Huskers Open Season Sunday vs. Sacramento State

Game 1 vs. Sacramento State Date: Sunday, Nov. 13 Time: 7:01 p.m. Arena: Pinnacle Bank Arena Tickets: Huskers.com/Tickets

NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS 2015-16 Record: 16-18 Head coach: Tim Miles Record at Nebraska: 63-67 (5th year) Career Record: 346-287 (22nd year) SACRAMENTO STATE HORNETS 2015-16 Record: 14-17 Head coach: Brian Katz Record at Sacramento State: 91-147 (9th year) Career Record: Same BROADCAST INFO Television: BTN Play-by-play: Wayne Randazzo Expert Analysis: Shon Morris Online: BTN2Go 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: Matt Davison Also available online at Huskers.com, on the Huskers App and on TuneIn Radio and the TuneIn Radio App.

Huskers Open Season Sunday Night
The Nebraska basketball team opens the 2016-17 season Sunday night, as the Huskers welcome Sacramento State to Pinnacle Bank Arena for the season opener.

Tipoff is set for 7:01 p.m., and a limited number of tickets are for sale by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets or calling NU Development & Ticketing at 800-8-BIGRED. Tickets, if available, will also be at the NU Ticket Office beginning at 6 p.m. Beginning this season, Pinnacle Bank Arena doors and ticket windows open one hour before tipoff.

Sunday's game will be carried nationally on BTN and on the BTN2Go app with Wayne Randazzo and Shon Morris on the call. Fans can also listen to all of the action throughout the season on the IMG Husker Sports Network with Kent Pavelka and Matt Davison on the call (complete list of affiliates is on page 5 of the game notes).

The Huskers open their 121st season of basketball with seven returning letterwinners, including a pair of starters from a team that went 16-18. NU's youth was on display in Monday's 98-45 win over Chadron State, as freshman Isaiah Roby paced the Huskers with 16 points, while NU's newcomers accounted for 57 of the Huskers 98 points.

While the newcomers stole the show on Monday, it was NU's returnees who took control from the onset. The Huskers raced to a 21-1 lead and opened the second half with a 21-2 spurt. Tai Webster led the starters with 10 points, four assists and four rebounds, while Ed Morrow Jr. added 10 points and four boards in 15 minutes of work. Michael Jacobson nearly added a double-double for the winners with nine points and eight caroms in 16 minutes, as no starter played more than 22 minutes.

Webster, who has made 52 career starts at Nebraska, is the Huskers' top returnee, as he averaged 10.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game last year. He spent part of the summer with the New Zealand National Team as they tried to qualify for the Rio Olympics. He averaged 16.3 points and 9.7 rebounds per game in three Olympic qualifying contests.

Sacramento State comes to Lincoln at the tail end of a two-game trip, as the Hornets will open the season at Colorado on Friday evening. Sacramento State went 14-17 last year, but returns four starters and six of the team's top eight scorers. The Hornets opened the 2015-16 season with a win at Arizona State.

OPENING NUMBERS

98 - Nebraska's 98 points in Monday's exhibition win over Chadron State was its highest total since the 2002-03 season.

6 - Number of Huskers who finished in double figures in Monday's win.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

.901 - Over the last 10 years, Nebraska is 82-9 in non-conference home games, including 19-4 since moving into Pinnacle Bank Arena in 2013.

11 - Nebraska played 11 games against teams ranked in either the AP or Coaches poll last season. NU’s 10 games against AP ranked teams tied for the most in school history.

12 - The Huskers have won their last 13 exhibition games dating back to the 2007-08 season. Tim Miles is 5-0 in exhibition games at Nebraska, winning by an average of 37.4 points per game.

52 - Number of career starts by senior guard Tai Webster, the most by any of the 2016-17 Huskers. Webster has also played in 96 games during his four-year career.

83 - Assists by Glynn Watson Jr. in 2015-16, the most by a Husker freshman since 2007-08 (Cookie Miller).

A LOOK AT SACRAMENTO STATE
Under the direction of Head Coach Ryan Katz, Sacramento State opens this season on Friday at Colorado before traveling to Lincoln to take on the Huskers. The Hornets were 14-17 a year ago, but return four starters and four of the team's top five scorers. Junior forward Justin Strings leads the lineup, as he averaged 15.5 points and 6.7 boards per game en route to earning honorable All-Big Sky honors. He is joined by junior Marcus Graves who averaged 12.2 points and a team-best 4.4 assists per game while ranking second in the Big Sky in assist-to-turnover ratio. The Hornets showed a knack for close games, as 19 of their 31 games in 2015-16 were decided by eight points or less.

