Huskers Tip Off Season at Home

More than seven months since its last game that counted, the Nebraska men's basketball team returns to the court this Friday to open the 2005-06 regular season as it plays host to the four-team field in the John Thompson Foundation Basketball Challenge at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Huskers will play three contests in three days, giving them a chance to get ready for the quick turnaround they could see in the Big 12 Tournament and the postseason.

Nebraska's season opener is Friday, Nov. 18, when the Huskers tip off against Longwood at 7:05 p.m. to start the six-game tournament. The Husker-Lancer game will be heard on the Pinnacle Sports Network with Randy Lee (play by play) calling the action and Husker historian Mike Babcock adding color commentary. All Nebraska men's basketball games during the regular season and postseason can also be heard live on the Internet at Huskers.com.

The NU-Longwood game will also be seen within the state of Nebraska on FSN Midwest (Channel 37 in Lincoln; Channel 47 in Omaha). Veteran broadcaster Greg Sharpe returns for his second season handling play-by-play duties for the Huskers' games on FSN Midwest, while Matt Davison will again switch over from radio to handle color commentary on TV.

Before Saturday's game against Yale, members of the U.S. Marine Corps will be on hand at both the North and South entrance ramps to collect new unwrapped toys or monetary donations for the Toys For Tots program. There will also be collections that day at the women's basketball game (noon) and the volleyball match at the NU Coliseum at 7 p.m.

The John Thompson Foundation Basketball Challenge
Nebraska, Yale, Longwood and Louisiana Tech are set to compete this weekend in the John Thompson Foundation Basketball Challenge. Established by former Georgetown University coach John Thompson in 2000, the Foundation was created to raise money and awareness to help improve the quality of life for disadvantaged children within the District of Columbia and other communities. The Foundation awards grants primarily to 501(c)(3) charitable organizations that enhance children’s lives, provide for continuing education or support rehabilitation.

Several ticket options for the weekend contests are available. Season ticket holders who enter the Nebraska games can use their NU ticket to gain admittance to that day's other contest for free. Single-game tickets are $15 and will also get fans into both games that day. The complete schedule includes:

Friday, Nov. 18
   Longwood at Nebraska, 7:05 p.m.
   Yale vs. Louisiana Tech, approx. 9:20 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 19
   Yale at Nebraska, 3:35 p.m.
   Louisiana Tech vs. Longwood, approx. 6 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 20
   Longwood vs. Yale, 1 p.m.
   Louisiana Tech at Nebraska, approx. 3:35 p.m.

Fans can get three basketball games for the price of one on Saturday, Nov. 19, as the men's game ticket will get fans into the NU women's game against South Dakota State (noon) as well as the Husker game against Yale and the Louisiana Tech-Longwood matchup (6 p.m.).

Opening Time
The Nebraska men's basketball team opens its 110th season of play Friday, Nov. 18 when the Huskers take on the Longwood Lancers in the first game of the John Thompson Foundation Basketball Challenge at the 13,595-seat Bob Devaney Sports Center.

The Huskers will be looking for their fifth straight season-opening win and 17th victory in a season opener over the last 19 years. Nebraska will also try to secure its 25th consecutive home-opening victory when it takes on the Lancers. NU has won 24 straight home openers since dropping a 62-59 overtime contest to Wyoming to open the 1980-81 campaign.

Nebraska will be playing three games in three days in this weekend's exempt tournament. The last time the Huskers played on three consecutive days came in 2000 when NU played at the San Juan Shootout on Dec. 20 through Dec. 22. The Huskers went 3-0 as they defeated Iona (81-80), Kent State (69-68) and Southern Methodist (72-70) by a combined five points.

The last time the Huskers played on back-to-back nights came in 2002 when NU faced UC Santa Barbara and Arizona State on Dec. 27 and 28, respectively, at the ASU Hoops Classic in Tempe. NU went 1-1 that weekend, coming back from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat UCSB, 60-57, before falling to the host Sun Devils, 75-63.

Scouting the Field at the JTF Basketball Challenge
Nebraska plays three games in three days against three unfamiliar opponents. NU has never faced any of the teams in the tournament field.

Longwood ? A Division I independent from Farmville, Va., Longwood University enters the 2005-06 campaign hoping to turn around its fortunes as it won just one contest last season. The 1-30 Lancers dropped their final 19 games last year, including only four by six or fewer points.

LU returns 11 letterwinners and four starters from last season, including guard Michael Jefferson. The junior captain led Longwood in scoring last year with 15.4 points per game while shooting 35.4 percent from the field. As a team, the Lancers hit 38.5 percent from the floor last year while allowing opponents to connect on 47.5 percent.

