Link: Full Game Notes (Huskers.com)
#19 MICHIGAN WOLVERINES (6-0, 1-0) at NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS (4-4, 0-1)
When: Friday, December 25 | 5:00 p.m.
Where: Pinnacle Bank Arena | Lincoln, Nebraska
TV: BTN (Kevin Kugler, Nick Bahe)
Radio: Husker Sports Network (Kent Pavelka, Jake Muhleisen)
Satellite Radio: Sirius (N/A) | XM (Ch. 372) | SiriusXM (Internet - Ch. 372)
Online: Fox Sports App | FoxSports.com/live | Huskers.com | Huskers App | TuneIn.com/Huskers | TuneIn App
Michigan
Record: 6-0, 1-0
Ranking: #19 (AP) | #19 (Coaches)
Coach: Juwan Howard
- (25-12) - 2nd year at Michigan
- (25-12) - 2nd year overall
Nebraska
Record: 4-4, 0-1
Ranking: NR
Coach: Fred Hoiberg
- (11-29) - 2nd year at Nebraska
- (126-85) - 7th year overall
Numbers to Know
2 - Dalano Banton joins Illinois' Ayo Dosunmu as the only Big Ten players in the top 10 in the conference in both rebounding and assists as of Dec. 22.
2 - Huskers who tied or set their career high in blocked shots at Wisconsin (Lat Mayen and Yvan Ouedraogo).
4 - Number of Huskers who made their first Big Ten start at No. 9 Wisconsin. As a team, NU had just a combined 40 starts in Big Ten play (22-Thorir Thorbjarnarson; 18-Yvan Ouedraogo), while Wisconsin's roster had combined for 191 Big Ten starts entering the contest.
4 - Nebraska has four 20-point performances through the first eight games, including three by Teddy Allen and one by Kobe Webster.
9.25 - Nebraska's 3-pointers per game, which is on pace to be the second-highest average per game in school history.
10 - Number of seasons where Nebraska has had multiple 100-point games. The 2020-21 campaign is the first time since 1995-96.
32- Nebraska is 32nd nationally in tempo according to KenPom as of Dec. 22. The Huskers are one of four Big Ten teams currently in the top 50 as of Dec. 2.
The Matchup
The Nebraska men's basketball program is home for the holidays, as the Huskers host Michigan on a Christmas Day matchup at Pinnacle Bank Area.
Tipoff between the Huskers and Wolverines is slated for shortly after 5 p.m. and will be carried on BTN with Kevin Kugler and Nick Bahe on the call. The game can also be streamed via the web, smartphones, tablets and connected devices through the Fox Sports app.
Fans can follow all of the action across the state of Nebraska on the Learfield IMG College Husker Sports Network with Kent Pavelka and Jake Muhleisen on the call. The game will also be available on Huskers.com, the Huskers app and TuneIn radio. The pregame show begins one hour prior to tipoff.
Nebraska's game with Michigan is one of four Big Ten Christmas games this season. It will mark the second time that Nebraska has played on Christmas and the first time since a 71-58 win over Ohio at the 2014 Diamond Head Classic.
The Huskers (4-4) held Wisconsin to 40 percent shooting, but a 16-0 second-half spurt doomed NU in a 67-53 loss to the ninth-ranked Badgers on Tuesday night. Dalano Banton's 15 points and eight boards led three Huskers in double figures, but Nebraska shot 33 percent from the field, including 8-of-27 from 3-point range. Nebraska led by one with 14:23 remaining, but went more than eight minutes without a field goal while the Badgers took control. Teddy Allen (11) and Trey McGowens (10) also finished in double figures in a losing effort.
The loss overshadowed a strong defensive effort against the Badgers, who were in the top-10 nationally in offensive efficiency heading into the contest. NU held the Badgers to its second-lowest offensive output of the season, marking the fifth time in eight games that Nebraska has held an opponent to 40 percent or less from the field.
No. 19 Michigan comes off a 62-58 win over Penn State on Dec. 13. In that game, freshman Hunter Dickinson had 20 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots to pace three Wolverines in double figures. Michigan held Penn State to 31 percent shooting and withstood 16 turnovers which led to 18 Nittany Lions points. Eli Books (12) and Isaiah Livers (10) also finished in double figures for the Wolverines.
