Huskers Battle Terps on Sunday

The Nebraska men's basketball team looks to end a three-game losing streak on Sunday, as the Huskers travel to College Park, Md., for a matchup with the Maryland Terrapins. Tipoff from the XFINITY Center is set for shortly after 11 a.m. (CT). The game will be televised on BTN and carried on the Huskers Radio Network, as well as on Huskers.com and the Huskers app.

Nebraska (12-5, 2-4 B1G) aims to regroup following an 85-82 loss to Rutgers on Thursday night. The Huskers led 76-72 with less than five minutes remaining, but Rutgers used a 9-0 run to take the lead in a game that saw neither team lead by more than five points during the final 31 minutes. Brice Williams, who led Nebraska with 21 points, pulled NU within 83-82 with a 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds left, but the Huskers could not complete the comeback. The loss snapped Nebraska's school-record-tying 20-game home winning streak, which dated back to December 2023.

Despite the loss, the Huskers had five players score in double figures, including 21 points from Brice Williams and 20 points from Juwan Gary. It marked the third time this season that Nebraska has had multiple 20-point performances in a game. 

 

Multiple Double 20+ Games in 2024-25
Opponent (Date)	Players
South Dakota (11/27/24)	Essegian 29, Williams 21
at Hawai'i (12/23/24)	Williams 32, Gary 21
Rutgers (1/16/25)	Williams 21, Gary 20

 

Williams has emerged as one of the best all-around scorers in the Big Ten, as he enters the weekend averaging 18.9 points per game after his team-high eighth 20-point game of the season. He is shooting a career-high 48.5 percent from the field, including 40 percent from 3-point range and 91.5 percent from the foul line. Williams is also second on the team with 2.5 assists per game while averaging over a steal per contest.

Maryland (13-5, 3-4 B1G) comes into Sunday's game looking to bounce back from a 76-74 loss at Northwestern. Maryland scored the final six points of regulation to force overtime on Ja'Kobi Gillespie's basket with 6.9

seconds remaining. Gillespie also tied the game in overtime with six seconds left before Northwestern's Nick Martinelli hit a buzzer-beater to give the Wildcats the win. Julian Reese led Maryland with 23 points, while Gillespie finished with 14 in the loss.

Numbers to Know
8.1 - Nebraska is averaging 8.1 3-pointer per game while shooting 37 percent from the arc over the last nine games. The Huskers shot just 30 percent from 3-point range in their first eight contests.

25.9 - Nebraska has gotten great production from its bench, averaging 25.9 points per game over the first 17 games. Nebraska has gotten 18 double-figure efforts from its bench this season (Morgan-9, Essegian-8, Ulis-1). The Huskers led the Big Ten in bench production last season, averaging 21.4 points per game.

30 - Fred Hoiberg has 30 wins over ranked opponents, including 11 career wins against top-10 teams, in his collegiate coaching career following Nebraska's 66-58 win over UCLA on Jan 4.

70 - Over the last two-plus seasons, Nebraska has been exceptional when holding opponents to 70 points or less. The Huskers are 41-4 (.911) when holding opponents to 70 points, including 36 straight wins since a 65-

62 overtime loss to No. 4 Purdue on Dec. 10, 2022.

14 - Currently 14 schools have five-or-more career 1,000-point scorers on their roster. Nebraska will look to join that list with Andrew Morgan (995) and Juwan Gary (994) both closing in on 1,000 career points.

3,960 - Career points scored between Brice and his father, Henry, who played at Charlotte from 1988 to 1992. Henry, who was Charlotte's all-time leading scorer, totaled 2,383 points in his career while Brice enters Sunday's game with 1,577 career points.

Worth Noting
• A pair of Huskers are on track to crack the 1,000-point mark in Sunday's game at Maryland. Andrew Morgan enters Sunday's contest with 995 career points, including his three seasons at North Dakota State, after an 11-point performance on Thursday against Rutgers. Following a 20-point effort against Rutgers, Juwan Gary has 994 career points and is six away from the 1,000-point plateau. NU currently has three 1,000-point scorers on the roster with Brice Williams, Rienk Mast and Rollie Worster, who scored his 1,000th career point against UCLA on Jan. 4.

• With inauguration weekend taking place in nearby Washington D.C., the Huskers will be playing their fifth game against Maryland during President Joe Biden's four-year tenure. This is the third straight year that Nebraska has traveled to Maryland, and the Huskers and Terrapins played back-to-back games in College Park during the 2020-21 campaign. 

