Husker Hoops set to open season on Wednesday

A new season dawns for the University of Nebraska men’s basketball program Wednesday morning, as the Huskers begin what will be a unique campaign with a matchup against McNeese State. Tipoff at Pinnacle Bank Arena is slated for shortly after 11 a.m. (central).

LINCOLN, Neb. (Nebraska Athletics) — A new season dawns for the University of Nebraska men’s basketball program Wednesday morning, as the Huskers begin what will be a unique campaign with a matchup against McNeese State. Tipoff at Pinnacle Bank Arena is slated for shortly after 11 a.m. (central).

The matchup between the Huskers and Cowboys will be carried nationally on BTN with Kevin Kugler and Shon Morris on the call. The game can also be streamed via the web, smartphones, tablets and connected devices through the Fox Sports app.

Fans can follow all of the action across the state of Nebraska on the Learfield IMG College Husker Sports Network with Kent Pavelka and Jake Muhleisen on the call. The game will also be available on Huskers.com, the Huskers app and TuneIn radio. The pregame show begins one hour prior to tipoff.

Fred Hoiberg’s squad will have a dramatically different look in 2020-21, Nebraska returns a pair of starters in senior Thorir Thorbjarnarson, who averaged 8.8 points per game and was among the Big Ten’s top 3-point shooters in 2019-20, and sophomore Yvan Ouedraogo, who led the Huskers with 6.3 rebounds per game.

More importantly, the Huskers gain the services of a trio of Division I transfers who sat out last year as well as six other newcomers who will factor into the Huskers’ fortunes this season. In all, seven players bring previous Division I experience, totaling nearly 3,000 points, more than 1,000 rebounds and 600 assists. The group includes Trey McGowens, a former top-100 recruit who averaged 11.5 points and 3.6 assists per game at Pittsburgh last season. Grad transfer Kobe Webster was a three-year starter at Western Illinois and averaged 17.1 points and 3.6 assists per game. Sophomore Dalano Banton, a 6-foot-9 guard, was a top-100 recruit coming out of high school and played at Western Kentucky before coming to Nebraska.

McNeese State returns a pair of preseason all-conference performers, including Scottsbluff native Dru Kuxhausen, who averaged 14.7 points per game and led the nation in 3-pointers in 2019-20 (125) while ranking in the top three nationally in 3-pointers per game (3.9, second) and 3-point percentage (.458, third). He was a teammate of former Husker Jervay Green at Western Nebraska CC.

Wednesday’s game starts a busy week for the Huskers, as Nebraska is scheduled to play a pair of games in the Golden Window Classic beginning Thursday.

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT

Shamiel Stevenson will make his Husker debut on Wednesday against McNeese State. It will be his first college game in 702 days dating back to Dec. 15, 2018, when he was playing at Pittsburgh.  Stevenson transferred to Nevada in January of 2019, but did not play at the school before he transferred again.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

1 – McNeese State is the only first-time opponent on Nebraska’s current 2020-21 schedule.

16- Nebraska led the Big Ten and ranked 16th nationally in pace last season by KenPom. It was the highest finish of any Big Ten program in the KenPom database since the site began tracking in 2001-02.

19 – Yvan Ouedraogo’s 19 rebounds against Northwestern on March 1, 2020, set Nebraska’s single-game freshman record. It was one of his six double-figure rebounding totals in 2019-20.

Reb.     Player, Opponent (Date)

19        Yvan Ouedraogo, vs. Northwestern (3/1/2020)

17        Ron Taylor,      vs. Northern Iowa (12/20/1973)

17        Brian Conklin, vs. Kansas State (2/14/2001)

21.6 – Nebraska returns 21.6 percent of its scoring from last season. While the number is among one of the lowest in the Big Ten, it is significantly more than last year, when NU returned just 1.9 percent of its scoring. That number was the lowest returning total by a Big Ten team in a decade.

7.9 – Nebraska’s 3-pointers per game in 2019-20, a total that ranked second in school history and the most since the 2001-02 season.

SCOUTING MCNEESE STATE

McNeese State returns three starters from a team that went 15-17 last season, including 10-10 in the Southland Conference. The Cowboys are coached by Heath Schroyer, who is in his third year at McNeese State, and improved the school’s win total from nine to 15 last season. Schroyer had previously served as head coach at Portland State, Wyoming and UT Martin before taking over at McNeese in 2018-19.

The Cowboys, who were picked to finish sixth in the Southland Conference, return a pair of preseason all-conference performers, including Scottsbluff native Dru Kuxhausen, who averaged 14.7 points per game and led the nation in 3-pointers in 2019-20 (125) while ranking in the top three nationally in 3-pointers per game (3.9, second) and 3-point percentage (.458, third). He started all 32 games and posted eight 20-point efforts last season.  Senior guard A.J. Lawson is also a preseason All-Southland pick after averaging 15.2 points and 4.2 assists per game. Lawson was ninth in the league in scoring and third in assists per game (4.2 avg.), whole posting eight games of at least 20 points. The season opener will be the first meeting between the two programs.

Nebraska is 11-2 all-time against members of the Southland Conference, including a win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last season.