SERIES HISTORY
Nebraska leads the all-time series, 3-0, as Sunday's contest will be the first between the schools since an 86-70 Husker win on Jan. 20, 1993. In that game, Bruce Chubick led NU with 15 points and seven rebounds to pace three Huskers in double figures. NU's other two wins came during the 1978-79 (91-56) and 1981-82 (93-61) seasons. The Huskers are 30-8 all-time against the current members of the Big Sky Conference.

FOR OPENERS
Nebraska begins its 121st season of basketball on Sunday evening. Here are some facts and figures about season openers for the Husker basketball program.

• Nebraska is 81-39 (.675) 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 22-2 in its past 24 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 26 straight season openers at home since that loss.
• Sunday's season opener will mark the first time that Nebraska has ever played on Nov. 13th.
• Under Tim Miles, the Huskers have won all four of their openers by an average of 25.0 points. Last year's 46-point win over Mississippi Valley State was the 12th-largest margin in school history.

SUNDAY IS TOYS FOR TOTS COLLECTION DAY
As part of the Veterans Day/Military Salute this weekend, the U.S. Marines will be collecting toys for children at Sunday’s season opener against Sacramento State. Husker fans are encouraged to bring new, unwrapped toys to the game, and cash donations for the cause will also be accepted. The Marines will be stationed near the entrances of Pinnacle Bank Arena to accept donations that will brighten the holiday season for needy children.

The Nebraska football Toys for Tots collection will be one of four co-sponsored by the Athletics Department at Husker events in November. The football Toys for Tots event is Saturday against Minnesota while women’s basketball (Nov. 14) and volleyball (Nov. 26) will have events later in November.

EXHIBITION RECAP
Nebraska used a 21-1 game-opening run to take control, as the Huskers rolled to a 98-45 victory over Chadron State Monday evening.

The Huskers put six players in double figures, as freshman Isaiah Roby paced the Huskers with 16 points and seven rebounds. Jeriah Horne and Evan Taylor added 12 each, while Ed Morrow Jr., Tai Webster and Anton Gill added 10 apiece for the winners, who shot 55 percent, including 63 percent in the second half.

In all, 10 players cracked the scoring column and all 12 players who dressed played, as Nebraska limited Chadron State to 29 percent shooting and enjoyed a 53-29 advantage on the boards.
Roby and Jack McVeigh keyed the early spurt with five points each, as Nebraska held Chadron State without a field goal for the first 8:43 of the contest in building a 20-point lead after Morrow’s layup with 11:36 left in the half. Nebraska led by as many as 32 in the first half and took a 48-21 lead into the locker room.

The Huskers continued the momentum in the opening minutes of the second half, using a 21-2 spurt to build a 68-23 lead with 14:10 remaining.

HUSKERS LOOK TO CONTINUE OFFENSIVE IMPROVEMENTS
Nebraska will look to continue the offensive improvement the Huskers enjoyed in 2015-16. Last year, the Huskers improved their season scoring average by 11.2 points per game and finished seventh in the Big Ten in scoring offense.

• Nebraska averaged 72.2 points per game, the highest total since the 1996-97 team averaged 72.9 points per game. It marked the first time since 2003-04 that Nebraska averaged over 70 points per game.
• Nebraska’s scoring average in 2015-16 was 11.7 points higher than the previous season, the largest single-season jump since WWII. It is the first time that NU’s scoring average jumped more than 10 ppg from the previous season.
• In Big Ten action, Nebraska improved its scoring average by a conference-best 12.5 points per game. The Huskers and Michigan State were the only schools which saw its scoring jump by double-figures inside the conference in 2015-16.
• For the Husker offense, 70 points has been a magic number in recent years, as Nebraska is 36-8 (.818) over the past four seasons.

TAI'S SCORING JUMP
Tai Webster put together one of the largest one-season scoring jumps by a Husker in recent memory during the 2015-16 season. The 6-foot-4 guard from Auckland, New Zealand, improved his scoring average from 3.9 ppg to 10.1 ppg from his sophomore to junior campaigns. Webster’s jump was the largest by a Husker since Aleks Maric, who raised his scoring average by 7.6 points per game between his sophomore and junior seasons. Webster reached double figures 16 times in 2015-16 after accomplishing the feat just seven times in his first two seasons as a Huskers.

