After spending the holidays in Hawaii and winning three games in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic by an average of 14.3 points to become tournament champs, the Nebraska men's basketball program is back in action tonight to finish its non-conference slate against the Southern Jaguars.

Tipoff is a late one as it's scheduled for 8 p.m. The game will be shown on BTN with Kevin Kugler and Nick Bahe on the call.

Southern, a Southwestern Athletic Conference program located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, comes to Lincoln with an overall record of 5-7. The Jags are riding a three-game losing streak — two against high-major competition in No.17 Ole Miss and USC — and haven't played since Dec. 22.

Nebraska (10-2, 1-1 in Big Ten play) sealed the championship win over Oregon State in dominating fashion at the Diamond Head Classic by ending the game on an 11-3 run. The Huskers will want to pad their record with one more win before diving head first into conference play.

After the matchup with Southern, Nebraska will play 18 straight Big Ten games, and that stretch kicks off with a huge game in Lincoln on Saturday when No. 22 UCLA comes to town. The Bruins are 11-2 and sit atop the conference standings right now and are 2-0 in conference play with wins over Washington (69-58) and No. 12 Oregon (73-71).

Saturday will be a homecoming for William Kyle III, a Bellevue West product who spent the first two seasons of his college basketball career at South Dakota State. Nebraska targeted Kyle while he was in the transfer portal, but Kyle ultimately chose UCLA. The 6-9, 230-pound Kyle has played in 12 games and is averaging 4.2 points and 3.1 rebounds in 12.1 minutes off the bench.

The last thing Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg wants, however, is a team that's looking past tonight's opponent.

Hoiberg is hoping his team's defense continues doing what it's been doing. Since the embarrassing blowout loss at Michigan State, Nebraska has won its last four games and held its opponents to 59.5 points per game on 37% shooting while out-rebounding them by 5.5 rebounds.

Offensively, Brice Williams is playing some of his best basketball of his Husker career. During that four-game stretch the 6-foot-7 wing is averaging 24 points per game while shooting 59%. He's also chipping in on the boards and finding his teammates with 4.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists.

Williams, a sixth-year player, enters the Southern game just eight points away from 1,500 career points.

Under second-year head coach Kevin Johnson, Southern will play a lot of guys. The Jags have 12 players who are averaging 11.5 minutes per game and 10 players averaging at least 5.2 points.

Southern is averaging 79.1 points per game, tops in the SWAC. It also has the best defense in its conference, allowing 72.8 points. Part of being the best defense in the SWAC includes the Jags' aggressive nature — they're eighth nationally with 10.4 steals per game and have six players averaging at least one steal.

The Jags are one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the SWAC, however, as they're hitting only 31.1% as a team on an average of 22.3 attempts per game.

Some players to know for Husker fans heading into this one includes Jordan Johnson, a 6-4, 195-pound redshirt sophomore from Florida who's averaging 10.4 points, second-best on the team. Another is Michael Jacobs, a 6-2, 200-pound guard who's averaging a team-high 10.6 points.

Johnson is one of the 3-point threats for Southern, and he's not shy from deep — he's hitting 33% of his 3s and has taken 80 of them. Nebraska's leading 3-point shooter, Connor Essegian, has taken 67 3s so far this season.

Southern's best 3-point shooter statistically is Joe Manning, a 6-2, 175-pounder who's connecting on 48% of his triples (12-of-25).

Nebraska has a 4-0 all-time record against Southern in a series that dates back to just 2012. The last meeting between these two was a 82-59 Nebraska victory in November 2021.

With their win over Bethune-Cookman earlier this season, the Huskers are 30-1 against current members of the SWAC.

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