Huskers Travel to Penn State on Thursday

GAME 29: AT PENN STATE Date: Thursday, Feb. 25 Time: 6:01 p.m. (CT) Arena: Bryce Jordan Center Location: State College, Pa. NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS 2015-16 Record: 14-14, 6-9 Big Ten Head coach: Tim Miles Record at Nebraska: 61-63 (4th year) Career Record: 344-283 (21st year) PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS 2015-16 Record: 14-13, 5-9 Big Ten Head coach: Patrick Chambers Record at Penn State: 69-89 (5th year) Career Record: 120-117 (7th year) BROADCAST INFO Television: ESPNU Play-by-play: Adam Amin Expert Analysis: Craig Robinson Online: WatchESPN Radio: IMG Husker Sports Radio Network, including KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln, KXSP (590 AM) in Omaha and KRVN (880 AM) in Lexington. Play-by-play: Kent Pavelka Expert Analysis: Jake Muhleisen Satellite Radio (Penn State feed): Sirius 83; XM-195 Also available online at Huskers.com, on the Huskers App and TuneIn Radio

The Nebraska men’s basketball team looks for its fourth Big Ten road win of the season Thursday evening, as the Huskers travel to State College, Pa., to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Tipoff is set for 6:05 p.m. (CT) and the matchup will be televised nationally on ESPNU with Adam Amin and Craig Robinson on the call. It is also available on WatchESPN on mobile devices.

Thursday’s game will also air across the state of Nebraska on the Husker Sports Network with Kent Pavelka and Jake Muhleisen on the call, including KLIN 1400 AM in Lincoln, KXSP 590 AM in Omaha and KRVN 880 in Lexington and is also available on Huskers.com and the Huskers App.

Nebraska (14-14, 6-9 Big Ten) lost a heartbreaker to Ohio State, losing 65-62 in overtime Saturday night. The Huskers shot a season-low 27.1 percent, but led by two in the final 10 seconds and had a shot to win at the end of regulation. Freshman Jack McVeigh led the Huskers with 16 points, including a career-high five 3-pointers, to pace three Huskers in double figures.

McVeigh has stepped into the starting lineup after Shavon Shields suffered a concussion against Rutgers on Feb. 6, and performed admirably. The 6-foot-8 forward is coming off his best week of the season, averaging 16.5 ppg on 50 percent shooting, including 8-of-16 from 3-point range, four rebounds and two assists per game.

Penn State (14-13, 5-9 Big Ten) comes into Thursday’s game having won two straight, including a 70-58 win over Rutgers on Saturday. Shep Garner had 20 points to pace four PSU players in double figures, while Brandon Taylor had 17 points and 14 rebounds. PSU has won its last two home games, knocking off nationally-ranked Indiana and Iowa this month.

Thursday’s matchup between the Huskers and Nittany Lions is the second in a 12-day span, as Nebraska won 70-54 in Lincoln on Feb. 13. That game featured a career-high 35-point game by Andrew White III, while NU held PSU to 38 percent shooting.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
13 - Andrew White III needs 13 points to become the 14th Husker basketball player to score 500 points in a season.

125 - Benny Parker will play in his 125th career game on Thursday. He will become only the eighth Husker to make that many appearances. WIth 22 3-pointers this year, he has already topped his previous three seasons combined (14).

2005 - The last time a Husker freshman averaged at least 10.0 ppg in conference play (Joe McCray, 15.8 ppg). Glynn Watson Jr. is currently averaging 10.0 ppg in Big Ten play.

41% - In Big Ten play, 41 percent of NU’s total minutes have come from freshmen. Over the last four games, that number has increased to 45 percent, despite NU being without the services of Ed Morrow Jr. during that stretch.

11.4 - Nebraska’s scoring average is 11.4 points higher than last year’s total. It is on pace to be the largest single-season increase in school history.

SCOUTING PENN STATE
Penn State comes into Thursday’s game playing some of its best basketball of the season. The Nittany Lions are 14-13 on the season and have won three of their last four games, including victories over nationally-ranked Iowa and Indiana. 

Under fifth-year coach Pat Chambers, PSU went 9-4 during non-conference action, including a win over DePaul and a one-point loss to Colorado before struggling early in Big Ten play. PSU was just 2-8 in its first 10 conference games before regrouping down the stretch.

