Nebrasketball Update: Matej Kavas College Career Ends

While his time with the Nebraska Cornhuskers was short, Matej Kavas’s time with the Cornhuskers has effectively ended with a hand injury suffered in yesterday’s game against the Wisconsin Badgers. Kavas tweeted the news in the early hours of this morning:

Kavas was averaging 5.3 points per game this season playing for Nebraska, 1.2 rebounds a game, and shooting 33.8% from three point range. Kavas contributed valuable minutes in the last three games, scoring 11 points against Maryland and grabbing three rebounds at Iowa. He had a season high 12 points against North Dakota and 5 boards against Texas A&M CC.

Per his bio on the Huskers.com website:

BEFORE NEBRASKAA preseason first-team All-WAC selection in 2018-19, Matej Kavas (pronounced MAH-tey KAH-vahs) i was limited to 24 games because a significant shin injury suffered in early January. He finished the season averaging 10.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game while shooting 46 percent from 3-point range. At the time of his injury, he was averaging 14.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game and had reached double-figures in 13 of his first 16 contests. He totaled three 20-point games in 2018-19, including a 26-point outburst vs. Omaha and a 22-point, 13-rebound effort against Longwood. He missed nearly six weeks of action with the injury, as Seattle went 1-7 in that stretch. Kavas saw limited action the rest of the season until Seattle’s Collegeinsider.com Tournament game against Presbyterian when he had 11 points and five rebounds in 20 minutes.

Kavas was a second-team All-WAC selection as a sophomore, as he averaged 15.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. He led the WAC in both 3-point percentage (.474) and 3-pointers per game (2.8) while also finishing third in the conference in scoring and 11th in rebounding. Kavas was eighth nationally in 3-point percentage in 2017-18. He reached double figures 28 times, including nine games of at least 20 points. He had a career-high 27-point outing against Detroit Mercy, when he went 7-of-9 from 3-point range. Kavas also had 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting against Washington and 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting against Cal.

Kavas earned WAC Freshman-of-the-Year accolades in 2016-17, as he averaged 8.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game while shooting 40 percent from 3-point range to rank fourth in the conference. In all, he finished in double figures 13 times as a freshman and was the team’s third-leading scorer in WAC play at 11.6 ppg. He missed his first season at the school after suffering a knee injury during the summer of 2015.

Before college, he was a member of the Slovenia U16 and U18 teams and averaged 13.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game at the 2014 U18 European Championships. He played his club ball with Jance Ljubljana and helped them to a fourth-place finish. He was the MVP of the Slovenian Junior League, highlighted by a 44-point, 11-rebound performance. Kavas also looked at Marquette, Oregon State, Wichita State and San Diego after graduating Seattle, but only visited Nebraska.

PERSONAL
Kavas was both on July 27, 1996, in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is the son of Branka and Stefan Kavas. He has one older brother (Andraz), who plays overseas after playing at Harding (Ark.) University [My sister got her masters there actually, so I’m very familiar with the school]. Matej received his undergraduate degree from Seattle in business management in 2019, and is pursuing a master’s degree in applied science at Nebraska.

We here at Corn Nation wish Kavas a speedy recovery and the best moving forward. And a big thank you for your time in the crimson and cream and calling Lincoln home if only for a brief time!