Husker Hoops Team Opens Exhibition Play

The Nebraska Cornhusker basketball team opens exhibition action this weekend when it plays host to Arkansas-Fort Smith on Friday, Nov. 6. 

 

The game will tip off at 7:06 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center and will be broadcast by the IMG Husker Sports Radio Network with Kent Pavelka calling the action and Matt Davison adding color commentary. The game will be heard for free on Huskers.com. Fans should check with other network affiliates for more broadcast information.

 

The Huskers enter the season looking to blend together a talented and taller roster that includes just four scholarship returning letterwinners. Also in the mix for playing time this weekend will be eight scholarship players who have never played in a college game at the Division I level. 

 

Leading the charge into the 2009-10 campaign will be a pair of senior guards in Sek Henry and Ryan Anderson. The duo has been with the Huskers since coach Doc Sadler took over the program in 2006 and together they have logged more than 4,600 minutes and played in 186 games for the Huskers. 

 

The twosome has been a part of the defensive foundation Sadler has built at Nebraska as they have keyed the Huskers to the best scoring defense in the Big 12 Conference the past two seasons. Anderson returns for his final campaign after being named to the 2009 Big 12 All-Defense team selected by the league’s sportswriters.

Individually, Anderson and Henry will bring different aspects to the Husker offense that will likely include a new starting point guard as well as the addition of a number of taller post players, a welcome boost to a team that was the smallest in Division I last season. 

 

Anderson owns 774 career points and if he posts numbers similar to last season, he will become just the 25th 1,000-point scorer in school history. He also ranks in the career top 10 for 3-pointers made (131) and 3-point percentage (38.1) while ranking in the Huskers’ all-time top 15 for steals (113). While Anderson has done a large portion of his damage from long range, Henry has played both the point and shooting guard while scoring in closer to the basket. He owns 623 points and paces the Huskers with 165 career assists and 95 games played ? the only player to compete in every game the past three years. 

 

Along with Anderson and Henry, Nebraska returns a pair of sophomores in Toney McCray and Brandon Richardson. McCray suffered an elbow injury in the preseason and looks to play through it while building on a solid freshman campaign that included two Big 12 Rookie-of-the-Week awards. Richardson was slowed by injury last year in league play but has proven his ability to run the point and provide strong shooting outside. 

 

Also back this season is senior forward Ben Nelson, a walk-on who has played the last three years under Sadler and provides a strong work ethic for the squad, especially in the weight room.

 

Nebraska Receives Rare Waiver
Nebraska petitioned the NCAA with a waiver that was granted in early September, allowing the Huskers to have 14 players on scholarship for the 2009-10 season. The rare allowance given to NU is only for this season and Nebraska will be required to return to 13 scholarships for the 2010-11 season.

 

New Faces Line Husker Roster
While the Huskers will rely on their four returning scholarship players for leadership early in the season, most of the eyes will be focused on the faces of several newcomers who will dot the NU roster in 2009-10. 

 

Among those scholarship newcomers looking for time this weekend are two juniors (Lance Jeter and Quincy Hankins-Cole), a sophomore (Myles Holley), a redshirt freshman (Brian Diaz) and four freshmen (Adrien Coleman, Ray Gallegos, Christian Standhardinger, Brandon Ubel). Also back this season is another “newcomer” in Eshaunte Jones, who played four games as a true freshman last year before undergoing foot surgery and redshirting the season. 

 

2009-10 Scholarship Breakdown
Seniors: 2
Juniors: 2
Sophomores: 4
Freshmen and Redshirt Freshmen: 6

NU Aim for Fifth Postseason Berth in Seven Years
Despite their lack of experience entering the year, the 2009-10 Huskers will be shooting for the program’s fifth postseason berth in seven years and third straight under coach Doc Sadler. Overall, Nebraska’s NIT bid at the end of the 2008-09 campaign was the Huskers’ 22nd all-time postseason appearance. NU has 16 appearances in the NIT, including the 1996 title, and six berths in the NCAA Tournament.

 

Huskers Look to Build on 8-8 League Mark
While the Huskers have more than two months before they start league action, Nebraska will have one thing in mind while it prepares for facing arguably the nation’s toughest conference: continuing its upward momentum against Big 12 foes. 

 

Last year, the Huskers finished with an 8-8 record in Big 12 Conference play, their best mark in a decade and just the third time since the formation of the league that NU has finished at .500 or better. That mark came as the Huskers won each of their last two regular-season games, giving Nebraska its third straight season with a better league mark. NU had six league wins in 2007 and seven in 2008.

 

Since the start of the 2007 conference season, only three teams in the Big 12 have improved their win total in league play each of the past three years. That small group includes Nebraska, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. 

 

This year, Nebraska will try to do something done only once before in program history as the only other time the Huskers improved their conference win total for four straight years was from 1952 to 1955.

Sadler Setting New Marks
Nebraska coach Doc Sadler has said from the beginning that he hopes to do something at Nebraska that’s never been accomplished before: get to the NCAA Tournament and win a game. Since he’s been at NU, his record has spoken volumes as he has reached marks never before seen. 

