Huskers Begin Two-Game Road Trip at Northwestern

Huskers Start Road Trip at Northwestern
After a tough loss to No. 25 Maryland, Nebraska hits the road to begin a two-game road trip with a matchup at Northwestern Sunday afternoon. Tipoff from Welsh-Ryan Arena is set for shortly after 2 p.m. and the contest will be televised on BTN and carried on the Huskers Radio Network, as well as on Huskers.com and the Huskers app. The game will also be available on the Fox Sports App.  

Nebraska (16-9, 6-8 B1G) saw their four-game win streak snapped with a 83-75 loss to Maryland Thursday night. Despite being without Berke Büyüktuncel and two other major contributors limited by the flu, Nebraska put themselves in a position to earn the win against a Maryland team that has won six of its last seven games. The Huskers cut an 11-point second-half deficit to two points on three occasions in the final two minutes but Maryland got the key baskets to hold off Nebraska's comeback. 

Juwan Gary led Nebraska with 22 points for his fifth 20-point game of the season while Brice Williams, who was a gametime decision to play on Thursday, finished with 20 points and three assists. Senior Andrew Morgan joined the duo and finished with 15 points and three assists in 21 minutes. 

Nebraska's senior leaders have led the charge over the last three weeks. Williams is averaging 24.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game and has five straight 20-point efforts while Gary is averaging 18.8 ppg on 53 percent shooting and 5.4 rebounds per contest in that span.

Northwestern (13-12, 4-10 B1G) returns home following an 81-75 loss at Oregon on Tuesday night. The Wildcats shot 61 percent in the second half, whittling a 16-point second-half deficit to five on multiple occasions but could not complete the comeback. Ty Berry had 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting, while K.J Windham finished with 10 points in the loss. 

Numbers to Know
13- Brice Williams leads Nebraska with 13 20-point games this season. He is now tied for second for 20-point games by a Husker in the Big Ten era with Terrran Petteway (2014-15), trailing only and James Palmer Jr. (18, 2018-19).

.625 - Over the last three-plus seasons, Nebraska has played some of its best basketball down the stretch, and NU is already 3-1 in the month this season. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, NU is 20-12 in Big Ten games after Feb. 1.

1.66-to-1  - Nebraska's assist-to-turnover ratio over the last five contests, as the Huskers have averaged just 8.8 turnovers per game in that stretch. For the first 20 games, NU posted a 1.13-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. 

3- Brice Williams is 60 points away from reaching 1,000 career points at Nebraska. Only three players- Terran Petteway, Dave Hoppen and James Palmer Jr. have reached 1,000 points at Nebraska in two seasons.

23.7 - Nebraska has gotten great production from its bench, averaging 23.7 points per game this season to rank fourth in the Big Ten.  Nebraska has gotten 23 double-figure efforts from its bench this season (Morgan-10, Essegian-11, Ulis-1; Worster-1). The Huskers led the Big Ten in bench production last season, averaging 21.4 points per game.

Worth Noting
• Nebraska enters the weekend ranked No. 49 in the NET and Sunday's game at Northwestern is the middle of an eight-game stretch where NU plays seven Quad 1 games that dates back to Jan. 30. NU is currently 4-1 in that stretch with three Quad 1 wins (Illinois, at Oregon and Ohio State).  
Nebraska is currently one of 10 Big Ten teams in the top 50 of the NET on Feb. 15. All 18 teams are currently in the top 100 of the NET, including 16 in the top 75. Nebraska is currently 8-9 against the top 2 Quads (5-8 vs. Q1, 3-2 vs. Q2) and a combined 8-0 vs. Q3 and Q4 teams.

• Brice Williams posted his fifth consecutive 20-point game on Thursday against Maryland, matching Keisei Tominaga in 2023 for the longest streak by a Husker in the Big Ten era. The last Husker with more than five straight 20-point outings was Tyronn Lue, who had seven straight 20-point games in 1997-98.

• Nebraska looks for its third straight road win for the first time since 2021-22 on Sunday, as the Huskers face Northwestern. NU is now 4-5 on the road this year and 6-6 away from Pinnacle Bank Arena. Two of NU's four road wins are against ranked foes. During non-conference action, NU was 4-1 in road/neutral games while its two wins (at Creighton and at Hawai'i) were half of the Big Ten's entire non-conference total. 

• Sunday's game is a homecoming for three Huskers who played basketball around Chicago. Ahron Ulis played at Marian Catholic, while Jeff Grace attended York High School. Sam Hoiberg started his prep career at Hinsdale Central before moving to Lincoln following his sophomore season. 

• Head Coach Fred Hoiberg played four seasons with the Chicago Bulls (1999-03) before returning to Chicago to coach the Bulls for three-plus seasons (2015-18), guiding the Bulls to the NBA Playoffs in 2017.

• Nebraska is now 4-3 against ranked opponents this season following Thursday's loss to Maryland. The four ranked wins ties a school record done three other times in school history.

• Nebraska has won multiple games against ranked foes in three of the past four years and is now 9-10 in its last 19 games against ranked teams dating back to March 1, 2022. 

