Nebraska Basketball: 2023-24 season preview for the Cornhuskers

Key Reserves

Boogie Coleman – Guard (Senior)

Finally, a true point guard that chose to come to Nebraska for his final year of eligibility. Coleman is a two time transfer who has played at Ball State and Missouri. He does have big time college basketball experience and that is going to be huge for the Huskers. Coleman led the Ball State offense in scoring and assists and by all accounts should probably start. Coach Hoiberg has been using Lawrence as his starter in practice and during the secret scrimmage so that is why Coleman is penciled in as the backup. Truthfully the transfer point guard probably plays the same amount as Lawrence and will likely be in there to finish out games that are tight. He will be the first player of the bench

Juwan Gary – Forward (Senior)

Gary started last season before a shoulder injury sidelined him for the rest of the year. The forward does a lot for the Huskers on both ends of the floor. He is a great rebounder and defender in the post, plus he is extremely athletic and can clean up misses on the offensive end and can shoot the ball from deep. His shooting percentages from deep are not great but that was attributed to his shoulder injury that he has had since his days in Alabama. Coach Hoiberg says that Gary is now fully healthy and ready to take his game to the next level. He had been running with the second unit in practice but that doesn’t mean he will play any less. Gary is currently serving a suspension for violation of team rules, and it is not clear when he will be back.

Eli Rice – Forward (Freshman)

Coach Hoiberg is going to have to decide whether Rice is going to redshirt this season. Basketball redshirts and football redshirts are vastly different. If Rice does play, he may not get many minutes due to some players ahead of him. However, in the defense of Rice he may have played his way into the rotation. He is extremely athletic and gets to the rim against anyone. Take this for what it is worth, but he did lead the team in scoring on the foreign trip to Spain this summer. It would be a hard sell for Rice to not redshirt if he doesn’t get significant playing time.

Sam Hoiberg – Guard (Sophomore)

The sophomore guard was not thought of as a factor in the rotation heading into last season but because of injuries was thrust into the rotation. The coach’s son is not going to play a ton of minutes but the minutes he has won’t be empty. He has a knack for making clutch play and won the Huskers some games with a key steal and lay in against Maryland. He also hit a huge three to continue the comeback against Wisconsin. Hoiberg has earned his spot in the rotation and while he won’t have many stats he is going to make a big play.

CJ Wilcher – Guard (Junior)

Wilcher enters his third year in the program and has been one of the vocal leaders in the offseason. Something tells me that the guard is going to have a bounce back season. Wilcher really struggled with his shot last year and did not produce nearly as much as he wanted to. It was to the point that he did lose his starting spot last year. He is known as a shooter and natural scorer and when he is going right he can also carry an offense and can get on a heater from deep. Wilcher needs a good season for everyone to feel good about him again after his regression from last year. If he is making shots the rest of his game comes along as well he starts to play defense and rebound, when he doesnt make shots his whole game suffers.

Matar Diop – Center (Freshman)

Diop was a very late commitment and the plan was initially to redshirt him, but the big man also forced the hand of the coaches. He is going to earn playing time in the front court because of depth issues due to injuries for Nebraska. Diop is an athletic freak and once he starts to learn the ins and outs of Big Ten basketball he will thrive. This year he is raw and any production he gives on offense is a plus. Hopefully he rebounds and plays good defense.