The No. 18 Nebraska women’s basketball team returns home to start a two-game Big Ten home stand on Thursday night, when the Huskers take on Minnesota.

Tip-off between the Big Red (12-3, 2-1 Big Ten) and the Golden Gophers (12-5, 1-2 Big Ten) is set for 8 p.m. (CT) with live national television coverage by the Big Ten Network with Mike Couzens and Mary Murphy on the call.

Both teams are coming off big wins on Sunday. The Huskers rolled to a 75-56 victory at Illinois. The Huskers unleashed their best second-half performance of the season by blitzing the Fighting Illini’s “Buzz” defense for 49 second-half points. Husker forwards Jordan Hooper and Emily Cady combined for 41 points and 19 rebounds on the day for the Big Red.

Minnesota crushed Northwestern with an even more explosive second half. The Golden Gophers outscored the Wildcats, 52-33 in the second half on their way to a 94-59 victory at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. Gopher guards Rachel Banham and Sari Noga combined for 45 points and nine assists.

Hooper, a two-time All-American and first-team All-Big Ten pick for the Huskers, takes aim at the 2,000-point scoring mark on Thursday night. The 6-2 senior from Alliance, Neb., needs 10 points to become the fourth player in Nebraska history to reach the 2,000 mark, joining Karen Jennings, Maurtice Ivy and Kelsey Griffin on that distinguished list. If she scores 10 points, Hooper would also notch the 100th double-figure scoring game of her illustrious NU career.

Hooper ranks among the top three players in the Big Ten with 20.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. She owns seven double-doubles this season and 33 in her career. She needs 10 points and 32 rebounds to become the fifth Big Ten player in history to reach career milestones of 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.

Lincoln – The Rebounders Club will host of the first of three Husker Hoops Watch Parties on Thursday, Jan. 23, at the N-Zone (728 Q Street) in the Haymarket.

The Huskers play at Penn State at 7 p.m. on ESPNU, and fans attending the watch party at the N-Zone will receive food and beverage specials, door prizes and chances to win a Husker basketball jersey and Pinnacle Bank Arena suite tickets for an upcoming game.  TheJan. 23 game is the first of three Husker Hoops Watch Parties at the N-Zone this season, as the other ones will be on Feb. 16 (at Michigan State) and March 13 (Big Ten Tournament).

For more information on any of the Husker Hoops Watch Parties, contact Kiley Eaton in the Husker Athletic Fund Office at (402) 472-2367.

Lincoln — Join the Husker basketball staff and Rebounders Club at the third Husker Hoops Happy Hour of the season this Friday, Jan. 17. The event takes place at Barry’s Bar and Grill (235 N 9th St.) in the Haymarket District.

The event will feature door prizes, food and beverage specials, a baggo tournament and the chance to mingle with members of the Nebraska basketball coaching staff during the second hour. Former Husker Jake Muhleisen will be the special guest.

There is no cost to attend, and no RSVP is required. For more information, contact the Husker Athletic Fund office at (402) 472-2367.

Champaign, Ill. – Jordan Hooper and Emily Cady combined for 41 points and 19 rebounds to power No. 16 Nebraska to a 75-56 road win over Illinois at the State Farm Center on Sunday afternoon.

With the victory, Nebraska improved to 12-3 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten, while Illinois slipped to 7-9 overall and 0-3 in the conference.

In a low-scoring first half, the Huskers took a 26-22 lead into halftime, then took complete control in the second half. The Big Red shot 56.7 percent in the second half, including 6-of-13 from three-point range. Nebraska led by as many as 21 points late in the game before settling for the 19-point victory.

“I really liked our poise in the second half,” Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. “We got rattled a little bit late in the first half, but in the second half we took great care of the basketball and hit some shots. Emily was great the whole game for us, and we got good contributions from a lot of people. That was a really good Big Ten road win.”

Hooper, a 6-2 senior forward Alliance, Neb., led the Huskers with 22 points and nine rebounds. Cady, a 6-2 junior forward from Seward, Neb., added her sixth double-double of the season and second in Big Ten play with 19 points, 10 boards, three assists and a block. Cady went 6-for-9 from the field, including a three-pointer, while going 6-for-6 at the free throw line.

Hooper and Cady led four Huskers in double figures, including junior guard Tear’a Laudermill who scored eight of her 13 points early in the second half to help the Big Red pull away. Sophomore point guard Rachel Theriot added 11 points and six assists. Junior starter Hailie Sample added four of her five points in the second half, while adding seven rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. Junior guard Brandi Jeffery also scored all five of her points in the second half to help the Huskers.

Nebraska’s hot-shooting second half helped NU finish 47.2 percent (25-53) from the field, including 7-of-19 from three-point range. The Huskers also hit 18-of-20 free throws. NU outrebounded Illinois 37-34, but lost the turnover battle, 18-15. However, Nebraska outscored the Illini in points off turnovers, 18-13.

Ivory Crawford led Illinois with 19 points, eight rebounds and four steals, while Jacqui Grant added 15 points and three blocks. No other Illini managed more than seven points, as Illinois went just 22-of-63 (.349) from the field, including a dismal 2-for-27 from three-point range. The Fighting Illini also hit just 10-of-16 free throws.

After surrendering nine points of a 13-point first-half lead late in the period, Cady got Nebraska off to a strong second-half start with a traditional three-point play to put NU’s lead to 29-22.

