Huskers Return Home for No. 12 Michigan on Monday

Huskers begin Homestretch with No. 12 Michigan on Monday
Nebraska returns home to begin a two-game homestand Monday night, as the Huskers welcome No. 12/12 (AP/Coaches) Michigan to Lincoln. Tipoff from Pinnacle Bank Arena is set for 7 p.m. and the contest will be televised on FS1 and carried on the Huskers Radio Network, as well as on Huskers.com and the Huskers app. The game will also be available on the Fox Sports App.

A limited number of 300 Level tickets are available for purchase for the matchup with the Wolverines by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets or at the PBA box office beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. 

Nebraska (17-10, 7-9 B1G) returns home after splitting its two-game road trip, winning at Northwestern before falling 89-72 at Penn State on Wednesday. The Huskers ran into a hot-shooting Nittany Lion club that shot 61 percent from the field and forced 16 Husker turnovers. Nebraska was led by Connor Essegian, who finished with a team-high 20 points off the bench while Andrew Morgan added 18 points on 8-of-8 shooting. Morgan, who played just 2:27 of the first half because of foul trouble, ended on one field goal shy of a school record for most makes in a game without a miss. 

Senior guard Brice Williams enters Monday's game needing just 22 points to become the 32nd player in school history to reach 1,000 career points. Williams, who is fifth in the Big Ten in scoring at 19.4 points per game, would become just the third player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark in just two seasons, joining Terran Pettway and James Palmer Jr. Williams look to join those two players as first-team All-Big Ten picks this season.

Michigan (20-6, 12-3 Big Ten) has been one of the top turnarounds in the country under first-year coach Dusty May, looking to go from last place to a Big Ten title in one season. The Wolverines enter Monday's game in second place in the Big Ten standings following a 75-62 home loss to Michigan State Friday night.  

Worth Noting

Worth Noting
• Nebraska enters the weekend ranked No. 52 in the NET heading into Monday's game with Michigan. The game with the Wolverines is a Quad 1 game for the Huskers, who already have five Quad 1 wins this season.  Nebraska is currently one of 10 Big Ten teams in the top 55 of the NET on Feb. 21. All 18 teams are currently in the top 100 of the NET, including 15 in the top 75.

• Nebraska looks for its school-record fifth ranked win of the season against Michigan. The Wolverines were No. 12 in the Feb. 17 AP poll but will have a new ranking at game time. NU is 4-3 against ranked opponents this season, as the four ranked wins tie a school record done three other times in school history.

• Nebraska has won multiple games against ranked foes in three of the past four years and is now 9-10 in its last 19 games against ranked teams dating back to March 1, 2022. 

• Fred Hoiberg will be looking to move into a tie for eighth place on Nebraska's career wins list on Monday. Hoiberg has 80 wins at Nebraska and next up on the wins chart is his grandfather, Jerry Bush, who won 81 games between 1954-55 and 1962-63.

• Brice Williams saw his streak of six consecutive 20-point games end at Penn State on Wednesday. It was the longest streak by a Husker since Tyronn Lue had seven straight 20-point effort in the 1997-98 season. The school record for 20-point games was set by Dave Hoppen, who had 10 straight during the 1984-85 season

• Andrew Morgan went 8-of-8 from the field against Penn State, as his eight field goals without a miss in a conference game trailed only Venson Hamilton, who was 9-of-9 against Iowa State on Feb. 3, 1996.  Morgan has made his last 10 field goal attempts dating back to the Northwestern game. The school record for consecutive field goals over multiple games is 15 by Derrick Walker in 2021 and Ade Dagunduro in 2008. 

• Brice Williams looks to become the 32nd Husker to join the 1,000-point club at Nebraska, as he enters the Michigan game 22 points shy of 1,000 points.  He would be the second Husker from North Carolina to reach the 1,000-point mark at Nebraska, joining Venson Hamilton, who scored 1,416 points in his Husker career. 

• Brice Williams has played in 61 games at Nebraska, and he is averaging 19.5 ppg over his last 31 games dating back to the 2024 Big Ten Tournament. He has been in double figures in 29 of the last 31 contests, including 17 20-point games. Williams averaged just 12.5 ppg over his first 30 games at Nebraska in 2023-24.

• Nebraska comes into Monday's game at Michigan averaging 75.7 points per game. It is on pace to be NU's second-highest scoring average since joining the Big Ten in 2011-12. NU has scored 70+ points 18 times, including nine 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. 

• NU has relied on its depth with six players averaging at least 7.2 points per game. Eight 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 25 of the Big Ten in scoring as of Feb. 21.

• Nebraska posted its fifth double 20-point game of the season against Maryland on Feb. 13, as Juwan Gary (22) and Brice Williams (20) both went over the 20-point mark.  NU now has multiple players score 20+ points 16 times in Fred Hoiberg's six seasons.

• Nebraska overcame a 20-point second-half deficit to win at Northwestern on Feb. 16. It was the largest deficit overcome by a Big Ten team in a conference game since Feb. 17, 2018 when Michigan State overcame a 27-point deficit at Northwestern at Allstate Arena. The 20-point comeback was NU's largest of the Big Ten era. 

•  Fred Hoiberg has 32 wins over ranked opponents, including 11 career wins against top-10 teams, in his collegiate coaching career. In addition, his five road wins against ranked opponents is second only to Danny Nee (seven) all-time among NU men's basketball coaches.

• Nebraska allowed 1.31 points per possession in Wednesday's loss to Penn State, its second-highest total of the year. It came after holding Northwestern to 0.93 PPP in Sunday's comeback, its best defensive effort since holding UCLA to 0.80 PPP on Jan. 4. NU is 12-0 when holding opponents to under one point per possession, but 5-10 when opponents are above 1.0 PPP. Nebraska has won its last 29 games dating back to the 2022-23 season when holding an opponent under 1.0 PPP.

