In-state bragging rights are on the line when Nebraska hosts Creighton in a nonconference game on Sunday afternoon in Lincoln.
The Cornhuskers (8-0) are off to their best start since beginning the 1977-78 season with a school-record 10 straight wins. Nebraska has won 12 in a row dating back to last season, its longest win streak since a school-record 14 in 1990-91.
Creighton (5-3) has dropped games to ranked teams Gonzaga and Iowa State as well as Baylor, the latter two at the Players Era tournament last month in Las Vegas. The Bluejays beat Nicholls at home on Tuesday.
“We let a couple get away, we needed one of those other ones in Vegas and we didn’t get it, so we’ve got to try to win one maybe we’re not supposed to,” Creighton coach Doug McDermott said.
Nebraska hasn’t played since Nov. 29, when it beat USC Upstate at home. It played that game without senior guard Connor Essegian, who is out for the season with an ankle injury.
Creighton is also down a bench guard, as freshman Hudson Greer missed the Nicholls game with a foot injury and won’t play Sunday.
Nebraska has won its six home games by an average of 16.3 points per game but has trailed in the first half in three of them, including a 12-point deficit against USC Upstate.
“For whatever reason in this building, we’ve not gotten off to the type of starts that we need to get our incredible crowd behind us,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said. “And on the road, we’ve gotten off to really good starts when we went and played in those neutral site games. And it’s just not carrying over right now here.”
Creighton features one of the country’s most balanced scoring attacks, averaging 77.5 ppg despite no Bluejay contributing more than senior guard Josh Dix’s 12.0 per contest. Nebraska is more top-heavy, with Rienk Mast at 17.9 and Pryce Sandfort at 16.1 to lead the Cornhuskers to 84.8 ppg.
Neither team is particularly stellar at making 3-pointers, but both aren’t afraid to launch from deep. Nebraska takes 32.5 per game, making more than 11 each night, while Creighton has attempted 28.8 triples per game and makes 9.5.