TRAVELS WITH TAI: SUMMER EDITION
Senior guard Tai Webster spent the summer helping New Zealand qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics. In the FIBA Qualifying Tournament in Manila, he averaged 16.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game, ranking in the top six in all three categories. Webster also had a pair of double-doubles, matching current New York Knicks forward Maurice Ndour for the most in the tournament. Webster spent all of June and the first week of July with the New Zealand program, as the team trained in Japan, China, Latvia and Lithuania.

WATSON LOOKS TO MAKE POINT
Glynn Watson Jr. is back to handle the point guard position after making a significant impact as a freshman. The 6-0 guard from Bellwood, Ill., averaged 8.6 points as a freshman while playing in all 34 games, including 16 starts, as he split time with Benny Parker in the Husker backcourt.

• His 2.44-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in 2015-16 was the best by a Husker guard in nearly a decade and the fourth-best over the last 30 years.
• Finished fourth among Big Ten freshmen in both assists and steals per game in 2015-16.
• Reached double figures 15 times, including a season-high 17 points against both Illinois and Rhode Island.
• Watson was one of four Husker freshmen to finish his initial campaign on NU's top-10 list for both freshmen points and assists, joining Eric Piatkowski (1991), Tyronn Lue (1996), Cookie Belcher (1997) and Jake Muhleisen (2002).

GILL TO MAKE HUSKER DEBUT
Junior Anton Gill makes his official debut in Sunday's season opener against Sacramento State. For the junior guard, it marks his first collegiate action since facing Michigan State in the 2015 Elite Eight. He also looks to continue the trend of transfers who enjoyed success under Tim Miles.

• Gill spent two seasons at Louisville, playing in 55 games for the Cardinals. Gill had a pair of double-figure efforts as a sophomore, including 14 point effort against Florida State.
• Gill's biggest moment came in the Sweet 16 win over NC State where he had seven points and a pair of steals in the final six minutes, including the go-ahead basket with 5:55 left.
• He was a top-50 recruit who was rated No. 48 in the class of 2013 after averaging 28.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists at Hargrave Military Academy where he teamed with current Boston Celtics guard Terry Rozier.
• Gill had 10 points off the bench in Monday's exhibition win over Chadron State.

HUSKERS LOOK FOR IMPROVED INSIDE PLAY
One of the biggest gains the Huskers look to make this season is on the interior, where sophomores Michael Jacobson and Ed Morrow Jr. both return afer playing extensively last season while NU added Jordy Tshimanga in the off-season.

• Morrow, who is healthy after being hampered by foot problems for most of 2015-16, has up to 234 pounds, which is 20 pounds heavier than when he arrived on campus. Last year, he averaged 4.1 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. Morrow shot 64 percent from the field and was second on the team in both offensive rebounds (46) and blocked shots (21) despite playing less than 14 minutes per game.
• Jacobson started at center for the Huskers' final 25 games becoming the first Husker freshman to start every game since Cookie Belcher in 1996-97. Jacobson, who has grown to 6-9, 239 pounds, averaged 4.7 points and 4.3 rebounds while leading the team in blocked shots (28). He played some of his best basketball down the stretch, averaging 6.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game over his final 12 contests.
• Tshimanga gives the Huskers additional size in the post, as he checks in at 6-foot-11, 275-pounds. As a high school senior, he averaged 18.3 points, 14.1 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game at The MacDuffie School.

HUSKERS LEGACIES
The 2016-17 Huskers feature several players whose parents played collegiately. In all, six of the 14 players had at least one parent who played college basketball. The list is led by Tai Webster’s father, Tony, who was a first-team All-WAC selection at Hawaii, and Anton Gill’s father, Anton, who was an All-CAA player at East Carolina. In addition, Ed Morrow Jr’s., mother, Nafeesah Brown, was a star player at Nebraska in the mid-1990s and scored nearly 1,100 points in her Husker career.

