Matej Kavas

Honors & Awards
• Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll (Fall 2019; Spring 2020)
• University of Nebraska Graduate (August, 2020)

OVERVIEW
Matej Kavas (pronounced MAH-tey KAH-vahs) finished his four-year collegiate career with 1,096 career points, including 200 3-pointers. He was 11^th nationally among active players in 3-point percentage (.431) at the time of his season-ending injury. While Kavas came off the bench in his season at Nebraska, he began his career at Seattle University where he spent four seasons after redshirting as a true freshman. Kavas’ best season was in 2017-18 at Seattle, when he averaged 15.2 points and 5.1 rebounds per game to earn second-team All-WAC honors. That year, he led the conference in both 3-pointers per game (2.8) and 3-point percentage (.464).
 
2019-20 (SENIOR)
Kavas provided the Huskers with a scoring threat off the bench, averaging 5.3 points per game in 22 contests before suffering a season-ending hand injury against Wisconsin on Feb. 15.  Kavas was one of seven Huskers to average over a 3-pointer per game in 2019-20 season, as Kavas shot nearly 34 percent from 3-point range.
 
He posted seven double-figure performances in 2019-20, including a season-high 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range, against North Dakota. He came off the bench in 23 contests, making his only start as a Husker in a win over South Florida in Cayman Islands Classic. 
 
He opened the year with a 10-point effort against UC Riverside, including a pair of 3-pointer, and hit a trio of 3-pointers off the bench in the overtime win over Southern. He had six of his seven double-figure efforts during the non-conference portion of the season, finishing with 11 points at Creighton and 10 each against George Mason and Texas A&M-Corpus Christ in addition to his effort against UND. Kavas was playing some of his best basketball at the time of his injury averaging 8.3 points per game on 50 percent shooting in the three games prior to the Wisconsin game, all coming against ranked opponents. He had eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers, in eight minutes against No. 24 Penn State and enjoyed his best Big Ten performance at No. 9 Maryland, when he had 11 points, including two 3-pointers, in 19 minutes in a 72-70 loss on Feb. 11.

BEFORE NEBRASKA
A preseason first-team All-WAC selection in 2018-19, Matej Kavas (pronounced MAH-tey KAH-vahs) i was limited to 24 games because a significant shin injury suffered in early January. He finished the season averaging 10.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game while shooting 46 percent from 3-point range.  At the time of his injury, he was averaging 14.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game and had reached double-figures in 13 of his first 16 contests. He totaled three 20-point games in 2018-19, including a 26-point outburst vs. Omaha and a 22-point, 13-rebound effort against Longwood. He missed nearly six weeks of action with the injury, as Seattle went 1-7 in that stretch. Kavas saw limited action the rest of the season until Seattle’s Collegeinsider.com Tournament game against Presbyterian when he had 11 points and five rebounds in 20 minutes.

Kavas was a second-team All-WAC selection as a sophomore, as he averaged 15.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. He led the WAC in both 3-point percentage (.474) and 3-pointers per game (2.8) while also finishing third in the conference in scoring and 11th in rebounding. Kavas was eighth nationally in 3-point percentage in 2017-18. He reached double figures 28 times, including nine games of at least 20 points. He had a career-high 27-point outing against Detroit Mercy, when he went 7-of-9 from 3-point range. Kavas also had 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting against Washington and 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting against Cal.

Kavas earned WAC Freshman-of-the-Year accolades in 2016-17, as he averaged 8.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game while shooting 40 percent from 3-point range to rank fourth in the conference. In all, he finished in double figures 13 times as a freshman and was the team’s third-leading scorer in WAC play at 11.6 ppg. He missed his first season at the school after suffering a knee injury during the summer of 2015.

Before college, he was a member of the Slovenia U16 and U18 teams and averaged 13.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game at the 2014 U18 European Championships. He played his club ball with Jance Ljubljana and helped them to a fourth-place finish. He was the MVP of the Slovenian Junior League, highlighted by a 44-point, 11-rebound performance. Kavas also looked at Marquette, Oregon State, Wichita State and San Diego after graduating Seattle, but only visited Nebraska.

PERSONAL
Kavas was both on July 27, 1996, in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is the son of Branka and Stefan Kavas. He has one older brother (Andraz), who plays overseas after playing at Harding (Ark.) University. Matej received his undergraduate degree from Seattle in business management in 2019, and received his master's degree in applied science at Nebraska in August of 2020. He signed to play professionally in Spain following his Husker career.

					Total			3-Point			F-Throw			Rebounds
Year	GP	GS	Min	Avg	FG	FGA	Pct	FG	FGA	Pct	FT	FTA	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Avg	PF	FO	Ast	TO	Blk	Stl	Pts	Avg
2016-17*	27	0	555	20.6	81	185	.438	42	104	.404	29	42	.690	11	68	79	2.9	51	2	15	23	9	6	233	8.6
2017-18*	33	31	1038	31.5	171	361	.474	91	196	.464	68	86	.791	38	131	169	5.1	100	1	41	67	7	13	501	15.2
2018-19*	24	16	555	23.1	82	179	.458	44	96	.458	38	48	.792	14	96	110	4.6	33	0	16	20	1	6	246	10.3
2019-20	22	1	318	14.5	38	99	.384	23	68	.338	17	25	.680	1	25	26	1.2	23	0	12	8	2	3	116	5.3
TOTAL	22	1	318	14.5	38	99	.384	23	68	.338	17	25	.680	1	25	26	1.2	23	0	12	8	2	3	116	5.3
All*	106	48	2466	23.3	372	824	.451	200	464	.431	152	201	.756	64	320	384	3.6	207	3	84	118	19	28	1096	10.3

*-at Seattle University