Nelson, Karn Earn Degrees

Lincoln - Ben Nelson and Matt Karn were among the nearly six dozen Husker graduates who participated in commencement ceremonies on the UNL campus on Saturday, May 8. Overall, more than 2,300 students received their diplomas on the weekend at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

"Ben and Matt have been a big part of our team since they've been here and we're proud of what they've accomplished off the court," said coach Doc Sadler. "They both came to practice every day with an attitude of competing to the best of their ability and they carried that over to the classroom. Being a student-athlete at the University of Nebraska is a special experience, and these two have done everything to make the fans of Nebraska proud."

Nelson completed his eligibility this past season, earning his fourth varsity letter. During his career, Nelson played in 36 games including making an appearance in the starting lineup on Senior Night against Colorado this season. He averaged 0.7 points and 0.5 rebounds per game, hitting 5-of-17 shots from the floor and 15-of-25 attempts at the free throw line. Nelson posted a career-best six points against Savannah State in 2007 and tied his career best with two rebounds five times, including against Colorado in his last home game.

Karn saw the first action of his career for Nebraska in 2009-10, playing in nine contests. He went 3-of-5 from 3-point range for nine points on the season and added three assists. Karn sat out his first season with the Huskers in 2008-09 and had injuries that forced him to miss two other seasons of play at junior college. Because of injuries that forced him to miss three full seasons (two at junior college, one at Nebraska), Karn was granted a sixth year of eligibility and will play basketball while attending graduate courses as a senior in 2010-11.

Along with Nelson and Karn, two other Huskers from this year's team are on pace to graduate in August. Seniors Ryan Anderson and Sek Henry are scheduled to receive their undergraduate degrees this summer. They would bring the number of Huskers to earn diplomas under Sadler to 10 over the past four years. Nebraska led the Big 12 Conference in Graduation Success Rate at 83 percent in the fall of 2009.

Overall, 71 Huskers and former student-athletes graduated last weekend. The class combined for nine All-America awards in athletic competition. Nebraska's 2010 May class of graduates builds on the Huskers' great student-athlete tradition, which includes an NCAA-leading 271 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans across all sports. Nebraska continues to feature one of the highest graduation rates in the nation with a Big 12-leading exhausted eligibility graduation rate of 92 percent.