Huskers Hit the Road to Face No. 2 Kansas

After not facing a ranked team in its first 12 games, Nebraska will take on its second straight top-10 opponent when it travels to Lawrence, Kan., to take on the No. 2 Kansas Jayhawks on Wednesday, Jan. 19. The Huskers and Jayhawks will tip off at 7:06 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.

The game can be heard on the Pinnacle Sports Network and Huskers.com with Randy Lee calling the action. The contest will also be seen on NU's local package on FSN Midwest in the state of Nebraska (Channel 37 on Time Warner in Lincoln; Channel 47 on Cox Cable in Omaha; Channel 33 on Qwest Choice in Omaha). Fans in western Nebraska who only receive the FSN Rocky Mountain package will also be able to get the game, while the contest will be carried on DirecTV (Channel 646) and Dish Network (Channel 446) to households in Nebraska. Jim Rose will sit in to handle play-by-play duties while former Husker Matt Davison adds color commentary.

Nebraska enters Wednesday's matchup with a 2-1 record in Big 12 play ? the Huskers' best three-game start in league play since recording the same mark in 1997-98. Nebraska has opened conference action with two wins in its first three games just three times since the formation of the Big 12, including 1997, 1998 and 2005.

The Huskers enter the KU matchup after falling to No. 10/9 Texas last Saturday. Nebraska played solid defense and was within a point before a late 8-0 surge pushed the Longhorns ahead in the final five minutes of the game.

The contest with Kansas will mark the Huskers' second straight game against a ranked team. It will be the first time since 1991-92 that Nebraska has faced top-10 teams in back-to-back games. Nebraska went 1-1 in that stretch, falling to No. 9 Missouri, 87-61, and beating No. 3 Kansas, 81-79, that season.

The Huskers split the season series with the Jayhawks last year with KU earning a 78-67 win in Lawrence. Jake Muhleisen hit 3-of-4 three-pointers to score 13 points at KU while Marcus Neal Jr. had a season-high five assists without a turnover as Nebraska outscored the Jayhawks in the second half.

Muhleisen and Neal will need to step up along with the other Husker seniors ? guard Corey Simms and forward John Turek ? if they are to pick up their first career victory at Allen Fieldhouse. NU's last win in Lawrence came in 1999.

One player who has stepped up his game early in conference play is freshman guard Joe McCray, who leads Nebraska with 15.2 points per game this season. McCray ranks ninth in the league in scoring and is tied for seventh in conference-only games while averaging 17.3 points over three Big 12 contests. McCray has recorded 21 points in each of Nebraska's past two games, and added a career-high 11 boards for his first career double-double against Texas.

McCray owns a league-best 12 three-pointers in three games and is hitting 41.4 percent from long range against league competition. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla. native is averaging 3.15 treys per game this season and needs just three more bombs to tie the Nebraska freshman record of 44 three-pointers by Eric Piatkowski in 1991. McCray also needs just 29 points to move into a tie for 10th on the Nebraska freshman scoring chart (Larry Florence, 226 points in 1997).

Along with McCray, freshman center Aleks Maric looks to break into the NU freshman top 10 for rebounds as he owns a team-high 97 rebounds this season. Maric needs nine boards to move into a tie for 10th. Turek owns the Nebraska freshman record with 162 rebounds in 2002. Turek needs just 58 rebounds to move into the NU career top 10, as last Saturday he became the 14th Husker to pass the 600-rebound plateau.

Nebraska owns a 5-2 record over its past seven games, including winning each of its past two road contests (62-61 at Tennessee; 68-61 at Colorado). The last time NU won three consecutive true road contests was 1997-98. NU last won three straight away from Lincoln (neutral sites) in 2000.

Meeting the Kansas Jayhawks
The Kansas Jayhawks enter Wednesday's contest as one for four unbeaten teams in the nation while sporting a 13-0 record. KU improved to 3-0 over the weekend as it ran by Colorado, 76-61, in Boulder.

Forward Wayne Simien made his return to the Jayhawk lineup after missing four games with an injury, and torched the Buffaloes for 23 points and 17 rebounds. Simien, who will contend for conference and national player-of-the-year honors, is averaging a team-best 17.6 points and 12.2 rebounds per game while shooting 54.1 percent from the floor.

