Nebraska's Keisei Tominaga named Preseason All-Big Ten
Keisei Tominaga’s return to Nebraska this season was significant news for head coach Fred Hoiberg’s program. Friday provided the most substantial evidence yet of why it was such a big deal.
The senior guard was one of 10 players named to the 2023-24 Preseason All-Big Ten Team, voted on by media around the conference.
Tominaga became just the third Husker to receive the honor since NU joined the league in 2011. He joins James Palmer Jr. (2018) and Terran Petteway (2014).
When talking about his team in July, Hoiberg didn’t hide his excitement about getting the 6-foot-2 native of Moriyama Nagoya Aichi, Japan, back for another year. It wasn’t just about Tominaga’s play on the court, either.
“I think you see the impact of Keisei when he sends out a tweet, and you end up with about three and a half million views on it within the first couple of hours,” Hoiberg said. “You see the impact, the excitement of our fan base when he did announce that he’s coming back. The thing I love about this kid is just the joy he plays this game with and the fun that he has. He flipped off a crowd on the road this year. Love that.
“He’s just so infectious, and it’s what this game is all about, when you have a guy out there playing with the type of joy that that he plays with every time he steps on the floor, and it’s not just games. I mean, you see it in a one-on-one session.”
Tominaga looks to build off of last season’s impressive finish
Tominaga finished second on the team with 13.1 points per game and led NU with 66 made 3-pointers last season. But he took his game to another level over the second half of the year.
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Tominaga led Nebraska with 14.2 ppg during Big Ten play, shooting 51.2% from the field and 41% from behind the arc. That included seven 20-point efforts, topped by a career-high 30 points vs. Penn State.
After the season, he tested the NBA Draft waters and held a pre-draft workout with the Indiana Pacers. Tominaga eventually decided to return for another year in Lincoln, giving the Huskers one of the most dynamic scorers in the conference.
“I talked to the Pacers guys in their front office, and they said he did great,” Hoiberg said. “They said he competed against bigger, stronger guys and didn’t back down at all.
“And again, it’s fun when you see a guy that puts as much work as Keisei in and to see it pay off and the benefits that it’s going to have for Keisei long-term in his career.”
