Wolverines to Close out Home Schedule Against Nebraska

» No. 25 Michigan will close its home schedule when it hosts Nebraska on Thursday night.
» Earlier this season, U-M posted a 79-68 victory over Nebraska at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
» The Wolverines will honor their seniors in a pregame ceremony at 6 p.m.
» Zavier Simpson is expected to play in his 145th career game which will set U-M's all-time mark for most career games played (Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, 144).
» Franz Wagner was named the Big Ten's Freshman of the Week for the third time this season. In his last five games, he is averaging a team-best 17.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, while shooting 60.7 percent (34-for-56) from the field, including 44.0 percent (11-for-25) from long range

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The No. 25-ranked University of Michigan men's basketball team will close out its home slate when it hosts Nebraska on Thursday (March 5). The game will begin with a pregame ceremony to honor the U-M senior class. Earlier this season, U-M got the better of the Cornhuskers with a 79-68 victory at Pinnacle Bank Arena. The second matchup is at Crisler Center scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff with Brandon Gaudin (p-by-play) and Donny Marshall (analyst) as the broadcast crew.

What You Need to Know for Thursday's Game

• Thursday night's game marks the second meeting of the regular season between Michigan and Nebraska. U-M got the better of the Cornhuskers with a 79-68 victory at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
• Thursday's game will celebrate U-M's seniors, as well as Wolverine senior managers and staff, in a pregame ceremony (6:05 p.m.).
• The game also is Fan Appreciation Game -- concessions will be 50 percent off between 5-6 p.m. Season ticket holders will receive 20 percent off merchandise at Crisler Center's M Den by showing print-at-home e-mail or season ticket holder discount card.
• Michigan is 24th in the NCAA Net rating system. With the Big Ten's continued overall strength this season and U-M's challenging non-conference slate, the Wolverines schedule continues to be listed as one of the best in the nation -- 1st (ESPN's BPI; 19th rated team), 2nd (KenPom; 15th rated team) and 2nd (Sagarin; 18th rated team).
• Franz Wagner has five straight double-figure games. Over those last five games, he is averaging a team-best 17.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. He is shooting 60.7 percent (34-for-56) from the field, including 44.0 percent (11-for-25) from long range. During this stretch, he scored a career-best 22 points at Purdue (Feb. 22) -- the second 20+ point game of his career -- and posted his first career double-double (18 points, 10 rebounds) at No. 23 Ohio State (March 1).
• Wagner was named the Big Ten's Freshman of the Week on Monday (March 2) for the third time this season.
• In the last five games, U-M has averaged just 7.6 turnovers per game with four games of eight or fewer, including only three at Purdue. Overall, U-M's 10.8 per game is 15th-best in the nation.
• Michigan is shooting a Big Ten best 46.2 percent from the field.
• Isaiah Livers has missed only two free throws thus far this season and leads U-M at 95.3 percent (41-for-43); he is perfect from the charity stripe (33-for-33) over his last 10 games, and has shot 31-for-31 in Big Ten play. The two misses were in the Bahamas at the Battle 4 Atlantis -- vs. Iowa State (4-for-5; Nov. 27) and vs. North Carolina (0-for-1; Nov. 28).
• Zavier Simpson and Jon Teske continue to extend their winning ways as they are the all-time winningest Wolverines with 107 career victories.
• Simpson is expected to play in his 145th career game against Nebraska (March 5) -- his final game in Crisler. It will help him surpass the all-time U-M record held by former teammate Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman (144). Meanwhile, Teske has played in 107 consecutive games for the Wolverines. He has 127 career games under his belt.
• Simpson leads the nation with a 7.9 assist average and his 220 assists. This season is his second straight with 200+ assists after finishing last season with 244, which was just 16 dimes away from Trey Burke's U-M record 260 (2012-13). Simpson is the first U-M player to post two 200+ assist seasons.
• Simpson became the 55th Wolverine in history to score 1,000 points (1,049) and has averaged a career-best 13.0 points per game this season. With his 651 career assists, Simpson needs to grab 33 rebounds to give him 500 for his career and make him the first Wolverine to record 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists.
• Reaching 1,000 points, Simpson (1,049 points, 651 assists) became the fourth Wolverine with 1,000 points and 500 assists -- Gary Grant (2,222 points, 731 assists; 1985-88); Rumeal Robinson (1,446 points, 575 assists; 1988-90) and Antoine Joubert (1,594 points, 539 assists; 1984-87).
• Teske (607) became the 29th Wolverine to reach 600 rebounds in a career. He leads the team this season with 6.9 per game and has had five-plus boards in 23 games. Additionally, Teske moved into a tie for fifth place all-time at Michigan with 162 blocks.
• Austin "Big Country" Davis has gone 26-for-34 (76.4 percent) over his last 10 games. This season, Davis has come off the bench to average 4.9 points and 2.6 rebounds. During this stretch, he posted his first career double-figure game with 11 against Ohio State (Feb. 1).