• Nebraska comes into Sunday's game with a 12-5 record, which is one game off last season's pace through the first 17 games. That was NU's best 16-game start in the Big Ten era. 

• Nebraska is No. 50 in the NET on Jan. 17 and enters this weekend as one of 12 Big Ten teams in the top 50 of the NET. Maryland, which is 25th in the NET on Jan. 17, is one of seven Big Ten teams in the top 25 of the NET, while 17 of the 18 conference teams are in the top 100 of the NET as of Jan. 14.

• Connor Essegian has been one of the Big Ten's best sixth men, as the junior enters Sunday's game averaging 11.6 points per contest after his 12-point performance against Rutgers. He is one of five Big Ten reserves currently averaging double figures while making five or fewer starts. 

• With Brice Williams and Juwan Gary both going over 20 points against Rutgers, it marked the 15th time in Fred Hoiberg's tenure that Nebraska had multiple players score 20+ points in a game. 

• Nebraska saw its home winning streak snapped at 20 games with Thursday's loss to Rutgers. The 20 straight home wins tied the mark set on two previous occasions, most recently from 2017 to 2019. Over the past three

years, Nebraska is 37-6 (.860) inside Pinnacle Bank Arena. 

• Nebraska looks to improve to 5-4 away from Pinnacle Bank Arena this season on Sunday at Maryland. NU is 2-3 in true road games this season, with wins at No. 14 Creighton and at Hawaii. The Huskers are also 2-1 in neutral site games. 

• With road wins at No. 14 Creighton and Hawai'i, Nebraska won multiple non-conference road games for the first time since the 2011-12 season and just the second time in the last 25 years. Nebraska’s two non-conference road wins account for half of the Big Ten's true road wins in non-conference play, as Oregon (1) and Penn State (1) collected the other ones. 

• Nebraska looks to regain its edge on the defensive end of the court after struggling on that end during its current three-game losing streak. NU is now 36th nationally in defensive efficiency heading into the weekend. Nebraska has won its last 27 games dating back to the 2022-23 season when holding an opponent under 1.0 points per possession (PPP).

• Over the last 21 games dating back to last season, Brice Williams is averaging 19.1 points per game on .488 shooting and has 11 20-point efforts in that span. He has been in double figures in 19 of 21 games in that stretch. He averaged just 12.5 ppg over his first 30 games at Nebraska in 2023-24.

• Last's Sunday's loss to Purdue snapped a two-game win streak against ranked teams. NU is now 7-8 in its last 15 games against ranked teams dating back to March 1, 2022. 

• With its 12-4 start in 2024-25, Nebraska is 41-17 over the last 58 games dating back to the start of February 2023. NU's .707 winning percentage trails only Purdue among Big Ten programs in that stretch.  NU would be third (behind Purdue and Oregon) if you included the four new Big Ten schools (Oregon, UCLA, Washington and USC) during that same stretch. NU went just 33-80 from the start of the 2019-20 season until Feb. 1, 2023.

• Juwan Gary is playing some of the best basketball of his career over the last three weeks. The senior is averaging 13.3 ppg while shooting nearly 35 percent from 3-point range over the last nine games. Gary comes off his second 20-point game of the season with 20 points and a team-high seven rebounds against Rutgers. 

• NU has relied on its depth during the first half of the season, with six players averaging at least 7.2 points per game during the first half of the season. Eight different players have posted double-figure efforts, while three players (Brice Williams, Connor Essegian and Juwan Gary) have recorded 20-point games.  Williams is the only Husker in the top 30 of the Big Ten in scoring as of Jan 17.

• Williams is just the sixth Husker in the Big Ten era to have multiple 30-point games.  He had 30 points in the win over Indiana on Dec. 13 and tied his career high with 32 points against Hawai’i on Dec. 23. He is one of five Big Ten players with multiple 30-point games this season.

• NU went 10-1 in non-conference action, only the seventh time since WWII that NU finished its non-con slate with one loss (also 10-1, 2023-24; 10-1, 2018-19; 10-1, 2003-04; 12-1, 1991-92; 15-1, 1990-91; 11-1, 1977-78).

• Nebraska's 2024 Diamond Head Classic title marked the program's first MTE event title since the 2000 San Juan Shootout. With the win, Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg became the first coach to win multiple Diamond Head Classic titles, as he coached Iowa State to the 2013 championship.

