NU Notes: Sam Griesel Joins Husker Basketball Program

Lincoln – Nebraska Men's Basketball Head Coach Fred Hoiberg announced the addition of two-time All-Summit League performer Sam Griesel (pronounced GREE-sull) to the Husker program.
Griesel is a 6-foot-6, 220-pound guard from Lincoln who had spent the previous four seasons at North Dakota State University, helping the school to a pair of Summit League Tournament titles (2018-19 and 2019-20), including an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2019. He returns to his hometown after playing his high school ball at Lincoln East and will have one season of eligibility remaining. Griesel played in 99 games in four seasons at North Dakota State, including 87 starts, and totaled nearly 1,000 points along with 558 rebounds and 225 assists.
"Sam brings a lot of experience, leadership and versatility to our program," Hoiberg said. "He's a physical guard who can all over the floor for us with his combination of size, skill and basketball IQ. He's played point guard at North Dakota State the past two years and gives us a bigger guard who can match up well in the Big Ten. Sam is a four-year starter who has played in the NCAA Tournament and understands what it takes to win at a high level. He's also excited to come back home and represent Nebraska, and we are pleased to add him to the Husker program."
In 2021-22, Griesel was a first-team All-Summit League selection after leading North Dakota State to a 23-10 record and a runner-up finish in both the regular season and conference tournament. He averaged 14.3 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, while shooting 48 percent from the field, including 38 percent from 3-point range. He ranked among the conference leaders in scoring (13th), rebounding (fifth), assists (fifth), assist-to-turnover rate (1.7-to-1, third) and minutes played (33.4, fourth). He totaled 20-or-more points 10 times, including six of the final eight games of the season. He had 24 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the Bison's loss to South Dakota State in the Summit League Tournament title game.
He earned second-team all-conference honors as a junior, taking over the point guard role and averaging 11.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. He had 16 double-figure games, highlighted by a season-high 26 points against South Dakota, and five games with at least 10 rebounds. He totaled nine points and 12 rebounds in a loss to Nebraska in Lincoln during the 2020-21 season. He played in 22 games as a sophomore, including 13 starts, and averaged 6.6 points and 5.7 rebounds per game despite missing significant time with a knee injury. Griesel earned a spot on the Summit League All-Tournament team as he averaged 9.0 points and 7.7 rebounds in helping the Bison win the Summit League crown. As a freshman, he started 22 games for a team that won 19 games before falling to Duke in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
He earned Super-State honors from the Lincoln Journal Star at Lincoln East High School, averaging 17.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game as Lincoln East won a school-record 24 games and reached the Class A (largest class) state tournament in 2018.
Chinander Discusses Takeaways from Live Scrimmage
Nebraska defensive coordinator Erik Chinander met with members of the media following Monday's spring practice. Chinander discussed the takeaways from the team scrimmage.
"It was good to see some guys tackle that we have not necessarily seen tackle a whole bunch," Chinander said. "We needed to get some more reps especially with the younger guys taking people all the way to the ground. I think our running backs are running really hard right now so it is a really good practice for us. Also got us in some good situations some red zone work some stuff by the goal line third down situations. I think the kids had a better understanding of those situations after scrimmage number one after reviewing the film and moving on to scrimmage two."
Chinander talked about the importance of the defensive lineman position to the overall defense.
"I think it does not matter what defense you play and it does not matter what league you play in," he said. "If you do not have a good defensive lineman you will never be good on defense. I think those guys are very critical in your success no matter where you are at. If it is high school whether it is the NFL whether it is college whether the Big Ten or ACC or SEC it does not matter. Those guys are super critical to the success of the defense."
He was also asked how comfortable he is with Nebraska's defensive linemen right now.
"I think we are comfortable with the players," Chinander said. "It is just that we have got to see some separation. Some of those guys have got to go earn that spot."
Chinander closed by explaining how the offensive and defensive units balanced each other out during the scrimmage.
"The thing I liked about the scrimmage was I thought it was fast and physical on both sides of the football," he said. "I did not see any dumb stuff out there penalty-wise. I just thought both sides were operating really good at certain points in time. Sometimes it was kind of a stalemate which is okay too just good players on good players but I thought both groups did a really nice job offense and defense."