• Sunday is Brice Williams' 60th game at Nebraska, and he is averaging 19.5 ppg over his last 29 games as a Husker dating back to the 2024 Big Ten Tournament. He has been in double figures in 27 of the last 29 contests, including 16 20-point games. Williams averaged just 12.5 ppg over his first 30 games at Nebraska in 2023-24.

• Nebraska comes into Sunday's game at Northwestern averaging 76.2 points per game. It is on pace to be NU's second-highest scoring average since joining the Big Ten in 2011-12. NU has scored 70+ points 17 times, including nine games with at least 80 points.   Last season, NU averaged 77.7 points per game for 34 games, its highest offensive total since the 1995-96 season. 

• Nebraska posted its fifth double 20-point game of the season against Maryland as Juwan Gary (22) and Brice Williams (20) both went over the 20-point mark.  NU now has multiple players score 20+ points 16 times in Fred Hoiberg's six seasons.

• Maryland became just the third team this season to shoot over 50 percent against the Huskers while snapping NU's four-game win streak. NU is 11-0 when holding opponents to under one point per possession, but 5-9 when opponents are above 1.0 PPP. Nebraska has won its last 28 games dating back to the 2022-23 season when holding an opponent under 1.0 PPP.

• On Jan. 26, Brice and his father, Henry, became the seventh father-son duo to combine for 4,000 career points at the college level. Brice now has 1,741 career points and is now only 60 points away from reaching 1,000 as a Husker. Henry Williams, who passed away in 2018, was Charlotte's all-time leading scorer with 2,383 career points.

• NU has relied on its depth with six players averaging at least 7.2 points per game. Eight players have posted double-figure efforts, while three players (Brice Williams, Connor Essegian and Juwan Gary) have recorded 20-point games.  Williams is the only Husker in the top 25 of the Big Ten in scoring as of Feb. 14.

• Connor Essegian has been one of the Big Ten's best sixth men, as the junior guard enters Sunday's game with Northwestern game averaging 10.6 points per contest. Essegian is one of only four Big Ten reserves currently averaging double figures while making five or fewer starts.

• With its 16-9 record in 2024-25, Nebraska is 45-23 over the last 68 games dating back to the start of February 2023. NU's .667 winning percentage ties for second among Big Ten programs in that stretch.  It would also rank second if you add in the four new Big Ten programs in that stretch. NU went just 33-80 from the start of the 2019-20 season until Feb. 1, 2023.

• Of Nebraska's nine losses, six were one-possession games within the last 45 seconds of regulation. 

• Brice 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. He is one of eight Big Ten players with multiple 30-point games this season.

• Ahron Ulis dished out a career-high 10 assists on Jan. 19 at Maryland. It more than tripled his previous season high of three and marked the first time a Husker had 10 assists in a game since Alonzo Verge Jr. in 2022.  It also marked the first 10-assist game by a Husker reserve since Tom Wald had 11 in a win over Appalachian State on Dec. 31, 1994.  

About Northwestern
Northwestern comes into Sunday's game with a 13-12 record, including a 4-10 mark in Big Ten play. Chris Collins is in his 12th season at Northwestern and has guided the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last two seasons. 

The Wildcats have been hit by injuries, losing starters Brooks Barnhizer (17.1 ppg, 8.8 rpg) and Jalen Leach (14.3 ppg, 3.4 apg) to season-ending injuries in the last month. Northwestern was 12-7 following a win over Indiana on Jan. 22 but has dropped five of the last six games since then including both games on their West Coast trip. 

The Wildcats are led by junior forward Nick Martinelli, who averages 19.7 ppg to rank second in the Big Ten heading into the weekend. He has been in double figures in 24 of 25 games this season, including a pair of 20-point effort in Northwestern's last three games. Ty Berry provides scoring punch, as the guard average 9.6 ppg and paces the Wildcats with 54 3-pointers while shooting nearly 40 percent from beyond the arc. Matthew Nicholson is Northwestern's other returning starter, and he averages 5.2 ppg and 5.4 rpg while leading the Wildcats with over a block per game. 

Series History: Nebraska and Northwestern meet for the 25th time on Sunday, as the Wildcats lead 14-10. NU is just 7-13 against the Wildcats since joining the Big Ten, as the Wildcats have won eight of the last nine meetings. Nebraska's last win in Evanston came in a 53-49 win during the 2013-14 campaign.

Last Meeting: Juwan Gary had a team-high 15 points to pace four Huskers in double figures, but Nebraska fell at Northwestern, 80-68, on Feb. 7, 2024.  Gary scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half but it was not enough as Northwestern hit eight 3-pointers in the first half en route to building a 16-point halftime lead.  Brice Williams had 13 points and 10 rebounds while Jamarques Lawrence and Keisei Tominaga added 12 and 11 points, respectively. Boo Buie had 17 of his game-high 22 points in the first half to lead four Wildcats in double figures. Ryan Langborg had 18 points, while Brooks Barnhizer added 14 points and 10 boards, as the hosts enjoyed a 36-29 advantage on the glass.