Along with Jefferson, who added 4.6 rebounds per game and a team-high 87 assists, the Lancers return double-figure scorer Maurice Sumter, who averaged 10.9 points with team highs of 6.0 rebounds and 51 steals.

As a team, LU was outscored by an average of 80.3 to 63.8, while trailing on the glass 41.0 to 36.6. The Lancers are coached by Mike Gillian (North Adams State, 1986), who is in his third season guiding the program.

Yale ? The Huskers' second opponent this weekend, the Yale Bulldogs return eight players including three starters from last season's 11-16 squad that finished 7-7 to place third in the Ivy League.

Yale lost leading scorer Edwin Draughan, who averaged 15.8 points per game, and its third-leading scorer Alex Gamboa, who poured in 10.0 points per contest. The Bulldogs' only returning double-figure scorer is senior center Dominick Martin, who grabbed 12.3 points and a team-best 7.8 rebounds per game. Martin led the squad with five double-doubles as a junior.

The Elis averaged 67.8 points per game last year while hitting 43.7 percent, despite a 33.8 percent average from long range. Yale allowed 70.4 points per game but was stingy on defense as it held foes to just 42.8 percent shooting from the floor, including 34.5 percent shooting from 3-point range. The Bulldogs also trailed on the boards, 36.7 to 35.8, and gave up 6.8 3-pointers per contest.

Louisiana Tech ? Nebraska will finish its three-game season-opening tournament against a Louisiana Tech team that returns one of the top post players in the country in forward Paul Millsap. The junior has led the NCAA in rebounding each of the past two seasons (12.5 rpg in 2004 and 12.4 in 2005) and added 20.5 points per game last year. Millsap was only the second freshman to pace the nation since the NCAA began tracking rebound statistics in 1951. Several pro scouts will be on hand Sunday as Millsap takes on NU center Aleks Maric and the Huskers.

The Bulldogs return just five players, including Millsap and starters Daevon Haskins and Corey Dean, from last year's 14-15 squad. Dean also averaged double figures for LaTech by pulling in 10.5 points per game while Haskins was among the national leaders with 5.7 assists per game.

Huskers Roll in Final Tuneup
Lincoln -- Sophomore center Aleks Maric poured in 22 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in only 25 minutes of action as Nebraska ran past Holy Family, 76-54, in its final exhibition at the Devaney Center.

Senior guard Jason Dourisseau added 14 points as the only other Husker in double figures during a balanced night for the NU offense. Ten players scored for the Big Red, including seven with at least five points as the Huskers finished their exhibition season with a perfect 2-0 mark and improved to 41-5 all-time in exhibitions.

Ryan Haigh led Holy Family with 17 points, but was just 7-of-19 from the field, including 2-of-11 from behind the arc. HFU managed to shoot just 34 percent for the game (21-of-62), while committing 23 turnovers.

In the first half, Holy Family shot just 30 percent from the field, including 3-of-17 from 3-point range. While the Tigers were content to settle for the long-range shot, the Huskers pounded the ball inside and enjoyed a 24-4 advantage in the paint, led by Maric who totaled 16 points and nine rebounds in 16 minutes in the opening frame. The Huskers’ emphasis on attacking the basket also resulted in 14 free throw attempts for NU. Nebraska hit 10-of-14 shots from the charity stripe in the half, while Holy Family did not attempt a free throw in the opening 20 minutes.

Leading 24-21 at the 5:16 mark, the Huskers’ defense forced eight consecutive missed shots by Holy Family, while the Nebraska offense responded with 12 points to close out the period. Charles Hook nailed a jumper with three seconds left on the clock to end a 5:13 scoring drought for Holy Family and stop the Huskers’ 12-0 run, while cutting NU’s lead to 36-23 at the half.

Nebraska carried over its solid play to the second half, where the Huskers extended their 13-point halftime lead to 20 at the 15:41 mark with a 12-5 run to open the second period. Leading 44-28, Dourisseau stole the ball at midcourt and slammed home a one-handed tomahawk jam, then followed that up with a layup on a Husker fastbreak after another Tiger turnover to give NU the 20-point advantage.

The Huskers built a 23-point lead when they led 59-36 with 9:23 remaining in the game following a Maric offensive rebound and put back. The play gave Maric his 20th rebound and his 22nd point.

First-Timers
Husker fans could see several new faces on the court in 2005-06. Nebraska's 16-man roster includes nine players (six newcomers, three redshirts) who have never played a minute in a Husker uniform during a regular-season game.

