Huskers Return Home for Rutgers Thursday Night

The Nebraska men's basketball team returns home Thursday night, as the Huskers welcome the Rutgers Scarlet Knights to town. Tipoff from Pinnacle Bank Arena is set for shortly after 8 p.m. and the game will be shown on FS1 and carried on the Huskers Radio Network as well as on Huskers.com and the Huskers app. A limited number of 300 Level tickets are available for purchase for Thursday's matchup by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets or at the PBA box office beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Nebraska (12-4, 2-3 B1G) looks to rebound following a 104-68 loss at No. 20 Purdue on Sunday. The Boilermakers shot 63 percent from the field and went 19 of 33 from 3-point range in the victory. Purdue became just the second opponent in the last 33 games to shoot over 50 percent against the Huskers dating back to last season. 

For the Huskers, junior Connor Essegian was one of the bright spots, as he came off the bench and led NU with 17 points while adding five rebounds and three assists. Essegian has become one of the Big Ten's top sixth men of the season, as he comes into Thursday's game averaging 11.6 ppg and pacing the Huskers with 40 3-pointers. He is one of four Big Ten reserves currently averaging double figures while making five or fewer starts. 

After two tough road games, the Huskers are back at home, where they are 8-0 on the season and have won 20 straight games. With a win on Thursday, the Huskers will break the program record for consecutive home wins. 

Rutgers (9-8, 2-4 B1G) comes to town following a 75-68 win over UCLA on Monday night. Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey combined for 38 points as the Scarlet Knights snapped a three-game losing streak. Rutgers held UCLA to 42 percent shooting and outrebounded the Bruins, 37-29.

 

B1G Bench Scoring Leaders (5 or less starts)

No.	Player	PPG
1.	Nick Kern Jr. (PSU)	12.7
2.	Connor Essegian (NEB)	11.6
3.	Will Riley (ILL)	10.9
4.	Keeshawn Barthelemy (ORE)	10.1
	Sebastian Mack (UCLA)	10.1
6	Jase Richardson (MSU)	9.7
as of Jan. 14

 

Worth Noting
• Nebraska looks to extend its home win streak to 21 games on Thursday night. A win over the Scarlet Knights would break the program record for most consecutive home wins. The 20 straight home wins ties the mark set on two previous occasions, most recently from 2017 to 2019. Over the past three years, Nebraska is 37-5 (.880) inside Pinnacle Bank Arena.

• Nebraska enters the week as one of seven teams in the country with home win streaks of 20 or more games. Houston, which hosts West Virginia on Wednesday, has the nation's longest home win streak at 31 games entering this week's action.

• Nebraska begins the second half of the season with a 12-4 record, which is one game off last season's pace through the first 16 games. That was NU's best 16-game start in the Big Ten era. 

• Nebraska is No. 45 in the NET on Jan. 14 and enters this week as one of 12 Big Ten teams in the top 50 of the NET. The Big Ten currently has seven teams in the top 25 while 17 of the 18 conference teams are in the top 100 of the NET as of Jan. 14.

• Thursday's game with Rutgers will feature three of the Big Ten's top four scorers in Nebraska's Brice Williams and the Rutgers duo of Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey. Of the seven Big Ten players who average at least 18.0 points per game, three will be in action in Lincoln Thursday night.

• Senior Andrew Morgan comes into Thursday's matchup looking to become the second Husker to reach the 1,000-point mark this season. The senior forward is just 16 points away from that mark. In addition, Juwan Gary is now only 26 points away from the 1,000-point plateau following his 10-point game at Purdue last Sunday. 

• Despite a rough week, Nebraska is 20th nationally in defensive efficiency in KenPom as of Jan. 14. The two teams NU faced last week - Iowa and Purdue - both rank in the top 20 nationally in offensive efficiency  and marked the first time this season that NU has allowed more than 1.0 points per possession (PPP) in consecutive games this season. As a conference, the Big Ten features six teams that rank in the top 25 nationally in defensive efficiency. 

• Sunday's loss to Purdue snapped a two-game win streak against ranked teams. NU is now 7-8 in its last 15 games against ranked teams dating back to March 1, 2022. 

• With road wins at No. 14 Creighton and Hawai'i, Nebraska won multiple non-conference road games for the first time since the 2011-12 season and just the second time in the last 25 years. Nebraska’s two non-conference road wins account for half of the Big Ten's true road wins in non-conference play, as Oregon (1) and Penn State (1) collected the other ones. 

• The Dec. 30 win over Southern wrapped up a successful non-conference slate. NU went 10-1 in non-conference action, only the seventh time since WWII that NU finished its non-con slate with one loss (also 10-1, 2023-24; 10-1, 2018-19; 10-1, 2003-04; 12-1, 1991-92; 15-1, 1990-91; 11-1, 1977-78).

• Nebraska's 2024 Diamond Head Classic title marked the program's first MTE event title since the 2000 San Juan Shootout. With the win, Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg became the first coach to win multiple Diamond Head Classic titles, as he coached Iowa State to the 2013 championship.

