Nebraska men’s basketball will tip with Florida A&M at 7 p.m. at Pinnacle Bank Arena Thursday.
The Huskers will look to improve their record to 2-0 after opening their season with a resounding 84-52 win over Lindenwood Monday night.
Getting Healthy
The health of the team has been a challenge in the last few weeks. Rienk Mast missed time in the preseason, as did Josiah Allick. The post duo made their Husker debut on Monday and were extremely effective.
Mast had 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting while Allick scored 11 while making four of his five shots from the field.
Keisei Tominaga (ankle) is now listed as day-to-day after missing the season opener.
“Keisei was able to go through part of practice today,” Coach Fred Hoiberg said on Wdnesday. “Still did not complete a full practice; he felt fine, it was just the plan going in. As we gradually return him to play, he’s day-to-day. We’ll see how he responds to the activity, the increased activity from today’s practice load and get him a good workout in the morning and then see where he is from there.”
Redshirt freshman Ramel Lloyd Jr. (knee) is close to returning to game action.
“Ramel did more in practice today,” Hoiberg said. “He got a little bit of live work and he will be out tomorrow (Florida A&M), but it was good to see him back on the floor getting some live full court work in … Just getting him back into game shape is where we’re going to be with him after an extended time off.”
Blaise Keita (ankle) is starting to get healthier after missing an extended period of time.
“Blaise is continuing to ramp up activity. He is still a ways away from being ready to play in a full game, being cleared,” Hoiberg said. “It’s good to see him out there getting shots up and doing some light running and then hopefully as we continue on with him, the next step, next progression is to get him cutting and moving and then integrate him back into full practice mode.”
Nebraska will once again be without junior Juwan Gary Thursday night due to a violation of team policies and continues to be day-to-day according to Hoiberg.
Scouting Florida A&M
The Rattlers continue their time in Nebraska after a 105-54 loss to Creighton on Monday.
Florida A&M struggled out of the gate on Monday, falling behind 56-27 at the half.
The Rattlers come into the season with a new team, having lost four of their five leading scorers from the 2022-23 season, with the leading returner being Dimingus Stevens (8.4 points per game), who did not play against Creighton. The Rattlers were busy through the transfer portal, adding seven transfers from junior college or Division I. The Rattlers also added one high school player in K’Jei Parker who was in the starting lineup Tuesday.
“It is always difficult to prepare,” Hoiberg said about the Rattlers’ new roster. “It was the same thing we had in the opener. We do have a film exchange from their scrimmage; we gave them our exhibition and we get theirs as well. So you get a little bit of a feel for all the newcomers. But it is a completely new team, and listening to the comments from their coach, he said it’s the most talent that he’s had in the program.”