Simien is one of three double-figure scorers for the Jayhawks, as senior Keith Langford and sophomore J.R. Giddens are gaining 14.7 and 10.3 points per game, respectively. Langford adds 4.8 rebounds and is second with 14 three-pointers and 42 assists. Giddens paces the squad with 29 three-pointers but has gotten to the foul line just 13 times this season.

Senior guard Aaron Miles, the Jayhawks' career assists leader, adds 8.7 points and 3.8 rebounds while gaining a conference-best 7.1 assists per game. Miles also paces KU with nearly two steals per game.

Overall, KU has averaged 76.8 points per contest while hitting 47.1 percent from the floor, including a solid 37.0 percent from long range. The Jayhawks have given up only 61.2 points per game on 35.7 percent shooting. Kansas also owns a +3.4 advantage (40.8-37.5) on the glass.

The Jayhawks are guided by Coach Bill Self (Oklahoma State, 1985), who is in his second season at KU and 12th as a head coach. Self owns a 343-114 career record, including a 37-9 mark with the Jayhawks.

Series History
The Huskers and Jayhawks are meeting for the 226th time in series history. The teams first met in the 1899-1900 campaign, when Nebraska handed Kansas its worst lost in program history, 48-8, in Lincoln. KU returned the favor in 1958 when it defeated the Huskers in a 102-46 win in Lawrence.

Nebraska won six of the first seven all-time matchups before the Jayhawks began to dominate the series standings. KU currently owns a 154-71 series lead, including winning nine of the past 10 matchups.

KU has posted an 81-23 record against Nebraska in Lawrence, including a 42-7 mark at Allen Fieldhouse. Nebraska's last road victory in the series came in 1999 when the Huskers swept the season series.

Nebraska snapped a nine-game losing streak against KU last season in Lincoln, when the Huskers earned a convincing 74-55 victory over the No. 12 Jayhawks. The win was the largest for the Huskers over KU since 1982, and came just one season after Kansas handed NU its worst home loss in Devaney Center history. The win also snapped a streak of 16 straight wins for KU over Nebraska when the Jayhawks entered the contest ranked in the top 15.

Last year in Lincoln, Kansas hit just 36.2 percent from the floor with Wayne Simien finishing with a team-best 12 points, the only Jayhawk in double figures. Nebraska scorched the nets by hitting 56.3 percent from the floor, including 63.0 percent in the second half, while running to its fourth-largest margin of victory over a ranked team in program history. Andrew Drevo, Nate Johnson and John Turek each had 14 points apiece for the Huskers.

The Last Time We Met
Lawrence, Kan. (March 3, 2004) --- Brian Conklin scored 14 points to lead five Huskers in double figures, but Nebraska had trouble stopping Kansas’ big men as the No. 21/18 Jayhawks evened the season series with a 78-67 victory at Allen Fieldhouse.

Conklin came out firing as he hit four three-pointers in the first 13 minutes of the game, with the last one pulling Nebraska within one point, 28-27, with 7:29 to play in the opening frame. Nebraska hit seven of its first nine three-point attempts in that span, but KU broke open the game with a 16-0 run over the next seven minutes. The Huskers scored the final four points of the half to cut the lead to 43-31 at the intermission.

Kansas continued its strong run in the opening minutes of the second period, scoring the first seven points of the frame on baskets from Wayne Simien and Jeff Graves and a conventional three-point play from J.R. Giddens. Simien led all scorers with 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting despite coming off the bench as KU started all three of its seniors in their final home game. Graves nailed all five of his shots from the floor while helping Kansas hit 50.8 percent from the field.

Giddens’ three-point play put KU ahead by 22, 53-31, but the Huskers would not go away.

Nebraska used a 10-0 run fueled by Nate Johnson and Jake Muhleisen, who each scored five points over the next 1:37 to pull the Huskers within 12, 53-41. Muhleisen finished the game with 13 points while going 5-for-9 from the field, including hitting a trio of three-pointers. Nebraska, which came into the game as the best three-point shooting team in the conference, hit 9-of-20 (45.0 percent) from beyond the arc.

Johnson added 11 points and a team-high six rebounds, although NU was outrebounded 38-25. Andrew Drevo added 12 points while John Turek pitched in 10 points and five boards off the bench. Marcus Neal Jr. added a season-high five assists without a turnover.

