Coatney's Call: Minnesota Preview

#12 Nebraska at Minnesota
Monday, Dec. 29, 8 p.m. (central)
Williams Arena (Minneapolis, Minn.)
TV: BTN
Radio: Husker Sports Network (Matt Coatney-PBP; Jeff Griesch-Analyst)
107.3 FM, Lincoln; 93.3 FM, Omaha; 93.9 FM, 1340 AM, Sidney; 1230 AM, Hastings; 1400 AM, Ainsworth; 94.1 FM, Scottsbluff
Internet: Free live audio on Huskers.com

No. 12 Huskers Open Big Ten Play at Minnesota
I absolutely can’t believe the non-conference portion of the 12th-ranked Nebraska women’s basketball team’s schedule is already over. What a whirlwind! After playing their first 10 games in only 29 days, the Huskers closed out one of the best starts in school history with an 83-57 win over High Point on Dec. 20.

Junior point guard Rachel Theriot demonstrated why she is on all the major National Player-of-the-Year watch lists. She notched her second career 30-point scoring game with a season-high 31 points. If you’ve not seen Theriot play, it’s time you made your way to a game because she is a very special player. In fact, the Huskers have a lineup full of special players, including senior guard Tear’a Laudermill, who added 22 points in the win over the Panthers.

Nebraska finished non-conference play with a 10-1 record, which is tied for the second-best start after 11 games in school history. With the expansion of the Big Ten schedule to 18 games, the Huskers jump into conference play next when they travel to Minneapolis to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a in a matchup that will be nationally televised on Big Ten Network Monday, Dec. 29, at 8 p.m. (central).

A lot has happened with the Minnesota program since the Huskers last faced the Gophers in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals last March. Pam Borton was replaced as head coach by Marlene Stollings.

Stollings left VCU after leading the Rams to a two-year record of 33-29. She added 6-1 senior forward Shae Kelley to the roster as an immediate starter and impact player. The former Old Dominion standout was eligible immediately for the 2014-15 season after earning her undergraduate degree this spring. Kelley led the Monarchs in scoring the past two years after spending one season at Northwest Florida State. Gone from last season’s Gopher roster were sharp-shooting Sari Noga and power forward Micaëlla Riché, two departed seniors who played significant minutes as starters and top bench players in their careers.

However, the biggest change to Minnesota’s roster since Nebraska last faced the Gophers is one that was not expected and very unfortunate for all women’s college basketball fans. Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year Rachel Banham suffered a torn ACL in a 68-55 win at North Dakota on Dec. 10. The senior guard led all Big Ten players in scoring in conference games in 2013-14 with 23.3 points per game.

With Banham sidelined for the season, the new centerpiece of Minnesota’s attack is 6-5 sophomore center Amanda Zahui B. Zahui (ZOW-ee) was the unanimous Big Ten Freshman of the Year last season and was named to the All-Big Ten First Team by the media. Zahui was named the Subway Classic Most Valuable Player after averaging 22.0 points, 13.0 rebounds and 6.0 blocks per game during the two-day event in wins over Liberty and Central Michigan last weekend. She had a career-high 27 points on 11-of-19 shooting with 13 rebounds and six blocked shots in the comeback 67-64 win over the Chippewas.

When Zahui stays out of foul trouble, she is dominant. The only two games this season in which she hasn’t scored in double figures were two games she fouled out. She totaled seven points in only 19 minutes in a 71-54 neutral site loss to Vanderbilt, Minnesota’s only loss on the season. Zahui scored a season-low six points in 27 minutes in a 72-69 win over Georgia Tech. Her importance of staying in the game and staying out of foul trouble was illustrated in the Gophers' last game against Central Michigan. Zahui scored the last 10 points of the game for the Gophers, marking her eighth double-double of the season. In the second half, Zahui played all 20 minutes and contributed 19 points, eight rebounds and four blocks to lead Minnesota to the win after trailing by six points with 6:18 remaining. She ranks fifth nationally in blocked shots per game (4.08) and 16th in the nation in field goal percentage (.579).

For the season, Zahui averages a double-double 15.6 points and a team-leading 10.5 rebounds per game. She fouled out of her first game last season against the Huskers, scoring only six points and played just 22 minutes in an 88-85 Nebraska overtime win. In the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals, Zahui was hampered by foul trouble and played just 19 minutes, scoring 11 points in NU’s 80-67 win.

