Huskers Close Non-Con Slate with Stetson

GAME 15: vs. STETSON Date: Friday, Dec. 29 Time: 7:01 p.m. Arena: Pinnacle Bank Arena Tickets: Huskers.com/Tickets NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS 2017-18 Record: 9-5, 1-1 Big Ten Head coach: Tim Miles   Record at Nebraska: 84-91 (6th year)   Career Record: 367-311 (23rd year) STETSON HATTERS 2017-18 Record: 7-7, 0-0 Atlantic Sun Head coach: Corey Williams   Record at Stetson: 46-96 (5th year)   Career Record: Same BROADCAST INFO Television: None Radio: Husker Sports Network, including 590 AM (Omaha), 1400 AM (Lincoln) and 880 AM (Lexington) Play-by-play: Kent Pavelka Analysis: Matt Davison Internet Video: BTN Plus and FloHoops.com (subscription required) Online Radio: Available online at Huskers.com, on the Huskers App and on TuneIn Radio and the TuneIn Radio App.

Nebraska wraps up non-conference play Friday night, as the Huskers host the Stetson Hatters at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m., and tickets are available for the matchup for as little as $7 by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets, calling 800-8-BIGRED or at the Pinnacle Bank Arena Ticket Office beginning at 5:30 p.m. Friday. As part of the holiday break, Red Zone seats are also available for purchase for Friday's game for $20 apiece.

Fans can follow all of the action across the state of Nebraska on the IMG Husker Sports Network with Kent Pavelka and Matt Davison on the call. The game will also be available on Huskers.com, on the Huskers app, on TuneIn Radio and on the TuneIn Radio app. The radio broadcast begins one hour prior to tipoff.

Friday's game will also be streamed online on BTN Plus and FloHoops.com using the Husker Sports Network broadcast feed. A subscription is required for both BTN Plus and Flohoops.

Nebraska (9-5) looks for its third straight win following an 85-67 win over Delaware State on Dec. 22. The Huskers shot 51.7 percent from the floor against the Hornets and established season highs in both 3-pointers (13) and assists (24). James Palmer Jr. led four Huskers in double figures with 18 points, while Anton Gill and Thomas Allen came off the bench with 14 points apiece.

Gill has been playing some of his best basketball since graduating on Dec. 16. The 6-foot-3 senior averaged 17.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in two games last week. He shot 52 percent from the field, including 57 percent from the 3-point line, in helping NU average 94.5 points per game in wins over UTSA and Delaware State.

A win on Friday would give NU nine non-conference wins, matching the programs highest total in six seasons, but a veteran Stetson team awaits the Huskers in its non-conference finale.

The Hatters are 7-7 on the season following a 74-55 loss to UCF on Dec. 20. Stetson, which starts five seniors, were led by Devine Myles' 14-point effort against the Knights. Myles leads the Stetson attack with 17.5 points per game, including 41 percent from 3-point range. Three of Stetson's seven losses this season are by four points or less.

OPENING NUMBER
24 - Nebraska dished out 24 assists in the win over Delaware State, the fourth time this year NU had at least 20 assists. Anton Gill had a career-high six assists in last Friday's win.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
.884 - Nebraska is 92-12 in its last 101 home non-conference games dating back to the start of the 2006-07 campaign. The Huskers are 29-7 (.805) since moving into Pinnacle Bank Arena in 2013-14.

1 - Anton Gill is the only player in the Big Ten averaging double figures (10.5 ppg) who has not started a game this season. Gill also leads the Huskers with 28 3-pointers.

6 - Nebraska has scored 80+ points on six occasions, including each of the past two games. The last time the Huskers reached the 80-point mark in three straight games came during the 2005-06 season.

11.0 - Freshman Thomas Allen has averaged 11.0 points per game on 63 percent shooting in NU's last three contests.

13 - Nebraska's 13 3-pointers against Delaware State was NU's highest total since the 2011-12 campaign.

40 - Nebraska's 104-point effort vs. UTSA was the 40th 100-point game in school history and first since 2005. NU is now 36-4 all-time when scoring 100 or more points.

SCOUTING STETSON
Stetson makes the trek to Lincoln for the first meeting between the two programs. The Hatters were picked to finish sixth in the Atlantic Sun preseason poll. Former Oklahoma State standout Corey Williams is in his fifth season in charge of the Hatters. Williams helped the Cowboys and Coach Eddie Sutton to a pair of Sweet 16 appearances in 1991 and 1992. A second-round pick of the Chicago Bulls, Williams was a member of the 1993 Bulls title team. As a coach, he spent six seasons as an assistant at Florida State before taking over the Hatters program in June of 2013. This year's team returned three starters, including senior guard Devine Myles, a preseason All-ASUN selection. As a junior, he averaged 16.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game and ranks eighth in school history with 1,536 career points. Senior point guard Angel Rivera tops the Atlantic Sun with 5.1 assists per game and has a 4.2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

SERIES HISTORY
Friday's meeting is the first between the Huskers and Stetson, and Stetson is the fifth first-time opponent on the 2017-18 schedule. The others were St. John's UCF, Marist and Boston College. NU is 5-0 against current members of the Atlantic Sun with the last meeting a 79-55 win over Florida Gulf Coast in the first-ever game in Pinnacle Bank Arena.