 

Over his first three years, Sadler has more victories than any Husker coach to open a career. Entering 2009-10, he owns a 55-40 mark in Lincoln, two more wins than Moe Iba had in his first three years and four more than Danny Nee. Sadler also had the most wins in the first two years at NU (37) and is the first coach in school history to win at least 17 games in each of his first three years guiding the Cornhuskers.

The Huskers’ win over Texas Tech on the road on Jan. 31, 2009, marked Sadler’s 50th victory at Nebraska. He was the fourth-fastest coach to reach 50 wins at NU in program history and among the three who reached the mark faster at NU, two of those men coached in Lincoln before World War I. 

 

Coaching Wins at Nebraska (first three seasons only)
No.       Coach, First Three Years            Wins     Record
1.         Doc Sadler, 2007-09                    55         55-40
2.         Moe Iba, 1981-83                        53         53-34
3.         Danny Nee, 1987-89                    51         51-46

Versatile Anderson in elite company
Ryan Anderson joined an elite club last year as he became just the seventh Husker to record at least 100 3-pointers, 100 assists and 100 steals in a career. Among that short list are Eric Piatkowski, Tyronn Lue, Erick Strickland, Cookie Belcher, Cary Cochran and Jaron Boone, along with Anderson. 

 

Entering the 2009-10 campaign, Anderson has 131 3-pointers to rank eighth in Nebraska history while his 113 steals rank 15th all-time at NU. With 160 career assists, Anderson needs 19 treys and 37 steals as a senior to join Strickland as the only two Huskers ever with at least 150 in each category.

 

NU Looks for Defensive 3-Peat
In 2009-10, Nebraska will look to continue its dominance on the defensive end under coach Doc Sadler. Each of the past two seasons, the Huskers have led the Big 12 Conference in scoring defense and ranked among the national leaders. 

 

Last year, Nebraska allowed just 60.4 points per game to rank 22nd nationally. A year earlier, it gave up just 60.7 ppg and held on to a final No. 18 national ranking. 

 

Nebraska also led the league in conference-only defense in 2009 by giving up just 62.5 ppg to league teams. NU finished as one of only two teams (also Kansas, 65.4 ppg) that allowed less than 69.0 points per game in Big 12 play. 

 

The Huskers’ top-ranked defense last year marked the first time NU had led the league in scoring defense in the Big 12 era. 

 

Dating to the 2007-08 season, Nebraska has held seven of its last 10 Big 12 Conference opponents in the Devaney Center to 57 or fewer points, including three times under 50 points. NU held five teams to less than 57 points in Big 12 play last year, including Missouri (51), Kansas State (51), at Colorado (53), Texas (55) and vs. Colorado (41).

 

2009-10 Schedule Notes
? Nebraska faces a rugged schedule as it will play 16 of its 31 regular-season games against teams that reached the 2009 postseason. Among the Huskers’ opponents that reached last year’s NCAA Tournament were: Elite Eight participants Missouri (twice) and Oklahoma, Sweet 16 participant Kansas (twice), NCAA second-round qualifiers Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M and USC. NU will also 2009 postseason NIT qualifiers Baylor (runner-up), Creighton, Kansas State (twice) and Tulsa, along with CBI champion Oregon State. At the Las Vegas Classic, NU will also face either BYU or Nevada, which played in the NCAA and NIT, respectively, last year.

 

? The Huskers are set to play 18 regular-season games at the Bob Devaney Sports Center for the third straight season. Last year, the Huskers went 14-4 in the building and NU is 42-11 at home under coach Doc Sadler.

 

? Nebraska will look to keep an outstanding home winning streak alive in 2009-10 as the Huskers’ look for their 34th straight winning season at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Huskers have never had a losing season in the Devaney Center since the building opened for the 1976-77 campaign. 

 

? Nebraska’s second home win of the season will mark it’s 400th all-time win in the Devaney Center. The Huskers enter the season with a 398-125 record at home in the building since 1976-77 campaign. 

 

? For the third straight season, the Huskers will have at least 21 games televised regionally or nationally, including three games set to be seen around the country on the ESPN family of networks. The Huskers have averaged more than 13 televised contests (national, regional and local) each of the past eight years.

 

? Nebraska will play five games away from the Devaney Center in non-conference action for the first time since Doc Sadler’s first season when the Huskers went 3-3 away from Lincoln in 2006-07. It is the second straight season NU has played three true road games in non-conference play, the most by the Huskers since playing four true road games in 1997-98. 

 

? The Huskers will face USC in the third annual Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Classic on Nov. 29. Nebraska will start the series with USC on the road, with the Trojans returning the game to Lincoln in 2010-11. 

 

? Nebraska will face Tulsa and either BYU or Nevada at the Las Vegas Classic on Dec. 22-23. It will be NU’s first regular-season tournament since competing in the 2006 Rainbow Classic, where the Huskers went 2-1.