The basketball talent in Nebraska is on the rise, and all season long, Hail Varsity will be tracking the in-state players with Division I offers, including those Nebraska is recruiting.
2021 Millard North Guard Hunter Sallis (Nebraska Target)
Sallis led Millard North to a pair of wins last week including a big one at home over a good team.
On Tuesday, Millard North smacked Omaha Bryan 90-50. Sallis finished with a game-high 21 points on 9-of-16 from the field including 2-of-5 from 3 and 1-of-2 from the line, five rebounds (two offensive), five assists, two steals, one block and one turnover. A Gonzaga coach made the trip to Omaha to attend the game.
He followed that up with 18 points on 7-of-14 from the field, 0-of-2 from 3 and 4-of-6 from the free-throw line, four rebounds, one assist, one steal and four turnovers. He threw down a pair of dunks including a SportsCenter Top 10-worthy jam off a back-board pass from Jadin Johnson.
Former Nebraska and current UConn assistant Kenya Hunter and Louisville assistant Luke Murray attended the game. UConn has already offered Sallis, but Louisville has not.
Over the weekend, Sallis took an official visit to Gonzaga where he received an offer, pushing his total to 16.
2022 Millard North Forward Jasen Green (Nebraska Target)
Green cracked double figures in both games last week, giving him 10 or more points in seven of his last nine games.
On Tuesday at Omaha Bryan, Green scored 12 points on 5-of-10 from the field, 1-of-4 from 3 and 1-of-1 from the line with eight rebounds (two offensive), two blocks and one assist.
He followed that up with 18 points against Westside, tying his career-high set in the Metro Holiday Tournament final. He shot 8-of-10 from the filed (0-of-1 from 3) and 2-of-2 from the line, grabbed eight rebounds including four on the offensive end, blocked two shots and turned the ball over once.
2020 Millard North Forward Max Murrell (Stanford Commit)
Murrell had another quiet week offensively for Millard North. He scored seven points on 2-of-7 shooting and 3-of-4 from the foul line with six rebounds, four assists, six blocks and one steal against Bryan.
Against Omaha Westside, he scored 10 points on 4-of-8 from the fielding 2-of-2 from the line with six of those points coming in the fourth quarter including a pair of transition alley-oops to help seal the game. He had five rebounds, two assists, one steal and three turnovers. He failed to record a block for the first time in his varsity career which began as a sophomore.
Millard North has two home games coming up this weekend. The Mustangs will take on Millard South on Friday and Lincoln Southeast on Saturday.
2020 Lincoln North Star Guard Donovan Williams
Williams had an eventful five days last week that included a new offer and three games.
First, Oklahoma State extended an offer on Friday, becoming the third Big 12 team to offer him since he reopened his recruitment. The Cowboys currently have three commits in their 2020 class headlined by arguable the best player in the country in 5-star guard Cade Cunningham. Williams is taking an unofficial visit to Stillwater on Monday.
As for the on-the-court results, the Navigators went 2-1 with Williams recording a double-double in all three games after doing so just three times in his first three seasons at North Star.
On Tuesday, the Gators made the drive out to Norfolk to make up the game that got postponed from the previous Friday and they won 60-51. Williams had a game-high 26 points on 8-of-17 from the field and 7-of-8 from the line, a career-high 14 rebounds (two offensive), three assists, one steal and three turnovers.
On Friday, North Star won again, beating city rival Lincoln East 67-55. Williams scored 25 points on 8-of-18 from the field and 7-of-12 from the stripe. He also added 11 rebounds (two offensive), one assists, one steal and two turnovers to his stat line.
The Gators closed out the week with a loss at Grand Island on Saturday. North Star rallied from a 13-point deficit to force overtime but fell short 64-62. Williams scored 19 points but shot just 4-of-20 from the field and 11-of-13 from the free-throw line. He grabbed 14 rebounds including three on offense, recorded three steals, dished out two assists and turned the ball over four times.
Williams rebounded well, but he struggled mightily from the 3-point line, shooting a combined 5-of-28 from 3 in those three games.
