nov. 4. Williams' 27-point night was one of the highest opening-night totals by a Husker in the last 30 years. 

• With his 28-point effort against Saint Mary's on Nov. 17, he has 10 career games of at least 25 points, including three at Nebraska.

Gary Returns as Huskers' Glue Guy
One luxury Nebraska has is the return of senior forward Juwan Gary. The 6-foot-6 senior from Columbia, S.C, has shown the ability to stuff a stat sheet, but revels in doing the little things to help NU be successful.  

• Gary comes into the Michigan State game averaging 10.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.3 assists per game, despite playing just two minutes against South Dakota because of an injury.  He is second on the team in steals and blocked shots and third in both scoring and rebounding.

• He is four rebounds shy of 500 for his career entering Saturday's Big Ten opener at Michigan State and just 35 points away from 900 points for his career. 

• Gary comes off a solid performance in the win over North Florida, finishing with 18 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots in just 23 minutes of action. 

• He keyed NU's win over No. 14 Creighton on Nov. 22 with 16 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, seven boards and a pair of steals in the 74-63 win. 

• He had a 19-point, five-assist effort against FDU on Nov. 14. His five assists were a career high while he also went 7-of-8 from the  foul line.

• Gary showed his versatility in the win over Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 4, as he led NU in points (11), rebounds (nine) and steals (five). 

It continues a trend of Huskers making significant third-year jumps under Hoiberg, as Keisei Tominaga (2024) and Derrick Walker (2023) both earned All-Big Ten honors in their third year at Nebraska after transferring into the program.  Last season, Gary averaged a career-best 11.6 points per game on nearly 50 percent from the floor. He tallied 16 double-doubles after posting 20 during his first four collegiate seasons.

Essegian's Big Night
Connor Essegian shined off the bench in Nebraska’s win over South Dakota on Nov. 27, establishing career highs in points (29), assists (five) and 3-pointers (six).

• His 29-point performance is the highest-scoring effort by a Husker reserve in the last 50+ seasons. Over the last 30 years, only two Husker reserves (Jamel White vs. Missouri, 1/28/06; Erick Strickland vs. Missouri, 1/30/93) had scored 28 points off the bench.

• According to CBB reference, the only other Husker in the last 20+ seasons to have at least 29 points, along with five assists and five 3-pointers in a game was Teddy Allen against Penn State in 2021.

• Since 2004-05, only two other Big Ten players have come off the bench and had at least 29 points and five assists in a game (Iowa’s Adam Haluska vs. the Citadel, 11/13/06; Daniel Horton vs. Notre Dame, 3/20/06).

• Essegian followed up with a 22-point effort against North Florida on 8-of-10 shooting, as he matched his career high with six 3-pointers.