Who are the Nebraska Cornhuskers?

• Nebraska brings a 7-22 overall record into Thursday's game in Ann Arbor, including a 2-16 mark in the Big Ten. The Cornhuskers have lost 14 straight games and are 0-10 on the road this season.
• The Cornhuskers have played in four overtime games this season (1-3); Nebraska's last game was an 81-76 overtime loss against Northwestern (March. 1).
• Thursday's game is the second meeting of the season between U-M and Nebraska. Michigan won, 79-68, at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Jan. 28.
• Three players score in double figures for Nebraska, led by 12.6 points per contest by graduate transfer guard Haanif Cheatham. Junior guard Dachon Burke Jr. chips in 12.1 points per game, while sophomore guard Cam Mack adds 12.0 points.
• Mack averages 6.4 assists per game with four games of 10+, third-best in the Big Ten and 15th in the country. Mack also is third in the league, and 33rd in the nation, with a 2.42 assist-to-turnover ratio. He is second on Nebraska with 43 three-pointers and 36 steals.
• More than 40 percent of Nebraska's offense comes via the three-point line. The Cornhuskers have seven players with 20+ treys, led by junior guard Thorir Thorbjarnarson's 46.
• The Cornhuskers are last in the Big Ten in free-throw shooting at 58.6 percent.
• Fred Hoiberg is in his first season as head coach at Nebraska. Hoiberg spent five seasons as head coach at Iowa State (2010-15) and three and a half years as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls (2005-19).

Earlier This Season at Nebraska

• Michigan snapped a four-game losing streak and picked up its first road win of the season with a 79-68 victory in Lincoln on Jan. 28.
• The Wolverines were without the services of Zavier Simpson as he did not travel to Lincoln due to serving a one-game suspension for violation of team policies.
• Eli Brooks went 6-for-12 from the field with four three-pointers to notch his fourth 20-point performance and lead the Wolverines, while he also grabbed a career-best nine rebounds and dished out a team-best four assists.
• Franz Wagner poured in 18 points (eight rebounds) for the Maize and Blue and Brandon Johns Jr. scored 16 points (seven rebounds).
• Michigan shot 50 percent for the game (28-for-56) and outrebounded the Cornhuskers, 41-27, scoring 10 points off 10 offensive boards. U-M posted 38 of its 79 points in the paint.

The All-Time Series with Nebraska

• Thursday's game will be the 21st all-time meeting between Michigan and Nebraska.
• U-M leads, 17-3, in the all-time series against the Cornhuskers. Since Nebraska joined the Big Ten, Michigan has gone 11-1 against the Cornhuskers and has won the last three meetings and 13 of the last 14.
• Michigan had one game (1-0) against Nebraska vacated by the Wolverines due to NCAA sanctions, giving U-M a recognized 16-3 all-time record.
• U-M holds a perfect 9-0 record in Ann Arbor, with the Wolverines on a current nine-game win streak. U-M is 5-3 in Lincoln, where U-M has won five of the last six games. U-M is 3-0 in neutral-site games with the last coming in the 2018 Big Ten Tournament.
• There has been one game when both Michigan and Nebraska were ranked among the nation's top 25. No. 6 U-M pulled off an 88-73 victory over No. 20 Nebraska at the 1992 Rainbow Classic.
• There have been three games decided by three points or fewer with U-M leading, 2-1. The last time was Jan. 9, 2014, in a thrilling one-point Wolverine win at Pinnacle Bank Arena. After Nebraska took a one-point lead with 34 seconds remaining, U-M's Derrick Walton Jr. drove to the basket and had a chance for an and-one, but he missed the free throw. With U-M up 71-70, the Cornhuskers' last-second attempt failed to give the Maize and Blue the win.
• There has never been an overtime game in the all-time series.
• Longest U-M win streak: 10 games (March 6, 1980-March 5, 2017).
• Longest U-M losing streak: 1 game (three times)
• Largest U-M Victory: 36 points (93-57) at Nebraska on March 5, 2017
• Largest U-M Loss: 20 points (72-52) at Nebraska on Jan. 18, 2018
• U-M Victories by 10+ Points: 12 | U-M Losses by 10+ Points: two
• U-M's average margin in wins: 15.8 points | U-M's average margin in losses: 11.3 points
• All-Time U-M Points: 1,489 (74.5) | All-Time Nebraska Points: 1,255 (62.8)