Huskers Set for Midweek Matchup

The Nebraska men's basketball team gets back into action on Thursday, Dec. 8, when the Huskers play host to the South Dakota State Jackrabbits at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The game, which will be the first of two contests over a four-day period before the Huskers begin finals, will tip off at 7 p.m.

The contest can be heard on the Pinnacle Sports Network with Randy Lee calling the action and Matt Davison adding color commentary. Pinnacle Sports Network broadcasts can also be heard live on Huskers.com, where live stats are also available for free. Live streaming video can be seen on the premium web site HuskersNside.com.

Home Bodies
When Nebraska hits the floor Thursday, it will wrap up a historic home stand. The Huskers, who are 5-1 to open the season, will be playing their seventh straight game at home in the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

Nebraska has never opened a season with seven straight games at home, although NU began the year with six consecutive home games as recently as the 2001-02 campaign. The last time NU played seven consecutive games at home was the 1926-27 season. The Huskers went 6-1 during that stretch with the only loss a 34-25 setback against Kansas.

The Huskers will play a record 19 games in the Devaney Center during the 2005-06 regular season. It will break the previous high of 18 games set on three occasions, last in 2003-04 when the Huskers went 15-3 at home while reaching the second round of the NIT.

Getting Back on Track
After dropping their first game of the season on Saturday to UAB, the Huskers return to the floor Thursday looking to get back on the winning track. To do that, Nebraska will need to return to its normally aggressive defensive mode, the one that has helped the Huskers hold opponents to fewer than 64.0 points per game each of the past two years.

Nebraska allowed the Blazers to hit an opponent season-high 45.8 percent from the floor, including 37.5 percent from long range. While it was held to just seven offensive rebounds that limited its second-chance options, UAB was able to overcome the Huskers' dominance on the glass by connecting on nine 3-point attempts, including its shooting guards connecting on 7-of-15 attempts.

While the Huskers need to clamp down again on the defensive end, their production on the offensive side has continued to improve each game this year. Nebraska is averaging 72.8 points per game this season and has scored at least 80 points twice, improving to 23-4 under Coach Barry Collier when topping the 80-point barrier.

Nebraska's strongest offensive support has come in the frontcourt where forwards Wes Wilkinson and B.J. Walker and center Aleks Maric have combined for 33.4 points per game on 50.0 percent shooting (70-of-140). Senior guard Jason Dourisseau, who plays anywhere between the 1 and 4 spots, has been consistently efficient on offense as he has gained 13.2 points per contest by hitting 59.6 percent (28-of-47) from the field. Dourisseau, who had a season-high 18 points against UAB, is the only Husker to score at least 10 points in every contest this season.

The Matchup
Nebraska and South Dakota State are meeting for the 10th time in the series with NU leading with a perfect 9-0 mark. The Huskers and Jackrabbits first met in 1930 and played four more times in the 1940s, once in the 1950s and twice in the 1970s before the last meeting in 1980. All nine previous matchups have been contested in Lincoln.

Scouting the Jackrabbits
South Dakota State, which moved to the Division I ranks following the 2003-04 campaign, enters the mid-week matchup against the Huskers on a five-game slide and owns a 1-6 mark on the year.

SDSU's only victory this season came against another Husker opponent, Northern Colorado, in a two-point decision, 61-59, in the second round of the Guardians Classic at Rupp Arena in Kentucky. Overall, the Jackrabbits have played three common opponents with the Huskers, as they fell to Southeast Missouri State, 75-68, at home and to Marquette, 87-52, last weekend in Milwaukee.

The Jackrabbits have struggled from the floor early in the season, as SDSU is connecting on just 37.1 percent of its attempts from the field, including only 31.4 percent from 3-point range. Opponents have hit at a 47.9-percent clip from the field and are connecting from long range 42.9 percent of the time while outscoring South Dakota State by an average margin of 17.0 points per game (77.1-60.1). SDSU has kept it close on the boards as it trails by just 2.3 rebounds per game (38.7-36.4), but has committed 157 turnovers while gaining only 80 assists.

South Dakota State is led by guard Matt Cadwell, who has averaged 14.9 points per game while hitting 49.2 percent from the field and 76.9 percent at the charity stripe. Cadwell also paces the Jackrabbits in assists (20) and 3-pointers (10 on 50.0 percent shooting). Along with Cadwell, Steve Holdren gained 14.4 points per contest in five games before suffering a torn ACL that will sideline him for the year.

