The Nebraska men’s basketball team is ready for its next challenge after an impressive comeback win over Oklahoma at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Saturday night.
Nebraska beat the Sooners 105-99 in front of a sold-out crowd with an outstanding performance from junior forward Pryce Sandfort on Saturday.
“I thought our pace was unbelievable,” Coach Fred Hoiberg said Tuesday afternoon. “We just kept swinging, and that’s the thing I’m most proud of our guys. I didn’t love the start obviously. First time playing an opponent of that caliber, and one thing we never did was panic. We never hung our heads, and we stuck to the game plan, and ultimately when we started getting deflections, that’s when we’ve been our best.”
In Saturday’s contest, Sandfort had a career day, totaling 28 points on 10-of-18 baskets from the field and a career-high seven assists, leading the team to a 4-0 start. The Iowa transfer is off to a fast start in 2025 scoring more than 20 points in two out of the last three games.
“I saw him as a guy you could use as a facilitator of your offense, and a guy that could drive it,” Hoiberg said. “He’s more athletic than you think, and I think he showcased that the other day on some of those line drives to the basket. Pryce really is a complete basketball player.”
After the win against the Sooners, Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser had high praise for the Huskers, predicting that they will make it to the NCAA Tournament in March, but Hoiberg does not want the team focusing on that.
“We had a great win, and that game will benefit us come March, but we’ve got a long ways to go before we get there,” Hoiberg said. “So, it was really the first major test that we had. Obviously every game is of the utmost importance, but that was the first opportunity to play against a high-major, and we passed it. It was basically a homecourt game, and to go out there and find a way to win it when things weren’t going well early is a testament to our guys. It should be a confidence builder for our guys, but now we’ve got to move on.”
On the injury front, Hoiberg said that senior forward Ugnius Jaruševičius has started running but is not ready for contact yet. The Central Michigan transfer is coming back from a back injury that he suffered before the season, with hopes of playing soon. The coach said that he expects Jaruševičius will return to practice next week with game action hopefully coming in the next few weeks.
Freshmen Leo Curtis and Braden Frager were both questionable heading into the Oklahoma game, with Frager getting in the game in a limited role. Hoiberg said the team is shutting down Curtis for the next week or two following a setback with his leg injury, hoping to get the swelling down and eliminate the pain he’s feeling. Frager, on the other hand, participated in full during Tuesday’s practice after sitting out the live portions on Monday.
Now, Nebraska is shifting its focus to the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Missouri. The Huskers open the tournament facing New Mexico on Thursday night. The Huskers will then play either Kansas State or Mississippi State Friday night.
The Lobos are coming into Thursday’s game with a record of 3-1, a new head coach in Eric Olen and a brand-new roster.
“They’re extremely well coached, they’re very disciplined, they do a great job forcing turnovers and they get in passing lanes,” Hoiberg said. “We have to be very safe with the ball. I thought we did a good job of that obviously with Oklahoma, and we’re going to have to duplicate that in this game on Thursday night. But they run good actions, they put you in some tough positions with getting the ball shifted side to side three or four times over the course of the possession …
“This is a really good basketball team that we’re playing on Thursday, and we’re going to have to be on point from the jump.”
The tournament format with an unknown second opponent creates a quick turnaround with limited game prep, but Hoiberg wants his players taking it game by game and not looking too far in advance.
“We’ve got guys working behind the scenes right now on whoever our opponent will be,” Hoiberg said. “We’ve got personnel edits for both teams, we’ve got first-look edits which we would watch when we get back to the hotel after we figure out who we’re going to play and then have a walk through that following morning. But right now, our sole focus is on New Mexico.”
Tipoff Thursday is set for 6 p.m. CT with the game streaming on Peacock.