Illinois’ leading scorer, Amber Moore answered with only three of the game to cut it back to four, before Laudermill notched another three-point play. After an Alexis Smith basket by the Illini, Brandi Jeffery drained a three for NU.

The Big Red still led by just six before Hooper hit a three and Cady added another three-point play to push the NU margin to 12 points with 13:11 left. After a pair of Hooper free throws, Laudermill hit another three for NU then got a steal and a layup to match NU’s biggest margin of the game at 50-37. Cady then hit a shot to give NU its biggest margin at that point in the game at 52-37 with 10:37left, forcing an Illini timeout.

Sample, Cady and Hooper continued the surge, extending the Nebraska margin to 59-40 with 8:32 left, and Illinois got not closer than 15 points the rest of the way.

Nebraska jumped to a strong start, scoring the game’s first seven points in the opening three minutes. The Huskers took a double-digit lead for the first time on a Theriot bucket with 10:10 left in the half made it 15-4 NU.

A minute later, the Big Red took their biggest lead of the half on a layup by Laudermill to go up 19-6 with 9:07 left.

But Crawford and Grant got going for Illinois in the final nine minutes, combining for the Illini’s final 16 points. The duo combined on a 6-0 run to end the half to cut Nebraska’s halftime edge to 26-22.

Hooper led the Huskers with eight points and five boards in the first half, while Cady added six points and seven rebounds. Theriot pitched in six first-half points of her own along with two assists, while Laudermill finished with five in the opening period.

The starters for both teams combined for all 48 points in the first half. Crawford and Grant each led the Illini with nine points.

The Huskers led at the half despite going just 8-for-23 (.348) from the field, including 1-for-6 from three-point range. NU did hit 9-of-10 free throws and outrebounded Illinois 21-16. However, the Big Red lost the first-half turnover battle, 12-7.

Illinois shot just 30 percent (9-30) in the first half, including 0-for-14 from three-point range. The Illini were just 4-of-8 at the free throw line.

Nebraska returns to Lincoln to open a two-game Big Ten home stand this week. The Huskers open the stand by taking on Minnesota at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Thursday at 8 p.m. Tickets are available now at Huskers.com.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — A.J. Hammons scored 18 points to lead the Purdue to a 70-64 win over Nebraska on Sunday.

Ronnie Johnson added 14 points for the Boilermakers (11-5, 1-2 Big Ten), who picked up their first league win. Purdue made 24 of 52 shots, including 5 of 13 shots from behind the arc.

Terran Petteway had 19 points and nine rebounds, and Ray Gallegos, Deverell Biggs each scored 10 points to lead the Huskers (8-8, 0-4), who have lost five straight.

Johnson scored a basket and two free throws to give Purdue the lead with 5:44 remaining. Later, Hammons scored close to the basket to make it 61-58. Carter scored a lay-up to make it 63-58 with 2:17 left to play.

Hammons put the game out of reach by making two free throws with 42 seconds remaining.

The Nebraska basketball team looks to rebound after a difficult loss to Michigan on Sunday, when the Huskers travel to Purdue for an important Big Ten matchup.

Tipoff is set for 11:01 a.m. at Mackey Arena and the game will be carried nationally on BTN (Ch. 610 on DirecTV, Chs. 439 and 9500 on Dish; Chs. 2, 1333 on Time Warner Cable) with Chris Denari and Shon Morris on the call. The game will also be available online and on mobile devices on BTN2Go.

Sunday’s game will also be carried across the state on the 27-station Husker Sports Network with Kent Pavelka and Matt Davison calling all of the action, including flagship stations KLIN (1400 AM/94.5 FM) in Lincoln and KFAB (1110 AM) in Omaha (complete list of affiliates is on page five of the game notes). The game can also be heard on Huskers.com and is available on the Huskers’ app on iOS or android devices, as well as Sirius and XM Radio.

The Huskers (8-7, 0-3 B1G) battled Michigan to the wire, but were unable to get the go-ahead basket in the final seconds of a 71-70 loss against Michigan Thursday night. Derrick Walton Jr. hit a driving basket with 23 seconds left to give the Wolverines a one-point lead. The Huskers had two chances in the final seconds, one on a drive by Terran Petteway and a tip in from Leslee Smith just before the buzzer, but both shots rolled out and Nebraska suffered its first loss at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Nebraska shot a season-high 53.1 percent against Michigan after shooting just 33 percent in losses at No. 22 Iowa and No. 3 Ohio State and out-rebounded the Wolverines, 26-20, but were done in by 13 turnovers which led to 21 Wolverine points.

If Nebraska is to get its first Big Ten win of the season on Sunday, the Huskers will need to continue to rebound well. Entering Big Ten play, Nebraska was out-rebounded by 2.4 boards per game, while the Huskers have turned that around in conference action, grabbing 2.3 caroms per game more than their opponents.

Nebraska will also need a strong effort from their backcourt, as Ray Gallegos, Tai Webster and Deverell Biggs combined for 30 points on 11 of 19 shooting in Thursday’s loss to the Wolverines.

Purdue (10-5, 0-2 B1G) has been off since an 82-79 loss at Minnesota last Sunday, as the Boilermakers look to avoid their first 0-3 Big Ten start since 2005-06. The Boilermakers, who are 8-1 at Mackey Arena this season, are led by Terone and Ronnie Johnson, as the brothers combine for 25.3 points and 6.2 assists per game. In addition, sophomore center A.J. Hammons averages 8.6 points and a team-best 7.1 rebounds per contest.