Former Ranger standout leads Huskers into the Big Dance

For two seasons, Keisei Tominaga put the spotlight of not only his home country of Japan, but much of the U.S. on Ranger College. A sharpshooting guard, he helped the Rangers make back-to-back trips to the NJCAA Division I National Basketball Championships before heading for Nebraska and the Big 10 limelight.

He hasn't disappointed anyone.

Tominaga leads the Huskers into the NCAA tournament this Friday. Nebraska is scheduled to begin its run in the Big Dance on at 5:50 p.m. against Texas A&M in the first round of the South Regional. Nebraska enters the tournament as the No. 8 seed.

Ranger College's career leader in three-pointers made, Tominaga is expected to play a key role in the Huskers' chances. An All-Big 10 Tournament selection, he has averaged 14.9 points per game as a senior this season and led Nebraska to a 23-10 record. The Huskers finished third in the Big 10 standings.

The son of a former Japanese professional, he started 31 games for Nebraska this season, In that span, he has shot better than 46 percent from the field (hitting 162 of his 346 attempts) while knocking down 71 three-pointers. His three-point total was the fourth-highest in the conference even though he played the fewest minutes of any other player among the top 14.

"He's something special," said Carson Alldredge, a former RC student who helped broadcast the Rangers' national tournament appearance in 2021. "We all knew he was only going to get better."

Tominaga was sensational for the Huskers late in the season. He pumped in a season-high 31 points in Nebraska's game against Illinois on February 4. He sank five three-pointers in NU's win over Michigan on March 10.

Recruited to Ranger College by former head coach Billy Gillispie, Tominaga terrorized opposing defenses in his two season with the Rangers. Playing alongside Portland State star Jorell Saterfield, he powered Ranger College to the Final Four at NJCAA national tournament in 2021.

Saterfield, who initially signed with the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), recently finished his career as an All-Big Sky Conference selection.

Tominaga is the latest former RC standout to play in the NCAA tournament, joining former Rangers Jaren (English) Holmes in 2020 and Coryon Mason, who helped lead Abilene Christian University to the Big Dance in 2020.