Huskers Host USC Saturday Afternoon

HUSKERS ON TV/RADIO/INTERNET
Television: Fox Sports Midwest (DirecTV ch. 671, Dish ch. 450, Ch. 37 on Time Warner Cable; Ch. 47 on Cox Cable) (Play-by-play: Greg Sharpe; Color: Eric Piatkowski)
Radio: IMG Husker Sports Radio Network stations (Play-by-play: Kent Pavelka; Color: Matt Davison)
Internet Radio/Stats: Free on Huskers.com
Satellite Radio: None

Nebraska Cornhuskers
Game: 6
2010-11 Record: 3-2, 0-0 Big 12
Head coach: Doc Sadler
                Record at Nebraska: 73-60 (5th year)
                Record at Division I: 121-78 (7th year)
                Career Record: 241-117 (13th year)

USC Trojans
Game: 7
2010-11 Record: 4-2, 0-0 Pac-10
Head coach: Kevin O'Neill
                Record at USC:  20-16  (2nd year)
                Career Record: 189-209 (14th year)

Huskers Host USC Saturday Afternoon
The Nebraska basketball team returns home to the Bob Devaney Sports Center this Saturday, Nov. 27, as the Huskers take on USC in the opening game of the 2010 Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series.

Start time for the matchup between the Huskers and Trojans is set for 5:07 p.m. and the game can be seen nationally on FSN. The telecast will feature Greg Sharpe (play-by-play) and Eric Piatkowski (analyst) and will be seen on channel 37 in Lincoln; channel 47 in Omaha; DirecTV channel 671; and Dish Network channel 451.

Saturday's game will also be carried across the state on the 32-station IMG Husker Sports Radio Network with Kent Pavelka and Matt Davison on the call, including KFAB 1110 AM in Omaha, KLIN 1400 AM in Lincoln and KRVN 880 in Lexington.

Tickets for Saturday's game can be purchased for as little as $5 at Huskers.com or at the Devaney Sports Center beginning at 3:30 p.m. Tickets can also be purchased on Friday by calling the NU Ticket Office at 800-8-BIGRED.

Saturday's game begins a school-record 10-game homestand for the Huskers, who will not leave Lincoln until the start of Big 12 action in January. NU is 2-0 at the Devaney Center this year, but has not played at home since an 83-40 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 15.

Nebraska (3-2) has been off since its final game in San Juan on Sunday, when Nebraska downed Hofstra, 62-47.  In that game, the Huskers got a game-high 11 points from sophomore center Jorge Brian Diaz, but more importantly, hit 6-of-12 from beyond the 3-point stripe, as reserve guards Ray Gallegos, Eshaunte Jones and Drake Beranek combined for 21 points off the bench.  Entering the Hofstra game, the trio had combined for 22 points in Nebraska's first four games with 15 coming from Beranek.

Team balance and production from the bench have been vital for the Huskers during the early season. The Huskers, who have 11 players averaging over 10 minutes per game, have had five different players lead the team in scoring through the first give games. More importantly, NU has averaged 35.4 points from its bench

USC (4-2) comes to town with a two-game winning streak following an 81-54 victory over Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday night. In that game, Maurice Jones had 20 points, five assists and four steals, while Nikola Vucevic totaled 16 points, 14 rebounds and five assists. The Trojans, who lost to Nebraska, 51-48, in Los Angeles last season, are in the midst of playing eight games in the first 17 days of the season.

Scouting USC
USC enters the weekend with a 4-2 record after routing Cal State Fullerton, 81-54 on Wednesday evening. The Trojans, who were picked to finish sixth in the Pac-10, broke open a two-point game at halftime, outscoring the Titans 49-24 in the second half while shooting 60 percent from the floor. Freshman Maurice Jones led USC with 20 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, five assists and four steals to pace four players in double figures.

USC brought back a pair of starters from a team that went 16-14 and finished fifth in the Pac-10 last season. Junior forward Nikola Vucevic is on the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 List, after averaging 10.7 points and 9.4 rebounds per game as a sophomore. He comes into Saturday's game averaging team highs in both points (17.8) and rebounds (11.3). USC's other returning starter is senior forward Alex Stepheson, who is averaging 6.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game heading into Saturday's matchup. 

Nebraska-USC Series
USC and the Huskers are meeting for the eighth time on the hardwood, with the Trojans leading 5-2 following last season's Nebraska win at the Galen Center.

