Lincoln – University of Nebraska men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg announced Wednesday afternoon that Keisei Tominaga (pronounced Kee-sea Toe-may-nawga) has signed a National-Letter-of-Intent with the Husker program. Tominaga, a 6-foot-2, 176-pound guard, is currently a sophomore at Ranger (Texas) College, which will begin its season in January of 2021. One of the top shooters in junior college basketball, he finished in the top-20 nationally in both 3-point percentage (47.9 percent) and 3-pointers per game (3.4 per game) in 2019-20.
“Keisei is one of the more unique signees in program history, and we are excited to add him to our team,” Hoiberg said of the first Japanese player to sign with Nebraska men’s basketball. “He’s nicknamed ‘the Japanese Steph Curry’ and is truly an elite 3-point shooter with unlimited range and a quick release. Keisei will make an immediate impact not only with his shooting, but also in floor spacing, as it will help us create driving lanes for others.”
Tominaga was one of the top freshmen in junior college basketball last season, helping Ranger College and Coach Billy Gillespie to a 28-3 record and a berth in the NJCAA National Tournament before the season was ended because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A first-team All-Region V and Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference honoree, Tominaga averaged 16.8 points per game on 55 percent shooting, including 47.9 percent from 3-point range. He was named conference freshman of the year, leading the conference in 3-point shooting and finishing sixth in both scoring and field goal percentage. He totaled 11 games with at least 20 points in 2019-20, including a season high 34-point outburst against Victoria College when he went 8-of-14 from long range. He will have a new coach this season as James Stafford took over for Gillespie this spring.
Tominaga has also played internationally for his native Japan, as he is was named to Japan’s B National team, which consists of some of the top prospects in the country, in August of 2020. Previously, he starred for Japan’s U-18 team at the Asian Championships, averaging 19.3 points per game to rank fifth among all players in the competition. Tominaga had three 20-point games in the tournament to lead Japan to a fifth-place finish, highlighted by a 33-point performance against Bahrain. He made his national team debut earlier that year, suiting up for the U-16 program at the Asian Championships and averaging 17.5 points per game to finish fourth among all scorers, including a tournament high 3.2 3-pointers per game.
As a high school senior, he averaged 39.8 points per game for Sakuragaoka Gakuen High School at the All-Japan Championship, including a 46-pooint performance in the third-place game.
Keisei comes from a basketball family, as his father, Hiroyuki, was a center on the Japan national team and played in the 1998 FIBA World Championship and played professionally in Japan for a decade.