During NU's two exhibition games, seven players saw action for the first time in their Husker careers, including four true freshmen (Marcus Walker, Jamel White, Chris Balham and Mike Smith), a redshirt junior (Marcus Perry), a redshirt freshman (Jim Ledsome) and a junior college transfer (B.J. Walker). Two of the players ? Marcus Walker and B.J. Walker ? earned starting nods, as Marcus was in the opening lineup twice while B.J. was in for the tip off against Holy Family in NU's final exhibition game.

Last year, the Huskers had two freshmen (Joe McCray and Aleks Maric) play in a 97-40 season- opening win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The pair made an outstanding debut as they quickly entered the record book.

McCray set a record with 23 points in 22 minutes, the most points scored by an NU freshman in a season opener, and only the 19th time a Husker scored at least 20 points in a season opener since freshmen became eligible again in 1972-73. He hit 9-of-17 shots from the field and added six boards and three steals. McCray went on to set the Nebraska freshman record for 20-point games with 10 on the year.

Maric became only the second Husker freshman to record a double-double in the season opener since freshman reinstatement in 1972-73, joining Ron Taylor who accomplished the feat in 1973-74. Maric had 12 points and 14 rebounds while hitting 5-of-6 shots from the field in 24 minutes. Maric eventually tied Taylor's NU freshman record with three double-doubles on the season.

Hot Hand
Senior guard Jason Dourisseau hopes to continue his hot hand from last year when he ranked second on the squad by hitting 49.1 percent of his attempts from the floor. While the Omaha native continues to work on his game at the free throw line, he has been exceptional from the field over his last 10 games, including the exhibition season.

Over the last eight games last season, Dourisseau hit 54.9 percent (28-of-51) of his shot attempts, and in the two exhibition contests this year he went a combined 11-of-15 from the floor for a team-best 73.3 field-goal percentage while averaging 12.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game.

Passing Grade
Freshmen guards Marcus Walker and Jamel White have made a strong impression during the exhibition season while taking the place of NU's only returning point guard, Charles Richardson, who was sidelined with an injury.

Walker started both games at point guard and led the team with 13 assists, including an eight-assist, no-turnover game against Holy Family last weekend. While Walker struggled from the field in exhibition play, he went 6-of-6 at the free throw line, including four crucial freebies sandwiched around a driving layup in the final minutes of a five-point win over Nebraska-Omaha.

White has come on to play at both the point and shooting guard and ranked fourth on the team with 8.0 points per game in the exhibition contests. White hit 6-of-8 attempts at from the line and was 4-of-8 from the floor while adding three steals, but has gone back to work this week to improve on his assist:turnover ratio (3:7).

Read to Succeed Book Drive
The Nebraska Athletic Department's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is sponsoring Read to Succeed book drives in November. Student-athletes are asking fans to donate new or good-condition used picture and reading books. The books will be given to the Title 1 Lincoln Public Elementary Schools to encourage families to practice reading and develop a love for reading.

Books will be collected on three dates at different sporting events over the next three weeks. At each book drive, fans who donate a book can enter to win a prize awarded the night of the game. An autographed volleyball will be given away at the volleyball match, while four prime tickets will be given away to upcoming men's and women's basketball games.

Husker student-athlete volunteers will be on hand to collect the books on:
    Nov. 21, at NU women's basketball (vs. Creighton)
    Nov. 23, at NU volleyball (vs. Colorado)  
    Nov. 30, at NU men's basketball (vs. Marquette)

McCray Looks to Continue Hot Hand in 2005-06
Guard Joe McCray set several Nebraska freshman records last season and hopes to continue his record-setting trend during his sophomore campaign. Nebraska's top returning scorer has 80 career
3-pointers to his credit after one season and needs just 15 treys to break into the Husker career top 10. Former Huskers Jake Muhleisen and Jamar Johnson currently rank 10th with 95 career 3-pointers.

With 20 3-pointers, McCray will become the 10th player in Nebraska history to reach 100 career treys and will become only the second player to reach 100 treys during his sophomore season, joining Cary Cochran, who had 101 3-pointers after two full seasons playing for the Huskers. If McCray matches his production from last year he would finish the 2005-06 season ranked sixth in NU history, only 22 treys from the top three. Cochran owns the NU record with 268
3-pointers in his career, while Eric Piatkowski (202) is the only other Husker with more than 200 career treys.

