Keisei Tominaga Season 2021-22

Honors & Awards

• 2023 Honorable-Mention All-Big Ten (Coaches and Media)
• Academic All-Big Ten (2023)
• 2022 Japan Senior National Team
• 2020 Olympian (Japan, 3x3 Basketball)
• Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll (Fall 2021, 2022; Fall 2022)
• Tom Osborne Citizenship Team (2023)

2022-23 (Junior)
Keisei Tominaga (pronounced Kay-say Toe-may-nawga) emerged as one of the top scoring guards in the Big Ten Conference as a junior. The 6-foot-2 guard garnered honorable-mention All-Big Ten honors, as he averaged 13.1 points per game in 32 games, including 14 starts. He shot 50 percent from the field, including 40 percent from 3-point range, while hitting a team-high 66 3-pointers to rank eighth in the Big Ten in 3-pointers per game. He also led NU from the foul line, going 46-of-53 from the line, including his first 23 free throws of the year.  Tominaga was one of six players in Division I to shoot 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range and 85 percent from the line while averaging double figures in 2022-23.

He totaled a team-high 22 double-figure efforts, including 13 of 14 games after moving into the starting lineup on Jan. 18. In that span, he averaged 17.4 points per game on 53 percent shooting. He had eight of his team-high nine 20-point games in that span, including a career-high 30-point effort against Penn State on Feb. 5. Tominaga was at his best late in the season, as he helped NU to a 6-3 finish by averaging 20.3 ppg. Among Big Ten players, his average of 20.3 ppg from Feb. 1 to the end of the season trailed only National Player of the Year Zach Edey (Purdue) and first-team All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana). 

He closed the year with a 23-point effort against Minnesota in the Big Ten Tournament, hitting 8-of-14 shots from the field and going a perfect 5-of-5 from the line. Tominaga had eight 20-point games following his move into the starting lineup. His role continued to expand following the season-ending injuries to Emmanuel Bandoumel and Juwan Gary. The surge began on Jan. 25 when he had 22 points in a then-high 33 points in a loss to Northwestern. He erupted for a career-high 30 points against NCAA qualifier Penn State on Feb. 5, going 12-of-18 from the field, including five 3-pointers. That began a stretch of five straight 20-point efforts, the longest string by a Husker since former NBA performer Tyronn Lue in 1998.  He followed up with 24 points at Michigan before keying a remarkable comeback in the win over Wisconsin on Feb. 11. In that game, he had 12 points in a 20-2 run that erased the Badgers’ 17-point lead. In all, he finished with 22 points, including five 3-pointers. He keyed NU’s win at Rutgers with 22 points, as Nebraska scored 82 points on the Big Ten’s top defense before closing the run with 20 points and a season-high four rebounds in NU’s overtime win over Maryland on Feb. 19. He also added 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting in NU’s loss to Michigan State on Feb. 27.
Tominaga opened the year with a 19-point effort against Maine and had flve double-figure efforts off the bench in NU’s first nine games. He topped NU with 19 points at St. John’s in the Gavitt Games and had 23 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range, in the win over Boston College in the final ACC/Big Ten Challenge. He made a start at No. 14 Indiana and had 11 points before nearly toppling No. 4 Purdue with 19 points, including a game-tying 3-pointer with nine seconds remaining in regulation to end the game to OT. He closed non-conference action with 15 points against Queens and provided scoring punch off the bench until moving into the lineup in mid-January, highlighted by a 16-point effort at No. 3 Purdue on Jan. 13. 

During the summer of 2022, he represented his native Japan as a member of the Senior National Team for the first time. He played in seven games with Japan, including a pair of FIBA World Cup qualifiers, and averaged 15.9 ppg while shooting 39 percent from 3-point range. He had 33 points, including eight 3-pointers, in a loss to Australia in the 2022 Asia Cup quarterfinals.

2021-22 (Sophomore)
Tominaga was a staple in the Huskers’ rotation, making 30 appearances including 11 starts in his first season at NU. He averaged 5.7 points per game and ranked third on the team with 36 3-pointers. Tominaga also totaled 23 steals to rank fifth on the squad. He compiled seven double-figure efforts, including a season-high 23 points against South Dakota on Nov. 27. He hit 8-of-11 shots from the floor against the Coyotes, including 5-of-6 from 3-point range. 

He had just three points in NU's first three games before breaking out with an 11-point effort against Idaho State on Nov. 19. That game started a stretch where he reached double figures in four of the next five games, highlighted by his 23 points against USD and 16 points, including five 3-pointers, in a four-OT loss at NC State on Dec. 1. Tominaga moved into the starting lineup for the Big Ten opener at Indiana and started NU's next 11 contests until Trey McGowens returned from injury. Tominaga had 11 points against Michigan on Dec. 7 and chipped in 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting against Kennesaw State on Dec. 22. He also led NU with 11 points at No. 7 Purdue on Jan. 14. Once McGowens returned from injury, Tominaga returned to the bench over NU's final 11 contests. He provided a spark on the bench at Michigan with seven points on 3-of-3 shooting, a blocked shot and an assist in 16 minutes of work. He added five points and two rebounds in 11 minutes in a win at No. 10 Wisconsin. 

Before Nebraska
Tominaga spent two seasons at Ranger (Texas) College, helping the program to a 22-4 record and a NJCAA National Tournament semifinals appearance in 2021, and 50 wins in two seasons at the school. 

As a sophomore, he earned second-team NJCAA All-America honors, averaging 16.3 points per game on 51 percent shooting, ranking ninth nationally in 3-pointers per game (3.4/gm) and 19th in 3-point percentage (48.7) for Coach Larry Brown. He earned a spot on the NJCAA All-Tournament team, averaging 20.3 points per game, including 26 points in the national semifinals. He had 21 double-figure performances in 2020-21, including a 31-point, six-assist effort in the regional title game. He also had a 39-point effort, where he hit a school-record 11 3-pointers.

As a freshman, he helped Ranger College and Coach Billy Gillespie to a 28-3 record and a berth in the NJCAA National Tournament before COVID-19 ended the season.  A first-team All-Region V and Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference honoree, Tominaga averaged 16.8 points per game on 55 percent shooting, including 47.9 percent from 3-point range.  He totaled 11 games with at least 20 points in 2019-20, including a season-high 34-point outburst. 

Tominaga represented Japan in 3x3 Basketball in the Tokyo Olympics in August of 2021. The youngest player in the tournament, he finished third in scoring (6.9 ppg), fourth in 1-point shooting (74 percent) and seventh in 3-point shooting (36 percent) in helping Japan to the medal round.  In addition to his 3x3 Olympic experience, he was named to Japan’s B National team in August of 2020. Previously, he starred for Japan’s U-18 team at the Asian Championships, averaging 19.3 points per game to rank fifth among all players in the competition. Tominaga had three 20-point games in the tournament to lead Japan to a fifth-place finish, highlighted by a 33-point performance against Bahrain. He suited up for the U-16 program at the Asian Championships and averaged 17.5 points per game to finish fourth among all scorers. As a high school senior, he averaged 39.8 points per game for Sakuragaoka Gakuen High School at the All-Japan Championship, including a 46-point performance in the third-place game. 

Personal
The son of Hiroyuki and Hitomi Tominaga, Keisei was born on Feb. 1, 2001, in Moriyama, Japan. He has one younger sister, Chihiro. Keisei is a child, youth and family studies major at Nebraska. His father, Hiroyuki, was a center on the Japan national team and played in the 1998 FIBA World Championship and played professionally in Japan for a decade.