Huskers Host Delta Devils in Season Opener

NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS 2014-15 Record: 13-18 Head coach: Tim Miles Record at Nebraska: 47-49 (4th year) Career Record: 330-269 (21st year) MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE 2014-15 Record: 6-26 Head coach: Andre Payne Record at MVSU: 6-26 (2nd year) Career Record: 245-209 (14th year) BROADCAST INFO Television: None Online: BTN Plus (subscription required) Announcers: Michael Snow and Colton Stone Radio:  IMG Husker Sports Radio Network. For Saturday’s game, 105.3 WOW-FM in Lincoln will carry the game beginning with the pregame show, while in Omaha, CD-105.9 will carry the game once volleyball has concluded.  Play-by-play: Kent Pavelka Expert Analysis: Jake Muhleisen The broadcast is also available online at Huskers.com and on the Huskers App.

The Nebraska basketball team tips off the 120th season in program history Saturday night, as the Huskers host Mississippi Valley State at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

The matchup between the Huskers and Delta Devils begins at 7:05 p.m. and a limited number of tickets are available by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets, by calling 800-8-BIGRED during business hours or at the Pinnacle Bank Arena Box Office beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Nebraska’s newcomers enjoyed a strong performance in a 95-42 exhibition win over Northern State on Monday, accounting for 55 points and 33 rebounds in the win. Junior transfer Andrew White III led the way with 18 points to pace four Huskers in double figures. While the debut of White and the other newcomers were the focal point, the Huskers received solid performances from Tai Webster and Shavon Shields, who put up identical lines against the Wolves (14 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals). In all, 12 of the 13 players who played cracked the scoring column as the Husker bench accounted for 40 points. Freshman Jack McVeigh had 11 points and 11 rebounds in 23 minutes while Ed Morrow Jr. added eight points and 10 rebounds in just 14 minutes of action. The Huskers were solid on the defensive end, holding Northern State to 22 percent shooting, including 1-of-33 from 3-point range.

The Huskers, who look to bounce back from a disappointing 2014-15, return a pair of starters, including Shields, who ranked among the Big Ten leaders at 15.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in 2014-15. He will make his 83rd straight start on Saturday and could crack NU’s career top-20 scoring list with a strong effort in the opener. 

Mississippi Valley State is also in a rebuilding mode, welcoming back just two starters and seven letterwinners from last year’s team. 

Saturday features season openers for both the Husker men and women, who begin their 2015-16 season against Arkansas Pine Bluff at 11:30 a.m. At both games on Saturday, the Kansas City Disc Dogs will perform.

Saturday’s season opener begins a hectic two weeks for the Huskers with seven games over a 15-day stretch, including a Gavitt Games matchup at Villanova on Tuesday and four games in the Barclays Classic.

PREVIEWING MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE
Under second-year coach Andre Payme, Mississippi Valley State looks to rebound after posting a 6-26 record in 2014-15. Payne returns a roster that has seven returning letterwinnners, including a pair of starters and was picked to finished eighth in the SWAC preseason poll. Junior guard Isaac Williams is the program’s top returnee, as he averaged 9.8 points per game last year including a team-high 43 3-pointers. He had 20 points in the team’s exhibition game against Stillman. Senior forward Latrell Love averaged 5.9 points per game and 2.1 rebounds per game while making 13 starts, while Delta Devils will be counting on a host of new faces. MVSU’s game with Nebraska begins a long road trip, as the Delta Devils will not play a home game until Jan. 4. The team has 13 road games, including matchups with Air Force, BYU, Northwestern and Hawaii before beginning SWAC play in January. 

Series history: Saturday’s meeting is the first between the two programs. The Huskers are 18-1 all-time against teams from the SWAC.

 

LAST TIME OUT
Andrew White III led four Huskers in double figures with 18 points as the Huskers topped Northern State, 95-42, Monday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

White, who sat out last year after spending his first two seasons at Kansas, hit 6 of 10 shots from the floor, including a pair of 3-pointers to lead a balanced attack that saw 12 players break into the scoring column. Shavon Shields and Tai Webster added 14 points and six rebounds apiece, while freshman Jack McVeigh came off the bench and had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Nebraska took control early on, blitzing Northern State with a 20-0 spurt midway through the first half, as NU turned a two-point lead into a 22-point cushion at 32-10 with just over six minutes remaining in the first half. Nebraska’s defense held Northern State without a field goal for nearly 12 minutes.

Nebraska erased any hopes for a Northern State comeback in the opening six minutes of the second half, outscoring the visitors 18-4 after White’s dunk with 13:55 left made it 61-25.

 

FOR OPENERS
Nebraska begins its 120th season of basketball on Saturday evening. Here are some facts and figures about season openers for the Husker basketball program.

• Nebraska is 80-39 (.672) all-time in season openers and has won 14 straight season openers dating back to an 87-83 setback at Oral Roberts to begin the 2000 season.
• Nebraska is 21-2 in its past 23 season openers dating back to the 1992-93 campaign.
• The last time Nebraska lost a season opener at home was 1980 when NU fell to Wyoming, 62-59, in overtime. The Huskers have won 25 straight season openers at home since that loss.

SHIELDS GIVES HUSKERS RETURNING 1,000-POINT SCORER
For the first time since 2007, Nebraska returns a 1,000-point scorer to the lineup, as Shavon Shields enters his senior year with 1,127 career points. It marks the first time since All-Big 12 center Aleks Maric began his senior season with 1,111 career points. It is also the ninth time in program history that the Huskers had a returning 1,000-point scorer.

