Huskers Open with West Georgia Monday Night

The Nebraska men's basketball program opens the 2025-26 season this Monday, Nov. 3, as the Huskers welcome West Georgia to Pinnacle Bank Arena. Tipoff is slated for 7:01 p.m., and the game will be carried on B1G+ (subscription required). The radio broadcast is available on the Husker Sports Network, as well as on Huskers.com and on the Huskers app. Tickets in the 300 Level are available for the matchup by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets or at the PBA Ticket Office beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.

The Huskers went 2-0 during its two exhibitions, a 90-89 win over No. 8 BYU on Oct. 18 and a 91-50 win over Midland on Oct. 27. In Monday's win over Midland, redshirt freshman Braden Frager poured in a game-high 21 points, including six 3-pointers, while Pryce Sandfort added 18 points in 18 minutes of work. Jared Garcia was the third Husker in double figures with 10 points and added five rebounds. NU got 51 points from its bench as no Husker played more than 18:30 on Monday. After a slow start, Nebraska took control with a 13-0 run midway through the first half keyed by a trio of Frager 3-pointers. 

One constant during both of NU's exhibitions has been the team's shooting from 3-point range. NU shot nearly 40 percent from long range while averaging 15.5 3-pointers per game in the two exhibitions. Four different players (Rienk Mast, Connor Essegian, Braden Frager and Pryce Sandford) hit at least four 3-pointers in at least once in exhibition play.  Last season, NU was ninth in the Big Ten with 7.5 3-pointers per game. 

West Georgia looks to make a jump after going 6-26 in its first season of Division I action. The Wolves return a trio of starters headlined by Shelton Williams-Dryden, who averaged 17.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game last season while shooting 55 percent from the field. Williams-Dryden was a preseason All-ASUN selection for Head Coach Dave Moore, who begins his eighth season at UWG. 

Numbers to Know
199 - Head Coach Fred Hoiberg will be going for career win No. 200 in the season opener against West Georgia. Hoiberg is 199-164 in 11 seasons of coaching at the collegiate level.

.950 - Nebraska is 19-1 at home in non-conference play over the last three seasons and is 32-9 (.780) at home in non-conference action in Fred Hoiberg's first six seasons at Nebraska.

401 - Nebraska's 2025-26 roster enters the season with 401 career starts at the Division I level. Rienk Mast has 111 starts in his career while Kendall Blue has started 89 times during his career at St. Thomas. A total of 10 Huskers have started at least once in their careers.

3 - West Georgia is one of a trio of first-time opponents on Nebraska's 2025-26 schedule, joining Florida International (Nov. 8) and New Hampshire (Dec. 30).

90.5 - Nebraska averaged 90.5 points per game in its two exhibition games, its highest scoring average in a season with multiple exhibition games since 1999-2000 (102.5 ppg).

3 - For just the third time in the Big Ten era (2011-12 to present), Nebraska returns multiple double-figure scorers with Rienk Mast (12.3 ppg in 2023-24) and Connor Essegian (10.7 ppg). In both previous instances (2018-19 and 2024-25), Nebraska has advanced to postseason play. 

Scouting West Georgia
West Georgia makes its first trip to Lincoln on Monday night to begin the 2025-26 season. The Wolves are in a transitional period to Division I after making the move prior to the 2024-25 season.

Dave Moore begins his eighth season at the helm, as he guided the school to back-to-back 20-win seasons in 2023 and 2024, including a 27-6 mark and a Gulf South Conference regular-season title in its final season in Division II. Moor was also an assistant coach at St. Bonaventure and Robert Morris before taking the West Georgia job in 2018. 

Shelton Williams-Dryden is UWG's top returner and one of three starters back this season. He was third in the ASUN in scoring at 17.6 ppg while chipping in 7.5 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-6 senior is a preseason All-ASUN pick. He is joined by Kolten Griffin (9.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg) and Malcolm Noel (6.3 ppg, 3.4 apg) while the Wolves had five players redshirt last season and added seven newcomers (six transfers and one freshman) to fortify their roster. 

This is NU's first meeting with West Georgia, although the Huskers are 8-0 all-time against the current members of the Atlantic Sun Conference.  

For Openers
Nebraska begins its 130th season of basketball on Monday night against West Georgia and the Huskers will look for a strong opening night effort.

• Nebraska is 88-41 (.682) all-time in season openers and has won 22 of the past 24 openers dating back to an 87-83 setback at Oral Roberts to begin the 2000 season.
• The Huskers' last opener against an ASUN program marked the first game in Pinnacle Bank Arena, as Nebraska topped Florida Gulf Coast, 79-55 in 2013. FGCU was coming off a Sweet 16 appearance the previous year, and opener was the jumping off point to NU's 19-win season and NCAA Tournament appearance. 
• Berke Büyüktuncel is the only Husker starter remaining from last year's season opener, as he totaled six points, six rebounds and two steals in the win over UTRGV.  Of the 10 players who played in last year's opener, only Büyüktuncel, Connor Essegian and Sam Hoiberg are back on the 2025-26 roster.
• In addition, Jamarques Lawrence and Rienk Mast both started NU's season opener in 2023 vs. Lindenwood.