Spreading the Wealth
Nebraska has picked it up on the offensive end the past seven games and much of the success has come from something as simple as making an extra pass. Over the past seven games in which NU has earned a 5-2 record, Nebraska has averaged 16.3 assists per game after collecting just 11.7 assists per game over the first six games of the year.

Senior guards Jake Muhleisen and Marcus Neal Jr. have set up their teammates well recently. Muhleisen has 27 assists against nine turnovers since Dec. 18 after gaining just 14 assists against seven turnovers to open the season. Muhleisen has led NU in assists in three of the past four games, including a season-high nine assists in 48 minutes in the Huskers' Big 12 opener against Kansas State.

Neal's numbers have been just as impressive. He gained 13 assists versus 14 turnovers in the first six games but has 34 assists against 15 miscues in the past seven games. Neal recorded four games with a career-high six assists during his recent surge, including six assists without a turnover against Texas.

John Turek and Wes Wilkinson have benefited the most during the recent run. Turek is hitting 57.1 percent from the field in the last seven games while averaging 11.0 points per game after opening the season by connecting on 44.4 percent from the floor. Wilkinson has been just as impressive, hitting 51.9 percent over the last seven games for 9.4 points after nailing 41.7 percent from the field in the opening six games.

Hitting the Long Ball
After losing Brian Conklin (55.6 percent from three-point range in 2003-04) to graduation last year, the Huskers knew they would need to find more consistency as a team from long range in 2005.

NU has hit 54-of-156 (34.6 percent) of its three-point attempts in the past seven games, after opening the season hitting just 36-of-116 (31.0 percent) in its first six contests. During the recent surge, freshman Joe McCray has led the way, averaging 17.0 points per game while hitting 27-of-66 (40.9) from long range. Marcus Neal Jr. is second with 15 three-pointers while hitting 32.6 percent from long distance.

With 41 three-pointers in 13 games, McCray ranks second on the Husker freshman three-pointer chart and is more than halfway to reaching the NU single-season top 10 (10th place is 59 treys). In fact, at his current Big 12-leading pace of 3.1 treys per game, McCray could challenge for the NU single-season record of 89 set by Cary Cochran in 2002. Nebraska has had a player hit at least 65 treys in three of the past four seasons, including four of the top six marks in school history.

McCray had five treys in each of his last two games against Colorado and Texas. He moved into second place on the NU frosh chart, passing Cochran who had 39 in 1998-99. The NU freshman record is 44 three-pointers by Eric Piatkowski in 1990-91. McCray has four games with at least five three-pointers this season.

Neal Continues Steady Improvement
After finishing last season on a solid note by earning Big 12 All-Newcomer honors, guard Marcus Neal Jr. has continued to improve throughout the summer, fall and into the regular season.

Neal has hit 47-of-129 shots from the floor while averaging 11.3 points to rank second on the team. He is second on the squad with 27 three-pointers, while adding 3.5 rebounds with 13 steals.

Over the past seven games, Neal has done a terrific job of distributing the ball as he has had a career high with six assists four times while gaining 4.9 assists per game during that stretch. He recorded 34 assists against 15 turnovers combined in those seven games, after gaining only 13 assists against 14 turnovers in his first six games.

Neal, who played with an illness throughout the Marquette contest, has recorded 47 assists in 13 games (3.6 apg) this season to rank first on the squad and 14th in the Big 12 Conference. His total is nearing his mark (62) in 31 games last year.

Neal is averaging more than twice as many points as last year (5.3) and nearly twice as many rebounds per game (1.8). He has averaged 9.9 field-goal attempts per game this year compared to 4.5 last season. Neal has already equaled his total from last season with 13 steals despite playing 18 fewer games this year.

Neal has also been an offensive spark for the Huskers this season. Against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Neal hit three consecutive three-pointers to start a staggering 27-0 Husker run. Then against Texas Southern, he combined with Joe McCray on back-to-back three-pointers to punctuate a 10-2 run that put NU ahead by double figures midway through the first half.

Neal's career-high tying four three-pointers against Creighton helped push the Bluejays throughout the game, while his six assists against just one turnover helped jump start the offense after halftime against North Carolina A&T. He came back with four threes against Tennessee, including two treys in an 8-0 surge before he iced the game with three free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining.

Neal came back to hit 2-of-3 free throws with 1.3 seconds left in regulation against KSU, sending the game to overtime where he scored 13 of his career-high tying 19 points to help NU to a 95-85 double-overtime win.

