June 15, 2012

Robin Washut
HuskerOnline.com Senior Writer

Nebraska head coach Tim Miles announced in a statement Friday that sophomore point guard Corey Hilliard has been dismissed from the team.

Further details on the situation were not released.

Here was the statement Nebraska's athletic department sent out Friday evening:

"University of Nebraska Basketball Coach Tim Miles announced Friday that sophomore Corey Hilliard Jr. has been dismissed from the Nebraska basketball program. Hilliard played in nine games for the Huskers in 2011-12, totaling nine points and two assists in 51 minutes of action."

Hilliard becomes the fifth member of last season's roster to leave the program early for various reasons. He joins the likes of center Jorge Brian Diaz (injuries), guard Josiah Moore (transfer), forward Mike Fox (transfer) and center Christopher Niemann (medial scholarship) to move on from the Huskers in the past few months.

The 6-foot-1, 183-pound Kansas City, Mo., native saw minimal playing time as a freshman in 2011-12, appearing in just 12 games and totaling nine points and five rebounds while averaging 4.3 minutes per game.

His highlight game came early on in a win over Rhode Island, where he scored six points on 2-of-2 shooting from the floor. However, a groin injury forced him to miss nearly a month of action.

Hilliard was finally cleared to return to the lineup just before the start of Big Ten Conference play, though he rarely saw the court the remainder of the season.

A three-star prospect coming out of Raytown South High School, Hilliard averaged 17.4 points, 3.0 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game his senior year as was ranked the No. 7 overall prospect in the state of Missouri in the 2011 class.

With his departure, Nebraska now has two open scholarships for the 2012-13 season.