Huskers Back in Big Ten, Top 20 Action with Michigan
The Nebraska women's basketball team returns to Pinnacle Bank Arena to close its five-game December home stand by battling its fifth top-20 opponent of the season, when the Huskers take on Michigan Wednesday.
Tip-off between Nebraska (10-3, 2-0 Big Ten) and the No. 14 Wolverines (11-1, 1-0 Big 12) is set for 6 p.m. (CT) in Lincoln. Live television coverage will be provided by BTN with Sloane Martin and Brenda VanLengen on the call. The game also can be heard on the Huskers Radio Network with Matt Coatney and Jeff Griesch on 107.3 FM and 1400 AM in Lincoln and 590 AM in Omaha, the Huskers App and Huskers.com.
Nebraska is coming off an epic 85-79 3OT victory over No. 20 Kansas at Pinnacle Bank Arena (Dec. 21) to improve to 4-0 on the current stand and 7-0 at home this season.
Nebraska has won 24 of its last 25 at PBA with 22 wins by double figures, including a 79-58 win over then-No. 8 Michigan on Jan. 4, 2022, which matched NU's largest victory margin ever over a top-10 opponent.
Nebraska Head Coach
Amy Williams will take aim at her 300th career win in Wednesday's game with the Wolverines, while Michigan Head Coach Kim Barnes Arico will try for career win No. 500.
Jaz Shelley, who led Nebraska with team highs of 24 points and six assists in the win over Kansas, has provided a big-time offensive presence for the Huskers over the last seven games. The 5-9 guard from Moe, Australia, is averaging 20.6 points and 5.7 assists while hitting 50.9 percent of her field goals, including 51.9 percent (27-52) of her three-point attempts. In the first six games this season, Shelley averaged 9.7 points and 7.5 assists while hitting 23.3 percent (7-30) of her threes. She leads NU in scoring (15.5 ppg), assists (6.5 apg), steals (1.5 spg) and three-pointers per game (2.6). Through two Big Ten games, Shelley leads the conference by averaging 30.0 points and 6.5 made threes per contest.
Preseason All-Big Ten center
Alexis Markowski has added 13.6 points and a Big Ten-best 9.8 rebounds over 13 games. The 6-3 center from Lincoln owns three consecutive double-doubles after going for 18 points and a team-high 10 rebounds in the win over Kansas. She added three assists, two blocks and two steals for the Big Red against the Jayhawks. Over the last three games, Markowski is averaging 18.7 points, 11.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks, including a 22-point, 10-rebound effort going head-to-head with 2022 Mountain West Freshman of the Year Allyson Fertig in a win over Wyoming (Dec. 18). Markowski owns six double-doubles this year, matching her 2022 total of six, when she was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year. She has nine double-figure scoring games and eight double-digit rebound games this season.
Allison Weidner was off to an outstanding start in her sophomore season. The 5-10 guard from Humphrey, Neb., averaged 10.2, 6.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists, including the first two double-doubles of her career, through Nebraska's first 13 games. She suffered a leg injury midway through the fourth quarter in the Husker win over No. 20 Kansas. Weidner had 13 points and a career-high 15 rebounds in Nebraska's first-ever win over No. 20 Maryland (Dec. 4) and 13 points and a season-high seven assists in NU's Big Ten win over Wisconsin (Dec. 7).
Sam Haiby, who missed 10 of Nebraska's first 11 games this season, stepped up in a huge way in the triple-overtime thriller against No. 20 Kansas. Haiby scored a season-high 12 points, including 10 after halftime, to help will the Huskers to victory. The 5-9 graduate guard had only played 15 total minutes over two games this season before going for 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals in 25 minutes against the Jayhawks. Haiby is a three-year starter for the Big Red who needs three points to reach 1,400 in her career. Haiby was expected to miss the entire 2022-23 season, but a leg injury was less severe than originally thought, and she has been recovering and rehabbing since surgery in mid-October.
Maddie Krull, a Nebraska native and South Dakota transfer, has started each of the last five games to help the Huskers to their five-game winning streak. A defensive workhorse, Krull is averaging 4.2 points, 1.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists as a starter.
Maggie Mendelson made her Husker basketball debut with nine points on perfect shooting in nine minutes in a win over Wyoming (Dec. 18). The 6-foot-5, 17-year-old forward/center from Ogden, Utah, was even better in Nebraska's win over No. 20 Kansas (Dec. 21). She just missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds to go with two blocks. She scored four points and had two huge defensive rebounds in the third overtime period to help the Huskers to victory. In 27 minutes as a college basketball player, Mendelson has totaled 18 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks. Mendelson helped the U.S. U16 National Basketball Team to gold at the FIBA Americas Championship in August of 2021 and helped the U.S. U19 National Volleyball Team to gold at the Pan American Cup in July of 2022.
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Scouting the Michigan Wolverines
Coach Kim Barnes Arico is in her 11th season leading Michigan and her 27th year as a head coach. She will take aim at her 500th career win in Wednesday's game at Nebraska. Barnes Arico led Michigan to its best season in school history with a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight last year, after Michigan advanced to its first-ever NCAA Sweet Sixteen in 2021.
No. 14 Michigan comes to Lincoln with an 11-1 overall record following a 76-68 win over No. 6 North Carolina in Charlotte (Dec. 20). The Wolverines scored a program record 35 first-quarter points and never looked back in the win over the Tar Heels.
Former Husker Leigha Brown led Michigan with 25 points against UNC, while sophomore Laila Phelia added 20 points.
Michigan opened Big Ten play with a 77-66 win over Northwestern at Crisler Arena (Dec. 4), before suffering a 71-68 home loss to Toledo just four days later. Michigan also owns an 84-75 win over a top-25 Baylor team (Nov. 27).
Senior Emily Kiser leads Michigan with 18.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. The 6-3 post also ranks second on the team with 40 assists. Kiser is shooting a team-best 58.1 percent from the field and 87 percent (60-69) at the free throw line.
Phelia is off to an outstanding start to her sophomore season. The 6-0 guard is averaging 17.0 points and 3.7 rebounds while leading the Wolverines with 1.9 steals per game. She also leads Michigan with 12 blocks on the year. Phelia has hit 49.4 percent of her shots, including 45 percent (18-40) of her threes, while connecting on 80 percent (32-40) of her free throws.
Brown has moved into a point guard role for the Wolverines in her fifth season overall and third in Ann Arbor. The 6-1 senior is averaging 14.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and a team-best 5.2 assists.
Senior guard Maddie Nolan (7.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg) and junior forward Cameron Williams (7.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg) have started all 12 games alongside Kiser and Phelia for the Wolverines.
Junior Elise Stuck (1.8 ppg, 2.4 rpg), sophomore Greta Campschroeder (4.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg) and freshman Alyssa Crockett (2.9 ppg, 2.0 rpg) have played in all 12 games for Michigan. Sophomore Jordan Hobbs (2.9 ppg, 1.3 rpg) also has played in 11 contests for the Wolverines.
Michigan is averaging 77.6 points and hitting 48.5 percent of its field goal attempts, including 33.2 percent of its threes, while making 5.9 threes per game. The Wolverines own a plus-8.4 (37.5-29.1) team rebounding margin and a plus-4.7 turnover margin. Michigan is surrendering just 57.1 points per game while holding opponents to 38.1 percent shooting.