International Man
Center Aleks Maric (pronounced MAR-itch) returned from the summer in the best shape of his life, which makes sense as he played more than 30 games in Slovenia, Greece, Canada and Argentina during July and August as part of the Australian Under-21 National Team. The 6-11, 265-pounder who set the Nebraska freshman rebounding record last season helped his Aussie team, the Crocs, to a fourth-place finish at the U21 World Championships in Argentina in August.

Maric averaged 9.4 rebounds per game while helping the Crocs to a 6-2 record at the World Championships. He was second in the tournament in rebounding, behind only 7-3 Peter Ramos, who played for the Puerto Rican Olympic team and was in the NBA last season. Maric also averaged 10.6 points while hitting 50.6 percent from the floor in the championships.

Maric is the second Husker to play on a youth World Championship team, joining current Atlanta Hawk Tyronn Lue, who played for the United States at the Under-22 World Championships in 1997. Bill Johnson played at the World Championships while helping the United States to gold in 1954, and Dave Hoppen (1985) and Eric Piatkowski (1993) played on the United States' World University Games teams.

Get to Know Him
Sophomore center Aleks Maric gained recognition as one of the top foreign players in the country last year and has already started back on the same track in 2005-06.

In a Wednesday, Nov. 9, article titled '20 Players You Should Know,' Jeff Goodman of scout.com compiled a list of the top sophomores and incoming rookies who flew "under the radar or should be impact freshmen this season." Maric was ranked No. 12 on the list and was one of two players in the Big 12 Conference, along with fellow Australian Aaron Bruce of Baylor who was ranked No. 3.

New Bench Look
The Huskers have a new look on the bench as they have two new faces within the staff.

Jerome Francis Jr. joined the Huskers as an assistant coach in June and works directly with the post players. Francis formerly was head coach at Prairie View A&M three years and served at several Division I schools as an assistant coach, including one season at Butler with Coach Barry Collier.

Also new to the program this year is head basketball strength coach Travis Reust. A native of Oklahoma, Reust has most recently guided the programs at TCU and Colorado before coming to Nebraska. Reust has helped several Huskers reach new highs in the weight room already, as three Huskers have already benched at least 300 pounds this season while nearly every Husker has made a significant weight gain as well.

Fresh Faces
Nebraska has a returnee at each spot on the floor but will look for its depth this season to be provided mostly by new faces. Overall, the Huskers have six newcomers on the squad including five freshmen. The heralded group of newcomers gives Nebraska its most athletic roster in several years.

Leading the list of fresh faces that will be looking for playing time this season is junior college transfer B.J. Walker. The forward from Cincinnati nearly averaged a double-double last season with 16.2 points and 8.7 rebounds per game while helping Garden City (Kan.) Community College to its first-ever Jayhawk Conference West Division title. Walker has a soft touch inside 12 feet and solid offensive moves in the post and at 6-9, 245 pounds, provides another wide body to rest either Wes Wilkinson or Aleks Maric.

Along with Walker, freshmen Marcus Walker, Jamel White and Kyle Marks have earned early praise from the coaching staff. Marcus Walker, who was rated the No. 25 point guard in the country as a senior last year by scout.com, gives Nebraska another lightning-quick point guard to pair with Charles Richardson Jr. Walker and White can both score and give Nebraska a different look with a bigger lineup as they go 6-2 and 6-3, respectively. Marks has been described by his teammates as "freakishly athletic" and the 6-7, 220-pounder has one of the top vertical jumps on the team at 34 inches.

Huskers Name Captains
After losing four veterans who had combined to play in more than 380 games over the past four seasons, it didn't take long for the Huskers to figure out who would take on more of a leadership role in 2005-06. Last week, seniors Jason Dourisseau and Wes Wilkinson and sophomore Aleks Maric were selected as team captains for the upcoming season.

Dourisseau and Wilkinson are the only two scholarship players on the roster from Nebraska and have stepped up over the past seven months to provide leadership on and off the court. After a strong summer of play with the Australian Under 21 National Team, Maric is believed to be only the second sophomore in school history to be named a captain. Former Husker Jake Muhleisen was a three-year captain between 2003 and 2005.

Defensive Mind Set
The Huskers look to continue a recent tradition of success on the defensive end of the court this season as Nebraska has held opponents to less than 64.0 points per game each of the past two years. The last time Nebraska held opponents to fewer than 64.0 points per game in consecutive seasons was 1983 (60.9 ppg) and 1984 (61.6 ppg).

Before Coach Collier arrived in Lincoln, the Huskers had held opponents to under 71.0 points per game only twice (1999, 64.3 ppg; 1998, 68.5) in the previous 14 seasons, dating back to the addition of the 3-point line in 1987. Under Collier's guidance, NU has held opponents to less than 71.0 points per game five times in five seasons, including four times under 70.0 points per game.