McCray Making a Splash
Freshman guard Joe McCray has played just 13 regular-season games, but the rookie is already showing signs that he will be among the most successful freshmen in the Big 12 Conference this season. At his current pace, McCray will contend for all-freshman honors on the conference and national levels.

McCray has already been named the Big 12 Rookie of the Week on two occasions this year (Nov. 29 and Dec. 20). He is the first Husker freshman to earn more than one rookie-of-the-week honor in a season.

Through Jan. 16, McCray ranks ninth in the conference in scoring at 15.2 points per game ? the second-highest scoring freshman in the Big 12 Conference ? while hitting 41.3 percent from the floor. He leads the conference with 3.15 three-pointers per game and paces the Huskers and Big 12 with 41 three-pointers. He is also fourth in the conference in three-point percentage by hitting 38.3 percent beyond the arc.

The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native began his career in high style as he recorded a game-high 23 points in 22 minutes against Arkansas-Pine Bluff in his first career game. McCray hit 9-of-17 shots from the floor, while adding six rebounds and two steals. McCray's point total was the most by a freshman in an NU season opener since freshmen regained eligibility in 1972-73. He came back with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting (3-of-6 three-pointers) with four rebounds against Texas Southern to earn co-Big 12 Rookie of the Week honors on Nov. 29.

In his third career game, McCray recorded 24 points on 8-of-17 shooting, including hitting 5-of-10 attempts from three-point range. The 24 points rank seventh on the NU freshman single-game scoring chart. Tyronn Lue owns the NU freshman record with 30 points in his second career game.

McCray had 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting against North Carolina A&T. McCray had just two points at halftime but came back with 18 points in the second frame on six treys. He hit five straight three-pointers in one stretch and added a career-high seven rebounds in the contest. With the strong performance, McCray earned his second Big 12 Rookie of the Week honor on Dec. 20.

McCray became just the third Husker freshman to record five 20-plus point games in his rookie season when he gained 21 points on 7-of-17 shooting, including 5-of-12 from long range, against No. 10/9 Texas. It was his second straight 21-point contest, as he also hit 5-of-8 three-pointers to score 21 points in a 68-61 win over Colorado on the road as NU opened the league slate 2-0 for the first time since 1993-94.

Maric in the Middle
Freshman Aleks Maric has also been making noise for the Huskers early in his rookie season. The 6-11, 265-pound native of Sydney, Australia, has been a workhorse in the paint, averaging 7.8 points and 7.5 rebounds over the first 13 games of his career.

Through Jan. 16, Maric ranks fifth in the league in rebounding, including fifth in offensive and ninth in defensive rebounding. He is hitting 46.2 percent (36-of-78) from the field.

Maric began his career in high fashion as he picked up a game-high 14 boards in the season opener while adding 12 points for his first career double-double. He was the first NU freshman since Ron Taylor in 1973-74 to record a double-double in his first career game.

Maric came back with eight points and three boards against Texas Southern, before adding 10 points and 15 rebounds on the road against UAB. Maric's two double-doubles pace the team this season and equal the most by a Husker in 31 games last year.

The big man just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds against Morgan State in his first career start. He also had eight points and 11 rebounds against Colorado on the road to help NU to a 2-0 mark to open conference play. Maric needs one more double-double to tie the NU freshman mark of three set by Taylor in 1973-74.

Maric is only the sixth NU freshman to record a double-double since freshman eligibility was re-instated in 1972-73. Only Taylor, Rickey Harris and Andre Smith recorded more than one double-double as a rookie until Maric joined the group in just his third career game.

Wilkinson Rounding Back Into Form
Junior forward Wes Wilkinson raised expectations after his solid play in the Huskers' Australian Summer Tour in August. He averaged 13.2 points and 7.0 rebounds over six games, including a pair of double-doubles.

Wilkinson's progress made him a candidate for a significant increase in playing time early in the year, but his efforts were hindered on the first day of fall practice when he suffered a broken bone in his left foot. After sitting out of practice for five weeks, Wilkinson returned to workouts before NU's second game.

Wilkinson saw limited minutes in the first four games after his return. In his fifth contest against Creighton, he finally started to show that he was rounding back into form as he recorded eight points and six rebounds over 24 minutes. He picked up a pair of blocked shots and tied his career high with two three-pointers.