Shields begins his senior year in 24th place on Nebraska’s career scoring list. He is poised to jump in the top 20 of the list, needing only 16 points to match Terran Petteway for 20th on NU’s career list.

 

HANGING THEIR HAT ON DEFENSE
One of the keys to Nebraska’s success over last two seasons has been an emphasis on improved defense. In 2013-14, NU’s midseason turnaround was keyed on the defensive end, as a team that was last in field goal defense entering Big Ten play finished second in the conference in field goal percentage. Last year, it was the Huskers’ defense that kept the team in nearly every game. NU finished the season fourth in scoring defense, allowing 63.1 points per game in 2014-15.

• NU finished the season 24th nationally in defensive efficiency according to KenPom.com, marking the second straight year that Nebraska has had a top-25 defense.
• Nebraska’s field goal defense was one of its best in recent memory, as the Huskers held opponents to 40.4 percent shooting, which is the fifth-lowest total by a Husker defense in the 3-point era (since 1986-87).
• Nebraska allowed only one team to shoot over 50 percent in 2014-15.
• Under Miles, NU is 30-10 over the past three seasons when holding opponents to under 40 percent shooting.

 

#LOS HUSKERS
In August of 2015, the Husker basketball team spent nine days visiting Spain, as the trip included extended stays in Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona. Some of the highlights were city tours of all three places as well as Toledo, seeing a UEFA Champions League Playoff match in Valencia and visiting the Olympic sites and La Familia Sagrada in Barcelona. Nebraska also went a perfect 4-0 on the trip.

Nebraska 79, Eurocolegio Casvi 64: Tai Webster scored nine of his team-high 17 points in a 12-0 run to open the third quarter, as Nebraska opened with a 79-64 win over Eurocolegio Casvi. Webster hit 8-of-12 shots from the field to pace five Huskers in double figures in the victory.

Nebraska 66, Albacete Basket 63: Nebraska used a 9-0 fourth-quarter run to take control, as the Huskers held off Albacete Basket. The Huskers rallied from a 17-point second-quarter deficit, as Andrew White III led the Huskers with 17 points and seven rebounds to place three Huskers in double figures. Tai Webster totaled 13 points, while Shavon Shields added 11 points for the victors.

Nebraska 108, Europe Basketball Academy 73: Jack McVeigh’s 18 points led seven Huskers in double figures, as Nebraska rolled to a 108-73 victory over the Europe Basketball Academy. The Huskers shot 53 percent from the field and had all 12 players who played crack the scoring column, as six players had between 10 and 12 points.

Nebraska 71, CB Castelldefels 65: Nebraska rallied from a 11-point second-half deficit to post a 71-65 win over CB Castelldefels. Nebraska outscored Castellfefels, 24-11, in the fourth quarter, as Shavon Shields led NU with 14 points and nine rebounds. Andrew White III finished with a double-double, scoring 10 points and adding a game-high 10 caroms, while Tai Webster added 10 markers.

 

DRAWING BIG NUMBERS TO PINNACLE BANK ARENA
Nebraska basketball has become one of the toughest tickets in the Big Ten since the program moved into Pinnacle Bank Arena. For the second straight year, the Huskers broke their own single-season record for average attendance, averaging 15,569 fans per game at Pinnacle Bank Arena in 2014-15.

•-Nebraska finished the regular season ranked 10th nationally in attendance, the highest Nebraska has finished in national attendance since the NCAA began listing it in 1977-78.

•-Nebraska is one of three Big Ten schools ranked in the top 10 nationally in attendance, joining Wisconsin (fifth) and Indiana (eighth), while six Big Ten schools are among the top 16 nationally.

•-In 2014-15, the Big Ten set conference records for total attendance (3,076,641) and attendance in conference games only (1,677,589). It marked the first time in history that the conference has eclipsed the three million mark in total attendance.

•-Nebraska has enjoyed success in Pinnacle Bank Arena, posting a 25-7 record in the building. NU is 12-2 against non-conference opponents at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

 

SUCCESS IN THE CLASSROOM
The Huskers have enjoyed success in the classroom under Tim Miles. In 2014-15, Nebraska placed a Big Ten-high five players (Nick Fuller, Kye Kurkowski, Trevor Menke, Shavon Shields and Leslee Smith) on the Academic All-Big Ten team. Over the last three years, 11 Huskers have earned Academic All-Big Ten accolades. In addition, nine of the 10 seniors who have played for Miles have received their degrees.

 

BECKNER JOINS HUSKER STAFF
In addition to the newcomers on the roster, the other new face is assistant coach Phil Beckner, who joined the staff in August. Beckner served as an assistant coach with the NBA D-League Oklahoma Blue in 2014-15. Prior to that, Beckner spent seven years at Weber State.

 

HUSKERS FACE CHALLENGING SLATE
The Huskers will face a daunting schedule in 2015-16, playing nine games against foes that were ranked in the AP Preseason Top-25.

NU’s first game against a ranked opponent comes next Tuesday, Nov. 17, when the Huskers face No. 11 Villanova at the Gavitt Games in Philadelphia. The Big Ten features six ranked teams, which is the most of any conference. That group includes Maryland (third), Michigan State (13), Indiana (15), Wisconsin (17), Purdue (23) and Michigan (25).

In addition, four other NU opponents (Cincinnati, Miami, Rhode Island and Iowa) also received votes in the AP poll, while Ohio State received votes in the USA Today preseason coaches poll.