Nebraska @ Murray State preview
SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg has high expectations for sixth-year guard Brice Williams.
"A two-way player that I think has a chance to play at the next level," Hoiberg said. "No doubt about it with his positional size and overall skill level."
Williams will look to display those qualities for a second straight game on Sunday when the Cornhuskers meet Murray State in the first round of the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu.
Williams certainly played like a pro on Dec. 13 in Nebraska's most recent game, an 85-68 Big Ten Conference win over Indiana. He scored 30 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists as the Cornhuskers (7-2) closed the game on a 21-4 run to even their conference record at 1-1.
The team's leading scorer at 18.9 points per game, Williams is hitting 40.6 percent of his 3-pointers (13 of 32). In fact, he's just percentage points shy of the rare 50-40-90 club as he's making 49.5 percent from the field and 89.1 percent at the foul line.
Wisconsin transfer Connor Essegian (13 points per game) and Juwan Gary (11) are the other double-figure scorers for Nebraska.
Meanwhile, the Racers (6-4) are looking to bounce back from an 84-74 loss Wednesday night at Indiana State in Missouri Valley Conference play. They trailed 41-26 at halftime and simply couldn't make enough stops, enabling the Sycamores to convert 56.9 percent from the field (29 of 51).
Murray State was picked third in the MVC's preseason poll after returning a pair of key players in point guard JaCobi Wood and forward Nick Ellington. Wood leads four double-figure scorers at 15 points per game and also dishes out 5.4 assists, while Southern Illinois transfer AJ Ferguson is averaging a career-high 12.3 points.
"When we play at our level, our A game, this is a really good basketball team," said Racers coach Steve Prohm. "If you don't play up to your capability, up to your level, you're just average."
Murray State has won both previous matchups with the Cornhuskers, in 1990 and 2000.
--Field Level Media