2014-15 Season in Review

Numbers 2 Know

.404 - Nebraska’s field goal defense which was the Huskers’ lowest since the 2010-11 season. .781 - Nebraska is 25-7 at Pinnacle Bank Arena since the facility opened in the fall of 2013, as the Huskers went 10-6 at home in 2014-15. 2 - Nebraska allowed just two opponents (Iowa and Ohio State) to shoot at least 50 percent in 2014-15. NU had a streak of 37 straight games holding foes under 50 percent snapped against Iowa on Feb. 22. At the time the streak ended, the second-longest streak in the Big Ten was 14 games. 2 -  The 2014-15 season marked only the second time in Tim Miles 20-year coaching career where his team did not tie or exceed the previous season’s victory total. 3 - Number of overtime games for the Huskers this season, as NU went 2-1 with wins over Cincinnati and Loyola Marymount after losing at Rhode Island. Prior to this season, NU had not played in an OT game since the 2011-12 season. 4 - Number of Huskers with double-doubles in 2014-15 (Terran Petteway, Shavon Shields, Walter Pitchford and David Rivers). 18.2 -  Points per game by Terran Petteway in 2014-15, the highest by a Husker since Aleks Maric in 2006-07. It was the highest by a Husker guard since Tyronn Lue averaged 21.2 points per game in 1997-98. 22 - Number of 20-point games by Huskers in 2014-15 (Petteway-13; Shields-9) 35 - Points by Shavon Shields in a career-high performance against Omaha on Nov. 25. It tied for the second-highest scoring effort in the Big Ten in 2014-15. 564 - Terran Petteway points this season, as his total ranked eighth on Nebraska’s single-season list. He joins Dave Hoppen and Tyronn Lue as the only Huskers with two of the top 10 scoring seasons in school history. 1994-95 - The 2014-15 season marked the first time in 20 years where two Huskers averaged more than 15 points per game (Terran Petteway, 18.2; Shavon Shields, 15.4). 36 - Bench points scored by Nebraska vs. Maryland on Feb. 19, which was the most this season (previous high was 18 vs. Central Arkansas) and the most by Nebraska since scoring 38 off the bench against Georgia at the 2013 Charleston Classic on Nov. 24, 2013. 2010 - The last time a Husker had 10 or more rebounds in consecutive games before Walter Pitchford accomplished the feat against Cincinnati and Hawaii. 15,569 - Nebraska’s average attendance in 2014-15 broke the school mark of 15,419 set the previous season.

For the Nebraska men’s basketball program, the 2014-15 season was one filled with both memorable highs and challenging moments.

A 79-77 victory over Final Four qualifier Michigan State on #AveryStrong Day, the program’s first national ranking in nearly two decades and a first-team Academic All-American were among the highlights for the Huskers, who fell short for a second consecutive postseason bid following last year’s NCAA appearance.

A number of early-season injuries didn’t allow the Huskers to build off the momentum from the previous season while the Huskers struggled on the offensive end, including its second-lowest 3-point shooting percentage in school history. Those things led to a 13-18 record, marking just the second time in 20 years of coaching that Head Coach Tim Miles didn’t match or improve his team’s record.

Despite the struggles, Husker fans came out in record numbers in 2014-15, as Nebraska averaged a school-record 15,569 fans per game to rank 10th nationally. It was the highest that Nebraska has ever been in average attendance.

“Our fans have been just terrific,” Miles said after a loss to Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament. “We’ve oversold our arena capacity the last two home games with a losing streak, sitting there looking at a losing streak, and I don’t know how many fan bases would do that. But the Husker faithful have been unbelievable for us. They’ve really rallied around our basketball programs, men and women alike, and it’s a really special place. It’s great for the student-athletes. They go out there against Maryland the other night, we’re dead in the water as far as postseason goes unless something crazy happens, and there’s 15,800 people at the game, and it’s crazy. The guys are really inspired by our fans.”

The three-point loss to the Nittany Lions was a microcosm of the season, as the Huskers relied on its two primary scorers (Terran Petteway and Shavon Shields) and showed grit, battling back from a 16-point second-half deficit, but was unable to find an effective third scorer and fell just short in the final seconds.

Terran Petteway continued to show why he was among the top all-around players in the Big Ten, averaging 18.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game to earn third-team All-Big Ten honors. The 6-foot-6 junior guard ranked fourth in the conference in scoring and closed the season with a 29-point effort against Penn State, including four 3-pointers, for his 13th 20-point game of the year. Petteway went over the 1,000-point mark in his second season at Nebraska, joining Dave Hoppen as the only two Huskers to accomplish the feat.

Shields continued to develop his all-around game, averaging 16.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. The 6-foot-7 junior joined consensus national player of the year Frank Kaminsky as the only Big Ten players to average 16.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game in 2014-15. Shields closed the year with his second double-double of 2014-15, totaling 20 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. It marked his ninth 20-point effort of the season, including a career-high 35-point effort against Omaha in non-conference action. Shields also excelled off the court, as he was a first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American, becoming the first Husker basketball player to receive that honor.