The Nittany Lions feature a pair of solid scorers in senior Brandon Taylor and sophomore Shep Garner. Taylor leads PSU in both scoring (16.6 ppg) and rebounding (6.5 rpg) while Garner averages 13.7 points and 3.1 assists per game. Taylor earned Big Ten co-Player-of-the-Week honors on Monday, averaging 17.5 ppg and 11.5 rpg in two wins last week. The Nittany Lions have gotten a late season boost from Donovon Jack, who averaged 15.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg off the bench in Penn State’s last two games.

PSU featured a 10-player rotation, as all 10 average at least 10 minutes per game. Garner leads PSU with 57 3-pointers while Taylor has 39 on the season.

SERIES HISTORY
Thursday’s game is the 13th meeting between the Huskers and Nittany Lions, and Nebraska holds a 7-6 lead in the series following the win in Lincoln last month. Nebraska is 5-4 against PSU since joining the Big Ten in 2011-12 and picked up the only sweep in the series during the 2012-13 season.

The teams played three times before Nebraska joined the Big Ten, a home-and-home series in 1980 and 1981 and in the second round of the 1995 NIT.

LAST MEETING
Behind a career-high 35 points from Andrew White III, Nebraska posted a 70-54 win over Penn State on Feb. 13. The Huskers took control with a 39-7 surge spanning both halves, turning a four-point deficit late in the first half into a 28-point lead before cruising to a 16-point win.

Nebraska trailed 31-27 with 1:30 left in the half before seizing momentum by running off the final five points of the half, including a 3-pointer by Glynn Watson Jr. to beat the first half buzzer and give NU a 32-31 lead at the break. White took over in the opening minutes of the second half, keying a 12-2 spurt with 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers that gave the Huskers a 44-33 lead.

While White carried the offense, NU’s defense held PSU to just two field goals in the first 13 minutes of the second half. The Huskers closed the spurt with 14 straight points, the last coming on a 3-pointer by Jack McVeigh with 7:19 left.

Freshman Michael Jacobson added 10 points, while Watson added nine for the winners, who shot 46 percent from the field, including 8-of-18 from 3-point range.

Brandon Taylor led Penn State with 14 points and four rebounds, as the Nittany Lions shot just 38 percent and committed 17 turnovers that led to 23 Husker points.

LAST TIME OUT
Jack McVeigh led three Huskers in double figures with 16 points, but Nebraska dropped a 65-62 overtime decision to Ohio State on Saturday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Nebraska had erased an 11-point second-half deficit to take a 56-54 lead on a 3-pointer from Andrew White III with 52 seconds left in regulation.

On OSU’s next possession Keita Bates-Diop missed, but got his own rebound to give the Buckeyes another opportunity. JaQuan Lyle knocked down a pair of free throws with seven seconds left, and Nebraska had an opportunity to win in regulation. Glynn Watson Jr. drove and attempted a foul line jumper, but was off the mark amid contact.

In the extra frame, Lyle took over, scoring six of his 19 points, including a jumper with 31 seconds left to give the Buckeyes the lead for good. The freshman scored all 19 of his points in the second half and in overtime to pace four Buckeyes in double figures.

For Nebraska, McVeigh led NU (14-14, 6-9 Big Ten) with 16 points, including a career-high five 3-pointers, while Andrew White III scored 14 and Glynn Watson Jr. pitched in 10. NU shot just 27 percent from the field, including 9-of-35 from 3-point range.

Ohio State shot just 39 percent, but was 20-of-26 from the foul line, compared to 15-of-23 for the Huskers.

WORTH NOTING

• Nebraska will be seeking its fourth conference road win of the season at Penn State on Thursday, as the Huskers have not won four conference road games in a season since the 1998-99 season.
• 11 of the Huskers’ 14 losses have come to teams currently rated in the top 50 in the KenPom rankings as of Monday. In fact, four of NU’s losses are to teams in the top 12 of this week’s AP poll.
• After missing the last four games with a concussion suffered in a nasty fall against Rutgers on Feb. 6, the Huskers may regain the services of Shavon Shields on Thursday at Penn State. Not only is Shields, a four-year starter who had started 106 consecutive games, NU’s second-leading scorer and rebounder, but he led the Huskers in assists when he was injured. Here is a look at NU’s numbers with Shields in and out of the lineup.

Category W/O Shields With Shields

Category	W/O Shields	With Shields
Points per Game	64.2	74.3
FG Pct.	.398	.458
Reb. Margin	-3.0	+3.9

• Andrew White III has more than filled in the offensive production that All-Big Ten performer Terran Petteway provided over the last two seasons. In Big Ten play, White is one of five players ranked in the top-12 in the Big Ten in both scoring and rebounding, joining Jarrod Uthoff (Iowa), Malcolm Hill (Illinois), Brandon Taylor (Penn State) and A.J. Hammons (Purdue).

