Terran Petteway To Leave Nebraska Cornhuskers And Declare For 2015 NBA Draft

On Thursday morning, Nebraska guard Terran Petteway opted to declare for the 2015 NBA Draft.  Petteway played two seasons for the Huskers, earning All-Big Ten honors in 2012-13 and All-Big Ten 3rd Team honors last season.  He was arguably one of the best players in the program in recent memory.

Petteway announced his decision in a release from Nebraska.  Specifically, Petteway talked about the importance of Nebraska and the fans over the last two seasons.

"I want to start off by thanking the city of Lincoln and state of Nebraska for all of the love and support that you guys have shown me over the last three years.  This is a bittersweet moment for me because Lincoln has become a second home to me, but in the same instance has helped me grow as a man and ballplayer, and I love y'all."

Head coach Tim Miles also talked about Petteway's decision.

"I'm happy for Terran and his family.  While I had hoped he stayed with us for his senior year, I completely support his decision, and we will help him as much as we can through this process. I believe any team in the NBA or otherwise would love to have Terran on their team."

For Nebraska, this is a significant loss as Petteway was arguably the biggest contributor on a team that went 13-18 overall and often, was the team's only consistent offensive threat.  Not only did Petteway play in 86.2% of the minutes for Nebraska this season, but he also led the team in scoring, field goal attempts, and in 3PT attempts.  In fact, he had 99 more field goal attempts and 89 more 3PT attempts this season than any other Nebraska player.  He took 33.4% of shots and 32.3% of possessions while on the floor.  Those are big numbers for an offensively challenged team that finished with the #285 ranked offense according to KenPom.

Nebraska will now face the challenge of not only replacing Petteway, but also teammates Walter PItchford and Tarin Smith among others.  In total, Nebraska will lose three of their top five and six of their top nine players in minutes from last season.

For Petteway, the first page in his future will begin with workouts and a shot at the 2015 NBA Draft.  He is currently considered to be a fringe 2nd Round pick as he does not appear on the CBS or DraftExpress mock drafts.  Still, he had a great career in Lincoln and will look to continue that at the professional level.