Piatkowski Returns to the Devaney Center in New Role

Editor's Note: Eric Piatkowski is in his first season as the color commentator for Nebraska's men's basketball television games on Fox Sports Midwest. Piatkowski will call the first game of his career on Tuesday, Nov. 25, when the Huskers play host to Saint Louis in the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Tipoff is 7:05 p.m. and the game can be seen in the state of Nebraska on Fox Sports Midwest and nationally on ESPN FullCourt.

 

As he closed a 14-year NBA career, Nebraska basketball legend Eric Piatkowski was trying to find what he would do next with his life. He still wanted to be a part of the game of basketball, but also wanted to make time for his family, which had been difficult during his time as an active player. Then, his alma mater, Nebraska, offered him the opportunity to be the color commentator for its statewide telecasts on Fox Sports Midwest.

 

“We talked about it a little at the (Doc Sadler) golf tournament this summer and when they called at the last minute about it this fall,I jumped at the opportunity,” Piatkowski said. “I think of it as a way to get to be around the game without having a full NBA schedule. It’s a perfect situation for me.”

 

With that, Piatkowski was again involved with Husker basketball. The same place he starred in the early 1990s, and in so doing, he had an opportunity to again help the team that helped him get to the NBA. 

 

“I think I have a lot to offer in helping the young guys,” Piatkowski said. “I’m very open to talking to guys, whether it’s about things on the court, things off the court, or training.”

 

In addition to 14 years of NBA experience, in which Piatkowski drained nearly 40 percent of 2,168 3-point attempts, Piatkowski also is one of just two players in Nebraska men’s basketball history to play in four NCAA Tournaments. Like several Huskers on this year’s roster, the Rapid City, S.D. product redshirted in his first year in the program, the1989-90 season in which Nebraska was 10-18. But that record belied the true state of the program at the time.

 

“We had a lot of talent,” Pitakowski said of his arrival at Nebraska. “We grew a lot in my redshirt year. I would tell the (current) team, whatever the media is predicting doesn’t mean a whole lot. They can do it. As long as they all come in and come together as one, they’ll have success.”

 

The Huskers did exactly that in 1990-91, Piatkowski’s redshirt freshman season. Coming off the bench to score 10.9 points per game, Piatkowski contributed to the greatest campaign in Nebraska basketball history, as the Huskers went 26-8 and finished third in the Big Eight despite being picked toward the bottom of the league in the preseason. The Huskers were ranked for 14 straight weeks and even broke into the top 10 in the UPI poll in late January before losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. 

Piatkowski and Nebraska followed that act with a solid 19-10 season that netted the Huskers their second straight NCAA appearance. From there, Piatkowski earned All-Big Eight honors in back-to-back years and guided the Huskers to back-to-back 20-win seasons, the only time Nebraska has won 20 or more in consecutive years. 

In his final year at NU, Piatkowski poured in 21.5 points per game, including a 42-point explosion against Oklahoma in the first round of the 1994 Big Eight Tournament, which the Huskers eventually won. That still stands as Nebraska's single-game scoring record and Piatkowski remains Nebraska’s second-leading scorer with 1,817 career points, only trailing Dave Hoppen. In February 2006, Piatkowski joined Hoppen and Stuart Lantz as the only three Nebraska basketball players to have their jerseys retired. That was the same day Piatkowski was inducted into the Nebraska Basketball Hall of Fame.

After becoming Nebraska’s second-ever first-round NBA Draft pick, Piatkowski was traded from the Pacers to the Los Angeles Clippers and was a fixture in the backcourt for the Clips for nine years. The all-time leader in 3-pointers made (738), 3s attempted (1,835) and 3-point percentage (.402), Piatkowski played in 616 games for Los Angeles, the second-most of any player in franchise history. While splitting the final five years of his career between Houston, Chicago and Phoenix, Piatkowski began to examine possibilities off the floor that would still allow him to remain connected to the game.

 “Different guys have told me that this would be a good thing for me to try,” Piatkowski said. “I always thought that broadcasting would be one of the first things that I would try when I retired. I want to stay in basketball, but I don’t want it to dominate my life. I want to spend time with my wife and kids. The schedule is conducive to what I want to do.”

As Piatkowski becomes acquainted with broadcasting, he will be describing a team he sees as playing with great effort and intensity, especially on defense.

“I know they play hard,” Piatkowski said of the Huskers. “Doc has them playing fantastic defense and has them playing the right way. This program is on the rise. I see them in the middle of the pack in the Big 12, and now they have to move to the top half of the Big 12.”

Meanwhile, Piatkowski, who drove the teams which set the standard for Nebraska men’s basketball, will be here to chronicle Sadler and the Huskers as they try to match those standards, starting this week.