During Big Ten Play

Player	PPG	Reb	SPG	FG Pct.	3-Pt. Pct.	FT Pct.
White III (2015-16)	17.7	6.6	1.2	.487	.420	.787
Petteway (2014-15)	16.9	4.6	0.9	.380	.293	.678

• Even after going a season-low 3-of-17 against Ohio State, Andrew White III dropped under 50 percent from the field for the season. White is attempting a rare feat in Big Ten action, as only four Big Ten players have shot 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range and 75 percent from the foul line in the last 20 years.

Player	School	Season	FG%	3P%	FT%	PPG
Andrew White III	Nebraska	2015-16	.497	.418	.790	17.4
Frank Kaminsky	Wisconsin	2014-15	.547	.416	.780	18.8
Adreian Payne	Michigan State	2013-14	.503	.423	.790	16.4
Jared Sullinger	Ohio State	2011-12	.519	.400	.768	17.5
Evan Turner	Ohio State	2008-09	.503	.440	.788	17.3

• Nebraska has relied on its youth down the stretch, as a freshmen has led the Huskers in either points, rebounds or assists in each of the last five games. Jack McVeigh has led the Huskers in scoring in each of the past two games, the first time a freshman has accomplished the feat since Shavon Shields during the 2012-13 season. The last time a freshmen paced NU in scoring in three consecutive games was Jamel White from Feb. 18-25, 2006.
• In research by Bradley University, Nebraska ranks fifth among all power conference teams in minutes played, as Husker freshman have combined for 2,163 minutes in 2015-16. NU trails only Washington, Boston College, Kentucky, and Duke among minutes played by freshmen in power conferences.
• Nebraska’s 72.1 ppg in Big Ten play is not only a 15-point improvement on NU’s conference scoring average (57.1 ppg), but is the first time NU has averaged at least 70 points in conference action since the 2001-02 campaign.
• Nebraska has scored 70+ points eight times in Big Ten play, which is already the best since joining the Big Ten five years ago. The previous high was six in 2013-14.
• One of the biggest differences between the Huskers’ wins and losses in Big Ten play has been defending the 3-point line. In the Huskers’ six wins, opponents are shooting 30 percent from long distance, while that number jumps to 46 percent in the Huskers’ nine Big Ten losses.
• Nebraska is one of three programs in the nation (joining Illinois, Tulsa and Washington) with multiple players averaging at least 15.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game, as both Andrew White and Shavon Shields have reached that plateau. Entering the week, only 67 players in Division I have reached those averages.
• Glynn Watson Jr. has been one of the Big Ten’s best newcomers at point guard this season. The Bellwood, Ill., product is averaging 8.8 ppg and 2.6 apg while his 2.33 assist-to-turnover ratio is on pace to be the best by a Husker since Charles Richardson Jr. had a 2.57 assist-to-turnover ratio in 2006-07.
• NU enters the Ohio State game sixth in the conference in rebounding margin at +2.9 per game. NU has not finished with a positive rebounding margin since joining the Big Ten in 2011-12.
• Nebraska has played eight games against ranked teams, which is third in the Big Ten (9; Iowa and Michigan).

GETTING OFFENSIVE
With the departure of four players who played professionally, including Terran Petteway, who is with Fort Wayne in the NBA D-League, the biggest question entering the season was about the Huskers’ offensive production.

NU’s offense has been efficient, as NU’s average of 72.9 points per game entering Thursday’s game at Penn State is the highest after 28 games since the 1996-97 season.

• At this pace, it would be Nebraska’s highest scoring average since the 1995-96 team averaged 80.2 points per game. Since 2000, only the 2003-04 (70.5 ppg) and 2000-01 (71.1 ppg) teams have eclipsed the 70-points per game mark.
• Nebraska’s scoring increase of 11.4 ppg is the second-largest increase in the Big Ten this season.
• Nebraska has scored 80 or more points seven times, including three games of at least 90 points.
• Five of Nebraska’s top-eight scorers are in their first year of competition as a Husker, as newcomers have accounted for 57 percent of NU’s total offense.
• Entering the Penn State game, 75 percent of Nebraska’s offense has come from underclassmen.
• In Big Ten play, Nebraska is third in field goal percentage (.453) and sixth in scoring offense (72.1 ppg).
• Ten Huskers have reached double figures at least once, while three players (Shields, Webster and White) have also recorded multiple 20-point efforts, marking the first time in 10 years that NU had three players with multiple 20-point games.