Friday's game will mark the Huskers' second straight against a ranked team and third in nine games. The contest will also mark Michigan's first road contest of the year.
Scouting Michigan
Michigan takes the court for the first time since Dec. 13, as the Wolverines have been off since a 62-58 win over Penn State. Michigan is 6-0 on the season with five of the wins coming by double figures, and they jumped to 19th in both national polls this week.
Michigan is led by second-year head coach Juwan Howard, who took over the Michigan program following John Beilein's departure for the Cleveland Cavaliers in May of 2019. Howard, who starred at Michigan during the Fab 5 era, spent 19 seasons in the NBA playing for eight franchises and won two NBA titles with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013. He worked in the Miami Heat organization for six seasons, the final five as an assistant coach before returning to his alma mater in 2019.
The Wolverines have a mixture of newcomers and returnees making significant contributions. Freshman Hunter Dickinson leads the team in scoring (15.7 ppg), rebounding (7.3 rpg) and blocked shots (1.7 bpg) while shooting 69 percent from the field. Isaiah Livers is averaging 15.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while shooting 43 percent from 3-point range. Wake Forest transfer Chaundree Brown comes off the bench and averages 10 points per game to give Michigan a trio of double-figure scorers. The Wolverines are shooting 52 percent as a team and out-rebounding opponents by over nine rebounds a game.
2020-21 Michigan Schedule/Results (6-0, 1-0)
Bowling Green (W 96-82)
Oakland (W 81-71 OT)
Ball State (W 84-65)
Central Florida (W 80-58)
Toledo (W 91-71)
Penn State (W 62-58)
Series History
Michigan leads the all-time series 18-3, in a series that dates back to 1949, although the Wolverines' win over the Huskers in the 1992 Rainbow Classic was later vacated. Michigan has won 12 of the 13 meetings since Nebraska joined the Big Ten with the Huskers' only win coming in a 72-52 win in Lincoln during the 2017-18 campaign. One of Nebraska's three 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 three wins over No. 1 ranked teams in Nebraska history.
Last Meeting: March 5, 2020
Nebraska battled back from a slow start to pull within four points at halftime, but No. 25 Michigan started the second half on a 18-4 run on its way to an 82-58 victory at the Crisler Center. Haanif Cheatham scored 19 points and Dachon Burke Jr. scored 16 points to pace Nebraska. Thorir Thorbjarnarson pulled down a team-best seven rebounds for the Huskers, who out-rebounded Michigan 40-38. But the Wolverines, led by Isaiah Livers with 18 points, shot 59.4 percent from the field in the second half to pull away from Nebraska. Livers, who also had 10 rebounds, was one of five Wolverines to finish in double figures, while Xavier Simpson had 11 points and a game-high 10 assists.
Storylines
- While Friday's game will be the first Christmas Day game for the Husker roster, this will mark the third time that Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg has coached on Christmas. He is 2-1 on Christmas Day (1-0 NCAA, 1-1 NBA) with the NCAA win coming in the title game of the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii, leading Cockeye State over Boise State in 2013.
- While Juwan Howard (1994-2013) and Fred Hoiberg (1995-2005) met several times during their NBA career, the pair faced off one time as college players, a 94-72 Michigan win at the Palace of Auburn Hills in 1992
- Hoiberg is 1-3 as a coach against Michigan, including two matchups last season. He went 1-1 against the Wolverines while coaching at Cockeye State, including a 77-70 win over No. 7 Michigan in Ames on Nov. 17, 2013. No. 14 Michigan downed the Cyclones 76-66 on Dec. 3, 2011 in Ann Arbor in the other meeting.
- NU will look to snap a 10-game losing streak against ranked opponents which began with a 66-62 loss to Wisconsin in the 2019 Big Ten Tournament. NU's last win over a ranked team was a 69-61 win over No. 21 Maryland in the second round of the 2019 Big Ten Tournament. The Huskers' last home win over a ranked team was against No. 23 Michigan on Jan. 19, 2018.
