Nebraska Cornhuskers guard Brice Williams (3) is guarded by Purdue Boilermakers guard C.J. Cox (0) Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, during the NCAA men’s basketball game at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. Purdue Boilermakers won 104-68. Setting a program record usually is something to celebrate, and Nebraska hopes it will be able to do just that when it hosts Rutgers on Thursday in Lincoln, Neb.
The Cornhuskers are vying for their 21st consecutive home victory on Thursday.
Nebraska (12-4, 2-3 Big Ten) is 8-0 at Pinnacle Bank Arena this year, and it will no doubt be happy to be back in front of its home crowd after back-to-back road losses to Iowa (97-87 in overtime) and Purdue (104-68).
“You don’t want to be deflated and feel sorry for yourself,” Cornhuskers head coach Fred Hoiberg said. “Our job right now is to get these guys over it, learn from it and grow from it and find a way to fight all the way through for 40 minutes regardless of whatever the circumstances are.”
Offensively, Nebraska has been led in scoring by Brice Williams (18.8 points per game). Despite being the fourth-leading scorer in the Big Ten, Williams will be the league’s third-leading scorer in Thursday’s game itself.
That’s because Rutgers features the league’s Nos. 1 and 3 scorers. Dylan Harper is averaging 20 points a game, while Ace Bailey is contributing 19 points a contest.
The Scarlet Knights (9-8, 2-4) are coming off a much-needed 75-68 win on Monday at home against UCLA. Now, they hope to carry that momentum to earn their first road win of the season.
Rutgers is 1-6 away from Piscataway, N.J., this season.
Helping the cause for Rutgers was that Harper returned to full strength against the Bruins after being limited the previous two weeks with the flu. He should be healthy for Nebraska.
“He gives us a different dimension,” Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell said of Harper. “He can rebound too. He can switch things defensively because he’s got great size. He’s a hard guy to guard. His best days are ahead of him.”
–Field Level Media
