Britt Prince making immediate impact as a freshman at Nebraska

With Prince at the helm, quarterbacking the team, Nebraska has gotten off to a 10-4 start. She has stepped into the role of Nebraska’s starting point guard and helped run the team with incredible poise.

Nebraska head coach Amy Williams spoke to Sports Illustrated about what she hoped to see from Prince as a freshman.

“My expectations for Britt are that she’s going to come in a play hard, she’s going to be a great teammate, she’s going to find a way to impact the game and make everybody else around her better, and we’re already seeing that on a daily basis,” Williams said. “She’s working really, really hard to improve, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. But offensively, we just see flashes – she’s an outstanding passer, she makes good decisions, she instinctively has a good handle.”

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There was a level of excitement when Prince committed to the program as a star at Elkhorn North High School. She came to Cornhuskers as a two-time Nebraska High School Player of the Year. She ended her high school career as the state’s all-time leading scorer in Class B with 2,491 points.

Nebraska has finished with a winning record in three of its past four seasons with two NCAA Tournament appearances and two WNIT appearances. It was that winning culture that Williams has been building that gave Prince the confidence to commit to the program.

“I think it was just really the culture that they have and I really bonded with the coaches and the players,” Prince told The Next. “I think there’s a lot of great players, especially young players at this program, and I think they’re on the move upward and I think that’s really exciting. And having the opportunity to play for your home state, that’s something that’s really special and really hard to pass up.”

Adjusting and settling in to the college basketball grind can be tough. Players are bigger, faster and more talented than at the high school level. But the Big Ten has had a few standout freshmen this season who have seemingly made impressive transitions to the next level.

There’s the trio of freshmen at Michigan in Syla Swords, Olivia Olson and Mila Holloway, there’s Kiyomi McMiller at Rutgers, then Lana McCarthy at Purdue. There’s Tori McKinney at Minnesota. Big Ten newcomers UCLA and USC have Elina Aarnisalo, and Kennedy Smith, Keyleigh Heckel and Avery Howell, respectively.

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And then there’s Prince. Although she has not been named Big Ten Freshman of the Week yet, she’s been an early standout for Nebraska. As she continues to adjust to the college level, the difference in game speed has been key area of focus.

“I think the size and physicality and speed of the college game is just a lot faster,” Prince said. “And then just being able to handle a lot more pressure is a big adjustment.”

Prince started off the Cornhuskers’ recent West Coast road swing with 7 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. She followed that up with a 10-point, 8-rebound and 4-assist performance in the loss to USC.

Nebraska kept USC close in the first half of that game. Prince was pushing the ball and running the offense that spear-headed the Cornhuskers’ early surge.

“Everyone on our team has the goal to help the team in whatever way they need to,” Prince said. “I think with this game especially, our bigs did a good job of boxing out their bigs, so our guards had to rebound down and go get the loose balls. Really as a team, we just emphasize rebounding and playing with toughness. That’s a big emphasis for us.”

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In the first 13 games of Prince’s college career, she has averaged 12.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.5 steals. She’s shooting 48.8 percent from the field, 40 percent from the three-point line and 89.3 percent from the free-throw line.

Nebraska looks poised to be a tough team in the Big Ten as conference play is in full swing.

Coming off a brutal three-game stretch at included ranked teams in Georgia Tech, UCLA and USC, the Cornhuskers have a better idea of how they stack up.

“Our team wants to get farther than we’ve been before, and I think just being able to get a lot more wins,” Prince said. “That was a really tough stretch, three road games against three top-15 teams in the nation. But we’re better prepared now, we want to get as many wins as we can.”