- Friday's game comes in a middle of a six-game stretch where NU could face as many as five ranked teams. The stretch began with games at No. 8 Pickle Smoochers (Jan. 11) and No. 9 Wisconsin (Dec. 22). Following Friday's game, NU's next two matchups are at No. 23 Ohio State (Dec. 30) and No. 12 Michigan State (Jan. 2). The Big Ten has seven teams ranked in this week's poll while four others are receiving votes.
- A pair of Huskers are closing in on milestone numbers this week. Kobe Webster needs five points to reach 1,500 career points, while Trevor Lakes is nine points away from 1,000 career points.
- The break after the Pickle Smoochers game allowed the Huskers an opportunity to work on cutting down turnovers. After a solid start the first three games, the Huskers averaged nearly 19 turnovers per game, including 25 at Pickle Smoochers. Over the last two games, NU has cut down its turnovers, including eight in Tuesday's Big Ten opener. NU is currently averaging 12.8 turnovers per game after averaging 11.9 in 2019-20.
- The Wisconsin game snapped a string of four straight games where NU had out-rebounded its opponent, the longest stretch since the 2016-17 season. Last year, the Huskers out-rebounded just four opponents in 32 games, including just one in conference play.
- The Huskers added some much-needed depth, as Trevor Lakes and Eduardo Andre made their Husker debuts against Doane on Dec. 17. Andre, a 6-foot-10, 228-pound forward, is averaging 5.5 points and 2.0 rebounds per game while serving as a backup in the frontcourt. Lakes, a 6-foot-7 forward who was cleared by the NCAA on Thursday morning, had 12 points and six boards in his debut and played 16 minutes at Wisconsin.
- Nebraska has two 100-point games this season following the Dec. 17 win over Doane. It marks the 10th time in school history that Nebraka had multiple 100-point games in a season and the first since 1995-96. Nebraska is now 39-4 all-time when scoring 100+ points.
- Nebraska has shown the ability to get off to fast starts in 2020-21. NU has outscored its seven opponents by a combined score of 67-35 prior to the first media timeout and has taken a lead into the first media break in six of the eight games. The only two times NU has trailed at the first media timeout were one-point deficits to South Dakota and at Pickle Smoochers.
#19 MICHIGAN WOLVERINES (6-0, 1-0) at NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS (4-4, 0-1)
When: Friday, December 25 | 5:00 p.m.
Where: Pinnacle Bank Arena | Lincoln, Nebraska
TV: BTN (Kevin Kugler, Nick Bahe)
Radio: Husker Sports Network (Kent Pavelka, Jake Muhleisen)
Satellite Radio: Sirius (N/A) | XM (Ch. 372) | SiriusXM (Internet - Ch. 372)
Online: Fox Sports App | FoxSports.com/live | Huskers.com | Huskers App | TuneIn.com/Huskers | TuneIn App
Michigan
Record: 6-0, 1-0
Ranking: #19 (AP) | #19 (Coaches)
Coach: Juwan Howard
- (25-12) - 2nd year at Michigan
- (25-12) - 2nd year overall
Nebraska
Record: 4-4, 0-1
Ranking: NR
Coach: Fred Hoiberg
- (11-29) - 2nd year at Nebraska
- (126-85) - 7th year overall
Numbers to Know
2 - Dalano Banton joins Illinois' Ayo Dosunmu as the only Big Ten players in the top 10 in the conference in both rebounding and assists as of Dec. 22.
2 - Huskers who tied or set their career high in blocked shots at Wisconsin (Lat Mayen and Yvan Ouedraogo).
4 - Number of Huskers who made their first Big Ten start at No. 9 Wisconsin. As a team, NU had just a combined 40 starts in Big Ten play (22-Thorir Thorbjarnarson; 18-Yvan Ouedraogo), while Wisconsin's roster had combined for 191 Big Ten starts entering the contest.
4 - Nebraska has four 20-point performances through the first eight games, including three by Teddy Allen and one by Kobe Webster.
9.25 - Nebraska's 3-pointers per game, which is on pace to be the second-highest average per game in school history.
10 - Number of seasons where Nebraska has had multiple 100-point games. The 2020-21 campaign is the first time since 1995-96.