Wilkinson came back with eight points, five rebounds and a career-high four assists without a turnover against North Carolina A&T in his first start of the season. He had not recorded an assist in his first five games.

Wilkinson recorded 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, including 2-of-3 from long range, at Marquette. Making his second straight start as junior Jason Dourisseau was out with an illness, Wilkinson added three assists and two blocks in 30 minutes. He came back with seven rebounds and three blocks while scoring eight points in a road victory against Tennessee.

Wilkinson had 13 points and eight rebounds against Montana State, adding three blocks and a career-high three steals in 26 minutes. He came back with a career-high 22 points with four boards, three assists and a block in a career-high 34 minutes against Kansas State.

Over the past seven games, Wilkinson has averaged 9.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game while adding 11 assists with four steals. He has hit 51.9 percent from the floor in that span, and is second on the team this season by hitting 50.0 percent overall this season.

In his first five games to open the year, Wilkinson averaged 3.6 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.7 blocks while recording zero assists against seven turnovers. Last year, he had just 15 assists on the season, and only 23 in his first two years combined.

Wilkinson has added 16 blocked shots in 12 games to rank 10th (1.3 bpg) in the Big 12 Conference. He had just 13 blocks in 29 games last year.

Huskers Hitting the Glass
Nebraska has been relentless on the boards this season. Overall, the Huskers have taken a rebounding advantage in 11 of 13 games, including the last five straight. NU earned a 42-38 advantage on the glass against No. 10/9 Texas, which came into the game as the top-ranked rebounding squad in the league.

The Huskers started on a strong note by pulling down 55 boards against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and added 50 against Texas Southern and UAB. Nebraska grabbed 47 rebounds against Morgan State with all 11 players recording at least one board, before suffering its first deficit on the glass against Minnesota. The Huskers nearly added another 50-board game as they had 49 rebounds against Montana State in their last non-conference contest.

The Huskers lead the league in rebounding with 41.8 boards per game and are third in the Big 12 Conference in rebounding margin at +7.6. In the Jan. 10 NCAA statistics, the Huskers ranked 14th in the nation in rebounding margin.

Freshman Aleks Maric ranks fifth in the league with 7.5 rebounds per game to lead the Huskers. Maric has recorded three double-figure rebound games (15, 14, 11) this season. Junior Jason Dourisseau ranks 16th in the league after gaining 5.8 rebounds per game over 12 games while freshman Joe McCray moved into the rankings at No. 20 this week with 5.5 rebounds per game.

Nebraska's three straight 50-plus rebound efforts to start the year came after NU had just two 50-rebound games in the past four years. In 2003-04, the Huskers pulled down 51 boards in a 72-44 victory over No. 25 Texas Tech and had 50 rebounds in a 70-26 win over Bethune-Cookman.

The last time NU had three straight 50-rebound games came in 1999-2000. Overall, the Huskers have had 67 50-plus rebound games since complete box scores have been included in NU record books (1972-73). Only 13 times during that period has NU recorded more than 55 boards.

The Huskers' +36 advantage (55-19) on the glass against Arkansas-Pine Bluff is NU's the largest rebounding margin since at least 1972-73. The previous high was +30 (72-42) against Oklahoma in 1991-92.

Muhleisen Gains Spotlight in Sports Illustrated On Campus
Three-year captain Jake Muhleisen has not received much national credit despite the outstanding way he runs the team, both on and off the court. That changed on Nov. 11 when Sports Illustrated On Campus, the collegiate version of the popular sports magazine, named him one of nine men's basketball players who are unsung heroes because they do "the little things that don't show up in a box score."

The 'Glue Guys' are "the ties that bind their respective teams," according to the article. Along with Muhleisen, SIOC named Josh Pace (Syracuse), Roger Powell (Illinois), Chuck Hayes (Kentucky), Isma'il Muhammad (Georgia Tech), Jamal Levy (Wake Forest), Alando Tucker (Wisconsin), Ellis Myles (Louisville) and Nick Robinson (Stanford) to the 'Glue Guys' list.

Turek Making Mark on Record Books
Senior forward John Turek has a chance to put his name in elite company this season.

After finding great improvement each of his first three seasons, Turek is leaving his name among Nebraska's best rebounders and shot blockers while climbing the NU scoring chart. With numbers similar to last season, Turek can top the 1,000-point plateau this winter while moving into Nebraska's career top 10 for rebounds. Turek enters Wednesday's contest against Kansas with 801 career points and 603 rebounds, just 58 boards shy of moving into the Nebraska top 10.

