Huskers make big impression on 2018 PG Haliburton

When Nebraska extended an offer to 2018 Oshkosh (Wis.) North point guard Tyrese Haliburton at the end of the final July live period, the Huskers became the first high-major on his offer list.

Things have escalated quickly with the 6-foot-5 three-star prospect and the Huskers since then, as has his national recruiting stock.

Along with cracking the latest Rivals150 rankings at No. 150 overall, Haliburton has added other high-major offers from the likes of Iowa State and Cincinnati entering his senior season.

After trimming down his list of schools, Nebraska ended up being his first official visit this past weekend. From the sound of things, the trip couldn’t have gone much better.

“I think I can definitely see myself going there,” Haliburton told HuskerOnline.com. “I think they definitely moved up my list. I didn’t know too much about them, and you don’t really know what all they have going on down there. It’s something you’ve definitely got to see to believe.”

Haliburton did the standard visit itinerary of touring the campus and seeing the basketball facilities, as well as meeting with the academic support staff.

He noted that they made a stop at UNL’s brand new College of Business Building, something that definitely stood out given that Haliburton wants to major in business.

“That new business center was just crazy,” Haliburton said.

Another highlight of the trip was getting to know the current NU players, especially his visit host, sophomore forward Isaiah Roby.

“They put me with him because we have real similar personalities,” Haliburton said. “Me and Roby hit it off pretty well. I think the most important thing I’m looking at when I visit a school is definitely meeting people.

“I think the players that I met there, like hanging out with Isaiah, hanging out with Duby (Okeke), hanging out with Nana (Akenten), I feel like it was good for me because I could really see myself fitting in there and I could see myself playing there.”

While meeting the team, seeing the campus, and taking in NU’s football game on Saturday night all made big impressions on Haliburton, maybe his favorite part of the weekend was going to breakfast with head coach Tim Miles for a one-on-meeting on Sunday and discussing exactly how he would fit into the Huskers’ future plans.

“He described how I would come in as a freshman and Glynn (Watson) would be the starting point with Thomas (Allen) also rotating in, and I would rotate with them and we’d probably play us three at the one and the two,” Haliburton said.

“So I would get good minutes my freshman year, and once Glynn leaves, they would have a big need for a point guard. So I could see myself playing a lot, maybe starting as a sophomore.”

While Haliburton said he could play either point guard or shooting guard at the next level, his skill set probably fit the best at the one.

He averaged around 18 points, five rebounds and six assists as a junior last season.

“They love my leadership on the floor,” Haliburton said. “My job as a point guard is to be the quarterback, like Coach Miles kept saying. Keep everybody together. My length is going to help a lot as a 6-5 point guard, and I can stretch the floor from three.”

Haliburton now has three other official visits currently on his schedule, as he’ll see Iowa State on Sept. 28-30, Northern Iowa on Oct. 13-14, and then Cincinnati on Oct. 20-22.

However, Haliburton said he’s not 100-percent sure he’ll be making all three of those trips before coming to a decision on his future school.

“I mean, obviously I love Nebraska, but I’ve got to see a least one more place,” Haliburton said. “I hope to make my decision by the end of October, early November. That would be ideal, but we’ll see what happens.”