32- Nebraska is 32nd nationally in tempo according to KenPom as of Dec. 22. The Huskers are one of four Big Ten teams currently in the top 50 as of Dec. 2.
The Matchup
The Nebraska men's basketball program is home for the holidays, as the Huskers host Michigan on a Christmas Day matchup at Pinnacle Bank Area.
Tipoff between the Huskers and Wolverines is slated for shortly after 5 p.m. and will be carried on BTN with Kevin Kugler and Nick Bahe on the call. The game can also be streamed via the web, smartphones, tablets and connected devices through the Fox Sports app.
Fans can follow all of the action across the state of Nebraska on the Learfield IMG College Husker Sports Network with Kent Pavelka and Jake Muhleisen on the call. The game will also be available on Huskers.com, the Huskers app and TuneIn radio. The pregame show begins one hour prior to tipoff.
Nebraska's game with Michigan is one of four Big Ten Christmas games this season. It will mark the second time that Nebraska has played on Christmas and the first time since a 71-58 win over Ohio at the 2014 Diamond Head Classic.
The Huskers (4-4) held Wisconsin to 40 percent shooting, but a 16-0 second-half spurt doomed NU in a 67-53 loss to the ninth-ranked Badgers on Tuesday night. Dalano Banton's 15 points and eight boards led three Huskers in double figures, but Nebraska shot 33 percent from the field, including 8-of-27 from 3-point range. Nebraska led by one with 14:23 remaining, but went more than eight minutes without a field goal while the Badgers took control. Teddy Allen (11) and Trey McGowens (10) also finished in double figures in a losing effort.
The loss overshadowed a strong defensive effort against the Badgers, who were in the top-10 nationally in offensive efficiency heading into the contest. NU held the Badgers to its second-lowest offensive output of the season, marking the fifth time in eight games that Nebraska has held an opponent to 40 percent or less from the field.
No. 19 Michigan comes off a 62-58 win over Penn State on Dec. 13. In that game, freshman Hunter Dickinson had 20 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots to pace three Wolverines in double figures. Michigan held Penn State to 31 percent shooting and withstood 16 turnovers which led to 18 Nittany Lions points. Eli Books (12) and Isaiah Livers (10) also finished in double figures for the Wolverines.
Friday's game will mark the Huskers' second straight against a ranked team and third in nine games. The contest will also mark Michigan's first road contest of the year.
Scouting Michigan
Michigan takes the court for the first time since Dec. 13, as the Wolverines have been off since a 62-58 win over Penn State. Michigan is 6-0 on the season with five of the wins coming by double figures, and they jumped to 19th in both national polls this week.
Michigan is led by second-year head coach Juwan Howard, who took over the Michigan program following John Beilein's departure for the Cleveland Cavaliers in May of 2019. Howard, who starred at Michigan during the Fab 5 era, spent 19 seasons in the NBA playing for eight franchises and won two NBA titles with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013. He worked in the Miami Heat organization for six seasons, the final five as an assistant coach before returning to his alma mater in 2019.
The Wolverines have a mixture of newcomers and returnees making significant contributions. Freshman Hunter Dickinson leads the team in scoring (15.7 ppg), rebounding (7.3 rpg) and blocked shots (1.7 bpg) while shooting 69 percent from the field. Isaiah Livers is averaging 15.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while shooting 43 percent from 3-point range. Wake Forest transfer Chaundree Brown comes off the bench and averages 10 points per game to give Michigan a trio of double-figure scorers. The Wolverines are shooting 52 percent as a team and out-rebounding opponents by over nine rebounds a game.
2020-21 Michigan Schedule/Results (6-0, 1-0)
Bowling Green (W 96-82)
Oakland (W 81-71 OT)
Ball State (W 84-65)
Central Florida (W 80-58)
Toledo (W 91-71)
Penn State (W 62-58)
Series History
Michigan leads the all-time series 18-3, in a series that dates back to 1949, although the Wolverines' win over the Huskers in the 1992 Rainbow Classic was later vacated. Michigan has won 12 of the 13 meetings since Nebraska joined the Big Ten with the Huskers' only win coming in a 72-52 win in Lincoln during the 2017-18 campaign. One of Nebraska's three 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 three wins over No. 1 ranked teams in Nebraska history.