The first six matchups were evenly split with each team hosting on its home court three times, including playing on back-to-back days in 1962 for the first meetings of the series. USC won both of those contests and went on to win on back-to-back dates a year later in 1963 to sweep the first four contests.

The Huskers' first win in the series came in 1991 when NU earned the victory in a high-scoring affair, 93-84, in Lincoln. Bruce Chubick led five Huskers in double figures with 15 points, while Eric Piatkowski had 13 for the Huskers in the win. In that game, Harold Miner set Devaney Center records for points (43) and field-goal attempts (35). USC came back the following year with a 74-64 win in Los Angeles.

Nebraska owns a 38-47 all-time record against Pac-10 teams, but went 2-0 against the league last season. It marks the fifth straight season the Huskers have faced at least one Pac-10 team (Oregon, 2006-07 and 2007-08; Arizona State, 2007-08 and 2008-09; Oregon State, 2008-09 and 2009-10 and USC, 2009-10 and 2010-11).

Last Year's Game vs. USC
Redshirt freshman Eshaunte Jones made just one shot in the second half, but it was the biggest one of the game as he drilled a 3-pointer from the corner with 11.7 seconds left in the contest to give Nebraska a 51-48 victory.

Playing in the first game of the 2009 Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series, the Huskers and Trojans had eight ties and 20 lead changes. Just two minutes before Jones' shot, the Huskers looked unlikely to capitalize on missed chances, including going just 3-of-11 at the free throw line. But Quincy Hankins-Cole made a strong play on an offensive rebound to record NU's first basket in nearly six minutes to pull the Huskers within one at 46-45. Ryan Anderson then gave the Huskers the lead less than 30 seconds later with a steal out near the top of the key and a layup before converting the traditional three-point play. USC tied the game at 48-all with less than 40 seconds remaining on a Nikola Vucevic putback, setting up Jones' exciting finish. Following a timeout, the Huskers worked the ball around the perimeter and got the clock down to under 15 before Jones got the ball and fired. Following a lengthy review by the officials, the shot was confirmed as a 3-pointer, and NU defended the arc for the final 11 seconds before USC's desperation heave at the buzzer went wide.

Anderson led all scorers with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including three 3-pointers. He also had four of NU's 11 steals on 17 USC turnovers, while Nebraska committed just seven miscues.

Last Time Out: Huskers Shoot Past Hofstra, 62-47
Jorge Brian Diaz totaled a team-high 11 points, while Nebraska broke out of its shooting slump from 3-point range in posting a 62-47 win over Hofstra.

Diaz led a balanced Husker attack by hitting 5-of-7 shots from the floor, while Nebraska's outside shooting from the bench keyed the win. Reserve guards Ray Gallegos, Drake Beranek and Eshaunte Jones combined for 21 points, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range, as the Husker bench out-scored Hofstra's reserves 37-5.

Nebraska, which improved to 3-2 and snapped a two-game losing streak, hit 6-of-12 from 3-point range, while holding Hofstra to just 30.8 percent from the floor on the day.

Hofstra used the hot shooting of David Imes to get a quick lead, as he scored all eight of his first-half points in the first 3:53 of the game, as Hofstra took a 12-6 lead. The Huskers then went to the bench and got the spark they needed to get back to take control of the half. Beranek's 3-pointer triggered the spurt before consecutive baskets by Christian Standhardinger and Gallegos' first 3-pointer of the season put the Huskers ahead 16-12.

Gallegos hit 3-of-5 shots, including a pair of 3-pointers in 22 minutes of action, while Beranek was 3-of-4 from the floor for a season-high seven points in 14 minutes.  The Husker also got a solid effort from Brandon Richardson, who totaled six points, dished out a career-high seven assists and added three steals, as Lance Jeter battled through foul trouble most of the second half.

Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series
The 2010 edition of the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series commences Saturday night at the Devaney Center. This is the fourth year of the series between the two leagues while the series is tied at 1-1-1. Big 12 schools are 20-16 in the matchups after winning nine of 12 games in 2009. The Pac-10 won the inauguaral series in 2007 by a 7-5 count, while both leagues won six matchups in 2008. Nebraska has a 2-1 record in games in the series, a record that trails only Texas (3-0) among Big 12 teams. Big 12 teams are 13-4 in home games during the first three years of the series.