SDSU's only other double-figure scorer is Ben Beran, who has posted 12.0 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. Following Beran, Michael Loney is fourth on the team in scoring at 6.7 points per contest. Mohamed Berte leads the way on the glass with 7.6 boards per game while also registering 15 of the Jackrabbits' 18 blocked shots this season.

South Dakota State is coached by Scott Nagy, who is in his 11th year guiding the Jackrabbits. Nagy owns a 221-84 career record, all at SDSU, and is the winningest coach in school history.

Boarding All Rows
For the second straight season, Nebraska dominated the boards against UAB and a Husker came away with a career game. Last year, center Aleks Maric recorded a double-double in his third career game when he posted 10 points and a career-high 15 rebounds against the Blazers. The 15 rebounds were a team season high.

This year, it was senior forward Wes Wilkinson's turn to burn the Blazers. The Grand Island native recorded his first career double-double with 17 points and a career-best 16 rebounds, including 12 in the opening period. Wilkinson's 16 rebounds are the most by a Husker since John Turek also recorded 16 boards against Denver during the 2002-03 campaign.

Return Game
Junior guard Charles Richardson Jr. made his return to the court in the Huskers' 69-54 victory over Southeast Missouri State. Richardson's season debut included two steals in nine minutes of action.

Over his last two games, Richardson has turned up the heat on opponents while rounding back into the rotation. In his second appearance of the year against Marquette, he had four points, four assists without a turnover and two steals in 22 minutes before coming back with a season-high five points with three assists and a career-high three steals in 23 minutes vs. UAB.

Richardson's return from injury was a relief for the Huskers as he was Nebraska's only returning point guard with any experience entering the season. Last year, Richardson came on strong at the end of the season, earning his second start of the year in the Big 12 Tournament. Over the final nine games last season, Richardson averaged 3.9 points, 1.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists per contest including a career-high 10 points against Colorado in NU's last home game of the 2004-05 campaign.

Wilkinson Adds Another Dimension For Huskers
Senior forward Wes Wilkinson missed the Louisiana Tech game with an injury but returned in fine fashion against Southeast Missouri State and has had the hottest hand on the team in the subsequent three games.

The 6-10, 220-pounder has averaged 19.0 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.7 blocks and 1.3 assists per game over the past three contests. He has hit 23-of-40 attempts (57.5 percent) from the floor while showing his versatility by connecting on 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) from 3-point range and has played a team-high 31.3 minutes per game.

Wilkinson started the stretch by torching the Redhawks for a career-high 25 points while adding nine rebounds and came back with 15 points and seven rebounds and five blocks against Marquette. Last weekend against UAB, Wilkinson poured in 17 points while adding a career-high 16 rebounds.

On the year, Wilkinson has averaged a team-best 15.2 points to go with 7.8 rebounds per game. He has hit 54.5 percent (30-of-55) from the floor, including 11-of-21 (52.4 percent) from long range. Wilkinson also owns 13 of NU's 19 blocked shots this season, including a career-best five blocks twice (against Yale before going out with an injury and against Marquette).

Hot Hand
Senior guard Jason Dourisseau has continued 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 14 regular-season games dating back to last season.

During that span, Dourisseau has hit 57.1 percent (56-of-98) from the floor, including 28-of-47 (59.6 percent) in six games this season. Dourisseau is second on the team with 13.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game this season. He was one of three Huskers named to the all-tournament team at the season-opening John Thompson Foundation Basketball Challenge, and is the only Husker to score in double figures in every game this season.

Charity Work
While the percentage is still not where they would like it to be, the Huskers have done an outstanding job of getting to the free throw line in the early season games. Nebraska has averaged 28.3 free throw attempts per game (170 total attempts in six games) while allowing its opponents to get to the stripe just 13.5 times per game (81 attempts combined).

Nebraska has hit 65.9 percent from the line this season ? including a solid 76.0 percent (19-of-25) in its last outing against UAB ? after connecting on 66.0 percent (409-of-620) last year. Six players have at least two attempts per game this season with Marcus Walker (10-of-12) leading the way at an 83.3-percent clip. Aleks Maric has gotten to the line more frequently than any Husker (39 times) while connecting on 61.5 percent.

