Huskers Face Louisville in ACC/B1G Challenge

Nebraska Cornhuskers at 5/4 Louisville Cardinals
ACC/Big Ten Challenge Thursday, November 29, 2018, 6 p.m. (CT) (KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Ky.) Live Video: ACC Network Extra (Watch ESPN) Live Radio: Husker Sports Network (5:45 p.m.) Matt Coatney (PBP), Jeff Griesch (Analyst) Lincoln-B107.3 FM; Omaha-CD 105.9 FM Huskers.com, Huskers App Live Stats

Huskers Head to Louisville for Clash with No. 5 Cards • The Nebraska women’s basketball team continues its five-game road swing with the biggest name on the non-conference schedule as the Huskers collide with No. 5/4 Louisville Thursday in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. • Tip off between the Huskers (2-3) and the Cardinals (6-0) is set for 6 p.m. (CT) at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky. Live radio coverage will be provided by the Husker Sports Network, beginning at 5:45 p.m. on B107.3 FM in Lincoln and CD 105.9 FM in Omaha. Free live audio can also be found at Huskers.com and on the Huskers App. A live video stream will be provided by ACC Network Extra and Watch ESPN.  • No. 5 Louisville, which won the ACC and advanced to the 2018 NCAA Women’s Final Four, will be Nebraska’s third opponent currently ranked in the AP Top 25. The Huskers opened with current No. 24 Drake (Nov. 7), before facing current No. 21 Miami (Nov. 23). • Louisville head coach Jeff Walz was an assistant coach at Nebraska in 1998, 1999 and 2000 under Coach Paul Sanderford. In 1998, current Nebraska head coach Amy Williams was a senior guard for the Huskers, who advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. • The Huskers are coming off their most complete performance of the young season with a 77-39 win over Radford at the Miami Thanksgiving Classic on Sunday, Nov. 25. The Highlanders were the preseason pick to win the Big South Conference after running to 24 wins in 2017-18. • Freshmen Leigha Brown and Ashtyn Veerbeek led the Huskers with 13 points apiece in the win over Radford, while fellow freshman Sam Haiby led the Big Red with 14 points at Miami. In fact, at least one freshman has led the Huskers in scoring in four of Nebraska’s first five games, with Haiby also leading the Huskers against Drake and Washington State as well. • Offensively, Nebraska is averaging 78.6 points per game. Last season, the Huskers averaged just 68.8 points per game for the season, including 68.6 points through the first five games of 2017-18. • Nebraska’s four freshmen reserves are combining to average 29.4 points and 11.6 rebounds per game, while NU’s two sophomore starters (Kate Cain, Taylor Kissinger) have combined to average 18.8 points and 10.2 boards per contest. Nebraska six underclassmen have combined for 61.3 percent of NU’s scoring and 52.7 percent of the team’s rebounding through five games. • Cain is a member of the Lisa Leslie Award Preseason Watch List after earning spots on the Big Ten All-Freshman and Big Ten All-Defensive teams in 2017-18. One of the nation’s top shot-blockers, Cain needs two blocks to join the top five in Nebraska history in that category.

Nebraska Cornhuskers (2-3, 0-0 Big Ten) 24 - Maddie Simon - 6-2 - Sr. - F - 8.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg 31 - Kate Cain - 6-5 - So. - C - 9.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg 3 - Hannah Whitish - 5-9 - Jr. - G - 8.5 ppg, 2.3 rpg 5 - Nicea Eliely - 6-1 - Jr. - G - 8.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg 33 - Taylor Kissinger - 6-1 - So. - G - 9.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg Off the Bench 4 - Sam Haiby - 5-9 - Fr. - G - 11.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg 13 - Ashtyn Veerbeek - 6-2 - Fr. - F - 8.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg 32 - Leigha Brown - 6-1 - Fr. - F - 7.2 ppg, 1.6 rpg 11 - Kristian Hudson - 5-5 - Sr. - G - 3.4 ppg, 1.8 rpg 44 - Kayla Mershon - 6-3 - Fr. - F - 2.8 ppg, 1.8 rpg 14 - Grace Mitchell - 6-2 - Jr. - F - 2.2 ppg, 1.8 rpg Head Coach: Amy Williams (Nebraska, 1998) Third Season at Nebraska (30-36); 12th Season Overall (223-145)