Huskers Open Practice with Madness
Nebraska opened the 2005-06 year with a public scrimmage and dunk contest at Husker Madness on Oct. 14. With about 2,500 fans in attendance, the Huskers joined the Nebraska women's team to give the public a taste of what is to come in the regular season.

Following the women's scrimmage and 3-point contest, the Husker men held a 20-minute running clock scrimmage with the veterans taking on the newcomers. The newcomers struggled early but made a late surge before being held off by the veterans,
34-27.

In the dunk contest, freshman Kyle Marks impressed the fans with a two-handed slam after jumping over the entire team, which had crouched down inside the lane. Marks' dunk came in the finals against senior Jason Dourisseau, who cleared a ball rack set up in the lane inside the free throw line. Each scored a '50' to force a second finals matchup, which Dourisseau won after Marks missed both of his attempts.

Board Games
Nebraska looks to clean the boards on a regular basis again this season as it returns 57.4 percent of its rebounding from the 2004-05 campaign when it led the league in rebounding margin. The Huskers averaged a +5.2 rebounding margin over 28 games last season to rank 30th nationally.

Last year's effort marked the eighth time in the past 10 seasons the Huskers held an advantage on the glass. It was also NU's highest rebounding output since 1992, when Nebraska held a +6.4 rebounding advantage, and only the third time since 1953 the Huskers had at least a +5.0 rebounding margin.

Map Quest
Nebraska's roster has changed quite a bit in the past 12 months. That is most evident when looking down the state listings as the only Nebraskans on the roster are the four seniors ? Jason Dourisseau and Wes Wilkinson along with walk-ons Bronsen Schliep and Tony Wilbrand. The states following Nebraska with the most current Huskers are New York and Florida with two each, while the other eight players are from seven other states and one foreign country.

Forcing Their Hand
Nebraska's foes hit just 41.4 percent from the floor last season as the Huskers ranked fourth in the Big 12 Conference. It marked the third straight year Nebraska has held opponents to 41.5 percent or less from the floor. Since 1965, NU has held opponents to a 41.5 field-goal percentage or less just eight times, although six of those seasons have come in the last decade.

Rules of the Game
Nebraska gets two extra games this season by hosting the John Thompson Foundation Basketball Challenge. Since the tournament is exempt, all six games will be played with the NCAA's experimental rules for this season, including: a one-foot wider lane and deeper blocks; a 3-point line that is one foot further back (20-9) and a restricted area arc which is three feet from the center of the basket ring. NU will play with all three experimental rules during both of its exhibition games as well on opening weekend.

Tough Schedule Ahead
Nebraska will face 11 teams in 2005-06 that reached the postseason last year. Among the eight teams to reach the 2005 NCAA Tournament were six Big 12 opponents in Texas Tech (Sweet 16), Oklahoma State (Sweet 16), Oklahoma (Second Round), Iowa State (Second Round), Texas (First Round) and Kansas (First Round), along with two non-conference foes in UAB (Second Round) and Creighton (First Round). Nebraska opponents Texas A&M (Third Round), Missouri (First Round) and Marquette (First Round) reached the 2005 National Invitation Tournament.

Tournament Time
Nebraska opens the season by playing host to the John Thompson Classic in Lincoln. The four-team tournament marks the first time NU has hosted a tournament since the 2000 Husker Classic. It will be NU's first regular-season tournament since 2002 when NU played in the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska, and the ASU Hoops Classic in Tempe, Ariz.

Home Sweet Home
The Huskers will play a Bob Devaney Sports Center single-season record 19 home games this season. The Huskers will break the record of 18 home games at the Devaney Center, last tied during the 2003-04 campaign when Nebraska picked up an NIT victory over Niagara on its way to a 15-3 home record. The 15 wins tied for second all-time on the building's single-season win chart. Nebraska owns a 342-109 record in 29 years at the Devaney Center.

What's On Tap Next
Following the Huskers' season-opening three-game tournament, Nebraska hits the practice floor for a week before taking on Southeast Missouri State on Sunday, Nov. 27, at 2 p.m. at the Devaney Center. The game will be heard on the Pinnacle Sports Network and Huskers.com.

SEMO begins play this season on Friday, Nov. 18 against Truman State and faces IPFW (Nov. 21) and travels to South Dakota State (Nov. 24) before taking on the Huskers. Southeast Missouri State is coming off a 15-14 season when it went 9-7 in the Ohio Valley Conference.