Lue's Honors
1998 First-Round Draft Pick (Denver Nuggets)
1998 Honorable-Mention AP All-American
1998 First-Team All-Big 12
1998 All-Big 12 Tournament Team
Member of the USA 1997 22 & Under World Championship Team
1997 Second-Team All-Big 12
1997 & 1998 United States Basketball Writers All-District 7
1996 Big Eight All-Freshman Team
1996 NIT All-Tournament Team
Three-Time Big 12 Player-of-the-Week (2/24/97, 11/24/97, 12/29/97
1996 and 1997 Ameritas Classic MVP
Lue's Career Highs
Points: 36, vs. Virginia, 12/27/97
Rebounds: 9, at Creighton, 12/10/97
Assists: 9, four times
Steals: 6, vs. Kansas State, 1/15/97
Minutes: 45, vs. Kansas State, 1/15/97
Junior (1997-98)
Tyronn Lue finished his career as one of the most decorated players in Nebraska basketball history. The lightning-quick point guard earned first-team All-Big 12 and honorable-mention All-America accolades as a junior. Lue turned professional a year early, passing up his senior season at Nebraska. He was a first-round draft pick of the Denver Nuggets and was traded on draft night to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Lue's name appears prominently in the Husker record books. He ranks in the top 10 in 13 of 19 Nebraska career categories. He finished as Nebraska's seventh-leading scorer with 1,577 points, fourth in 3-pointers made with 145, third in assists with 432, fifth in steals with 154 and fourth on the career list with 96 games started.
His 1997-98 season ranked as one of the most prolific in school history as his 678 points were the second-highest single-season total and his 21.2 points per contest ranked fifth. His 240 field goals made is the second most in a season and his 78 3-pointers is the most ever by a Husker in a season at the time (now is tied for third behind Cary Cochran and Joe McCray).
In his final two years, Lue was the heart and soul of Nebraska's teams, carrying the Huskers to the postseason in both years, including the NCAA Tournament in 1997-98. He scored 20 or more points in 20 conference games the past two years and tied the NU career record with seven 30-point outings.
Sophomore (1996-97)
Lue had a breakthrough season, after an outstanding rookie campaign in 1995-96...was named second-team All-Big 12 by both the Associated Press and league coaches...also earned All-District 7 honors from the United States Basketball Writers...Lue was also named to the Big 12's All-Improved squad, after upping his scoring averaged more than 10 points from his freshman season...led Nebraska in scoring in 18.8 points per game and raised his level of play in the Big 12, pouring in 21.3 points per contests in league play...ranked sixth in the league in scoring for all games and fourth in conference play...led Nebraska in scoring 20 times as a sophomore, had 13 games with 20 or more points and twice matched his career high of 30 points, at Iowa State and at Oklahoma...Lue reached double figures 28 times in 1996-97...scored 22 or more points in nine of 16 Big 12 games...Lue's 603 points were the fourth-highest single-season total in school history and the best ever by an NU sophomore...he set the school record for most points in a conference season with 341...he made a habit of coming up big down the stretch, scoring 60 percent of his points after halftime...Lue led the Huskers in assists for the second consecutive season, handing out 136 (4.3 per game) as a sophomore...his 4.3 assists per contest ranked fourth in the conference...matched his career high with nine assists at Colorado...handed out five or more assists 15 times as a sophomore and 28 times in his career...Lue led the Huskers in field goals with 215, the seventh-best total in school history...his 47 threes and 81.3 percent free throw shooting were also team highs...played 1,150 minutes (35.9 mpg) last season, the second-highest total in school history and just five minutes shy of Dave Hoppen's record total set in 1984-85...Lue was named the Ameritas Classic MVP as he scored 42 points in the two wins on 16-21 shooting...Lue