Nebraska is looking to improve its record to 12-2 when the Huskers host Indiana (10-3) Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
The last time Nebraska started a season with 12 wins was the 1991-92 season when the Huskers went 12-1 in their first 13 games.
Nebraska will look to end a seven-game losing streak to Indiana dating back to the start of the 2019-20 season.
Wednesday marks the 27th time overall and 18th time as conference foes Nebraska and Indiana will match up on the hardwood. Indiana leads the all-time series 19-7, but the Huskers are 6-11 against the Hoosiers since Nebraska joined the Big Ten (6-10 regular season; 0-1 Big Ten Tournament).
“It’s a team that poses a lot of challenges because of their size,” Coach Fred Hoiberg said of the Hoosiers. “Mike [Mike Woodson] does a great job of running actions to play to their strengths. We are going to have to be on point.”
The Hoosiers have averaged 82.6 points per game during the seven-game winning streak over the Huskers and 86.0 points on the road.
Game-Time Mast
Husker center Rienk Mast has missed the last two games with a knee injury.
“Rienk was able to go through and do most of the non-contact stuff (Monday),” Hoiberg said. “We pulled him after he hit a certain load that we wanted him to achieve. Then today he went through a little bit of contact. We will see how he reacts [Wednesday]. He will most likely be a game-time decision.”
Should Mast return to the lineup it will provide a big boost to the Huskers on both ends of the floor.
Despite missing two games, Mast is third on the team in minutes played (322) and points per game (13.0). Mast is the team leader in rebounding at 9.9 per game, something the Huskers will need against the size of the Hoosiers.
Rebounding Key
The Huskers are 9-0 when they have out-rebounded their opponents this season. Indiana will be the biggest test this season to date with its size and length. Kel’el Ware, a 7-foot sophomore transfer from Oregon, leads the Hoosiers with 8.9 rebounds per game while 6-foot-9 forward Malik Reneau is second on the team (5.7 per game).
“We have to finish every possession with a rebound,” Hoiberg said. “They do a good job crashing across the boards … We have to go out there and stress physicality and hopefully go out there and execute for 40 minutes.”
More Numbers
The Huskers are 17-5 over their last 22 games dating back to Feb. 1, 2023. The only Big Ten teams with more wins since then are Purdue (20) and Indiana (18) as of Jan. 1.
Nebraska’s assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.3 is sixth in the Big Ten as of Jan. 1. Nebraska’s best assist-to-turnover ratio in the last decade is 1.32, set in the 2018-19 season.
“We can’t turn it over,” Hoiberg said. “We’ve been getting in a bad way, especially in the second half the other night (South Carolina State) of turning the ball over, when you have a 1-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. We have to get back to taking care of the ball.”
Nebraska ranks third in the Big Ten with 8.8 3-pointers per game. The Huskers have averaged more than eight 3-pointers per game just twice in program history (2001-02 and 2020-21).
