Huskers Battle Bobcats on Christmas Day

Game #12: vs. Ohio Bobcats
Date:     Thurs., Dec. 25
Time:    3:02 p.m. (CT)
Arena:  Stan Sheriff Center
Capacity: 10,300

Nebraska Cornhuskers
2014-15 Record: 7-4, 0-0 Big Ten
Head coach: Tim Miles
                Record at Nebraska: 41-35 (Third year)
                Career Record: 324-255 (20th year)

Ohio Bobcats
2014-15 Record: 4-5,  0-0 Mid-American
Head coach: Saul Phillips
                Record at Ohio: 4-5 (First year)
                Career Record: 138-89 (Eighth year)

Broadcast Information
Television: ESPNU
                Announcers: Kanoa Leahey and Cory Alexander

Online: WatchESPN.com

Radio: IMG Husker Sports Radio Network, including KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln, KFAB (1110 AM) in Omaha and KRVN (880 AM) in Lexington. Also available online at Huskers.com, on the Huskers App and on TuneIn Radio and the TuneIn Radio App.
                Play-by-play: Kent Pavelka                         
                Expert Analysis: Matt Davison

Satellite Radio: None

Live Stats: Huskers.com

Huskers Battle Bobcats on Christmas Day
Thursday’s matchup at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic is a Christmas treat for college basketball fans, as two of colorful coaches in the country will have their teams square off in Honolulu.

Nebraska takes on Ohio in the fifth-place contest with tipoff between the Huskers and Bobcats slated for 3 p.m. (central) or 20 minutes following the conclusion of the DePaul/Loyola Marymount contest.

Thursday’s contest will be nationally televised on ESPNU with Kanoa Leahey and Cory Alexander on the call. The contest, along with all of the Diamond Head Classic games, is also available online at WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app.

The game will be broadcast across the state of Nebraska on the IMG Husker Sports Radio Network, including KLIN 1400 AM in Lincoln, 1110 KFAB in Omaha and KRVN 880 AM in Lexington with Kent Pavelka calling the action and Matt Davison adding color commentary. The game can be heard for free on Huskers.com and available on the Huskers’ app on iOS or android devices, as well as on TuneIn Radio.

The Huskers are 7-4 on the season after losing to Hawaii (66-58) in the tournament opener before rebounding with a 50-42 overtime win over Loyola Marymount Tuesday evening. Nebraska relied on its best defensive effort in nearly four years, holding LMU to 28 percent shooting. Terran Petteway provided the offensive heroics in overtime, scoring seven of his 17 points in the extra session to lead three Huskers in

double figures.

While Petteway and junior wing Shavon Shields combine for nearly 37 points per game, the Huskers’ first two games in Hawaii have also seen the continued emergence of Walter Pitchford as a third offensive option. The 6-foot-10 junior has played some of his best basketball over the last four games, averaging 9.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

Ohio (4-5) comes into the game off its best offensive effort of the year, routing DePaul 99-78 behind 31 points from Javarez Willis after falling to George Washington in Monday’s opener. Willis, who was a teammate of Petteway’s at Texas Tech in 2011-12, averages a team-high 16.4 points per game and is one of four Ohio players averaging in double figures.

The action on the sideline may be as entertaining as the game itself, as NU Coach Tim Miles coaches against one of his protégé. Ohio Head Coach Saul Phillps worked for Miles for three seasons at North Dakota State before succeeded him when Miles left for Colorado State in 2007. Phillips, one of four former Miles assistants coaching in the Division I ranks, won the first matchup between the two, an 83-69 NDSU win over Colorado State in Fargo on Dec. 15, 2007.

Numbers 2 Know
0 - Number of times the Huskers have played on Christmas in program history before Thursday’s contest.

3-NU leads the all-time series against Ohio, 3-0, but the teams have not met since a 94-68 win on Dec. 3, 1993. The other two matchups took place in 1957 and 1961.

6 - Nebraska has held six of its first 11 opponents under 40 percent shooting, including each of the last three (Cincinnati, Hawaii and Loyola Marymount).

3 - Number of overtime games that Nebraska has played this season, posting a 2-1 record. Prior to this year, NU not had not played an overtime game since the 2011-12 season.

2010 - The last time a Husker had 10 or more rebounds in consecutive games before Walter Pitchford accomplished the feat  was Toney McCray, who 10 vs. TCU (12/11/10) and 11 vs. Eastern Washington (12/18/10). It has happened only three times in the last five seasons.

Last Time Out

Terran Petteway scored seven of his 17 points in overtime, lifting Nebraska to a 50-42 win over Loyola Marymount in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.

Petteway hit consecutive 3-pointers as part of a 10-0 Husker spurt to help Nebraska overcame offensive struggles during the first 40 minutes. Trailing 37-35, Pettway and Shields took over for Nebraska (7-4) in the extra period, scoring all 10 points in the run, giving the Huskers a 45-37 lead with 50 seconds remaining in OT.  Petteway hit 6-of-10 shots on the night, while Shields finished with 13 points and six rebounds for the winners.