AW3 IS ON A ROLL
Junior Andrew White III has become one of the Big Ten’s top newcomers in 2015-16. The 6-foot-7 wing is fourth in the Big Ten in scoring at 17.4 points per game. He is also 15th in rebounding (6.1 rpg), pacing the Huskers in scoring and rebounding.

• White is one of the Big Ten’s top 3-point shooters, ranking 2.7 in 3-pointers per game (2.6) while shooting 41.8 percent from long range. His 74 3-pointers already ranks sixth in school history.
• White has been in double figures a team-high 24 times, including eight 20-point efforts.
• He has two 30-point games in 2015-16, becoming just the 10th Husker to post multiple 30-point games in a year.
• He has three double-doubles on the year, posting them against Creighton (28 points and 10 rebounds), Samford (17 points and 11 rebounds) and at Illinois (21 points and 13 rebounds).
• He scored a career-high 35 points against Penn State on Feb. 13, the 10th-highest total in school history. White added a career-high six 3-pointers and had 10 of his points in a 12-2 run to open the second half.
• White recorded his first career 30-point effort against Abilene Christian on Dec. 5, finishing with 30 points, including 14-of-16 from the foul line, seven rebounds and four steals.
• White looks to continue a trend of high-impact transfers under Miles who have gone on to first-team all-conference honors, including Terran Petteway (2014) at NU and Andy Ogide (2011) and Wes Eikmeier (2012) during Miles’ tenure at Colorado State. White was ranked as one of 20 Impact Transfers by Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports prio­r to the start of the season.

SHIELDS CLIMBS TO TOP 10
One of the most efficient players in school history, senior Shavon Shields has a chance to finish his career on NU’s top-10 list in both points and rebounds. The 6-foot-7 forward has 1,503 points to rank 10th in scoring and is 13th in career rebounds with 634.

On the season, the 6-foot-7 senior is averaging 15.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Shields ranks 11th in the Big Ten in scoring and fifth in steals, and is first or second on the team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals.

Shields has missed the last three games with a concussion suffered in the second half of the Rutgers game on Feb. 6, and could return to action this week.

• Shields is the only Big Ten player - and one of 17 players nationally - averaging 15.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.75 apg and 1.25 spg, a list that also features Kris Dunn of Providence, Ben Simmons of LSU and Gary Payton III of Oregon State. No Husker has finished the year with those numbers since Cookie Belcher in 2000-01.
• He has reached double figures 21 times this season, including a 28-point, five-rebound effort against No. 21 Miami on Dec. 1 and a 28-point performance in a win at No. 11 Michigan State on Jan. 20.
• Against Rutgers on Feb. 6, he became the fifth Husker to score 1,500 points and grab 600 rebounds as a Husker during his 17-point effort.
• Shields has 76 career games in double figures, including 20 career 20-point performances and a pair of 30-point efforts. He scored a career-high 35 against Omaha (11/25/14) and had 33 points against Illinois (2/14/14) and is one of just 14 players in school history with multiple 30-point games.
• Shields is just the second player in school history to be a three-year captain and is a returning first-team Academic All-American. In 2014, he was also one of 16 national finalists across all of Division I athletics for the 2014 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award.
• Shavon is also a nominee for the Senior Class Award and was named to the NABC Allstate Good Works Team for his work in the community. That should be no surprise as his father, Will, is a former NFL Man of the Year for his efforts in the Kansas City community. The elder Shields was enshrined into the NFL Hall of Fame last August and was already a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

TAI’S TAKING CHARGE
Tai Webster has blossomed into one of the Big Ten’s most improved players in 2015-16 and a strong contender for Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year.

Webster, who averaged 3.9 points and 2.0 rebounds per game in his first two seasons, has raised his scoring average to 9.7 points per game on 48 percent shooting while also chipping in 3.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game.

