Minnesota to Host Alumni Day, Nebraska, on Sunday

MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota women's basketball team (12-3, 2-2 B1G) is returning home for a matchup with the Cornhuskers of Nebraska (12-4, 4-1 B1G) at Williams Arena. The game is scheduled for Jan. 14, with a tip of 2 p.m. on B1G+ while Justin Gaard and Lynnette Sjoquist will broadcast the game on KFAN+.

GAME INFORMATION
TV/Stream: B1G+ (FREE)
NOTE: With severe winter weather impacting campuses across the conference, all events taking place on B1G+ this weekend will stream live for free. Live events will continue to stream for free through Sunday, Jan. 14, but the replays of events will still require a subscription.
Tip Time: 2:01 P.M.
Radio: KFAN+ (96.7 FM) and the iHeartRadio app (Justin Gaard and Lynnette Sjoquist)
Parking: Individuals are encouraged to call 612-624-COPS (2677) in the event they need any assistance with their vehicles or other issues that arise from the cold weather.
Promotion: Help us celebrate and welcome back our Gopher Women's Basketball Alumni! Stay seated during halftime as we recognize some of our Gopher greats.

ABOUT THE NEBRASKA GAME

Minnesota and Nebraska are meeting for the 30th time on Jan. 14, with the Cornhuskers owning a 16-13 advantage in the series that started in 1977. Last season Minnesota met Nebraska just once with the Gophers earning a 95-92 victory at Williams Arena with then freshman Mara Braun dropping 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting while adding seven rebounds and registering zero turnovers in 33 minutes.
Minnesota has won three of the last four games against the Nebraska Cornhuskers with the lone loss during that stretch being just a three-point game (70-67).
This matchup between Minnesota and Michigan features two of the top three scoring defenses in the Big Ten. Michigan comes in at No. 1, yielding just 56.9 points per game.
Nebraska has won three of its last four games, with its only loss during that stretch coming against No. 14 Indiana at home. Nebraska is most recently coming off an eight-point victory over Illinois at home with Alexis Markowski leading the way with 14 points and 15 rebounds. Nebraska's other three losses this season are against Kansas (69-52), TCU (88-81) and Creighton (79-74).
Individually this season the Cornhuskers are led by Alexis Markowski who averages 17.3 points per game and 10.0 rebounds. Markowski shoots 50.2 percent from the floor and has connected on 11 threes this season. Jaz Shelley, who scored 37 points against the Gophers last season, averages 12.4 points per game this season and is the team's leader with 83 assists (5.2 per game).
As of Jan. 12, Nebraska has been the No. 1 team in the Big Ten in 3-point percentage defense at 27.2 percent, which is 52nd in the country. The Cornhuskers are also an elite team on the boards with an average rebounding margin of 10.6, which is No. 2 in the conference and No. 17 in the NCAA.
Nebraska has three Minnesota natives on its roster in Annika Stewart (Plymouth, Minn.), Kendall Coley (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Callin Hake (Victoria, Minn.).

GOPHER NOTABLES

Minnesota bounced back with a win over the Michigan Wolverines on Jan. 9, winning the road contest by 16 in Ann Arbor. The Maroon and Gold got 21 points from sophomore Mallory Heyer, a season high, with six of her seven made field goals coming from beyond the arc, a career high for the Chaska, Minn. native. Minnesota also got double figure performances from Grace Grocholski (19), Mara Braun (17) and Amaya Battle (13). The biggest turning point in the game was in the fourth quarter where the 'U' outscored the Wolverines 29-12.
In Minnesota's win over Michigan true freshman Grace Grocholski scored 16 of her Big Ten career high 19 points in the fourth quarter, hitting all five of her shots in the final 10 minutes, including 4-of-4 from beyond the arc. Grocholski out scored the Wolverines on her own 16-12 with her 16 points being the fourth-most points in the fourth quarter against a Big Ten team in program history.
Through Jan. 11, Mara Braun is one of four players in the NCAA to have hit five or more threes in five or more games this season. She's hit five or more threes in 33.3 percent of her games this year, which is the third-best rate in the country behind Caitlin Clark (52.9 percent) of Iowa and Madison Conner (37.5 percent) of TCU.
Mara Braun leads the NCAA in free throw percentage at 94.0 percent, making 47-of-50 attempts this season. This year Braun is No. 3 in the Big Ten in scoring average (19.7), she's fifth nationally in threes made (52) and among Big Ten players is No. 4 in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2).
Last season the Gophers were ranked 291st in the NCAA and 13th in the Big Ten in turnovers per game at 17.7 per game but through 15 games of the 2023-24 season are ranked 34th in the country and No. 4 in the Big Ten at 13.3. Minnesota is 27th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio as a team at 1.3, which is No. 4 in the conference while the team's plus-5.0 turnover margin ranked No. 37 in the NCAA and No. 3 in the Big Ten.

BY THE NUMBERS
2 - This season Minnesota's defense is ranked No. 2 in the Big Ten in scoring defense (59.1) and field goal percentage (38.3 percent).
11 - Minnesota is the youngest team in the Big Ten with 11 underclassmen.
45 - Mallory Heyer has started all 45 games of her career, the fifth-longest streak to start a career at Minnesota.
66 - This season Minnesota's record is 4-2 against teams in the top 100 of the NET Rankings (66.7 percent).
10 - Minnesota is 10-0 this season when leading at halftime.

Minnesota has a quick turnaround with a road game against Indiana on Jan. 17. The game is scheduled to be broadcast on Peacock, marking the first time the Golden Gophers will play a game on the streaming service. For more information on how to watch Peacock, click here.

For more information on the Gophers, continue to check back with GopherSports.com. Keep up with the University of Minnesota women's basketball on Twitter (X.com), Instagram (@GopherWBB) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the 2023-24 season.

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Players Mentioned

Amaya Battle

Mara Braun

Grace Grocholski

Mallory Heyer