That offensive spark was more than enough for a stout Husker defense which Nebraska held LMU to 28 percent shooting – the lowest by a Husker opponent since the 2010-11 season – including 2-of-10 in the OT period. The Husker defense was its best down the stretch, holding LMU without a field goal for 8:18, spanning final 3:51 of regulation and most of overtime.

Loyola Marymount (3-8) out-rebounded the Huskers, 40-22, and had several chances in the final two minutes to break a 35-all deadlock. The Lions missed four shots in the final 1:51, including Evan Payne’s 3-pointer at the end of regulation.

Notes from the Loyola Marymount Game

• The 42 points allowed is the best defensive effort of the Tim Miles era (previous low was 47 set three times, most recently by Northwestern on March 1, 2014). It is also the lowest NU has allowed in a game since allowing 39 to Grambling on Dec. 21, 2010.
• NU held Loyola Marymount to 28 percent, the lowest by a Husker opponent in the Tim Miles era (previous low  was 29.2 by Penn state in the 2012-13 season) and the lowest since North Dakota shot 25 percent on Jan. 3, 2011.
• Walter Pitchford grabbed eight rebounds against Loyola Marymount and is averaging 9.3 rebounds per game over his last three contests.
• Benny Parker tied his career high with four steals. Parker now has four career games with four steals.
• Nebraska’s 16 first-half points allowed was the second-lowest NU has allowed under Tim Miles.

Tracking the Huskers

• One link between the two program is Danny Nee, who coached at both Ohio and Nebraska. Prior to taking the Huskers to a school-record 254 wins and five NCAA Tournament appearances, Nee spent six seasons at Ohio (1981-86), guiding the Bobcats to a 107–67 record and a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances.
• Tai Webster and Ohio's Maurice Ndour are two of the five active NCAA players who played in the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain last September. Webster helped New Zealand to the Round of 16, while Ndour played a key role in helping Senegal also reaching the round of 16.
• Nebraska is 7-4 on the season with an overtime loss at Rhode Island and a one-point loss to Incarnate Word. The Huskers’ strength has been on the defensive end, as Nebraska has held opponents to 38 percent shooting, including 29 percent from 3-point range.
• Nebraska is 7-2 this season when holding opponents to under a point per possession and 0-2 when an opponent is above the mark. LMU was held to 0.70 points per possession on Tuesday, which is the best NU has allowed under Miles. The previous low was 0.73 points per possession by Cincinnati on Dec. 13.
• Nebraska features two of the Big Ten's top scorers in juniors Terran Petteway and Shavon Shields. Petteway, a first-team All-Big Ten performer and Wooden Award nominee, leads the Huskers and is second in the conference at 19.0 points per game while averaging 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. Shields is sixth in the conference at 16.7 points per game and seventh in rebounding.
• The duo is the highest scoring duo in the Big Ten at 35.7 ppg, ahead of Indiana’s duo of Yogi Ferrell and James Blackmon Jr. (33.9 ppg).
• Petteway has been in double figures in 22 straight games dating back to last season and in 41 of 43 career games at Nebraska. That streak is the longest streak for a Husker since Venson Hamilton had 24 straight games in double figures during the 1998-99 season. He also has team-high five 20-point games this season (17 for his career), including 25 against Florida State and Northern Kentucky.
• Petteway is one of only eight players in the country averaging at least 19 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in 2014-15.
• Petteway’s career scoring average of 18.3 points per game ranks second on Huskers' list (Dave Hoppen, 19.5 ppg) and Petteway is on pace to be only the second Husker to average 18.0 ppg in his career.
• Shavon Shields has raised his scoring average from 12.8 ppg to 16.7 ppg, including a 35-point outburst against Omaha and 25 points at Rhode Island. Shields is now 40th in career points and is 147 points away from being the 26th Husker with 1,000 career points.
• Shields is one of three Big Ten players in the top-10 in both scoring and rebounding, joining Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky and Iowa’s Aaron White.
• Shields has started 62 consecutive games dating back to midway through his freshman year entering Thursday’s game against Ohio.
• After a slow start, Walter Pitchford is averaging 9.4 points and 5.4 rebounds in his last seven games. Pitchford is also shooting 42 percent from 3-point range after opening the year by going 1-for-16 from long range in his first four contests. Pitchford is averaging 10.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game in NU’s games in Hawaii.
• David Rivers is averaging a career-high 5.4 rebounds per game and has grabbed at least six caroms in six of the last seven games. Prior to this season, he had 14 games with at least six rebounds in his first three seasons.
• Benny Parker has become more of a focal point in the Huskers’ offense, as the junior guard is fourth on the team in scoring at 7.2 points per game. The 5-foot-9 guard averaged just 2.6 points per game as a sophomore. Parker has become a dependable 3-point shooter, as he is at 50.0 percent this year after going just 2-of-18 in his first two seasons at Nebraska.
• Nebraska continues to be without two of its top post players in Moses Abraham (hand) and Leslee Smith (knee). Abraham, who was second on the team in rebounding (5.4 rpg) at the time of his injury, suffered the injury on Dec. 9 and will miss his fourth straight game tonight.  Smith, who averaged 5.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game off the bench is recovering from knee surgery and could be back next month.
• NU has been hurt by turnovers, committing an average of 15.3 turnovers per game to rank last in the Big Ten.