Huskers Battle Buckeyes Tuesday Evening

Nebraska looks for another signature road win on Tuesday evening, as the Huskers travel to Ohio State for a matchup with the Buckeyes. Tipoff from Value City Arena in Columbus is set for 8 p.m. (CT) and the contest will be streamed on Peacock and carried on the Huskers Radio Network, as well as on Huskers.com and the Huskers app.

Nebraska (17-12, 7-11 B1G) looks to rebound from a 67-65 loss to Minnesota last Saturday. The Huskers erased a 19-point second-half deficit and took a 65-64 lead on a Juwan Gary putback with 9.7 seconds left, but Minnesota's Brennan Rigsby hit a 3-pointer with 4.1 seconds left for the game winner. Nebraska had a shot to win in the final second but Andrew Morgan's jumper at the buzzer was off the mark.

The loss spoiled strong performances from seniors Juwan Gary and Brice Williams who had 21 points apiece in the loss. It marked the fifth time this season that both Gary and Williams have both scored 20-or-more points in the same game. Gary is averaging a career-high 13.3 points per game while Williams is second in the Big Ten in scoring at 19.7 points per game. Williams has scored 20 or more points in eight of the last nine games dating back to Jan. 30.

NU Single-Season Scoring Leaders

No.	Player (Season)	Points
5.	Tyronn Lue (1996-97)	603
6.	Andre Smith (1979-80)	600
7.	Dave Hoppen (1983-84)	598
8.	Terran Petteway (2013-14)	579
9.	Brice Williams (2024-25)	570
10.	James Palmer Jr. (2017-18)	568

The Huskers, who have dropped their last two games by a total of six points, enter the final week of the season in a scramble for the final spots in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament. Only two games separate 10th from 16th in the conference standings, as the top 15 qualify for Indianapolis.

Ohio State (16-13, 8-10 Big Ten) has been off since an 87-82 win at USC on Feb. 26. Micah Parrish and Bruce Thornton had 20 points apiece as the Buckeyes shot 54 percent from the field, including 11-of-20 from 3-point range, to hold off USC's second-half charge.

Numbers to Know
16 -Brice Williams leads Nebraska with 16 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. NU's school record is 21 set by Dave Hoppen in 1984-85. 

67 - Connor Essegian has a team-high 67 3-pointers this season and is one 3-pointer away from tying Terran Petteway (68, 2014-15) for 10th place on NU's single-season list. He is also three away from tying Jaron Boone (70, 1994-95) for ninth.

43 - Nebraska had won 43 straight games when holding opponents to 60 points or less dating back to March 10, 2016, before the streak was snapped on Feb. 24

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. Brice Williams is the second Husker 1,000-point scorer from North Carolina, joining Venson Hamilton, who scored 1,416 points from 1996 to 1999.

.583 - Over the last three-plus seasons, Nebraska has played some of its best basketball down the stretch. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, NU is 21-15 in Big Ten games after Feb. 1 following Saturday's loss to Minnesota.

22.9 - Nebraska has gotten production from its bench, averaging 22.9 points per game this season to rank sixth in the Big Ten.  Nebraska has gotten 26 double-figure efforts from its bench this season (Essegian-13, Morgan-10, Ulis-1, Worster-1 and Meah-1). The Huskers led the Big Ten in bench production last season at 21.4 points per game.

Worth Noting
• Nebraska is looking for its first-ever series sweep of Ohio State since joining the Big Ten in 2011-12.

• Nebraska looks for its sixth road win of the season on Tuesday at Ohio State. NU is 5-6 on the road this year and 7-7 away from Pinnacle Bank Arena, as the five road wins are NU's highest total since winning six during the 1998-99 season.

• Nebraska enters the week ranked No. 57 in the NET on March 3 heading into Tuesday's game with Ohio State. The Buckeyes, who are No. 36 in the NET as of March 3, are a Quad 1 game for the Huskers. NU is currently 5-9 in games vs. Quad 1 this season. 

• Nebraska's NET strength of schedule is 32nd nationally as of March 3, which ranks eighth in the Big Ten. 

• Nebraska is 4-4 against ranked opponents this season, as the four wins over ranked teams 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 9-11 in its last 20 games against ranked teams dating back to the win over Ohio State on March 1, 2022. 

• The Huskers have had their share of close losses this year, especially at home. In all five of their home losses, NU was within one possession in the final 40 seconds, including four in the final 10 seconds (Rutgers, USC, Michigan, Minnesota). 

• Brice Williams enters the final week of the regular season in a three-way battle for the scoring title in conference play. Purdue's Trey Kaufman-Renn leads the Big Ten in conference play at 20.3 ppg, while Williams (20.2 ppg) and Northwestern's Nick Martinelli (20.1 ppg) are both also over 20 points per game. Williams is bidding to be the first Husker since Terran

Petteway in 2013-14 to lead the Big Ten in scoring in conference play and just the fifth Husker in over a century to accomplish the feat. 

• The Huskers allowed 49 points in the loss to No. 15 Michigan on Feb. 24, the sixth time in 379 games against ranked opponents where NU allowed less than 50 points. It is the fewest NU has allowed to a ranked opponent since 2011 and only the third time in the last 40 years that NU held a ranked opponent under 50 points. 