Last Meeting: March 5, 2020
Nebraska battled back from a slow start to pull within four points at halftime, but No. 25 Michigan started the second half on a 18-4 run on its way to an 82-58 victory at the Crisler Center. Haanif Cheatham scored 19 points and Dachon Burke Jr. scored 16 points to pace Nebraska. Thorir Thorbjarnarson pulled down a team-best seven rebounds for the Huskers, who out-rebounded Michigan 40-38. But the Wolverines, led by Isaiah Livers with 18 points, shot 59.4 percent from the field in the second half to pull away from Nebraska. Livers, who also had 10 rebounds, was one of five Wolverines to finish in double figures, while Xavier Simpson had 11 points and a game-high 10 assists.
Storylines
- While Friday's game will be the first Christmas Day game for the Husker roster, this will mark the third time that Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg has coached on Christmas. He is 2-1 on Christmas Day (1-0 NCAA, 1-1 NBA) with the NCAA win coming in the title game of the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii, leading Cockeye State over Boise State in 2013.
- While Juwan Howard (1994-2013) and Fred Hoiberg (1995-2005) met several times during their NBA career, the pair faced off one time as college players, a 94-72 Michigan win at the Palace of Auburn Hills in 1992
- Hoiberg is 1-3 as a coach against Michigan, including two matchups last season. He went 1-1 against the Wolverines while coaching at Cockeye State, including a 77-70 win over No. 7 Michigan in Ames on Nov. 17, 2013. No. 14 Michigan downed the Cyclones 76-66 on Dec. 3, 2011 in Ann Arbor in the other meeting.
- NU will look to snap a 10-game losing streak against ranked opponents which began with a 66-62 loss to Wisconsin in the 2019 Big Ten Tournament. NU's last win over a ranked team was a 69-61 win over No. 21 Maryland in the second round of the 2019 Big Ten Tournament. The Huskers' last home win over a ranked team was against No. 23 Michigan on Jan. 19, 2018.
- Friday's game comes in a middle of a six-game stretch where NU could face as many as five ranked teams. The stretch began with games at No. 8 Pickle Smoochers (Jan. 11) and No. 9 Wisconsin (Dec. 22). Following Friday's game, NU's next two matchups are at No. 23 Ohio State (Dec. 30) and No. 12 Michigan State (Jan. 2). The Big Ten has seven teams ranked in this week's poll while four others are receiving votes.
- A pair of Huskers are closing in on milestone numbers this week. Kobe Webster needs five points to reach 1,500 career points, while Trevor Lakes is nine points away from 1,000 career points.
- The break after the Pickle Smoochers game allowed the Huskers an opportunity to work on cutting down turnovers. After a solid start the first three games, the Huskers averaged nearly 19 turnovers per game, including 25 at Pickle Smoochers. Over the last two games, NU has cut down its turnovers, including eight in Tuesday's Big Ten opener. NU is currently averaging 12.8 turnovers per game after averaging 11.9 in 2019-20.
- The Wisconsin game snapped a string of four straight games where NU had out-rebounded its opponent, the longest stretch since the 2016-17 season. Last year, the Huskers out-rebounded just four opponents in 32 games, including just one in conference play.
- The Huskers added some much-needed depth, as Trevor Lakes and Eduardo Andre made their Husker debuts against Doane on Dec. 17. Andre, a 6-foot-10, 228-pound forward, is averaging 5.5 points and 2.0 rebounds per game while serving as a backup in the frontcourt. Lakes, a 6-foot-7 forward who was cleared by the NCAA on Thursday morning, had 12 points and six boards in his debut and played 16 minutes at Wisconsin.
- Nebraska has two 100-point games this season following the Dec. 17 win over Doane. It marks the 10th time in school history that Nebraka had multiple 100-point games in a season and the first since 1995-96. Nebraska is now 39-4 all-time when scoring 100+ points.
- Nebraska has shown the ability to get off to fast starts in 2020-21. NU has outscored its seven opponents by a combined score of 67-35 prior to the first media timeout and has taken a lead into the first media break in six of the eight games. The only two times NU has trailed at the first media timeout were one-point deficits to South Dakota and at Pickle Smoochers.