• With its 12-4 start in 2024-25, Nebraska is 41-17 over the last 58 games dating back to the start of February 2023. NU's .707 winning percentage trails only Purdue among Big Ten programs in that stretch.  NU would be third (behind Purdue and Oregon) if you included the four new Big Ten schools (Oregon, UCLA, Washington and USC) during that same stretch. NU went just 33-80 from the start of the 2019-20 season until Feb. 1, 2023.

• Over the last 20 games dating back to last season, Brice Williams is averaging 19.0 points per game on .485 shooting and has 10 20-point efforts in that span. He has been in double figures in 18 of 20 games in that stretch. He averaged just 12.5 ppg over his first 30 games at Nebraska in 2023-24.

• Brice Williams earned MVP honors at the Diamond Head Classic, as he averaged 22.0 points per game on 56 percent shooting, 3.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game. Williams averaged 19.3 ppg on 57 percent shooting in seven December games following his 11-point, seven-rebound effort against Southern. 

• Juwan Gary is playing some of the best basketball of his career over the last three weeks. The senior is averaging 12.5 ppg while shooting over 35 percent from 3-point range over the last eight games. 

• NU has relied on its depth during the first half of the season, with six players averaging at least 7.5 points per game during the first half of the season. Eight different 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 40 of the Big Ten in scoring as of Jan 14.

• 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 five Big Ten players with multiple 30-point games this season. 

• Nebraska has been prolific at getting to the foul line and taking advantage of the opportunities. Nebraska ranks among the Big Ten leaders in free throws made and attempted per game and free throw percentage.  As a team, NU is shooting 76.3 percent from the line following a 10-of-11 effort at No. 20 Purdue to rank third in the Big Ten. The Huskers have shot 80 percent or better in five of the past seven contests dating back to Dec. 22. Last year, NU shot 76.0 percent from the line, the third best percentage in school history. 

• Nebraska is averaging 8.3 steals per game to rank fifth in the Big Ten as of Jan. 14. Four Huskers average at least one steal per game led by Sam Hoiberg, who is ninth in the conference with 1.5 spg. Of the 49 Big Ten players averaging at least one steal per game as of January 14, Hoiberg is one of two averaging less than 20 minutes per game (Washington's Makhi Mason).

• Nebraska comes into Thursday's game averaging 76.9 points per game.  NU has scored 70+ points in 10 of 16 games, including six 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. 

• The Huskers are 37-4 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 on Nov. 17. NU has been out-rebounded only twice in 16 games this season.

• 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 (2022-23 and 2023-24), 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.

Numbers to Know
12.8 -Juwan Gary is averaging 12.8 ppg over Nebraska's last six games and has been in double figures five times in that span.

26.0 - Nebraska has gotten great production from its bench in the early going, averaging 26.0 points per game over the first 16 games. Nebraska has gotten 16 double-figure efforts from its bench this season (Morgan-8, Essegian-7, Ulis-1). The Huskers led the Big Ten in bench production last season, averaging 21.4 points per game.

30 - Fred Hoiberg has 30 wins over ranked opponents, including 11 career wins against top-10 teams, in his collegiate coaching career following Nebraska's 66-58 win over UCLA. In addition, his four road wins is second only to Danny Nee's seven all-time among NU men's basketball coaches.

70 - Over the last two-plus seasons, Nebraska has been exceptional when holding opponents to 70 points or less. The Huskers are 41-4 (.911) when holding opponents to 70 points, including 36 straight wins since a 65-62 overtime loss to No. 4 Purdue on Dec. 10, 2022.

Scouting Rutgers
Rutgers heads into Thursday's game with a 9-8 record following Monday's 75-68 win over UCLA. The Scarlet Knights have battled injuries for a good portion of the season, which was a main reason Rutgers had lost four of five before the win over the Bruins. The Scarlet Knight play three of their next four on the road along with a neutral site game against Michigan State at Madison Square Garden.

The Scarlet Knights are coached by Steve Pikiell, who is in his ninth season at the school. He guided Rutgers to postseason appearances in three straight years from 2021 to 2023, including back-to-back appearances in 2021 and 2022. Prior to 2021, Rutgers had not been to the NCAA Tournament since 1991. 

The Scarlet Knights feature two potential NBA lottery picks in freshmen Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey. Harper is averaging 20.0 ppg on 50 percent shooting while pacing the Scarlet Knights with 4.4 assists per game. Bailey is averaging 19.0 ppg while topping Rutgers in both rebounding (7.7 rpg) and blocks (1.3 bpg). Three of Rutgers' top four scorers are freshmen, as Lathan Sommerville is averaging 7.2 ppg while senior Jeremiah Williams is at 7.3 ppg. 

Series History: Thursday's game will be the 21st all-time meeting with the Scarlet Knights. Nebraska leads the all-time series 11-9 and has won 10 of the 17 meetings since Rutgers joined the Big Ten in 2014-15. Prior to the Scarlet Knights joining the Big Ten, the two teams split a home-and-home series in 2006 and 2007. The only other meeting was a 19-point Rutgers win at the 1999 Hoop and Quill Classic in St. Charles, Mo. The teams split a pair of meetings last year with the home team winning both contests.