Already one of the top shot blockers in Nebraska history, Turek has a chance to do something this year that no Husker has ever accomplished. Turek, who is fifth in NU history with 146 blocked shots, has led Nebraska in blocked shots each of the past three years, including tying the NU freshman record with 39 blocks in 2001-02. He currently paces the squad with 18 rejections, two ahead of Wes Wilkinson's 16 blocked shots.

If he were to lead the team in blocks this season, Turek would be the first Husker ever to lead the squad in four consecutive seasons. Dave Hoppen, the Huskers' career scoring leader, also had a share of the team lead for blocked shots all four years, but tied Ronnie Smith for the team high during Hoppen's junior season.

Turek entered the season looking to become just the third Husker ever with 1,000 points, 700 rebounds and 100 blocks. The only Nebraska players who have reached those marks were taken in the NBA Draft ? Rich King, a first-round selection, and Venson Hamilton, a second-round draft pick and the 1999 Big 12 Player of the Year. Currently, King, Hamilton, Turek and Mikki Moore are the only players with at least 600 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocked shots in their Husker career.

Muhleisen Shows All-Around Game
Senior guard Jake Muhleisen has proven to be one of the top all-around players in Nebraska history over the past three seasons.

Muhleisen, who has played all three guard positions during his career, entered the year with a chance to become only the fourth player in program history to record at least 1,000 career points, 350 rebounds, 250 assists and 100 steals. Only Eric Piatkowski, Erick Strickland and Cookie Belcher are currently on the elite list.

Muhleisen enters the matchup with Kansas with 795 points, 293 rebounds, 247 assists and 83 steals in his career.

In the Big 12 opener, Muhleisen set a season high with nine assists against three turnovers in a career-high 48 minutes in NU's double-overtime victory. He came back with five assists and seven points in a win at Colorado, and has now recorded at least five assists in three of the past four games.

Overall, Muhleisen now has 41 assists against just 16 turnovers this season to rank fifth in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.56:1). He is second on the team in assists, six behind senior point guard Marcus Neal Jr.

All About Defense
Under Coach Barry Collier, the Huskers have continued to rewrite the Nebraska defensive record book over the past four seasons. Nebraska got off to a strong start again this year, as the Huskers:

? ranked 12th in field-goal percentage defense (37.6) in the NCAA statistics of Jan. 10, 13th in scoring defense (58.2) and 14th in rebound margin (+8.2).

? limited Arkansas-Pine Bluff to 40 points on 32.7 percent shooting in a 97-40 victory. NU forced 20 turnovers in the largest victory in Devaney Center history.

? defeated TSU by 20 points while holding the Tigers to just 32.8 percent shooting from the floor and forcing 19 turnovers.

? held UAB to just 24.0 percent shooting (6-of-25) from three-point range, including just 3-of-14 in the opening frame.

? allowed just 12 points in the second half of a 64-34 victory over Morgan State. NU held the Bears to 23.5 percent shooting, including 15.0 percent from three-point range, as they recorded the third-fewest points by an NU opponent since 1947. It was the third time NU has held its opponent to less than 40 points in the past two seasons.

? limited Creighton to 34.0 percent shooting, including 31.6 percent from three-point range while holding the Bluejays to their lowest total in the series in more than 20 years.? held Marquette to just 39.7 percent shooting, including 34.3 percent (11-of-32) inside the arc.

? allowed Montana State just 45 points on 30.0 percent shooting, including 21.7 percent from beyond the arc.

? limited Colorado to 34.6 percent (18-of-52) from the floor, including 27.3 percent in the first half, as Nebraska won its conference road opener for the first time since 1993-94 with a 68-61 victory at Colorado.

? held No. 10/9 Texas to just 22.2 percent (4-of-18) shooting from three-point range, including 1-of-8 (12.5 percent) in the second half.

Last year, the Huskers posted some of the best defensive numbers at NU in the last four decades, as they allowed opponents to hit just 40.0 percent from the field to rank 20th nationally in field-goal percentage defense. It tied NU's lowest mark since 1961. NU also had a scoring defense of 62.9 points per game, the program's best defensive mark since the 1982 campaign.