• On Jan. 26, Brice and his father, Henry, became the seventh father-son duo to combine for 4,000 career points at the college level. Brice now has 1,779 career points and is now only 22 points away from reaching 1,000 as a Husker. Henry Williams, who passed away in 2018, was Charlotte's all-time leading scorer with 2,383 career points.

Father-Son Duos with 4,000 Points

No.	Father (College)	Years	Points	Son (College)	Years	Points	Total
1.	Dell Curry (Virginia Tech)	1983-86	2,389	Stephen Curry (Davidson)	2006-09	2,635	5,024
2.	Mike Davis (Alabama)	1979-83	1,211	Antoine Davis (Detroit)	2018-23	3,664	4,875
3.	Steve Burtt Sr. (Iona)	1980-84	2,534	Steve Burtt Jr. (Iona)	2002-06	2,034	4,568
4.	Dell Curry (Virginia Tech)	1983-86	2,389	Seth Curry (Duke/Liberty)	2009-13	2,101	4,490
5.	Steve Alford (Indiana)	1983-86	2,438	Bryce Alford (UCLA)	2013-17	1,922	4,360
6.	Greg McDermott (Northern Iowa)	1984-88	1,033	Doug McDermott (Creighton)	2010-14	3,150	4,183
7.	Henry Williams (Charlotte)	1988-92	2,383	Brice Williams (Charlotte/Nebraska)	2019-25	1,779	4,162

• Connor Essegian has been one of the Big Ten's best sixth men, as the junior guard enters Monday's game with Michigan averaging 10.8 points per contest. Essegian is one of only three Big Ten reserves currently averaging double figures while making five or fewer starts.

• With its 17-10 record in 2024-25, Nebraska is 46-24 over the last 69 games dating back to the start of February 2023. NU's .657 winning percentage is fifth among all Big Ten programs and just .004 percentage points out of third. NU went just 33-80 from the start of the 2019-20 season until Feb. 1, 2023.

• Of Nebraska's 10 losses, six were one-possession games within the last 45 seconds of regulation. 

• Brice 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. 

• Ahron Ulis dished out a career-high 10 assists on Jan. 19 at Maryland. It more than tripled his previous season high of three and marked the first time a Husker had 10 assists in a game since Alonzo Verge Jr. in 2022. 

Numbers to Know
14 - Brice Williams leads Nebraska with 14 20-point games this season, which ranks second among Huskers in the Big Ten era (2011-12 to present). He trails only James Palmer Jr., who had 18 in 2018-19.

14 - The 32 Huskers who have reached the 1,000-point mark at Nebraska come from 14 different states as well as Australia, New Zealand and Japan. 

.617 - Over the last three-plus seasons, Nebraska has played some of its best basketball down the stretch, and NU is 4-2 this month with the Michigan game being NU's final game in February. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, NU is 21-13 in Big Ten games after Feb. 1.

3 - Brice Williams is 22 points away from reaching 1,000 career points at Nebraska. Only three players - Terran Petteway, Dave Hoppen and James Palmer Jr.  - have reached 1,000 points at Nebraska in two seasons.

23.6 - Nebraska has gotten great production from its bench, averaging 23.6 points per game this season to rank fourth in the Big Ten.  Nebraska has gotten 25 double-figure efforts from its bench this season (Morgan-10, Essegian-12, Ulis-1; Worster-1; Meah-1). The Huskers led the Big Ten in bench production last season, averaging 21.4 points per game.

About Michigan
Michigan has a quick turnaround following Friday's loss to Michigan State in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines, who won just eight games last season, are poised to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022. 

Dusty May is in his first season after spending six years at Florida Atlantic. He guided the Owls to three straight postseason appearances, including a Final Four in 2022, and a 126-69 record in that span. FAU was 35-4 in 2021-22, including a 20-game win streak before losing to San Diego State in the national semifinals. In his final year at FAU, the Owls won 25 games and reached the NCAA Tournament. Before taking the FAU job, May served as an assistant at Florida, Louisiana Tech, UAB, Murray State and Eastern Michigan.

The Wolverines have five players averaging double figures, while their top four scorers are all in their first season in Ann Arbor.  FAU transfer Vladislav Goldin leads Michigan with 15.9 points per game while shooting 64 percent from the field. Yale transfer Danny Wolf has emerged as one of the Big Ten's top players, averaging 12.8 ppg and a conference-high 9.9 rpg. Wolf, a 6-foot-10 forward, also averages more than 3.5 assists per game. Auburn transfer Trey Donaldson is at 12.3 ppg and tops Michigan with 3.9 apg while shooting 40 percent from 3-point range. Ohio State transfer Roddy Gayle Jr. is at 10.6 ppg while Nimari Burnett, the lone returning starter from a year ago, chips in 10.2 ppg. 

Series History: Michigan leads the all-time series, 22-5, in a series that goes back to 1949, although the Wolverines’ win over the Huskers in the 1992 Rainbow Classic was later vacated. Michigan has won 16 of the 19 meetings since Nebraska joined the Big Ten but Nebraska won both games last season, including the program's first win in Ann Arbor. One of Nebraska’s five wins in the series was a 74-73 win over No. 1 Michigan at the NU Coliseum on Dec. 12, 1964. In that game, Fred Hare’s buzzer beater knocked off the Cazzie Russell-led Wolverines. That win is one of four wins over No. 1 ranked teams in Nebraska’s history.