The Huskers will continue their spring practice on Wednesday. The annual red-white spring game is set for April, 9 at 1 p.m. (CT) with national television coverage by the Big Ten Network.
Nebraska Set for Tuesday Night Tilt at Creighton
NEBRASKA at CREIGHTON
March 29, 2022
Charles Schwab Field | Omaha, Neb.
Tuesday, March 29 – 6:32 p.m.
Pitching: RHP Jaxon Jelkin (0-0) vs. RHP Dylan Tebrake (3-1)
TV/Streaming: Nebraska Public Media
Radio: Huskers Radio Network – Lincoln (1400 AM), Omaha (590 AM), Huskers.com, Huskers App
The Nebraska baseball team makes the short trip to Omaha for a midweek matchup at Creighton on Tuesday, March 29 at Charles Schwab Field. First pitch between the Huskers and Bluejays is set for 6:32 p.m.
Tuesday night's game will be broadcast live on Nebraska Public Media, with Larry Punteney, John Bishop and Ana Bellinghausen calling the action.
Fans can also listen to Nick Handley and Ben McLaughlin call the action on Tuesday night on the Huskers Radio Network. Tuesday night's game will be carried on KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln and KXSP (590 AM) in Omaha. Every game this season can be heard for free on Huskers.com and the Official Nebraska Huskers App for both iOS and Android devices.
Last Time Out
Nebraska won one of three games in last weekend's opening series of Big Ten play vs. Michigan. The Huskers won 13-9 on Friday night before falling 8-6 on Saturday and 6-1 in the rubber match on Sunday. The Big Red combined for 10 runs in the fifth and sixth innings and were led by Garrett Anglim's two doubles and six RBI in Friday night's win. On Saturday, the Huskers climbed back to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI double by Max Anderson and RBI singles from Luke Jessen and Core Jackson, before the Wolverines scored two in the top of the ninth to win 8-6 on Saturday. Michigan limited Nebraska to one run on Sunday to take the series with a 6-1 victory in game three.
3/25: Nebraska 13, Michigan 9
3/26: Michigan 8, Nebraska 6
3/27: Michigan 6, Nebraska 1
Next Up
Nebraska returns to conference action this weekend, as the Huskers travel to Columbus, Ohio, for a three-game series at Ohio State on Friday-Sunday, April 1-3.
Quick Hits
• Garrett Anglim is hitting a team-best .367 at the plate, followed by Griffin Everitt (.309) and Luke Jessen (.286).
• Anglim led the Huskers to a Friday night win vs. Michigan last weekend, going 2-for-4 with a career-high two doubles and six RBI.
• Everitt leads the Huskers with five home runs and 17 RBI, while Max Anderson has scored a team-high 17 runs this season.
• Brice Matthews has reached base safely in 16 consecutive games.
• Griffin Everitt leads the Huskers with three home runs, 11 RBI and nine runs, while Max Anderson and Brice Matthews are tied with Everitt with a team-high nine runs.
• Jaxon Jelkin will be making his first collegiate start on Tuesday night. Jelkin has made four relief apperances on the year, totaling seven innings and seven strikeouts with a 1.29 ERA.
• Emmett Olson and Tyler Martin have made a team-high nine appearances on the mound this season, followed by Mason Ornelas with eight appearances.
• As a team, Nebraska is hitting .242 with 174 hits, 33 doubles, seven triples, 13 homers and 116 runs.
• The Husker pitching staff has a team ERA of 5.17, while allowing 137 runs, 108 earned, and striking out 190 in 188 innings.
Scouting the Creighton Bluejays
• Creighton enters Tuesday night's midweek matchup with an 11-7 overall record after winning two of three games in last weekend's series at Wichita State.
• Alan Roden has a team-high .364 batting average with six doubles, a triple, home run and 12 RBI in 18 starts. Brant Voth leads the Bluejays with three homer and 16 RBI, while Jared Wegner has slugged five doubles, two triples, three homers and 14 RBI.
• Paul Bergstrom has made a team-high nine relief appearances out of the bullpen, followed by Tommy Steier (8) and Marc Lidd (7).
• As a team, Creighton is hitting .263 with 161 hits, 35 doubles, five triples, 14 homers and 114 runs through 18 games.
• The Bluejay pitching staff has a team ERA of 4.10, while allowing 90 runs, 71 earned, and striking out 150 in 156 innings.
