Huskers Tangle with FDU Knights on Wednesday at PBA

The Nebraska men's basketball team looks to improve to 3-0 on the season, as the Huskers welcome FDU to Pinnacle Bank Arena on Wednesday evening.  Tipoff between the Huskers and Knights is set for 7 p.m. and tickets are available for the matchup by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets, calling 800-8-BIGRED during business hours (Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-4 p.m.) or at PBA beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Nebraska (2-0) battled to a 63-58 win over Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 9. The Huskers used another strong defensive effort, holding the Wildcats to 35.5 percent shooting and forced 22 turnovers which led to 21 Husker points. Juwan Gary led the charge with 11 points, nine rebounds and a career-high five steals, while Brice Williams added 10 points.

The Huskers have been solid defensively, holding its two opponents to a combined 37 percent shooting while leading the Big Ten in turnovers forced at 21.0 per contest. NU has also done a good job of keeping its opponents off the foul line, allowing just 8.0 free throw attempts per game.

Offensively, Brice Williams leads a balanced attack at 18.5 points per game while Rollie Worster (11.5), Connor Essegian (10.5) and Juwan Gary (10.0) give the Huskers four players averaging double figures. Gary and UCLA transfer Berke Büyüktuncel are tied for the team lead in rebounding at 6.5 per game, as NU has enjoyed a +6.0 advantage on the glass in the early going.

With seven of the 10 players who have played the first two games in their first action at NU, the Huskers have an average of 15.5 turnovers per game. Last year, NU was at 14.5 over the first two contests before finishing the season at 11.1 per game to rank seventh in the Big Ten.

FDU (1-2) continues its two-game swing through Nebraska following a 96-70 loss to No. 15 Creighton on Sunday. Terrence Brown led FDU with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Dylan Jones and Bismark Nsiah added 12 points apiece, as the Knights were held to 36 percent shooting and were out-rebounded 51-30. FDU led 26-24 with 6:44 left in the first half before Creighton used a 26-8 run to take control.

Numbers to Know

9 - Following his 27-point effort against UTRGV, Brice Williams has nine 25-point games in his career. The 27-point effort was the most points by a Husker in an opener since Shavon Shields had 28 vs. Florida Gulf Coast in 2013.

23 - Nebraska has won 23 straight games dating back to the 2022-23 season when holding an opponent to under 70 points. Over the last two-plus years, NU is 29-2 (.935) when holding an opponent to below 70 points.

24.5 - Nebraska led the Big Ten in bench production last season, averaging 21.4 points per game and has averaged 24.5 points per game in the first two contests. NU already has two double-figure efforts from reserves in the first two contests.

27 - Nebraska has won 27 straight games when out-rebounding its opponent dating back to Nov. 27, 2022, against Florida State. The Huskers were 16-0 in 2023-24 season when out-rebounding foes.

.938 - Nebraska is 15-1 at home in non-conference play over the last two-plus seasons and is 28-9 (.757) at home in non-conference action in Fred Hoiberg's six seasons at Nebraska.

Scouting FDU

FDU is 1-2 this season following Sunday's loss at Creighton. The Knights, who opened the season with a loss at Miami, will play several power conference teams before Northeast Conference action begins, including Villanova, Minnesota and Boston College. FDU was picked to finish third in the NEC and return a pair of starters and seven letterwinners from a team that went 15-17 last season under Jack Castleberry.  FDU led the NEC in scoring offense in 2023-24 by averaging 75.9 points per game.

Castleberry, who was an assistant on FDU's 2023 NCAA Tournament team, led the Knights to a fourth-place finish in his first year in charge. Before joining FDU, he was an assistant at the Citadel (2017-22) after spending two years as the director of basketball operations. He also coached at VMI (2008-12) and Tennessee-Martin (2007-08) and was an assistant coach for the women's program at Siena from 2012 to 2014.

Junior forward Jo’el Emanuel was a preseason All-NEC selection, as he averaged 10.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game last season. Sophomore guard Terrence Brown was on the NEC All-Rookie team in 2023-24 as he averaged 7.8 points, 2.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Brown leads the Knights in scoring (20.3 ppg) and rebounding (5.7 rpg) while shooting 52 percent from the field. Dylan Jones is at 13.3 ppg, including 12-of-26 from 3-point range, while Emanuel is at 11.7 ppg on 62 percent shooting.

Wednesday's meeting is the second between the schools and the first matchup since an 80-64 Husker win on Nov. 22, 2003, at the Devaney Center. NU is 8-0 against the current members of the Northeast Conference.

Last Time Out

Juwan Gary had 11 points, nine rebounds and a career-high five steals, as Nebraska improved to 2-0 with a 63-58 win over Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 9.

Gary keyed a Nebraska effort that saw the Huskers hold Bethune-Cookman to 35.5 percent shooting and forced 22 Wildcat turnovers, as the Huskers won their 14th straight at home dating back to last season. Nebraska, which shot 34.5 percent, built a 16-point second-half lead, but Bethune-Cookman continued to battle, and the Huskers finally subdued the Wildcats by going 6-of-6 from the line in the last minute.