LUE TO HAVE JERSEY RETIRED ON FEB. 2
Former Nebraska standout Tyronn Lue will become the fourth Husker to have his jersey retired when he is honored at halftime of the game against Michigan State in Feb. 2. Lue guided the Cleveland Cavaliers to an NBA title in 2016, his first season as head coach of the franchise. Lue, who is one of 14 players in NBA history to win titles as a player and head coach, won two NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers as a player (2000 and 2001). After a distinguished career at Nebraska, he was a first-round draft pick in 1998 and played 11 seasons in the NBA with seven franchises.

Lue at Nebraska

• ? First-team All-Big 12 as a junior (21.2 ppg; 4.8 apg; 4.3 rpg) as NU reached the 1998 NCAA Tournament
• ? Ninth on NU’s career scoring list (1,577 career points) and career scoring average (15.9 ppg)
• ? Fourth on NU’s career assists list (438)
• ? Seventh on NU’s career steals list (154)
• ? 2013 Nebraska Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee

HUSKERS ARE A BIG DRAW AT PBA
Nebraska basketball has become one of the toughest tickets in the Big Ten since the program moved into Pinnacle Bank Arena in 2013-14.

• Nebraska is one of only eight programs in the country to average 15,000 fans per game over the past three seasons.
• Last year, Nebraska averaged 15,430 fans per game and finished 11th nationally in average attendance.
• In 2014-15, the Huskers broke their own single-season record for average attendance for the second straight year, averaging 15,569 fans per game. Nebraska finished the 2014-15 season ranked 10th nationally in attendance, the highest Nebraska has finished in national attendance since the NCAA began its rankings 1977-78.
• Nebraska has enjoyed success in Pinnacle Bank Arena, posting a 35-15 record in the building.

PLAYING THE YOUNGSTERS
With one of the youngest rosters in the country in 2015-16, the Huskers relied on its freshmen to fill significant roles. The Huskers had four freshmen among its top-eight players, as they accounted for nearly 40 percent of the Huskers' minutes and 35 percent of NU's points in Big Ten action.

• Nebraska has relied on its youth down the stretch, as a freshman has led the Huskers in either points, rebounds or assists in 10 of the Huskers’ final 11 contests.
• In research by Bradley University, Nebraska ranked fifth among all power conference teams in minutes played in 2015-16, as Husker freshman have combined for 2,851 minutes in 2015-16. NU trailed only Washington, Boston College, Kentucky, and Duke among minutes played by freshmen in power conferences.

With three freshmen - all of whom were top-150 recruits - looking to crack the Huskers' rotation, don't be surprised if at least one of them breaks into the lineup.

• ? Over the last four years, Nebraska has started at least one freshman in 71 percent of all of its games.

ELRADI ADDED TO ROSTER
The Nebraska men’s basketball program announced Tuesday the addition of walk-on Mohammad Elradi to the Husker basketball team. Elradi is a 6-3, 180-pound guard from Omaha who played at Elkhorn Mt. Michael High School and earned a spot in walk-on tryouts last month. He will wear No. 21.

Elradi played three seasons at Elkhorn Mt. Michael and Coach John Roshone, totaling 958 career points. As a senior in 2014-15, he led the school to its first Class B State Tournament appearance in a decade, leading the squad in points (376), rebounds (106) and assists (67). A two-time All-River Cities Conference selection, he was selected for the Metro Basketball Coaches Association’s annual Buell-Brosnihan Cage Classic, where he earned MVP honors with a 20-point performance. Elradi played AAU basketball with Nebraska Select program for Coach Jordan Hitchcock. In addition to playing basketball, he also played two seasons of soccer at the school.

ON THE BENCH
Tim Miles has put together an experienced staff as Nebraska looks to rebuild its program. In addition to Miles, who is in his 22nd season as a collegiate head coach, the Husker assistants have combined for nearly 60 years of coaching experience at the Division I level.

• The newest member of the coaching staff is assistant coach Michael Lewis, who joined the Husker program in May after spending the past five seasons at Butler University. A former All-Big Ten point guard at Indiana, Lewis held the school record for most assists at IU until it was broken by Yogi Farrell in 2016. He also coached at Eastern Illinois and Stephen F. Austin before joining the Butler staff in 2011.
• Kenya Hunter is in his fourth year at Nebraska after spending the previous six seasons at Georgetown. He also served as an assistant coach at Xavier and Duquesne and as director of operations at North Carolina State. Hunter also played point guard at Duquesne, where he was a three-time team captain.
• Jim Molinari begins his third season as an assistant coach for the Huskers. Molinari has over 300 wins as a head coach and has been a conference coach-of-the-year in three different Division I conferences. Molinari also has served as an assistant coach at DePaul and Minnesota during his career.