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

During NU's three games at the season-opening John Thompson Foundation Basketball Challenge, six players saw action for the first time in their Husker careers, including three true freshmen (Marcus Walker, Jamel White and Kyle Marks), a redshirt junior (Marcus Perry), a redshirt freshman (Jim Ledsome) and a junior college transfer (B.J. Walker).

Marcus Walker has earned a starting nod in each of NU's first six games, and was just the second true freshman to start his first career game at Nebraska since Cookie Belcher in 1996-97. Marcus Walker is not the only newcomer to earn a start, as B.J. Walker was in for the tip off against Holy Family in NU's final exhibition game and has been one of the first Huskers off the bench in the regular season.

Through six regular-season games, Jamel White leads the newcomers by averaging 7.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and paces the team with 2.3 assists per game while averaging 24.2 minutes per game off the bench.

Last year, the Huskers had two freshmen (Joe McCray and Aleks Maric) see significant time early in the season before setting NU records. McCray posted the best scoring average by an NU freshman in history after gaining a team-best 15.5 points per game. He also set records for 20-point games (10) and broke the Big 12 freshman record with 80 3-pointers. Maric set the NU freshman rebound record with 169 boards on the year.

Passing Grade
Freshmen guards Marcus Walker and Jamel White have made solid first impressions for the Huskers. The duo has combined for 13.8 points, 4.5 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game while hitting 29-of-36 attempts from the free throw line.

White leads the team with 14 assists while Walker has added 13. Walker owns the single-game team season high after posting six assists against Marquette. Walker had five assists in the season opener but then posted just two assists over the next three games before getting back on track against the Golden Eagles. White's season high is five assists against Yale. He also posted 10 points and seven rebounds against the Bulldogs.

The pair made a strong impression during the exhibition season while taking the place of NU's only returning point guard, Charles Richardson Jr., who was sidelined with an injury.

During the two exhibition games, Walker started both contests at point guard and led the team with 13 assists, including an eight-assist, no-turnover game against Holy Family in the second exhibition game. 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 played 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 from the line and was 4-of-8 from the floor while adding three steals.

McCray Moving Up Chart
Guard Joe McCray set several Nebraska freshman records last season and looks to break into the NU career record book during his sophomore campaign.

Nebraska's top returning scorer had 80 3-pointers to his credit after one season and now with 87 in his career, needs just eight 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 13 more 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. 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.

Huskers Rise to Challenge
A trio of Huskers were named to the all-tournament team as they lead Nebraska to a perfect 3-0 record and the title of the John Thompson Foundation Basketball Challenge on the opening weekend of the 2005-06 season.

Senior Jason Dourisseau, sophomore Aleks Maric and freshman Jamel White each earned a spot on the all-tourney team, along with Yale's Sam Kaplan, Longwood's Michael Jefferson and tournament MVP Paul Millsap of Louisiana Tech.

The Huskers had to scratch out two of the wins as NU's victories over Yale and LaTech were not decided until the final minutes. NU used a solid defensive effort that held its opponents to a tournament-low 61.7 points per game while shooting just 38.5 percent.

Maric and Dourisseau each averaged 12.7 points per game to lead the Huskers. Maric also pulled in 10.7 rebounds per game to rank second in the four-team field while Dourisseau was fourth overall and second on the team with 8.7 rebounds per contest.

White sparked the Huskers on both ends of the court as he took several charges on defense and added double-figure points twice. He finished with 10 points, seven boards and five assists against one turnover in the hard-fought win over Yale.

It was the first tournament title the Huskers have won since taking three straight games at the San Juan Shootout in 2000. Nebraska defeated Iona (81-80), Kent State (69-68) and SMU (72-70) that season. The Huskers started that trip with a 72-64 win over Miami in the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic.

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 strength 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 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.

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. 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.

Smith, Balham to Redshirt
Newcomers Chris Balham and Mike Smith have said they will sit out this season as redshirts, looking to gain strength, speed and improve their skills before stepping onto the court for the Huskers in 2006-07.

Balham is one of the strongest players in Nebraska men's basketball team history and has already bench pressed more than 300 pounds. Balham will continue to work on his offensive skills as he began playing basketball just five years ago when he moved to Chicago from his native Paris, France. Smith also has great physical ability but with a log-jam in the backcourt, he has decided to take the time to improve his skill set and basketball IQ in anticipation of helping the Huskers next season.

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 Big 12 Conference 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. Overall, the Husker roster consists of players from 10 states and two countries.

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.

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.

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 347-110 all-time record in its 30th year at the Devaney Center.