Kia Nurse drives to the hoop in the UConn women’s basketball team’s 82-63 victory over Ohio State on Dec. 19, 2016 at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. (Jackson Haigis/The Daily Campus)
Fresh off their 19 point victory over No. 12 Ohio State, the No. 1 ranked UConn Huskies (10-0) have a quick turnaround as they will be traveling to Lincoln, Nebraska to play the unranked Nebraska Cornhuskers (4-7). UConn is 2-0 all-time against Nebraska, with their last win coming by 42 points past season at the XL Center.
After starting off the season 3-1, the Cornhuskers have lost seven out of the next eight games, with their lone win coming over San Jose State on Dec. 9th. Nebraska has posted a minus 5.9 scoring margin over their first 11 games and allowed 69.5 points per game.
Leading the way for the Cornhuskers is sophomore Jessica Simpson, who averages 19.4 points per game and has led the team in scoring in every game but one. She is the only player on the roster to average more than nine points per game and the only one to average more than six rebounds, as her 11.1 per game is a team-high.
As before mentioned, the Huskies are 2-0 all-time against Nebraska and 2-0 all-time at Pinnacle Bank Arena, where they defeated BYU and Texas A&M en route to winning the 2014 NCAA Lincoln Regional. This will be UConn’s first game against Nebraska in Nebraska, as the Huskies bring in a 28-game road winning streak, which is good for third all time. They also bring in a 98 straight true road game winning streak against teams that are not ranked in the AP poll and an 85-game overall winning streak.
The Huskies in December are 202-56 and have won 127 out of their last 132 games played in December dating back to Dec. 30, 1993. UConn this year is 5-0 in December and have won each of those games by double digits. Sophomores Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson have led the offense for UConn, averaging 20.2 and 20.4 points per game respectively. The pair has helped the high-power Huskies offense average 79.6 points per game and outscore their opponents by a margin of 21.6 points per game.
Tip-off is scheduled for 9 p.m. as Wednesday’s game will be televised regionally on the Big 10 Network with radio coverage on the UConn/IMG Radio Network.
Matt Kren is a staff writer for The Daily Campus, covering women’s basketball. He can be reached via email at matthew.kren@uconn.edu.
