The Nebraska men’s basketball team will face Marquette in a closed scrimmage, replacing an exhibition game this season, coach Doc Sadler said Wednesday.

Marquette will come to Lincoln, with Nov. 1 as a tentative date. Nobody aside from players, coaches, managers and officials can attend the scrimmage. It’s closed to media, and no score or statistics will be released.

Sadler said he’d been talking to Marquette about a scrimmage before former NU assistant Tony Benford accepted an assistant job at the school.

“They’re going to be, I’d say, a preseason Top 25 team,” Sadler said. “Some pick them to win the Big East, so just the level of competition and game speed will be really good.”

Nebraska will still have one exhibition game in Lincoln. A likely opponent, Sadler said, is Chadron State.

As for the regular-season schedule, Nebraska is looking for a home game to fill its lone remaining vacancy.

“We’ve talked to a lot of teams,” Sadler said. “If I could find another BCS school to play at home first, I’d do it.”

Sadler said NU is still talking to South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Georgia about a series, but said chances are unlikely of landing one of those teams for this season.

Good news for next season, though: Sadler said Minnesota coach Tubby Smith is “very receptive” to beginning a home-and-home series in 2009-10, possibly a four-year series.

Some non-conference foes on this year’s schedule include Creighton and St. Louis at home, and Oregon State, Arizona State and TCU on the road.

In other news:

* Sadler said junior Ryan Anderson and redshirt freshman Brandon Richardson have been sidelined recently with knee injuries. Anderson’s injury occurred three weeks ago while he was playing in Seattle. Richardson has been bothered for most of the summer.

* Junior Sek Henry and senior Steve Harley have been “playing really well” on their summer league teams, Sadler said. Henry is playing in Los Angeles, while Harley played on the same team with former Texas standout Kevin Durant in Washington, D.C.

* Incoming freshman Eshaunte Jones has been cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse and been accepted to school. Sadler said there’s still no word on freshman Christopher Niemann. Sadler said he’s not certain if Niemann, a native of Germany, will be in Lincoln in the event he’s not eligible.

* Eric Colbert, Nebraska’s team manager/player development, has accepted an assistant coaching position with Navarro (Texas) Junior College.

Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.