Husker Big Red Daily: Nebraska basketball gets a win, Mekhi Nelson banged up, Washington QB update

Welcome to Husker Big Red Daily, your daily stop for the latest Nebraska football news, recruiting buzz, transfer portal updates, and Huskers headlines. Here’s a quick look at the latest storylines surrounding Nebraska athletics.

The Nebraska basketball team notched an 88-84 win over Kansas State in the final exhibition game of the season.

Braden Frager notched a double-double with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Pryce Sandfort also looked to be in midseason form, with 23 points. Frager was the real standout, though.

The junior made five 3-pointers in the win. He also dished out three assists. Sam Orme is still out for the Huskers, but Sandfort and Frager scored a combined 51 points and made nine triples. Damon Wilkinson, the South Dakota State transfer, pitched in with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting. He added three boards as well.

Trevan Leonhardt, the point guard, didn’t attempt a shot in 24 minutes of action. He did have five assists, though, and zero turnovers. All in all, it was a good win. The real season starts next week.

More Nebraska football injuries

Matt Rhule met with the media after the bye week and revealed that Jamal Rule isn’t the only Nebraska football running back dealing with an ankle injury. Mekhi Nelson is, too. Rhule said he has been battling through it, but that means that among the top three backs, there isn’t one who’s 100 percent.

“I think we’ve all seen what Jamal can do when he’s rolling,” Rhule said. “This bye week comes at a really good time for Jamal and a really good time for even Mekhi (Nelson). He doesn’t complain about it but I mean he hurt his ankle going into whatever game it was, I think maybe Maryland and he’s just fighting through it. With (Vincent) Genatone going down, Isaiah Mozee obviously went down last week, the bye week’s great for him and just kind of that whole running back room. Seven weeks in the Big Ten, you’re gonna have some bumps and bruises but hopefully those guys will all be flying around tonight. ”

Hopefully, the bye week did Jamal Rule some good. He’s averaging 2.8 yards per attempt in Big Ten play. Nelson is averaging 3.3. Both players need to be better over the next three weeks and into the month of November.

Washington QB will be a game-time decision

Nebraska football won’t know until Saturday who the Washington Huskies are going to have as their starting quarterback. Head coach Jedd Fisch told the media that the Huskies won’t reveal who their starter is.

Elijah Brown started the last game at Purdue, throwing for 305 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Demond Williams opened the season as the starter. He was viewed as one of the most talented quarterbacks in the Big Ten but was knocked out of the Iowa game with a rib injury.

Fisch said Williams is still improving and that both players are competing for the job. Williams is averaging 232 passing yards per game, plus 30 on the ground. He has 11 total touchdowns and three interceptions.

As a team, the Huskies throw for 282 passing yards per game but average just 104 on the ground and 3.5 per carry. In the Big Ten, they are rushing for just 88 yards per game at 2.8 per carry.

Williams is still Washington’s second-leading rusher, so getting him back would be important for the Huskies’ ground game, too.

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