• Head coach Ed Servais is in his 19th season at Creighton and holds a record of 598-352-1 with the Bluejays. Servais is in his 27th season overall as a head coach and has a career record of 780- 434-2.
The Series
• The Huskers and Bluejays and have met 143 times on the diamond, with Nebraska holding an 86-55-2 record in the in-state series.
• Creighton has won the last two meetings after posting wins in Omaha and Lincoln in 2019. The last time the Huskers won over the Bluejays was on March 26, 2019 with a 6-3 victory in Omaha.
• In their last 10 meetings in Omaha, each team has won five times.
Huskers Ready for Creighton Bluejays
Huskers in the Ranks
- The Huskers are currently ranked No. 1 in the Big Ten Conference with a 183 runs.
- NU has 255 hits on the season, the most in the conference through the first half of the season.
- Ranking first in the Big Ten Conference, the Big Red averages 1.57 homers per game. This average ranks 14th in the NCAA.
- The Huskers also lead the conference with 47 homers on the season, a number that ranks 13th in the nation.
- NU is No. 1 in the Big Ten Conference with a .398 on-base percentage.
- The Big Red is first in slugging percentage in the conference (0.541).
- Nebraska has been walked 115 times this season. This numbers leads the Big Ten and is 15th in the nation.
- The Huskers bring in 6.10 runs per game, ranking second in the conference.
Nebraska Quick Hits
- Billie Andrews leads the nation with 17 home runs on the season, a total that is two above the players in second.
- The sophomore also ranks No. 1 in the NCAA in home runs per game with an average of 0.57.
- Billie Andrews ranks first in conference and second in the nation in total bases with 96.
- The Gretna, Neb., native ranks first in the Big Ten Conference in slugging percentage (0.950).
- Billie Andrews is also ranked first in the conference in RBIs with 1.20 per game.
- Cam Ybarra ranks third in the conference in triples (three) and triples per game (0.12).
- Sydney Gray ranks fifth in the Big Ten with eight home runs.
- Sydney Gray is third in the conference, averaging 0.70 walks per game.
- Mya Felder ranks fourth in the conference in batting average holding a .417 average.
- Billie Andrews, Sydney Gray, Abbie Squier and Kaylin Kinney have all slugged two home runs in one game this season.
Hiser Named Big Ten Freshman of the Year
Nebraska's men's gymnast Chris Hiser was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year announced the conference on Monday afternoon. After collecting votes from the conference coaches, the Big Ten Conference announced both the 2022 Big Ten Gymnast and Freshman of the Year Honors. Michigan's Paul Juda was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Year.
Chris Hiser is the second Husker to earn the B1G Freshman of the Year award, following Taylor Christopulos receiving the honor during the 2021 season. This is the first time the Huskers have received the award two years in a row. Christopulos was the first Husker to receive the award last season.
Hiser is also the third Husker gymnast to earn any Big Ten individual award since joining the conference back in 2012 (Anton Stephenson was voted Big Ten Co-Gymnast of the Year in 2019).
A three-time B1G Freshman of the Week recipient, the Longmeadow, Mass. native has competed on still rings and floor during his debut season. Hiser impressed after registering a career-high score of 14.25 on floor at the Air Force triad, against Army. The freshman holds a 13.533 average in the conference standings.
"What a great freshman year for Chris. He has worked so hard in what he has accomplished this season with his determination and work ethic and receiving recognition from the conference. I am so proud of him," Coach Chuck Chmelka said.
Captain Dillan King also received honors for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. Joining King in the honors is Dylan Kolak from Illinois, Adam Wooten from Michigan, Dexter Roettker from Ohio State, and Andres Perez Gines from Penn State.
The Huskers return to competition this Friday and Saturday, March 1-2 to take part in the 2022 Big Ten Championships for a chance at the title. The championships are hosted by Penn State in College Park, Penn. The meet will be broadcasted live on BTN starting at 6:00 p.m. CT.
Meyer Fires Career Best in Carolina
Branden Meyer fired a Nebraska career-best final round 69 (-3) to lead the Husker men's golf team at the Seahawk Intercollegiate in Wilmington, N.C., on Monday.
