LINCOLN ‹ Following one of the most difficult opening stretches for any team in Big 12 Conference play this season, the Nebraska men's basketball team returns to the friendly confines of the Bob Devaney Sports Center Saturday to kick off a February full of home contests.
The Cornhuskers (12-6, 1-4 Big 12) will play eight games in the month with five of the contests taking place on their home court a place where NU has won better than 75 percent of its games in the past 31 years. Nebraska opens the month against the Iowa State Cyclones in a game set to tip off at 3:01 p.m. Saturday.
The contest that will be telecast regionally on ESPN Plus (Grand Island cable channel 11).
The Huskers look forward to getting back into action as they will carry some momentum into the weekend after picking up their first league win of the year on Wednesday. The Huskers, who faced top-five Kansas twice and Baylor in their first four league games, were the last team in the conference to win a Big 12 contest this year after picking up a 66-62 win over Missouri in Columbia.
For the Huskers to make it two straight wins, NU will need several top performances like it received Wednesday. Junior guard Steve Harley continued his strong recent play, picking up a team-high 15 points and five rebounds while sophomore guard Ryan Anderson posted his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Nebraska has lost three straight games to Iowa State in the Devaney Center and for that streak to stop this weekend senior Aleks Maric will have to be at the center of the Huskers' game plan.
Maric has found a great amount of success against the Cyclones in his career, both at home and on the road. He set the NU sophomore single-game scoring record with 37 points on 13-of-15 shooting in Ames in 2006. Maric followed with 36 points on 15-of-30 shooting against ISU at home last season.
In the past two seasons against ISU, Maric has averaged 26.5 points and 11.3 rebounds per game in four contests. He has hit 40-of-65 from the field in that span and gotten to the free throw line 39 times (made 26, 66.7 percent). Last year, Maric averaged 28.0 points and 12.5 rebounds in two contests against ISU.
Iowa State enters this weekend's contest with a 13-8 overall record and sit at .500 in the Big 12 standings after posting a 3-3 mark through its first six league games of the season. The Cyclones have lost four straight road contests and are looking for their first conference road win of the season.
ISU suffered a setback with the loss of leading scorer Wesley Johnson on Tuesday against Colorado. Johnson played just eight minutes before re-injuring his ankle but the Cyclones still pulled out a 57-41 victory over the Buffs.
Johnson averaged 13.9 points per game in 17 contests this season, hitting a team-best 31 3-pointers and knocking down 77.8 percent from the free-throw line.
Behind Johnson, the Cyclones have gotten 12.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game from freshman forward Craig Brackens, who also leads the team with 27 blocked shots.
Along with Brackens, senior center Jiri Hubalek gives the Cyclones a strong front court that will test the Huskers. Hubalek has averaged 11.7 points and a team-high 7.2 rebounds per game this season. Forward Rahshon Clark has added 9.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game on a team-best 53.6 percent shooting from the floor.
As a team, the Cyclones have hit 43.4 percent from the field, including 39 percent in league action. The Cyclones have struggled from 3-point range, hitting just over 31 percent from beyond the arc.
Starting Lineups
Iowa St. (13-8, 3-3) Yr. Ht. Ppg. Rpg.
GSean Haluska Jr. 6-3 1.8 1.0
GBryan Petersen Jr. 6-1 5.1 3.4*
FRashon Clark Sr. 6-6 9.7 5.4
FCriag Brackens Fr. 6-10 12.3 5.3
CJiri Hubalek Sr. 6-11 11.7 7.2
Nebraska (12-6, 1-4) Yr. Ht. Ppg. Rpg.
GCookie Miller Fr. 5-7 5.9 3.9*
GSteve Harley Jr. 5-11 7.6 2.8
GAde Dagunduro Jr. 6-5 9.2 4.3
GRyan Anderson So. 6-4 9.0 5.8
CAleks Maric Sr. 6-11 15.4 8.5
*-Assists per game
WHEN: Saturday, 3 p.m.
WHERE: Devaney Sports Center, Lincoln
TV: ESPN Plus/KLKN (G.I. cable channel 8)
RADIO: KRGI (1430 AM)
SATELLITE RADIO: Sirius (channel 119)
WEB: Huskers.com
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