Nebraska’s men’s basketball schedule continues to come into focus as the Golden Window Classic, hosted in Lincoln by Elevate Hoops, released its schedule on Wednesday night.
The Huskers will open their season on Wednesday at home against McNeese State, which is not a part of the multi-team event. They will begin play in the Golden Window Classic at Pinnacle Bank Arena at 1 p.m. on Nov. 26 against Saint Louis. The Huskers will take Nov. 27 off before returning to the court on Nov. 28 to face San Francisco, another 1 p.m. tipoff.
Illinois State and Northern Iowa were part of the field the MTE announced back on Nov. 12, but they both dropped out within the last week and Elevate Hoops added Division II Chadron State to bump the team count up from six to seven.
LSU will face San Francisco at 2 p.m. on Wednesday to begin play in the MTE. Western Kentucky will take on Nevada at 5 p.m.
After the Huskers and Billikens tip things off on Thanksgiving, LSU will play Western Kentucky at 4 p.m. Nevada and Chadron will play at 7 p.m. to close out the day.
San Francisco versus Chadron State at noon will be the only game on Nov. 27.
After the Huskers face the Dons on Nov. 28, LSU and Saint Louis will wrap up the event with a 4 p.m. tipoff later that day.
Nebraska transfers Shamiel Stevenson and Dalano Banton avoided facing their former teams with how the match-ups shook out since Nebraska will not play Nevada or Western Kentucky.
Saint Louis went 23-8 last season including 12-6 in Atlantic-10 play and returns its top eight scorers. Jordan Goodwin, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound senior, is one of the best rebounding guards in the country as he averaged 15.5 points and 10.4 rebounds a season ago. Hasahn French, a 6-foot-7, 240-pound senior, is a double-double machine as well as he put up 12.4 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game. Javonte Perkins, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound wing, served as the team’s sixth man in 2019-20, scoring 15.0 points off the bench.
San Francisco finished 22-12 last season but returned just two of its top six scorers. Senior guard Jamaree Bouyea (6-foot-2, 180 pounds) is the team’s leading returning scorer and distributor after averaging 12.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists. Junior guard Khalil Shabazz was also a double-digit scorer last season, averaging 10.6 points while shooting 37.4% from 3.
McNeese State went 15-17 last season. The Cowboys’ top returner is Dru Kuxhausen, a Scottsbluff graduate who spent two years at Western Nebraska Community College. The 6-foot guard led the country in 3-pointers made last season with 125 in 32 games, shooting 45.8% from deep.
The Big Ten released its league schedules for all 14 teams on Wednesday as well. South Dakota lists a Dec. 1 game against the Huskers in Lincoln on Dec. 1 on its schedule and Nebraska will take on Georgia Tech in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Dec. 9. The Huskers should release their full nonconference schedule soon.
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.
