Lincoln – Five weekend Big Ten home games, including the conference opener against Illinois, highlight Nebraska's 2018-19 men's basketball conference schedule released Tuesday afternoon.

The five home games include a trio of Saturday matchups at Pinnacle Bank Arena, as the Huskers will host conference games against Ohio State (Jan. 26), Northwestern (Feb. 16) and Purdue (Feb. 23). Nebraska's two Sunday games bookend the Big Ten slate with a tilt against Illinois on Sunday, December 2, and a Senior Day matchup against Iowa on Sunday, March 10.

The 20-game slate begins with a pair of conference matchups the first week of December, the game against Illinois and a trip to Minnesota on Wednesday Dec. 5.

Following non-conference action, the Huskers open 2019 on the road, traveling to Maryland (Jan. 2) and Iowa (Jan. 6) before returning home to host Penn State on Jan. 10. The rest of the January slate features home matchups against defending Big Ten regular-season champion Michigan State (Jan. 17), Ohio State (Jan. 26) and Wisconsin (Jan. 29) along with road trips to both Indiana (Jan. 14) and Rutgers (Jan. 21).

The second half of the Big Ten schedule opens with a rematch at Illinois on Feb. 2 before returning home for three of their next four contests, including games with Maryland (Feb. 6), Minnesota (Feb. 13) and Northwestern (Feb. 16). The only road game in that run is a matchup at Purdue on Feb. 9, the first of two matchups with the Boilermakers in a 15-day span.

The homestretch features four straight games against postseason qualifiers, including road trips to NIT champion Penn State (Feb. 19), NCAA runner-up Michigan (Feb. 28) and a rematch with Michigan State (March 5) along with hosting Purdue on Feb. 23. NU's game with Iowa on March 10 is on the final day of the regular season before the Big Ten Tournament returns to the United Center in Chicago from March 13-17.

Start times and television information for all Big Ten games and non-conference matchups will be announced at a later date. All of the Huskers' Big Ten games, as well as the 2019 Big Ten Tournament, will be televised by one of the conference television partners, as the Big Ten has contracts with FOX Sports (Fox and FS1), ESPN (ESPN and ESPN2), CBS as well as BTN.

Season tickets for the 2018-19 season, if any remain after the seat yourself process currently underway, will go on sale next Wednesday, Aug. 29 at 10 a.m., by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets or calling 800-8-BIGRED. The 18-game home slate includes 10 Big Ten games, as well as non-conference matchups with Seton Hall and Creighton.