Huskers.com
The Nebraska men’s basketball team travels to Omaha for the annual intrastate showdown with No. 14/13 Creighton this Friday, Nov. 22. Tipoff from the CHI Health Center is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be shown on FS1 and carried on the Huskers Radio Network as well as on Huskers.com and the Huskers app.
Nebraska (3-1) comes off a 77-74 loss to Saint Mary’s Sunday afternoon in Sioux Falls, S.D. Brice Williams had a game-high 28 points on 8-of-12 shooting and had a chance to send the game into overtime in the final seconds but was just off the mark. Berke Büyüktuncel added a career-high 15 points while Rollie Worster and Andrew Morgan added 10 apiece in the loss. NU outshot Saint Mary’s from the floor and enjoyed a 34-31 advantage on the glass, but 15 Husker turnovers led to 21 Gael points.
Williams has emerged as one of the Big Ten’s best scorers, averaging 18.8 points per game, well above his previous career best of 13.8 ppg at Charlotte in 2022-23. The 6-foot-7 senior from Huntersville, N.C., already has a pair of 25-point games in the early going and has reached double figures in his last eight games dating back to last season, averaging 19.4 ppg in that stretch.
Nebraska has relied on its depth early on, using a 10-man rotation that features seven players in their first season of action for the Huskers. NU has three players averaging double figures and three others chipping in at least 7.5 points per game. One of those newcomers is sophomore Berke Büyüktuncel, as the 6-foot-10 forward averaged 13.5 points on 69 percent shooting along with 6.0 rebounds, 2.0 blocks, 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game in NU’s two games last week. Büyüktuncel, who had 13 of his 15 in the second half against Saint Mary’s, had just two double-figure games as a freshman at UCLA.
Creighton (4-0) comes off an 85-79 win over Kansas City on Saturday. Jackson McAndrew’s 15 points led four Bluejays in double figures, while Ryan Kalkbrenner (14 points, 12 rebounds) and Jamiya Neal (11 points, 11 rebounds) both posted double doubles, as Creighton enjoyed a 52-34 advantage on the glass and held the Roos to 29 percent shooting.