Nebraska point guard Sam Griesel 'should be available' against Purdue

Nebraska is getting back one of their guards against a ranked Big Ten foe this afternoon. Starting point guard Sam Griesel missed the Wednesday night matchup against Indiana due to an illness. But according to Jon Rothstein, he should be available today as the Cornhuskers host No. 4 Purdue. Here was that report from the college hoops insider:

“Nebraska’s Sam Griesel (illness) “should be available” for today’s game against Purdue, per a school spokesman. DNP in last game against Indiana. Averages 11.3 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and 4.9 APG.”

Big news for a Nebraska team trying to break through in year four of the Fred Hoiberg era. Griesel is the Cornhuskers’ second-leading scorer, averaging 11.3 points per game, and leads the team with 44 assists on the season — his first in Lincoln after transferring from North Dakota State.

Nebraska is off to a much better start than in recent years. Sure, there were times where the Huskers ran off a bunch of wins to start the year. But those early-season records were always fool’s gold. This year, they already have wins over Creighton, Boston College and Florida State, and were competitive against Indiana even without Griesel.

With the news that he’s on the mend, could Nebraska wreak some havoc in the Big Ten and pull a huge home upset off against the literal giants of the conference in Purdue and Zach Edey? The rest of the conference is hoping so.

A chance for a program-changing win in Lincoln this afternoon. Boilermakers take on the Cornhuskers at 2:15 ET, 1:15 CT.