Huskers Host Chadron State in Exhibition Opener

NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS 2015-16 Record: 16-18 Head coach: Tim Miles Record at Nebraska: 63-67 (5th year) Career Record: 346-287 (22nd year) CHADRON STATE EAGLES 2015-16 Record: 9-17 Head coach: Houston Reed Record at Chadron State: 0-0 (1st year) Career Record: 174-140 (11th year) BROADCAST INFO Television: None Online: BTN Plus and BTN2Go (subscription required) Michael Snow and Parker Cyza 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.

The Nebraska basketball team continues preparations for the 2016-17 season on Monday night, as the Huskers welcome Chadron State to Pinnacle Bank Arena. Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m. and a limited number of tickets for Monday’s matchup are available by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets or calling the NU Athletics Ticketing Department at 800-8-BIG RED.

The game will be carried across Nebraska on the Husker Sports Network with Kent Pavelka and Matt Davison, while the game will also be available on BTN Plus (subscription required) and can be watched on the BTN2Go app.

As the Huskers enter their only exhibition game of the 2016-17 season, they will look to replace their top two scorers from last season, as Shavon Shields and Andrew White III combined for more than 33 points per game. The Huskers welcome back seven letterwinners, including senior guard Tai Webster and sophomore forward Michael Jacobson. Webster averaged 10.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, while Jacobson chipped in 4.7 points and 4.3 caroms per contest, as he started NU’s final 25 games.

Nebraska will rely on its youth this season, as eight of the 14 players on the roster are freshmen and sophomores. Last year, the Huskers used its freshmen class extensively, as nearly 40 percent of the Huskers’ minutes and 35 percent of NU’s points in Big Ten play were by its freshmen. Sophomores Jack McVeigh, Ed Morrow Jr. and Glynn Watson Jr. all made significant contributions last year and will be counted on to continue their improvement in 2016-17.

A trio of freshmen will make their Husker debut on Monday night, as Jeriah Horne, Isaiah Roby and Jordy Tshimanga will look to make an impact in the rotation. All three were top-150 recruits in the class of 2016, and history has shown the Head Coach Tim Miles is not afraid to play freshmen early on. Monday will also mark the debut of a pair of transfers in Anton Gill, who sat out last year after spending two seasons at Louisville, and Evan Taylor, who spent last season at Odessa College.

Chadron State looks to rebuild under first-year coach Houston Reed. The Eagles, who returned only seven players on the roster, lost their exhibition opener to Wyoming, 75-50, on Thursday evening.

The Huskers begin the regular season on Sunday, Nov. 13, against Sacramento State. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. (CT) at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

OPENING NUMBER
33.5 - Average margin that Nebraska has won its exhibition games over the last four seasons.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
6 - Of the seven returning letterwinners, six have made at least one start at Nebraska. In addition to returning starters Tai Webster and Michael Jacobson, Nick Fuller made one start in the 2014-15 season, while Glynn Watson Jr. (16), Jack McVeigh (four) and Ed Morrow Jr. (one) also made starts last season.

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 12 exhibition games dating back to the 2007-08 season. Tim Miles is 4-0 in exhibition games at Nebraska.

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 CHADRON STATE
Chadron State comes to Lincoln for its second exhibition of the season, as the Eagles fell to Wyoming, 75-50, on Thursday night. Chadron State is under the direction of first-year coach Houston Reed, who spent the last 10 seasons at Otero Junior College. He was 174-140 at Otero, including a 117-46 mark over the last five seasons. Reed, who played collegiately at Northern State, was the Region IX Coach of the Year in both 2012 and 2016. Last season, Otero JC went 27-6.

Last year, Chadron State went 7-19 and 5-17 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Reed returns a team that returns seven players from a year ago, including senior guard Warren Gordon, who averaged 12.4 points per game last season. Junior forward Jordan Perry also returns this season as he averaged 4.4 points per game and 3.0 rebounds per night, but missed the Wyoming game with an injury. Two of Chadron State’s starters in the exhibition game - point guard Darius Polley and forward Austin Hall - played at Otero for Reed last season.

HUSKERS EXHIBITION HISTORY
Nebraska is 54-6 all-time in exhibition games dating back to the 1966-67 season and has won its last 12 exhibition games since a 54-50 loss to SIU-Edwardsville in 2006.

• Nebraska is 13-0 against in-state teams in exhibition play, including a 91-60 win over Nebraska-Kearney prior to the 2013-14 season. NU has played 10 different schools from Nebraska in exhibition games, and Chadron State is the second school to play NU in multiple exhibitions (UNK-4).
• The Huskers and Chadron State have faced off one other time in exhibition play, an 85-54 Husker win prior to the 2008-09 season.
• Monday's game will be the first exhibition game against an in-state school since UNK in 2013-14.

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 it 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.

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. Since 2000, only six Huskers have improved by at least five points per game.

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 Manilla, 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 LOOK 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).

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.

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 it 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.

GILL TO MAKE HUSKER DEBUT
Junior Anton Gill makes his debut on Monday night, as the Huskers take on Chadron 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.