Meyer, a senior from Gilbert, Ariz., notched a trio of birdies and an eagle on the par-5 17th hole on his way to the best individual round for any Husker in the tournament. Meyer's performance helped the Nebraska to an eighth-place team finish (887) in the 14-team field on the par-72, 6,960-yard layout of the Country Club of Landfall - Nicklaus Course. Meyer closed the 54-hole event in a tie for 43rd individually at 225 (+9).
While Meyer produced Nebraska's best round, junior Will Marshall put together the best three-round total by a Husker at 222 (+6) to tie for 32nd. Marshall opened with 71 (-1) before adding an even-par 72 on Sunday.
Senior Tom Westenberger provided a consistent effort, shooting a 74 in the first round, followed by two rounds of 75 to tie for 39th at 224 (+8).
Seniors Mark Foelbaek and Caleb Badura rounded out Nebraska's lineup. Foelbaek (Jelling, Denmark) finished in 62nd with a 233 (+17).
The hosts from UNC Wilmington claimed the team title with a three-round score of 853 (-11), 13 strokes ahead of runner-up VCU (866). Kansas finished third at 867.
Wright State's Tyler Goecke took medalist honors with a 208 (-8), highlighted by a four-under-par 68 in the second round.
Nebraska will return to North Carolina April 8-9 for the Stitch Intercollegiate, hosted by NC State.
Seahawk Intercollegiate
March 27-28, 2022
Wilmington, N.C. (Host: UNCW)
Country Club of Landfall, Nicklaus Course (Par 72, 6,960 Yards)
Final Team Results
1. UNCW - 282-283-288= 853
2. VCU - 288-289-289= 866
3. Kansas - 292-290-285= 867
4. Francis Marion - 288-291-292= 871
5. James Madison - 285-296-292= 873
6. Wright State - 298-284-296= 878
7. Richmond - 294-293-293= 880
8. Nebraska - 296-293-298= 887
9. Appalachian State - 299-297-297= 893
10. Radford - 310-289-297= 896
11. Delaware - 307-302-288= 897
12. Davidson - 312-294-292= 898
13. USC Upstate - 297-303-307= 907
14. Long Island - 307-300-302= 909
Nebraska Individuals
T32. Will Marshall - 71-72-79= 222 (+6)
T39. Tom Westenberger - 74-75-75= 224 (+8)
T43. Branden Meyer - 74-82-69= 225 (+9)
64. Mark Foelbaek - 77-75-81= 233 (+17)
82. Caleb Badura - DQ-71-75= 146
Transfer Nicola Hauk Joins Husker Soccer Team
The Nebraska soccer team announced the addition of Nicola Hauk to the roster on Monday. Hauk, along with five newcomers, will join the Huskers for the 2022 season.
"I chose Nebraska because of the opportunities to grow as a person, player and student," Hauk said.
Hauk, an Eppelheim, Germany, native, comes to Nebraska after spending two seasons at Delta State University under Coach Mark Hiller. In 2021, she started in all 18 games as a defender and helped DSU finish third in the Gulf South Conference. Hauk finished second on the team in minutes and tied for fourth with two goals. She was named a GSC Defender of the Week and made the Second Team All-GSC.
In 2020, Hauk started in all ten games and helped the team to its first postseason game in school history.
Before Delta State, Hauk attended Kurfurst-Friedrich Gymnasium and participated in soccer and volleyball.
Anglim Named Big Ten Freshman of the Week
Redshirt freshman Garrett Anglim has been named the Big Ten Baseball's Freshman of the Week, the league office announced Tuesday.
The La Vista, Neb., native hit .500 with three doubles, seven RBI, two runs and a stolen base in last weekend's three-game series vs. Michigan. Anglim tallied an .800 slugging percentage and a .538 on-base percentage.
Anglim led the Huskers in Friday's 13-9 win over the Wolverines, going 2-for-4 at the plate with career-high totals of two doubles and six RBI. Anglim gave Nebraska its first lead of the night with a two-RBI double in the bottom of the first before ripping the go-ahead three-RBI double to give the Huskers a 7-6 lead in the fifth.
Anglim was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored on Saturday and had a 1-for-2 outing with a double and two walks on Sunday.
NEBRASKA'S 2022 BIG TEN WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS
March 9 – Shay Schanaman – Pitcher of the Week
March 23 – Griffin Everitt – Player of the Week
March 29 – Garrett Anglim – Freshman of the Week