Lincoln — Six weekend home games, including matchups with NCAA Tournament qualifiers Michigan State and Northwestern, highlight Nebraska’s 2023-24 Big Ten Conference schedule announced Tuesday.
The 20-game slate opens with a pair of December matchups, as Nebraska travels to Minnesota (Dec. 6) and hosts Michigan State (Dec. 10). The matchup between the Huskers and Gophers is a rematch of the 2023 Big Ten Tournament opener and marks the seventh time in the last eight seasons that Nebraska has opened Big Ten Conference play on the road. Michigan State enters 2023-24 as one of the Big Ten favorites and is one of eight conference home opponents that reached postseason play a year ago.
The January slate opens with a pair of marquee home games in the first 10 days of the month, as the Huskers play host to Indiana (Jan. 3) and Purdue (Jan. 9) sandwiched around a trip to Wisconsin (Jan. 6). The month also features road trips to Iowa (Jan. 12), Rutgers (Jan. 17) and Maryland (Jan. 27) while playing host to Northwestern (Jan. 20) and Ohio State (Jan. 23).
February opens with a rematch with Wisconsin at PBA (Feb. 1), along with weekend tilts against Michigan (Feb. 10), Penn State (Feb. 17) and Minnesota (Feb. 25). NU travels to Illinois (Feb. 7) and Northwestern (Feb. 7) with return games at Indiana (Feb. 21) and at Ohio State (Feb. 29).
The Huskers will honor their senior class against Rutgers on March 3 before closing the regular season with a trip to Michigan on March 10, the final day of the regular season. The 2024 Big Ten Tournament takes place at the Target Center in Minneapolis from March 13-17.
Start times and network designations for all Big Ten and non-conference games is expected to be announced during the week of Sept. 25-29.
The Huskers return five of their top eight scorers from a team that went 16-16 and won six of its final eight Big Ten contests in 2022-23. The group is headlined by senior All-Big Ten guard Keisei Tominaga, who helped Japan qualify for the 2024 Olympics earlier this month. NU also welcomes back three other players who made at least 12 starts in 2022-23 in juniors Juwan Gary and C.J. Wilcher and sophomore Jamarques Lawrence. Nebraska adds seven recruits (five transfers and two freshmen) including one of the nation’s top transfer classes. NU’s transfer class is a five-player group which includes all-conference performers Rienk Mast (Bradley), Brice Williams (Charlotte) and Jarron Coleman (Ball State).
