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\u2019s worth, on Feb. 10.<\/p>\n
![\"Rienk](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/USATSI_27922892-1-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Rienk Mast waves fans to stay off the court after a win against Michigan State. (Dylan Widger \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
The players are a reflection of Hoiberg, stoic and undeterred in his approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the biggest thing I give them credit for throughout this stretch is, nobody\u2019s getting too high,\u201d Hoiberg said. \u201cAnd if things turn the other way, I\u2019m confident that they won\u2019t get too low. That\u2019s what it takes. But great teams find a way to win these games.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Not that he\u2019s given it a second of thought.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a day tomorrow that\u2019s very important,\u201d Hoiberg said Monday night. \u201cIt\u2019s a recovery day. We\u2019ve 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boring. But efficient and extremely functional. And most important, Hoiberg\u2019s attitude allows Nebraska to escape the talk that exists outside the locker room doors about its NCAA Tournament history.<\/p>\n
![\"Fred](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/USATSI_27908108-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Fred Hoiberg\u2019s unwavering presence has steadied Nebraska. (Dylan Widger \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
An 18-year drought followed. Baylor beat Nebraska in 2014. Ten years later, Hoiberg\u2019s only trip with the Huskers in seven seasons ended with a loss to Texas A&M.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t want any part of a connection to the Huskers\u2019 miserable postseason history.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t put that crap on me,\u201d Miles said at the time. \u201cThis is my program. We don\u2019t carry any baggage. \u2026 So all that curse crap, all of that hexing and vexing and all of that bulls\u2013t that goes with it is exactly that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not us. That doesn\u2019t exist. That does not exist.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hard as he tried to deny it, Miles did, in fact, sound burdened by Nebraska\u2019s past.<\/p>\n
For this team, it\u2019s simply not a thing. They\u2019ve won 19 consecutive games, including four victories last year en route to the championship in the first College Basketball Crown.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s Jeremy Fears Jr.<\/p>\n
Frager was signaling 3 points, but it was taunting nonetheless. His mistake led to a momentum shift in favor of Michigan State.<\/p>\n
He apologized in the days after the game to Fears and to Izzo \u2014 and to the Huskers.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew he was wrong,\u201d Hoiberg said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LINCOLN, Neb. \u2014 If Nebraska basketball is just now showing up on your radar, the first thing to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,354,231,772,1544,8905],"class_list":{"0":"post-522462","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-mens-college-basketball","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-basketball","13":"tag-ncaab","14":"tag-nebraska-cornhuskers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115853780908055746","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}