North Star has three more games this week. The Gators will host Omaha Northwest on Tuesday and Lincoln Southwest on Friday before traveling to Millard South on Saturday.
2021 Bellevue West Point Guard Chucky Hepburn (Wisconsin Commit)
Bellevue West went 2-0 in a tough week featuring games at Omaha Westside and at home against Omaha Creighton Prep.
On Tuesday, the Thunderbirds pulled out an 85-84 overtime win against the Warriors thanks to a steal by Trey Hepburn and game-winning free throws by Chucky Hepburn in the final seconds.
The younger Hepburn finished with 27 points, though he shot just 10-of-27 from the field including 1-of-5 from 3. He was 6-of-8 from the foul line, grabbed eight rebounds (four offensive), nabbed seven steals, dished out six assists and turned the ball over seven times, the second-highest total of his career.
Bellevue West turned a competitive game against Prep into a blowout by opening the fourth quarter with a 20-3 run en route to a 75-56 win, avenging a loss to the Junior Jays in the Metro Holiday Tournament. Hepburn finished with 16 points, nine assists, four rebounds and three steals.
2021 Bellevue West Wing Frankie Fidler
After scoring nine points in his previous two games, Fidler cracked double digits in both games last week for the Thunderbirds.
He had 11 points on 4-of-7 from the field, 1-of-1 from 3 and 2-of-2 from the line with eight rebounds, five assists, two blocks and four turnovers against Westside.
Against the Junior Jays, Fidler scored a game-high 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting (3-of-4 from 3) with four rebounds and three assists. Fidler's has made eight of his last 12 3-point attempts after opening the season 5-of-24 from deep.
Bellevue West opens this week with a really tough test at Omaha Central on Tuesday before taking on two two-win teams on the road over the weekend — Omaha Northwest on Friday and Omaha Bryan on Saturday.
2020 Omaha Westside Guard Jadin Booth (Omaha Commit)
Omaha Westside had strong showings but fell short against two of Nebraska’s best before blowing out a solid Sioux City (Iowa) East on Saturday.
In the loss to Bellevue West on Tuesday, Booth matched Hepburn’s 27 points, shooting 9-of-16 from the field, 3-of-6 from 3 and 6-of-6 from the line with six rebounds, five assists, three steals, one block and three turnovers.
In the loss at Millard North on Friday, Booth put up a game-high 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting, though he was just 2-of-8 from 3. He was 2-of-4 from the foul line with three rebounds, two assists, two steals and a turnover.
Booth’s jumper wasn’t falling again on Saturday against Sioux City East in the Nebraska Prep Classic, but he still finished with 13 points on 4-pf-11 from the field, 1-of-5 from 3 and 4-of-4 from the line, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals, one block and two turnovers as Westside won 73-54.
The schedules lightens up this week as the Warriors will play at Millard West on Friday and at Bellevue East on Saturday.
2020 Omaha Central Guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr.
The Eagles got revenge for their second-round upset at the Metro Holiday Tournament by winning the rematch with Papillion-La Vista on Friday, 61-44. The Monarchs jumped out to a 17-12 lead after one quarter but the Eagles flexed their defensive muscles and held Papio to two points in the second quarter. It is worth noting that Papillion-La Vista was without leading scorer Luke Lindenmeyer, who was sick.
Wrightsell led all scorers with 21 points on 7-of-17 from the field and 7-of-7 from the line, though he missed all four of his 3-point attempts. He also tied Central’s starting center, Deng Diew, with a game-high eight rebounds, notched six steals, dished out four assists and turned the ball over just twice.
The Eagles will take their 11-1 record into a tough week that includes games against Bellevue West on Tuesday, at Omaha Creighton Prep on Friday and against Norfolk on Saturday.
Jacob Padilla has been writing for Hail Varsity since 2015. He covers football, volleyball men’s basketball and prep sports. He also co-hosts the Nebraska Preps Postgame and Nebraska Shootaround podcasts for the Hurrdat Media and Hail Varsity podcast networks. His love of basketball can best be described as an obsession and if you need to find him, he’s probably in a gym somewhere watching, coaching or playing hoops.