LAST TIME OUT
James Palmer Jr. scored 18 points to pace four Huskers in double figures, as Nebraska enjoyed strong shooting in an 85-68 win over Delaware State on Dec. 22.
Nebraska (9-5) shot 51.7 percent from the field, including 13-of-27 from long range, en route to a wire-to-wire victory. The Huskers’ 13 3-pointers were the most by an NU squad in seven seasons.

Thomas Allen and Anton Gill had 14 points apiece off the bench and combined for 10 of NU’s 24 assists, while Isaac Copeland chipped in 11 for the Huskers, who used an early 14-0 spurt to seize control in the opening minutes.

Copeland’s 3-point play started the run, as the Huskers held the Hornets scoreless for nearly four and half minutes. NU, which hit seven of its first 12 shots from the field, extended the lead to 20-6 after an Allen basket. The Huskers eventually pushed the margin to 19, at 28-9, after an Evan Taylor basket at the 9:09 mark of the first half.
Delaware State chipped away at the Huskers’ lead pulling to within 11 before a 3-pointer from Palmer and five straight points from Allen pushed the margin back to 19. Allen capped the half with 35-footer to beat the buzzer, giving him 10 first-half points and staking the Huskers a 16-point lead.

Nebraska pushed the lead to as much as 21 points, at 56-35, with just under 15 minutes left before the Hornets tried to mount a comeback. Delaware State used a 12-1 run to pull to within 59-48 with 10:36 left, but would get no closer, as the Huskers put the game away with a 12-2 spurt to extend the lead to 21 with after a Palmer basket with 6:15 remaining.

ON THE HUSKERS
*-Nebraska comes into Friday's game against Stetson with a 9-5 record with all five losses coming to teams in the top 65 of the RPI, including three in the top-20 (MSU, Kansas, St. John's).

*-A win on Friday would give Nebraska a 9-4 non-conference record, which would equal the Huskers' most wins in non-conference play since the 2012-13 season and the most non-con wins since joining the Big Ten in 2011-12.

*-The Huskers are averaging 76.1 points per game entering Friday's contest, the highest scoring mark through 14 games since the 1995-96 averaged 88.1 points per game in that stretch. The Huskers are 9-1 when scoring at least 70 points, including six games of at least 80 points.

*-Nebraska's biggest strength has been a balanced attack with four players averaging double figures, led by James Palmer Jr., who averages a team-high 15.2 points per game. Eight Huskers have reached double figures while four players have enjoyed 20-point outings in 2017-18. The last time NU had four players average double figures was during the 1993-94 campaign.

*-Junior Glynn Watson Jr. is in his third season guiding the Husker offense and is among NU's leaders in both scoring (12.8 ppg, second), assists (3.4, first) and steals (1.9, first). The 6-foot guard will make his team-high 60th career start on Friday and has 2.3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio this season. Watson also is quickly climbing NU's career scoring list and needs just 25 points on Friday to reach 900 for his career.

*-Nebraska has been getting strong performance from its bench throughout the season, averaging 24.1 points per game from its bench, including 83 in the last two outings. Senior guard Anton Gill tops all Big Ten reserves at 10.5 points per game while sophomore Isaiah Roby averages 7.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. Since returning from an ankle injury six games ago, Roby is averaging 7.3 points per game on 63 percent shooting, including 44 percent from 3-point range, along with 5.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.

*-Nebraska relies on a pair of transfers in James Palmer Jr. (Miami) and Isaac Copeland (Georgetown), as the pair combines for more 27 points per game. Palmer has reached double figures 13 times in 14 contests, including a season-high 25 points against UTSA on Dec. 20. Copeland leads the Huskers in rebounding at 6.6 per game and posted his first double-double of the season at Creighton on Dec. 9 with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

*-One of the main emphasis for Tim Miles and his staff in the offseason was improving the Huskers' 3-point efforts on both ends of the court. Last year, NU was in 300th or worse in both 3-point shooting and 3-point defense. This season, the Huskers are fourth in the Big Ten in 3-point percentage (.379) while ranking sixth in 3-point defense (.339). NU has six players with at least 10 3-pointers, and that does not include Jack McVeigh, who was second on the team in 3-pointers last year. In 2016-17, NU had just four players hit 10-or-more 3-pointers in 31 games.