• Brice Williams earned MVP honors at the Diamond Head Classic, as he averaged 22.0 points per game on 56 percent shooting, 3.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game. Williams averaged 19.3 ppg on 57 percent shooting in seven December games following his 11-point, seven-rebound effort against Southern. 

• Nebraska has been prolific at getting to the foul line and taking advantage of the opportunities. Nebraska ranks among the Big Ten leaders in free throws made and attempted per game and free throw percentage. 
As a team, NU is shooting 75.4 percent from the line heading into Sunday's game at Maryland. Last year, NU shot 76.0 percent from the line, the third best percentage in school history. 

• Nebraska is averaging 8.1 steals per game to rank sixth in the Big Ten as of Jan. 17. Four Huskers average at least one steal per game led by Sam Hoiberg, who is ninth in the conference with 1.5 spg. Of the 47 Big Ten players averaging at least one steal per game as of January 17, Hoiberg is the only player who averages less than 20 minutes per game.

• Nebraska comes into Sunday's game at Maryland averaging 77.2 points per game.  NU has scored 70+ points in 11 of 17 games, including seven games with at least 80 points. Last season, NU averaged 77.7 points per game for 34 games, its highest offensive total since the 1995-96 season. 

• The Huskers are 37-5 over the last two seasons when out-rebounding opponents. NU had won 27 straight games when out-rebounding opponents before the streak was snapped against Saint Mary's on Nov. 17. NU has been out-rebounded only twice in 17 games this season.

• Nebraska comes off one of its most successful seasons in program history. The Huskers went 23-11 in 2023-24 and tied for third in the Big Ten standings before reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013-14. The Huskers’ 23 wins were the most since setting a school-record with 26 wins in 1990-91, while NU’s 12 conference wins also ranked second in school history.

• Nebraska has increased its win total in each of the past three years, marking the first time NU has done that since the mid-1960s (1963-64 to 1965-66). If Nebraska can improve its win total this year, it would mark the first time since a four-year stretch from 1945-46 to 1948-49 that the Huskers improved their win total in four consecutive seasons.

• Over the past two seasons (2022-23 and 2023-24), NU has won 21 conference games, the highest two-year total since the 1965-66 and 1966-67 teams won 22 conference tilts. The last two seasons under Fred Hoiberg mark just the fourth time in school history that Nebraska has won 20 or more conference games in a two-year span.

Scouting Maryland
Maryland heads into Sunday's game with a 13-5 record following a 76-74 overtime loss at Northwestern on Thursday. The Terrapins went 10-1 during non-conference play, posting wins over Villanova and Syracuse, with their only loss being a four-point setback to Marquette. In Big Ten play, Maryland is 3-0 at home and 0-4 on the road.

Kevin Willard is in his third season as head coach of the Maryland program after spending 12 seasons at Seton Hall. After winning 22 games and making the NCAA Tournament in his first year at Maryland, the Terps were 15-17 last season before a strong start to 2024-25. During his tenure at Seton Hall, Willard led the Pirates to seven 20-win seasons, five NCAA Tournament appearances, and a share of the Big East regular-season title in 2019-20.

Maryland features a strong inside game with the duo of Derik Queen and Julian Reese. Queen, a freshman, leads the Terrapins in scoring with 15.8 ppg on 56 percent shooting and 8.1 rebounds per game. Reese is at 13.2 ppg on 58 percent shooting while topping Maryland in rebounding (8.7 rpg) and blocked shots (1.3 bpg). They are the main reasons why Maryland out-rebounds its opponents by more than five rebounds per game. Belmont transfer Ja'Kobi Gillespie has been a playmaker in the backcourt, averaging 13.9 ppg on 47 percent shooting, including 41 percent from 3-point range, while leading Maryland in both assists (4.3 apg) and steals

(1.7 spg) per game.

Series History: Sunday's meeting is the 17th between the two teams, all since the Terrapins joined the Big Ten in 2014-15. Maryland leads the series 12-4, with eight of the 16 meetings decided by five points or fewer. Maryland won the only meeting last year, a 73-51 victory in College Park. Nebraska's only win in College Park came on Jan. 1, 2017, in a 67-65 triumph. This is the first of two meetings this season, as the teams will square off again in Lincoln on Feb. 13.