Two of the Big Ten’s newest members meet for the first time Thursday evening, as Nebraska travels to No. 16/15 (AP/Coaches) Maryland.
Tipoff from the XFINITY Center is set for 6:06 p.m. (central) and the contest will be televised nationally on BTN with Dave Revsine and Jim Jackson on the call. Thursday’s game is also available online and on mobile devices on BTN2Go.
The game will be broadcast across the state of Nebraska on the 37-station IMG Husker Sports Radio Network, including KLIN 1400 AM in Lincoln, 1110 KFAB in Omaha and KRVN 880 AM in Lexington with Kent Pavelka calling the action and Matt Davison adding color commentary. The game can be heard for free on Huskers.com and is available on the Huskers’ app on iOS or android devices, as well as on TuneIn Radio and on SiriusXM Satellite Radio.
The Huskers (13-12, 5-8 Big Ten) battled at Purdue before succumbing 66-54. Nebraska held the Boilermakers to 39 percent shooting, but struggled on the boards, as a 44-29 deficit on the glass led to Purdue scoring 23 second-chance points – only the third time the Huskers allowed at least 15 second-chance points this season. Purdue also got to the foul line 30 times, compared to nine for the Huskers, as NU remained winless on the road in Big Ten play.
One positive from Sunday’s loss was the play of junior forward Walter Pitchford, as the junior had 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor. Pitchford has been in double figures twice in the last four contests after reaching the mark once in NU’s first nine Big Ten outings.
Pitchford joined juniors Shavon Shields (19 points) and Terran Petteway (13) to give the Huskers a trio of double-figure efforts against the Boilermakers. Shields had 15 of his 19 points in the second half, as the Huskers shot 50 percent in the second half against the Big Ten’s best field goal defense.
Shields, a 6-foot-7 junior, has been in double figures in each of the last eight contests and could match the longest streak of double-figure efforts in his career on Thursday.
Maryland (21-5, 9-4 Big Ten) are tied with Purdue for second in the conference standings heading into the final three weeks of the season. The Terrapins feature one of the best freshmen in the country in point guard Melo Trimble, who averages 15.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. In addition, Dez Wells and Jake Layman key a Maryland team which is 15-1 at home this season with the only loss coming to Virginia, which is ranked second in this week’s poll, in December.