No. 5/4 Louisville Cardinals (6-0, 0-0 ACC) 3 - Sam Fuehring - 6-3 - Sr. - F - 11.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg 33 - Bionca Dunham - 6-2 - Jr. - F - 7.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg  11 - Arica Carter - 5-8 - RSr. - G - 8.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg 25 - Asia Durr - 5-10 - Sr. - G - 21.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg 23 - Jazmine Jones - 6-0 - Jr. - G - 6.0 ppg, 5.3 rpg Off the Bench 1 - Dana Evans - 5-6 - So. - G - 8.5 ppg, 1.5 rpg 21 - Kylee Shook - 6-4 - Jr. - F - 8.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg 2 (out) - Yacine Diop - 5-10 - RSr. - G - 6.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg 12 - Lindsey Duvall - 5-9 - RFr. - G - 3.4 ppg, 0.4 rpg 4 - Seygan Robins - 5-10 - Fr. - G - 1.8 ppg, 0.5 rpg 5 - Mykasa Robinson - 5-7 - Fr. - G - 1.5 ppg, 2.3 rpg 24 - Jessica Laemmle - 5-2 - Jr. - G - 0.0 ppg, 0.0 rpg Head Coach: Jeff Walz (Northern Kentucky, 1995) 12th Season at Louisville (305-96); 12th Season Overall (305-96)

Scouting the No. 5/4 Louisville Cardinals • Defending ACC champion Louisville enters Thursday night’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge game against Nebraska with a 6-0 record following a 95-73 win over previously unbeaten Miami (Ohio) Monday night at the KFC Yum! Center. • Six Cardinals finished in double figures against the Redhawks, led by 16 points and seven rebounds from 2018 All-American and ACC Player of the Year Asia Durr. The 5-10 senior guard is averaging 21.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals through six contests after averaging 18.7 points and 3.1 boards per game last season. Durr is shooting 44 percent from three-point range (22-50) and 95 percent (19-20) from the free throw line. Last season, Durr hit 115 three-pointers and shot 41.5 percent from long range, while hitting 84.8 percent (112-132) of her free throws. • Durr is one of four returning starters and 10 letterwinners from last year’s Cardinal team that finished 36-3 overall, 15-1 in the ACC and advanced to the 2018 NCAA Women’s Final Four. The lone starter missing from last year’s Louisville team is 2018 All-American Myisha Hines-Allen, who averaged nearly 14.0 points and 9.6 rebounds as a 6-2 senior forward. She scored 2,028 points and had 1,151 rebounds in her four-year career as a starter for the Cards. • Durr is joined by fellow senior returning starter Sam Fuehring, who is averaging 11.3 points and 5.3 rebounds through six contests. Fuehring, who is one of 20 players on the Lisa Leslie National Center of the Year Award Preseason Watch List, is shooting 56.1 percent from the field, including 50 percent (2-4) from long range. She has also connected on 90.9 percent (20-22) of her free throws. She earned a spot on the South Point Shootout All-Tournament Team over the Thanksgiving weekend by averaging 18.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in wins over Arizona State (Nov. 23) and Hartford (Nov. 24) in Las Vegas. Fuehring had 10 points in Monday night’s win over Miami (Ohio). The 6-3 center averaged 9.9 points and 5.4 boards per game last season. • The Cardinals gain more explosiveness and experience from fifth-year senior Arica Carter. The 5-8 guard is averaging 8.