LINCOLN, Neb. — If Nebraska basketball is just now showing up on your radar, the first thing to know is that the Huskers have a lot of fans. They are hardened by years of misfortune, conditioned to expect the worst and genuinely in a state of semi-shock at this moment as Nebraska sits 15-0 and ranked 10th nationally.
The Huskers have rarely, if ever, rated well in functional efficiency.
But this season, it has all changed. Nebraska is tied with Michigan atop the Big Ten standings and ranked in the top 10 for the first time since 1966. And notably, the Huskers appear unburdened by their own astonishing lack of postseason success.
Monday night at Ohio State, Nebraska lost an 8-point lead in the second half. Then it saw another eight-point lead cut to two in the final minute before Braden Frager, a redshirt freshman from Lincoln, stepped through the lane to complete a three-point play that pushed the Huskers over the top in a 72-69 win.
That it was Frager, a 19-year Nebraskan who made the winning play — among a veteran-heavy roster with players from Iowa to New Jersey, Turkey and the Netherlands — speaks to the versatility that coach Fred Hoiberg has at his disposal.
An exhilarating two months await. Nebraska heads to Assembly Hall to face Indiana on Saturday.
The only power-conference team without an NCAA Tournament win, Nebraska is fighting not just to sneak into the Dance but to earn a high seed.
Because it’s Nebraska, an urge exists to consider every game day is the one when the glass slipper no longer fits. But then the Huskers tip off and the pieces still fit.
Believe it. I’m acutely aware of Nebraska’s path as a basketball program since the early 1990s. I was in high school and watching closely from nearby when coach Danny Nee’s teams began a run of four consecutive NCAA Tournament trips — 50 percent of the appearances in school history.
They lost every March in more dire fashion than the year before.
In this gift of a season, I’m most gratified for the fans, beaten down for decades by a dysfunctional program and inefficient play. Still, they returned to cheer. This will mark the 11th season out of 12 at Pinnacle Bank Arena in which Nebraska’s attendance ranks in the top 15 nationally.
Before that, they jammed into the Bob Devaney Sports Center for teams with no history and usually little chance of postseason success.
And now, the fans are blessed to watch the beautiful big-man play of Rienk Mast, the hustle and smarts of Sam Hoiberg and the exuberance of Frager.
Jamarques Lawrence, back at Nebraska after a one-season stop at Rhode Island, brings perspective and poise. Berke Buyuktencel delivers energy and defense. Iowa transfer Pryce Sandfort cooks with instant offense.
They are individually flawed but together something magical.
National pundits are clamoring about the Huskers. When Nebraska beat ninth-ranked Michigan State 58-56 on Friday in Lincoln, Tom Izzo gushed over the Huskers and their fans and quipped that he wished he’d been “stomped on” during the spillover that followed the final buzzer.
Mast and Lawrence politely asked fans at the postgame news conference that night to stop with the court stormings. The Huskers expect to win at home, they said, no matter the opponent. Nebraska gets Purdue in Lincoln, for what it’s worth, on Feb. 10.
Rienk Mast waves fans to stay off the court after a win against Michigan State. (Dylan Widger / Imagn Images)
The players are a reflection of Hoiberg, stoic and undeterred in his approach.
“That’s the biggest thing I give them credit for throughout this stretch is, nobody’s getting too high,” Hoiberg said. “And if things turn the other way, I’m confident that they won’t get too low. That’s what it takes. But great teams find a way to win these games.”
Is Nebraska a great team? That will be determined in March, of course. If the Huskers advance in the NCAA Tournament, the school might someday rename the court at PBA after Hoiberg or build a statue of him outside the arena.
Not that he’s given it a second of thought.
“We’ve got a day tomorrow that’s very important,” Hoiberg said Monday night. “It’s a recovery day. We’ve had two-day preps for the last couple with Michigan State and this one. We need to have a great day tomorrow and then have three good days of prep.”
Boring. But efficient and extremely functional. And most important, Hoiberg’s attitude allows Nebraska to escape the talk that exists outside the locker room doors about its NCAA Tournament history.
Fred Hoiberg’s unwavering presence has steadied Nebraska. (Dylan Widger / Imagn Images)
Before Nee arrived, Nebraska played once in the tourney, a 1986 loss against Western Kentucky. Nee was winless in five tries. His 1991 team, after 26 wins, lost as a 3-seed against Xavier. Nee missed the tournament altogether in 1996 with three future NBA players on his roster. He got a final shot in 1998, losing with Tyronn Lue as an 11-seed against Arkansas.
An 18-year drought followed. Baylor beat Nebraska in 2014. Ten years later, Hoiberg’s only trip with the Huskers in seven seasons ended with a loss to Texas A&M.
Tim Miles, the excitable coach who spent eight seasons at Nebraska before Hoiberg arrived, said in 2014 during the run to a first-round loss that he didn’t want any part of a connection to the Huskers’ miserable postseason history.
“Don’t put that crap on me,” Miles said at the time. “This is my program. We don’t carry any baggage. … So all that curse crap, all of that hexing and vexing and all of that bulls–t that goes with it is exactly that.
“That’s not us. That doesn’t exist. That does not exist.”
Hard as he tried to deny it, Miles did, in fact, sound burdened by Nebraska’s past.
For this team, it’s simply not a thing. They’ve won 19 consecutive games, including four victories last year en route to the championship in the first College Basketball Crown.
Hoiberg and his players are bothered only by the day to day. Like the controversy that swirled around Frager after he received a technical foul Friday against the Spartans. After Frager hit a 3, his hand gestures were interpreted by some as pointing guns at Michigan State’s Jeremy Fears Jr.
Frager was signaling 3 points, but it was taunting nonetheless. His mistake led to a momentum shift in favor of Michigan State.
He apologized in the days after the game to Fears and to Izzo — and to the Huskers.
“He knew he was wrong,” Hoiberg said.
Then Frager scored the decisive points for Nebraska against Ohio State. At 15-0, the Huskers are unburdened and undeterred on the road to produce an unprecedented moment for their fans.