• Nebraska posted its sixth double 20-point game of the season against Minnesota on March 1, as Juwan Gary and Brice Williams each finished with 21 points.  NU now has multiple players score 20+ points 17 times in Fred Hoiberg's six seasons.

• NU has relied on its depth with six players averaging at least 6.7 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 March 3.

• Nebraska is averaging 74.3 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. 

• Andrew Morgan went 8-of-8 from the field against Penn State on Feb. 19, 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. 

• 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 road 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. Nebraska nearly posted another comeback on Saturday, coming from 19 down to take the lead before Minnesota's game winner in the final seconds.

• NU is 12-1 when holding opponents to under one point per possession, but 5-11 when opponents are above 1.0 PPP. Nebraska had won its last 29 games dating back to the 2022-23 season when holding an opponent under 1.0 PPP before Monday's loss to the Wolverines. 

• 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. The pair is now sixth all-time following last Monday's game with Michigan. Brice is over 1,800 career points, including 1,025 at Nebraska.  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.	Henry Williams (Charlotte)	1988-92	2,383	Brice Williams (Charlotte/Nebraska)	2019-25	1,826	4,209
7.	Greg McDermott (Northern Iowa)	1984-88	1,033	Doug McDermott (Creighton)	2010-14	3,150	4,183

 

• Connor Essegian has been one of the Big Ten's best sixth men, as the junior guard enters Tuesday's game with Ohio State averaging 10.5 points per contest. Essegian is one of only two Big Ten reserves currently averaging double figures while making five or fewer starts.

• Of Nebraska's 12 losses, eight were one-possession games within the last 45 seconds of regulation. 

• With its 17-12 record in 2024-25, Nebraska is 46-26 dating back to the start of February 2023. NU's .639 winning percentage is fifth among all Big Ten programs in that span. NU went just 33-80 from the start of the 2019-20 season until Feb. 1, 2023.

• 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 dished out 10 assists in a game since Alonzo Verge Jr. in 2022. 

About Ohio State
Ohio State heads into the final week of the regular season with a 16-13 record following an 87-82 win at USC on Feb. 26. Coach Jake Diebler is in his first full season after taking over in mid-February. He went 8-3 and guided the Buckeyes to the NIT to remove the interim tag. 

The Buckeyes went 8-3 during non-conference action, highlighted by neutral-site wins over Texas and Kentucky. The losses were to Auburn and Texas A&M and a one-point overtime loss to Pittsburgh. In Big Ten Conference play, OSU is 4-5 both at home and on the road. The Buckeyes had lost four of their last five after a win over Maryland on Feb. 6 before the win at USC on the West Coast trip. 

OSU averages 78.5 points per game and is one of the Big Ten's best 3-point shooting teams, averaging 8.1 3-pointers per game on 37.5 percent shooting. The Buckeyes have four players averaging double figures, led by junior guard Bruce Thornton and sophomore Devin Royal. Thornton leads the Buckeyes in scoring (17.4 ppg) and assists (4.3 apg) and sophomore Devin Royal, who averaged 13.3 ppg and a team-high 6.9 rpg. Freshman John Mobley Jr. averages 13.1 ppg and leads the Buckeyes in 3-pointers with 71 while shooting over 40 percent from the 3-point line. San Diego State transfer Micah Parrish is the fourth Buckeye in double figures at 12.7 ppg while averaging 4.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals per outing.  

Series History: Ohio State leads the all-time series, 21-8, in a series that dates back to 1936. The Buckeyes are 17-6 against the Huskers since Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011-12, but Nebraska has won four of the past five matchups dating back to March of 2022. Nebraska's last win in Columbus was on March 1, 2022, an 78-70 win over the No. 23 Buckeyes. In that game, Bryce McGowens had a team-high 26 points while Alonzo Verge Jr. had 13 points and 11 assists.

Last Meeting: Behind a double-double from Brice Williams, Nebraska posted a 79-71 win on Feb. 9.  The Huskers overcome an eight-point second-half deficit, out-scoring Ohio State, 45-32 in the final 20 minutes.

Williams led three Huskers in double figures with 24 points and a season-high 10 rebounds, as he posted his first double-double of the season.  Juwan Gary (19) and Berke Büyüktuncel (15) also finished in double figures, as Nebraska shot 51.9 percent from the field and had 15 assists to just 10 turnovers. Gary scored 13 of his 19 points in the second half after sitting most of the first half with foul trouble, while Büyüktuncel hit a trio of 3-pointers grabbed six boards and dished out three assists in his best performance of the season.

Nebraska trailed 42-34 in the opening minutes of the second half before the Huskers responded with an 8-0 run to get the Pinnacle Bank Arena crowd on their feet. The Huskers would take control with an 11-0 run, turning a 48-44 deficit into a 55-48 lead on Williams’ 3-point play with 8:08 left. OSU cut the deficit to two points at 62-60 but a 3-pointer from Rollie Worster and a Williams jumper stretched the lead back to seven with 2:28 left.