• Webster has been in double figures 13 times this season after reaching that mark just seven times in his first two years.
• He has been effective since becoming the Huskers’ sixth man on Dec. 22, averaging 10.0 points per game on 59 percent shooting. Webster has reached double figures eight times, including a career-high 22 points at No. 19 Iowa on Jan. 5 and 17 points at No. 21 Purdue on Jan. 30.
• Webster has played his best against ranked opponents, averaging 12.9 points per game in NU's eight games vs. nationally ranked teams this season.
• Webster had a career high five steals - the most by a Husker since 2012 - along with 12 points and five rebounds vs. Michigan on Jan. 24.
• His contributions against No. 11 Michigan State were vital, finishing with 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists, keeping NU in the game late in the first half while Shavon Shields and Andrew White III were out of the game.
• Webster provided a spark in NU's win at Illinois, finishing with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting and six rebounds.
• He collected his second 20-point game of the year at No. 19 Iowa on Jan. 5, finishing with a career-high 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting and five rebounds.
• Webster earned all-tournament honors at the Barclays Center Classic in November, averaging 19.5 points on 56 percent shooting and 5.0 rebounds per game against No. 24 Cincinnati and Tennessee. He enjoyed his breakout performance in the loss to No. 24 Cincinnati on Nov. 27, posting a then-career highs in points (21) and rebounds (eight). One day later against Tennessee, he added 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting against Tennessee.

A LOOK AT THE FRESHMEN
Nebraska has relied on its freshman class to provide an impact. The group has accounted for more than 33 percent of Nebraska’s point production on the season, including 36 percent in Big Ten action.

Glynn Watson Jr., Jack McVeigh, Ed Morrow Jr. and Michael Jacobson fill four of the top eight spots in the rotation, while Bakari Evelyn has played in 18 games.

Watson has seen time at both guard spots, averaging 8.8 points and 2.5 assists per game while posting a team-best 2.5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. He leads the Huskers with 34 steals and 70 assists.

• Watson ranks third among all Big Ten freshmen in both assists and fourth in steals
• Over the last 11 games, Watson is averaging 11.3 points, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He is shooting 44 percent from the floor and 80 percent from the foul line.
• He has been in double figures 13 times, including a season-high 17 points against Rhode Island (Dec. 13) and at Illinois (Jan. 16). Against Rhode Island, he scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half to rally the Huskers from an 11-point deficit. Watson also had a team-high 16 points at Wisconsin on Feb. 10.

Jacobson, who missed nearly two months of preseason practice with a foot injury, has averaged 4.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. He also leads NU with 21 blocked shots which is fifth all-time among Husker freshman.

• Jacobson has been playing his best basketball in recent weeks, averaging 8.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in six games this month. He’s posted career bests in points (13 vs. Rutgers) and rebounds (9 at Wisconsin; vs. Ohio State) during the month.
• He has had seven or more rebounds seven times, including a career-high nine caroms at Wisconsin on Feb. 10 and against Ohio State on Feb. 20.
• Jacobson ranks among the top 10 Big Ten freshmen in both blocks and rebounds.

McVeigh has been one of the primary scorers for the second unit, averaging 5.8 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. He is second on the team with 33 3-pointers and has moved into the starting lineup for the last four games.

• He ranks fifth among Big Ten freshmen in 3-pointers with 33, a total which ranks eighth on NU’s freshman chart.
• McVeigh is averaging 16.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in NU's two games last week, shooting 50 percent from both the field and 3-point line.
• McVeigh scored a career-high 17-point performance against No. 21 Indiana on Feb. 17, while adding four rebounds and a pair of assists.
• He enjoyed his second straight double-figure effort against Ohio State on Feb. 20 with 16 points, including a season-best five 3-pointers.
• In the first matchup with the Hoosiers on Jan. 2, he chipped in 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting and six rebounds, tying or setting personal bests in points and rebounds at the time.
• McVeigh played a key role in NU’s win at No. 11 Michigan State on Jan. 20, hitting a pair of 3-pointers in a 13-0 second half run that turned a 56-51 deficit into an eight point lead. He finished with eight points and a season-high six rebounds.
• McVeigh made a quick first impression, coming off the bench for 16 points, including 4-of-4 from 3-point range, in just 13 minutes of action against MVSU. His 16-point effort was the highest total by a true freshman since Joe McCray had 23 points in his collegiate debut in 2004 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Ed Morrow Jr. has become NU’s first post player off the bench and averages 3.8 points on 63 percent shooting and 3.6 rebounds per game while playing 13.8 minutes per outing. Morrow leads the team in field goal percentage (.625) and is second in blocked shots (15). Morrow has missed the last four games because of a foot injury.

• Morrow has provided a strong rebounder in his limited action, totaling four or more rebounds 12 times, including a career-high seven boards against Rutgers on Saturday when he also had 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
• Morrow had a season-high 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting against Southeastern Louisiana and has reached double figures three times, including twice in Big Ten play.
• He had one of his best games of the year at Illinois on Jan. 16, finishing with six points and a season-high six rebounds while playing a season-high 28 minutes and totaled six points and six boards against Michigan on Jan. 23.