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per contest. She is also Louisville’s top three-point shooter by percentage, knocking down 54.5 percent (12-22) of her attempts through six games. She was shooting 61.1 percent (11-18) from distance before going just 1-for-4 against Miami (Ohio) on Monday night. Carter, who has started 71 career games, knocked down 49 threes last season while averaging 7.5 points and 4.0 assists and starting all 38 games for the Cards. • Carter, Durr and Fuehring (.500, 2-4 3FG) are three of eight Cardinals shooting 40 percent or better from three-point range through this season’s first six games. The other five shooters come off the bench, led by 6-4 junior forward Kylee Shook (8.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg) who has knocked down 6-of-12 threes (.500). Dana Evans, a 5-6 sophomore guard who has added 8.5 points and 1.5 rebounds, has hit 2-of-5 threes (.400) and 13-of-14 free throws (.929). • Jazmine Jones, a 6-0 junior guard, is Louisville’s fourth returning starter after averaging 8.9 points and 4.6 rebounds while starting all 39 games for the Cardinals a year ago. She is averaging 6.0 points and 5.3 rebounds after getting 10 points and six rebounds on 5-of-6 shooting against Miami (Ohio). Jones, who is shooting a team-best 68 percent (17-25) from the field, is extremely aggressive and leads Louisville with 18 fouls, including five in just 13 minutes against Miami (Ohio). • Bionca Dunham, a 6-2 junior forward, has moved into the starting lineup over the last four games and is averaging 7.8 points and 3.0 rebounds. Dunham is shooting 65.5 percent (19-29) from the field but has not attempted a three. She also did not attempt a three last season. • The Cardinals were dealt a blow in their 58-56 win over Arizona State (Nov. 23) at the South Point Shootout, when fifth-year senior guard Yacine Diop suffered a knee injury. Diop, who spent her first four seasons at Pitt, averaged 15.7 points and 6.4 rebounds for the Panthers last season. A member of Senegal’s National Team, Diop was averaging 8.3 points and 5.7 rebounds through Louisville’s first three games and made starts in the Cards’ first two contests.  • As a team, Louisville is averaging 81.7 points per game, while allowing 63.7 points per contest. The Cardinals are shooting 50.3 percent from the field, including 44.1 percent from three-point range while averaging 8.7 made threes per contest. Louisville has also hit 79.6 percent of its free throws. The Cards own a plus-5.8 rebound margin and a plus-0.5 turnover margin. • Louisville head coach Jeff Walz was an assistant coach at Nebraska in 1998, 1999 and 2000 under Coach Paul Sanderford. In 1998, current Nebraska head coach Amy Williams was a senior guard for the Huskers, who advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. • Walz helped Nebraska to NCAA Tournament appearances in 1998, 1999 and 2000, before joining Brenda Frese’s staff at Minnesota. He also followed Frese to Maryland, winning the national title with the Terrapins in 2007. He was named Louisville’s head coach before the 2007-08 season. He has led Louisville to three Final Fours (2009, 2013, 2018), including appearances in the national title game in 2009 and 2013. The Cardinals have made 10 NCAA Tournament trips in his 11 seasons, including eight appearances in the Sweet 16.

