Nebrasketball Player Profile: Samari Curtis

Rarely does Nebraska pull up a Mr. (insert state) in basketball. I mean, it’s hard enough to do it in football, let alone in the sport of basketball.

But, Fred Hoiberg and his staff did just that with Samari Curtis. Xenia, Ohio’s own signed with Nebraska this past spring and has brought his talents to the Cornhusker State.

He was one of the top players out of the state and was named Ohio Mr. Basketball for 2019. Not a bad honor to have considering he shares the honor with other winners such as Lebron James (‘01,’02,’03) O.J. Mayo (‘05,’06) and Trey Burke (‘11).

Samari is a 6’4” 190 pound guard and comes in as one of the top shooters during his high school years. His senior year he averaged a whopping 33.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 2.4 steals per game. Yes, he really did average 33.8 points per game. Mind you, he did play in one of the smaller divisions and his competition was not always the toughest. This can skew ones numbers and may not exactly transition over well.

Could he produce at this level at Nebraska? Sure, but the odds are against him with the uptick in talents that he will face. With that said, he did shoot 51% from the field his last year of high school. Again, the defenses he faced were not always the toughest. But, it gives you some inkling that he does have a good shot that should improve over time.

The offense he will come into at Nebraska should bode well for him. It spreads out the defense out and allows shooters to shoot. Something that Samari does very well.

Samari traveled with the team and played in Italy. Gaining praise from the coaching staff while there. Even though the competition was lighter than what he will be seeing at Nebraska, he could be a guy coming off the bench as the season goes on. He’s young and does have a ways to go in development but is talented enough to possibly contribute if Hoiberg decides to use him.

Mr. Curtis originally signed with Cincinnati but decommitted after coach Mike Cronin left for the UCLA job. He was a four star recruit that was looked at as one of the top 200 players in the country for 2019.