Leading 29-24 at the break, Brice Williams had six of his 10 points in the first 1:42 of the half, as the senior hit consecutive 3-pointers to give NU a 35-26 advantage. A couple minutes later, NU used a 9-0 spurt to build its largest lead of the game at 46-30 with 13:55 left.  Bethune-Cookman chipped away, using an 8-0 run to cut the deficit in half at 46-38 before Connor Essegian’s layup ended the Wildcat run. Nebraska led 51-41 after Braxton Meah’s 3-point play with 8:20 left in regulation, but could not extend it further, allowing the visitors to hang around.  Leading 57-50 with 1:47 left, the visitors kept battling and got to within three twice in the last minute, the final time at 61-58 after a Gianni Hunt basket with 18 seconds left, but Brice Williams was fouled and hit both free throws to make it a five-point game, as NU held on.

Notes from the Bethune-Cookman Game

• Nebraska has won 14 straight games at home dating back to last season.

• Nebraska has won 23 straight games when holding an opponent under 70 points, including 29-2 over the last two-plus seasons. The time Nebraska lost a game when holding an opponent under 70 points was against No. 4 Purdue in 2022.

• Nebraska forced 22 turnovers, the most since forcing 22 turnovers at Michigan State on Feb. 6, 2021. It ties for the second-highest number of opponent turners in Fred Hoiberg’s five-plus seasons at Nebraska.

• Nebraska has forced 20+ turnovers in both games this season. It is only the second time in the Big Ten era (2011-12 to present) where the Huskers have forced 20+ turnovers in consecutive games. The other was the first two games of the 2020-21 season.

• Nebraska finished with 11 steals, including a career-high five from Juwan Gary. Gary's previous high in steals was four at Kansas State last season. NU's 11 steals were its highest total since recording 15 against Indiana on Jan. 3, 2024.

Turning Turnovers into Points

One area where Nebraska has excelled early on is converting on opponent turnovers. Nebraska has averaging 23.5 points per game off opponent turnovers in the first two games, while opponents have totaled just 23 points off Husker miscues in the first two contests.

Brice on Opening Night

Senior Brice Williams opened the 2024-25 season in style with a 27-point effort against UTRGV. It was Williams' high in his Husker career and five points off his collegiate career best. Williams' 27-point night was one of the highest opening night totals in the last 25 years.

• It marked the ninth time in his career that he has scored 25-or-more points in a game.

• It extended his string of 20-point games to four dating back to last year's Big Ten Tournament.

• Williams enters the week tied for ninth in the Big Ten with an 18.5 per game scoring average. He has now reached double figures in each of the last six games, one off his NU best of seven straight double-figure games.

Worth Noting

• Braxton Meah is expected to make his 50th career start on Wednesday vs. FDU. Meah comes off his best game of the year with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting and four rebounds against Bethune-Cookman. Meah did not start a game in his first two college seasons.

• Berke Büyüktuncel has set personal bests in rebounds in each of Nebraska's two games. The 6-foot-10 sophomore is averaging 6.5 rebounds per game and also tied career bests in blocks (2 vs. Bethune-Cookman) and steals (2 vs. UTRGV) during the first week of the season.

• Juwan Gary's five steals matched the most steals by a Husker in Fred Hoiberg's five-plus seasons. It marked the ninth time - by seven players - a Husker had five steals in a game since the 2019-20 season.

•Jack McVeigh became the 16th Husker to play in the NBA as he made his debut in Houston's win over San Antonio on Nov. 6. McVeigh, who played professionally in Australia and Germany, played three seasons at Nebraska from 2016-18. McVeigh scored his first career points at Oklahoma City on Nov. 8.

• Nebraska had scored 80-or-more points in five straight games before the streak was snapped against Bethune-Cookman. 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.

• The Huskers are fourth in the Big Ten in free throw percentage at .754, going 46-61 from the foul line this season. Last season, Nebraska shot 76.0 percent from the line, its highest percentage from the charity stripe since the 2011-12 team set a school record with a .766 free throw percentage.

• Nebraska enters the 2024-25 season coming 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. According to BTN Research, Nebraska was one of four teams nationally and the only team in a power conference to improve its win total by at least six games in each of the past two seasons (2022-23 and 2023-24). The others are James Madison, Lamar and South Florida.

• 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. 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).

• Nebraska made its biggest jump on the offensive end in 2023-24, averaging 77.7 points per game. It is an increase of nearly nine points per game from the 2022-23 campaign and NU’s highest scoring average since 1995-96 (80.2 ppg). NU climbed from 149th to 32nd nationally in offensive efficiency in KenPom. Prior to last season, NU’s highest average since joining the Big Ten was 73.3 ppg in 2021-22.  The Huskers are 25-8 under Fred Hoiberg when scoring at least 80 points, including 20-5 over the last three seasons.

🎙️ @CoachHoiberg preview Wednesday night's matchup vs. FDU https://t.co/tyCcDnYmig

— Nebraska Men's Basketball (@HuskerMBB) November 11, 2024