Nebraska vs. Louisville Series History • Nebraska is 1-2 all-time against Louisville, and Cardinals head coach Jeff Walz has been involved in every game in the series.  • The Huskers met Louisville twice in non-conference play in 1998-99 when Walz was an assistant at Nebraska. The Huskers defeated Louisville 62-61 in their final game at the Rainbow Wahine Classic on Nov. 29, 1998.  • Exactly one month later, Louisville knocked off the Huskers 77-66 at the Seelbach Holiday Classic at Freedom Hall on Dec. 29, 1998. • The most recent meeting between the two schools came at the Duel in the Desert at UNLV on Dec. 20, 2010, when Louisville worked its way to a 65-51 win, when Walz was Louisville’s head coach. • Walz and Nebraska Coach Amy Williams have never faced each other on the sideline.

Freshmen Contributing Early for Huskers • Nebraska has received production early and often from its 2018-19 freshman class. The four-player class, which was ranked among the top 20 recruiting classes in the nation by ESPN last season, features Sam Haiby (11.4 ppg), Ashtyn Veerbeek (8.0 ppg), Leigha Brown (7.2 ppg) and Kayla Mershon (2.8 ppg). • Haiby, a 5-9 guard from Moorhead, Minn., leads Nebraska with 11.4 points per game off the bench. She has led the Huskers in scoring in three games, including against nationally ranked Drake (13) and Miami (14), while also scoring a career-high 20 points at Washington State. • Haiby also ranks second among the Huskers in assists (2.8 apg), while carrying Nebraska’s best assist-to-turnover ratio (4.7-to-1). • Ashtyn Veerbeek ranks second among the Husker freshmen with 8.0 points per game, while leading the group with 5.4 rebounds per contest. Veerbeek is coming off career highs of 13 points and nine rebounds in the win over Radford (Nov. 25). The 6-2 power forward from Sioux Center, Iowa ranks second overall for the Huskers in rebounding and blocked shots (1.2 bpg). • Leigha Brown also scored a career-high 13 points Sunday against Radford to match Veerbeek for team-high scoring honors. Brown is averaging 7.2 points per game and is perfect at the free throw line (7-7). The 6-1 wing from Auburn, Indiana has only committed one total turnover in the last four games. • Kayla Mershon has pitched in 2.8 points and 1.8 rebounds per game for the Huskers. The 6-3 forward from Chanhassen, Minn., also has dished out four assists and has committed a team-best two turnovers through five games. • The freshmen have combined for 37.4 percent (147-of-393) of Nebraska’s points in just 32.3 percent of the team’s total minutes (1,050) on the season. They also have accounted for just 23.1 percent (18-of-78) of Nebraska’s turnovers. • Nebraska’s four freshmen are combining to average 29.4 points and 11.6 rebounds per game, while NU’s two sophomores (Kate Cain, Taylor Kissinger) have combined to average 18.8 points and 10.2 boards per contest. Nebraska six underclassmen have combined for 61.3 percent of NU’s scoring and 52.7 percent of the team’s rebounding through five games.

Nebraska Streaks   • Sophomore Kate Cain owns the longest streak of consecutive starts by a Husker with 36.   • Junior Nicea Eliely owns Nebraska’s second-longest streak of starts with 31, while senior Maddie Simon has started 29 consecutive games. • Kate Cain has at least two rebounds in every game of her Nebraska career (37), and she has blocked at least one shot in 36 of 37 games (no blocks in 2018 NCAA Tournament vs. Arizona State). • Maddie Simon has hit 15 straight free throws, dating to a miss against Penn State (Feb. 22). • Freshman Sam Haiby hit 11 consecutive free throws to open her career, before missing a pair against Radford (Nov. 26). • Freshman Leigha Brown has hit seven consecutive free throws to open her career. • Sophomore Taylor Kissinger is 4-for-4 at the free throw line to open the season. • The Huskers have knocked down at least one three in 317 straight games dating back to a loss at UTEP on Dec. 20, 2008. Nebraska has hit at least two three-pointers in 196 consecutive games. • Nebraska has hit five or more three-pointers in nine consecutive games dating back to last season.

Husker Nuggets • Nebraska is averaging 78.6 points per game through four contests in 2018-19. Last season the Big Red averaged 68.6 points through five games while starting the season 3-2. • Nebraska is shooting 38.9 percent (42-108 from three-point range through five contests. Last season, the Huskers opened the first five games of the year by shooting 33.3 percent (37-111). • Nebraska is shooting 73.3 percent (55-75) from the free throw line through five contests in 2018-19, after shooting just 64.1 percent from the line in 2017-18. Through the first five games of 2017-18, the Huskers hit just 55.8 percent (48-86) from the line. • Overall, Nebraska is shooting 45.3 percent from the field through five games this season after shooting just 41.9 percent from the floor a year ago. Through the first five games of 2017-18, the Huskers were shooting 43.7 percent. • The Huskers had hit seven or more three-pointers in eight consecutive games (dating to last season) before going 5-for-14 in the win over Radford (Nov. 25). • Taylor Kissinger hit eight consecutive three-point attempts from the USC Upstate game (6-for-6) through her first make of the Miami game. • The Huskers have not won a true road game in November since knocking off UCLA in Los Angeles on Nov. 28, 2014. • Nicea Eliely leads Nebraska’s active roster with 60 career starts as a Husker. Hannah Whitish (53) is the only other Husker with as many as 50 starts at Nebraska. • Kristian Hudson leads Nebraska with 88 collegiate starts, including her first start as a Husker against USC Upstate (Nov. 11). • Senior Maddie Simon has played more games as a Husker than any other player with 83, while fellow senior Kristian Hudson has played in 94 career collegiate games, including five at NU.

Booster Bus Trip to Creighton • Nebraska women’s basketball boosters are organizing a bus trip to Omaha for the Huskers’ game with Creighton on Dec. 2. Tip-off between the Big Red and Blue Jays is set for 1 p.m. • The cost of the trip is $30, which includes round-trip bus transportation and one game ticket.  • If interested in joining the trip and to receive more details, contact Doug Fry at (402) 617-7039.