sprained his knee in Nebraska's game with Cincinnati in Puerto Rico and missed the next 1 1/2 games...scored 29 points in back-to-back January league games with Texas A&M and Kansas State and played all 45 minutes in the overtime win over the Wildcats...posted one of his most complete games as a Husker in front of friends and family at Missouri with 26 points, eight assists and six rebounds in 37 minutes...tied his career high with 30 points on 11-19 shooting at Oklahoma...outplayed KU All-American Jacque Vaughn in Lawrence, scoring 26 points, including 22 after halftime, to help the Huskers extend the top-ranked Jayhawks to overtime...also grabbed a career-high eight rebounds at Kansas...in NU's win over No. 15 Colorado in Lincoln, Lue scored 20 of his 22 points after halftime...again tied his career high with 30 points in NU's 74-69 overtime win at seventh-ranked Iowa State in late February...scored 12 points in the last 3:35 of regulation and another four in overtime to lead the Huskers to the upset...the 30 points was the most an individual has scored against a Tim Floyd-coached Cyclone team...Lue was named Big 12 Player-of-the-Week for his performance against ISU...scored 18 points and had eight assists and no turnovers in NU's second meeting with top-ranked Kansas...averaged 17.3 points per game in three Husker NIT games...was one of 12 players selected to the USA 22 & Under World Championship team, but did not play because of injury...averaged 7.4 points, 2.4 assists and 18.2 minutes of play in five USA exhibition games against NBA competition.
Freshman (1995-96)
Lue won the starting job as a true freshman and started every game except Senior Day against Kansas State...Lue finished his freshman campaign averaging 8.5 points and 3.0 rebounds per game, while handing out a Nebraska freshman record and team-high 144 assists...Lue was named to the Big Eight All-Freshman team for his rookie performance...in the NIT, Lue sprained his ankle in the Colorado State game and was at half speed for the Washington State game...averaged 7.8 points and 3.4 assists in the NIT and was named to the NIT All-Tournament Team...he scored 15 points in the NIT semifinal against Tulane and had 11 points, five rebounds and four assists in the championship victory over St. Joseph's...scored an NU freshman-record 30 points against Oregon in the Big Island Invitational in his second game in a Big Red uniform...also had nine assists and shot 10-16 from the field against the Ducks...his 21 points at Kansas were the best in conference action and the most since the Oregon game...Lue had a career-high five 3-point goals (6 att.) in the loss at Kansas...he scored in double figures three times in conference action with the 21 at Kansas, 13 at Iowa State and 14 at Missouri...matched his career high with nine assists against Colorado in his first Big Eight game and also had nine assists in CU game at Boulder...Lue had a steal in 25 of 34 games, including a season-high five thefts at Minnesota and vs. Oregon, and finished the season with 50 steals, then an NU frosh record...scored in double figures 12 times as a freshman, including four of his last six games...had at least one assist in 33 of 35 games and at least five 13 times...Lue played on the NIT All-Star team in the summer of 1996...the team, made up of standouts from the preseason and postseason NIT tournaments, toured Europe for three weeks and was coached by Lou Carnesecca.
Lue's Career Stats
| Season | G-GS |
Min. |
FG-FGA |
Pct. |
3FG-FGA | Pct. |
FT-FTA |
Pct. |
Reb-Avg | A |
Blk |
Stl |
Pts-Avg |
| 1995-96 | 35-34 | 1032 | 105-232 | .453 | 20-61 | .328 | 66-96 | .688 | 106-3.0 | 144 | 2 | 50 | 296-8.5 |
| 1996-97 | 32-30 | 1150 | 215-476 | .452 | 47-137 | .343 | 120-155 | .813 | 93-2.9 | 136 | 0 | 41 | 603-18.8 |
| 1997-98 | 32-32 | 1149 | 240-547 | .434 | 78-209 | .373 | 120-145 | .828 | 137-4.3 | 152 | 3 | 63 | 678-21.2 |
| Career |
119-62 | 3332 | 560-1255 | .446 | 145-407 | .336 | 312-396 | .788 | 336-3.4 | 432 | 5 | 154 | 1577-15.9 |