Courtesy of Husker Athletics
A pair of matchups against Elite Eight qualifiers, a neutral-site matchup with Oregon State and a three-game Cornhusker Classic in Lincoln highlight the 2023-24 Nebraska men’s basketball non-conference schedule released Wednesday.
The 11-game non-conference slate features a trip to Manhattan, Kan., for a matchup with Kansas State on Dec. 17. The Wildcats went 26-10 and reached the Elite Eight before losing to Florida Atlantic. It is the third game of a three-year series with the Wildcats, and the Huskers’ first trip to Manhattan since 2011.
Nebraska’s only other trip in non-conference play is on Saturday, Nov. 18, when the Huskers travel to Sioux Falls, S.D., to face Oregon State. It is NU’s second trip to the Sanford Pentagon, as Nebraska defeated Oklahoma State in the 2018-19 season. The Beavers had one of the nation’s youngest teams in 2022-23, as more than 50 percent of the team’s scoring came from freshmen. This will be the first meeting between the two teams since 2009.
The nine-game home schedule features the annual matchup with Creighton on Sunday, Dec. 3. The Bluejays, who return three starters, went 24-13 and reached the Elite Eight before losing to San Diego State in the final second of regulation. The Huskers won last year’s meeting in Omaha, 63-53, picking up their first win over Creighton in Omaha since 2004.
Nebraska’s nine home non-conference games is the most since also having nine in 2021-22. The Huskers have been in the top five in the Big Ten in non-conference schedule in two of the past three years, including last year where NU’s non-conference SOS was third among Big Ten programs.
Nebraska will open its season with four straight home games, beginning with the season opener against Lindenwood (Nov. 6). NU will also host Florida A&M (Nov. 9) before taking on Rider (Nov. 13) and Stony Brook (Nov. 15) in the first two games of the multi-team event. The third game of the Cornhusker Classic is a Nov. 22 matchup with a Duquesne team that won 20 games, finished sixth in the A-10 and played in the CBI last season. The Dukes return three of their top four scorers from last year, including All-A-10 guard Dae Dae Grant (15.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg and 2.5 apg) and A-10 Defensive Team member Jimmy Clark III (12.2 ppg, 2.3 spg).
The Duquesne game is the first of four straight games against teams that won at least 20 games last year. The Huskers will take on Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 26, as the Titans won 20 games before losing in the Big West title game.
NU will close the first part of non-conference play with Creighton before playing its first two Big Ten games. The Huskers will resume non-conference play at Kansa State (Dec. 17) before playing host to North Dakota (Dec. 20) and South Carolina State (Dec. 29).
Start times and broadcast information for the Huskers’ non-conference games will be set later this summer.
Nebraska will also have one home exhibition game, as the Huskers will host Doane on Sunday, Oct. 29. Fans interested in purchasing 2023-24 season tickets can join the season ticket request list at Huskers.com/Tickets. Last year, NU had just five home games in non-conference play, including the Battle in the Vault event.
Nebraska returns five of its top eight scorers, including a trio of starters, from a team that went 16-16 and closed the regular season by winning six of its final eight Big Ten games. Senior All-Big Ten performer Keisei Tominaga headlines NU’s returnees as the averaged 13.1 points per game while shooting 50.3 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range. In addition to Tominaga, the Huskers have three other players who made at least 12 starts in 2022-23, forward Juwan Gary (9.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg) and guards C.J. Wilcher (8.0 ppg) and Jamarques Lawrence (5.0 ppg).
The Huskers welcome in a five-member class which includes transfers Josiah Allick (New Mexico), Rienk Mast (Bradley), Ahron Ulis (Iowa), Brice Williams (Charlotte) and freshman Eli Rice. The transfer class has been ranked one of the nation’s top groups by On3 and 247Sports.
