2018 Nebraska Basketball Player Profiles: Isaac “Cope” Copeland

A former 5-star recruit, All-Big East Freshman, Isaac “Cope” Copeland looked prime for an All-American type of role at Georgetown. However, a back injury plagued his next season at Georgetown and decided to take his talents to Tim Miles and Nebraska, something all Huskers fan are still ecstatic about.

The original plan for Cope had him starting in the second half of the 2017-2018 season, but a late summer NCAA waiver allowed him to make his presence felt for the entire season.

Cope struggled a decent bit in his first three games as a husker, shooting just under 33% from the field, including going 0% from behind the arc. Fans’ perspective of Cope would change quickly after the North Dakota game, in which Cope lit it up, scoring 30 points while grabbing eight boards. Not to mention he shot 12-14 from the field, and 3-4 from three point range.

Throughout the rest of non-conference, while he did play well, it seemed like Cope hadn’t been playing to his full potential. That came as no surprise as Cope missed almost all of summer recovering from his back injury. Miles commented on how Cope’s summer actually went last year:

“A year ago the only thing Isaac Copeland could do is stand in place and shoot.”

This is what Miles had to say on Cope’s current summer status:

“Now the guy is going up and he can throw it off the side of the backboard, windmill dunk it. I mean, he looks 18 again.”

The fact that Miles states “he looks 18 again” now, and not towards the end of last season, shows how much talent Cope had stored. Cope scored in double digits in 13 out of the 18 conference games, while shooting around 40% from three point range.

If that streak where it seemed Cope made every shot wasn’t his full ability, it’s hard to imagine what he will do this year. Not being at 100% and still receiving All-Big Ten Honorable Mention will certainly worry the rest of the Big Ten, while exciting Husker Nation.

Cope will most likely start the season at the Power Forward position he played so well in last year, while filling in for Isaiah Roby and Brady Heiman at Center when they get in foul trouble. This has the potential to be another All-Big Ten season for Cope, which he hopes to get the Huskers dancing, as well as improve his NBA draft stock.