Nebraska's defense held opponents to the lowest field-goal percentage total since 1961, as it gave up just 40.0 percent shooting from the field, including 32.7 percent from three-point range. The previous year, the Huskers ranked first in the league in three-point field-goal percentage defense by allowing opponents to hit a school-record low 30.2 percent from behind the arc.

Among the outstanding single-game marks the Huskers posted in 2003-04 were: limiting South Florida to just 2-of-19 shooting from three-point range, the lowest single-game opponent three-point field-goal percentage (.105) in four years under Coach Collier; holding Bethune-Cookman to just 26 points in the game, the lowest point total allowed by NU since a 33-23 victory over Kansas State in 1941; holding Tennessee to three field goals in the first half ? including one from two-point range ? the fewest NU has allowed in one period since the 1987 NIT against Arkansas; and limiting No. 12/13 Kansas to a season-low 55 points and 36.2 percent shooting from the floor, including just 27.8 percent from three-point range.

Home Sweet Home
NU has a strong record of success playing in front of its home crowd the past 29 seasons. Nebraska is 6-3 at home this year, with the losses against Minnesota (now 12-4), Creighton (11-6) and Texas (13-3).

Nebraska earned a perfect 10-0 mark at home last year in non-conference games, including a 78-70 win over Niagara in the NIT first round. NU had its nonconference home winning streak reach 16 games before coming to an end this season against Minnesota on Dec. 8.

Nebraska has been outstanding at home since moving into the Devaney Center in the 1976-77. The Huskers own a 338-106 home record over that span, including a 15-3 mark at home last year. The 15 wins tied for second most in Devaney Center history. Overall, the Huskers are now 50-21 at home under Coach Collier with nine of the losses coming against ranked teams.Quick Shots
? Freshman Joe McCray's six three-pointers against North Carolina A&T is tied with OSU's John Lucas' six treys against Texas Tech as the individual single-game high among all Big 12 Conference players this season. Freshman Aleks Maric's 15 rebounds against UAB ranks third in the league in that category.

? McCray needs three three-pointers to tie the NU freshman record with 44 treys. Eric Piatkowski set the Nebraska rookie mark in 1991.

? Jason Dourisseau has 27 assists against 24 turnovers this season in 12 games played. Dourisseau had just 17 assists against 41 turnovers in 30 games last season.

? Dourisseau also has 70 rebounds in 12 games played after gaining just 60 in 30 games last year.

? Wes Wilkinson has 16 blocks in 12 games this season after gaining 13 blocked shots in 29 games last year. Wilkinson has had at least two blocks in a game five times this season.

? Wilkinson also has 11 assists in 12 games this year after gaining just 23 assists in his first 59 games.

? Aleks Maric owns 97 rebounds to lead the team, and is about to move into the NU freshman top 10. Jerry Fort and Tyronn Lue are tied for 10th with 106 rebounds. The NU freshman record is 162 rebounds by John Turek in 2002.

? John Turek became the 31st Husker in history play in 100 career game when he suited up against Texas last Saturday. It is the most games of any current Husker while he is second in minutes with 2,439 ? behind only Jake Muhleisen who has played 2,459 minutes in 85 games. Muhleisen leads the Huskers in games started with 84 in his career. Only 17 former Huskers have recorded at least 2,500 minutes while only 30 have played in 100 career games.

? Turek needs 58 rebounds to move into the Nebraska career top 10. He became just the 14th player in Nebraska history with at least 600 boards as he reached the plateau last Saturday with a season-high tying eight boards against Texas.

? The last time a freshman led the Huskers in points scored was 1983, when NU's career scoring leader Dave Hoppen recorded 445 points (13.9 ppg in 32 games) as a rookie. Freshman Joe McCray currently paces the Huskers with 15.2 points per game (197 total) over 13 contests.

? Nebraska's 95 points in a double-overtime victory to open Big 12 play were the most it has scored in a league game since putting up 99 against Kansas State in 2002. NU is now 5-0 under Coach Collier when recording at least 90 points in a game, and 20-4 when scoring at least 80 points.

? The Huskers are 6-2 in overtime under Coach Collier.

? Nebraska has held seven of 13 opponents to 60 or fewer points this season. NU held 12 of 31 opponents to 60 or fewer points last season.

? The Huskers are 3-3 in games decided by 10 or fewer points this season, after going 6-9 last season. NU has won three of its last four games decided by 10 or fewer points.