LOOKING AT THE 2016-17 SCHEDULE
Nebraska begins a challenging regular-season slate on Nov. 13, as its 30-game regular-season schedule features a minimum of 14 games against teams ranked or receiving votes in the preseason polls.

• In non-conference action, NU will take on four teams ranked or receiving votes, including Kansas (3/2), Creighton (22/23), Dayton (RV/RV) and Clemson (-/RV). In addition, NU could meet No. 16/20 UCLA in the second round in the Wooden Legacy, while Virginia Tech (RV/RV) and Texas A&M (RV/RV) are on the other side of the Wooden Legacy bracket.
• In Big Ten action, five teams are ranked in the preseason polls - matching the most of any conference. That list includes Wisconsin (9/10), Indiana (11/12), Michigan State (12/9), Purdue (15/15) and Maryland (25/21), while Michigan and Ohio State are also receiving votes.
• The Huskers will face a minimum of four first-time foes during the 2016-17 season (University of Mary, Dayton, Clemson and Gardner-Webb). In addition, NU has not faced two other teams in the Wooden Legacy field (Portland and Cal State Northridge).
• Nebraska’s game at Kansas on Dec. 10 will be the first regular-season non-conference game against a Big 12 foe since the Huskers joined the Big Ten in 2011-12. In addition, the Huskers could face another school that left the Big 12 at the Wooden Legacy, as they could face Texas A&M, who left for the SEC, on the final day of competition.
• In 2016-17, the Huskers’ five “double-play” opponents are Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern and Ohio State. NU’s “single-play” home opponents are Illinois, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin while Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota and Rutgers are the Huskers’ “single-play” road games in Big Ten play.
• The Big Ten Tournament makes its first appearance outside the Midwest, as the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. will host this year’s event and runs from March 8-12. Next year, the site moves to Madison Square Garden in New York City for the first time.

NOTING THE HUSKERS

• The 2016-17 roster features players from nine states and three countries. NU has three players from Illinois and two from Nebraska, while each other state has one player.
• Seven of the 11 available scholarship players are freshmen (three) or sophomores (four). Tai Webster is the only senior on the roster, while NU also has three juniors (Anton Gill, Nick Fuller and Evan Taylor).

AKENTEN SIGNS WITH NEBRASKA
Nebraska Men’s Basketball Coach Tim Miles announced on Nov. 10 that Nana Akenten (prounounced uh-ken-ten) has signed a National Letter-of-Intent to attend the University of Nebraska and play basketball for the Huskers beginning in the 2017-18 season. Akenten, a 6-foot-6, 200-pound guard from Bolingbrook, Ill., is considered one of the top players in the state of Illinois after leading Bolingbrook High School to a 16-9 record in 2015-16 for Coach Rob Brost. He was rated one of the top-10 players in the state of Illinois by PrepHoops.com earlier this fall.

“We are thrilled to have a young man like Nana join our program,” Miles said. “He brings so many attributes that will help our team - on and off the court. He is a great kid with a strong support group around him in his mother Margaret and his coaches Quintin Garrison and Rob Brost, who run an excellent program at Bolingbrook High.”

“I believe Nana may be one of the most underrated kids out there this year,” Miles said. “He has tremendous work ethic and commitment to the game. He is an exceptional athlete. He can really guard, his shooting ability is excellent and his range looks effortless. He will be expected to come in and help us immediately, and I know Nana is up for that challenge.”

As a junior, he helped BHS to the Class 4A regional championship game as the team replaced four starters from the previous year. Akenten averaged 14.0 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 46 percent from the field. For his efforts, he was a special-mention Class 3A/4A all-state selection, a first-team all-area selection and a first-team All-SouthWest Suburban Conference Blue Division honoree. As a sophomore, he played an instrumental role in helping Bolingbrook to a 25-9 record and a third-place finish at the Class 4A State Tournament, marking the school’s first-ever state tournament appearance. He also played with the Illinois Celtics/Hoopers AAU program. In addition to his efforts on the basketball court, Akenten also ran track, qualifying for the state meet as part of the 800-meter relay.

Akenten selected Nebraska over a number of schools, including UNLV, SMU and Colorado State. He is the son of Margaret Oduko and was born on September 17, 1998.