Preview, how to watch No. 25 Maryland basketball's rematch against Nebraska
The Terps hit the road for the final time in February before three home games to close the month.
The No. 25 Maryland men's basketball team hits the road Thursday to continue an important month.
Maryland (18-6, 8-5 Big Ten) takes on Nebraska (16-8, 6-7 Big Ten) in a rematch of a Jan. 19 matchup that the former won, 69-66, in College Park.
Ja'Kobi Gillespie had 22 points and five assists to lead the Terps in the first meeting, which got dicey late. Maryland led 66-57 in the final three and a half minutes, but the Cornhuskers rattled off a 9-0 run to tie it at 66 with 1:02 left. Gillespie hit the go-ahead layup with 40 seconds left, Rodney Rice hit a free throw to bring the lead to three with 22 seconds left and Nebraska guard Connor Essegian missed a potential game-tying three with three seconds remaining.
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It was a guard-heavy scoring effort for the Terps the first time around; Rice had 15 points and Selton Miguel added 13 to help lead the charge. Maryland held Nebraska's leading scorer Brice Williams to 14 points, and reserve big Andrew Morgan led the Cornhuskers with 17 points.
Thursday's game is a Quadrant One matchup for both teams.
Here's everything you need to know about how to watch, follow and listen to the matchup.
Tipoff: 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 13 at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska
TV: Big Ten Network – Kevin Kugler (play-by-play), Shon Morris (analyst)
Streaming: FOX Sports
Radio: Maryland Sports Radio Network, 105.7FM (Baltimore), 980AM (D.C.) – Johnny Holliday (play-by-play), Chris Knoche (analyst), Claude Jennings, Jr. (engineer)
Live Stats: Link
KenPom Line: Maryland -1
Fred Hoiberg is in his sixth season as Nebraska's head coach, and he looks to take the Cornhuskers to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time since 1993-94. Nebraska is 0-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. ESPN expert Joe Lunardi had Nebraska as No. 10 seed in his latest projection Tuesday.
As of Wednesday morning, Nebraska is No. 47 in the NET, No. 38 at KenPom, No. 41 at Torvik and No. 43 in the ESPN Basketball Power Index. In resume-based team-sheet metrics, Nebraska is 30th in KPI, 37th in wins above bubble and 40th in strength of record. The Cornhuskers are 5-6 in Quadrant 1 and 3-2 in Quadrant 2 with zero losses outside the first two quadrants.
It has been a true rollercoaster ride of a season for Nebraska, which started 12-2 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten. Its loss at Maryland was its fourth straight in an eventual six-game losing streak. Since then, Nebraska has won four straight games, including three Quad 1 victories. It defeated Ohio State by eight at home this past Sunday, Washington by 14 on the road last Wednesday, Oregon by six on the road on Feb. 2 and Illinois by six in overtime on Jan. 30. Nebraska certainly has a lot of confidence and momentum heading into Thursday's matchup in front of what should be a tremendous home crowd.
"Two big things that we have to overcome is the fact that it really is a, it's one of – I tell everybody this – it's one of the sneakiest, hardest places to play in college basketball because it's a fan base that, no matter what's going on, they're going to get 16,000," Maryland head coach Kevin Willard said Monday. "They get there two hours early. They're into the game. It's a really tough place to play, and Fred does a great job defensively. They really play a weird defensive kind of scheme where they force everything baseline, baseline traps, post traps are really aggressive. So, we have to score the basketball. We have to kind of get some easy buckets because Fred makes everything difficult."
Maryland will catch a break personnel-wise, as Nebraska will likely be without 6-foot-10 sophomore forward Berke Büyüktuncel (ankle) on Thursday.
"So, we may have to play Braxton (Meah) and Andrew (Morgan) at times together out there," Hoiberg said on Nebraska radio Monday, per Husker247. "But this is one of those things. Injuries happen and you just have to be ready. Next man up mentality and we'll be OK."
Meah, the 7-foot-1 Washington transfer, played just four minutes against Maryland in the first meeting and missed games on Jan. 26 and Jan. 30. Meah is averaging three points and 3.2 rebounds in 13.7 minutes per game this season. He's shooting 78.4% (29-for-37) from two but only 37.5% (6-for-16) from the free-throw line. Maryland is familiar with Morgan, who averages 7.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game while shooting 60% from two, 25% (3-for-12) from three and 56.5% from the charity stripe.
Nebraska's three leading scorers are Williams (19.4 points per game), 6-foot-6 forward Juwan Gary (13.1 PPG) and Essegian (11 PPG). Williams has eight 25-point games this season, including two 30-point showings. He shoots 35.8% from three on 4.5 attempts per game. Gary shoots just 28.6% from three, but he takes 3.5 attempts per game. Essegian, who comes off the bench, is a 40.8% three-point shooter on 5.9 attempts per game.
Junior guard Sam Hoiberg and senior guard Rollie Worster joined Williams, Gary and Büyüktuncel in Nebraska's most recent starting lineup. Hoiberg averages 3.5 points per game and is a 40.7% (11-for-27) three-point shooter. Worster averages 7.9 points, four rebounds and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 44.6% from the field and 23.7% from three.
Hoiberg also noted in his recent radio appearance that 6-foot-4 sophomore guard Cale Jacobsen, 6-foot-7 sophomore guard Gavin Griffiths and 6-foot-3 senior guard Ahron Ulis will need to be ready to contribute. Jacobsen is averaging 0.6 points in 4.6 minutes per game, Griffiths is averaging 2.3 points in 9.1 minutes per game and Ulis is averaging 2.5 points in 11.9 minutes per game. Ulis had 10 assists against Maryland the first time the teams met this season.
Maryland has lost its six games this season by a combined 24 points. In all six defeats, it never felt like Maryland was definitively worse than the opponent. The Terps have been unable to sustain leads in their road losses, and Thursday provides yet another test against a team they have already beaten. Maryland still has a huge opportunity to do damage and climb the Big Ten standings and NCAA Tournament projections in February. That continues Thursday in a game the Terps should be expecting to win before three straight home games to end the month.