With Banham sidelined for the season, Kelley has assumed a larger role as a scorer. The only Gopher to start all 12 games, Kelley leads the team’s active roster, averaging 16.0 points and is second on the squad behind Zahui in rebounding (8.8 rpg). All but three of Kelley’s 192 points this season have been scored inside the arc as she is just 1-of-9 in three-point field goal attempts.

Freshman guard Carlie Wagner started the first five games of the season, then came off the bench for the next five, but returned to the starting lineup for the past two games with the season-ending injury to Banham. Wagner was a scoring machine in high school. She finished her prep career with 3,957 points, second behind only former Ohio State great Tayler Hill on the Minnesota High School Girls scoring list. She was the Associated Press state Girls Basketball Player of the Year in 2013-14. Wagner broke her own state tournament single-game scoring record (50 points) with a 53-point effort in the state AA quarterfinals last season. She also excelled in track and field and is her school record-holder in the high jump, winning state titles in the event in 2012 and 2014. Wagner averages 9.1 points per game.

Shayne Mullaney, a 5-10 junior point guard, missed three games earlier this season due to a sprained ankle. She also missed the final 11 games last season with a concussion. She has started nine games and leads the team in assists and adds 3.2 points per game.

Junior Mikayla Bailey rounds out Minnesota’s probable starting lineup. She has started the last 10 games and leads the team’s active players in three-pointers (21) and adds 6.8 points per game.

Minnesota enters conference play with an 11-1 record, its best start since the 2003-04 season when the Gophers went 15-1 to start their journey to the Final Four.

Nebraska has won the last four meetings between the two teams and leads the all-time series 10-6. The last two games between Minnesota and Nebraska have been particularly memorable. On Jan. 16, 2014, the Huskers posted one of the largest comeback wins in the Connie Yori-era with an 88-85 overtime victory at the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln.

Banham showed why she was one of the premier guards in the country with 33 points and 8 assists night. But she was matched point-for-point by emerging NU star Theriot, who posted a career-high 33 points and a then-career high nine assists. Theriot did not commit a turnover in the game and her 33 points came on 13 fewer field goal attempts than Banham’s 28 tries. Theriot also had a key steal late in regulation to help lead Nebraska back from a 14-point deficit.

Less than two months later, the two teams squared off in a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal round game in Indianapolis on March 7. In a game Minnesota desperately needed to win to keep its NCAA Tournament bubble from bursting, Theriot outscored Banham 14-12, but that was hardly the story of the game. Theriot sprang onto the national radar with an amazing 18 assists, a Big Ten Conference record, as the Huskers defeated the Gophers 80-67. The 18 assists were the most in any game in 2013-14 by a Division I women’s basketball player and helped propel Theriot to a three-game stretch in which she was named the Big Ten Tournament’s Most Valuable Player, as the Huskers won their first conference tournament title in school history.

Nebraska has not played at Minnesota since defeating the Gophers 84-63 on Jan. 20, 2013. Nebraska fans have fond memories of Williams Arena, which hosted its first basketball game in 1928. NU defeated Northern Iowa and UCLA to advance to their first NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in Williams Arena in 2010.

I cordially invite you to join Jeff Griesch and me for Nebraska Women’s Basketball on the Husker Sports Network. Our radio broadcast Monday night begins with the pre-game show at 7:45 p.m. (central) with the tip-off scheduled for 8:02 p.m. on the Husker Sports Network including KBBK (B107.3) in Lincoln, KFFF 93.3 in Omaha, KSID 1340 in Sidney, KNEB 94.1 in Scottsbluff, KLIQ 94.1 in Hastings, KBRB 1400 in Ainsworth, and many others. All Husker women’s basketball broadcasts are also available for free worldwide on the internet at www.huskers.com. I hope you can join us.

There are a number of ways to get enhanced information about our broadcast and Husker women’s basketball via social media. You can learn more about the team on the Nebraska Women’s Basketball Facebook page or follow the team on their official Twitter page @huskerswbb. I also invite you to friend me on Facebook (Matt Coatney) or follow me on Twitter @coatman1.

Go Big Red!

Matt