Nebraska men’s basketball will begin its postseason play in the Big Ten Tournament on Friday.
The Huskers’ opponent will be Purdue after the Boilermakers defeated Northwestern 81-68 Thursday evening at the United Center in Chicago.
The Big Ten Network will televise the game with Kevin Kugler, Robbie Hummel and Andy Katz on the call, while the Huskers Radio Network will carry the broadcast with Kent Pavelka and Jeff Smith.
Nebraska’s No. 2 seed in the 2026 Big Ten Tournament is its best conference tournament seed in program history. Before this season, the Huskers had been a three-seed on seven previous occasions (1978, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1991, and 2024).
The game will be a rematch of the Boilermakers’ 80-77 overtime win in Lincoln on February 10.
In the loss, Purdue opened the game on a 15-1 run.
“The message to our guys was we lost that game in the first three minutes,” Fred Hoiberg said after the loss. “You dig yourself a hole, whatever it was, 14-1, call the timeout and we’re down double digits before the first media (timeout), and it’s hard to climb out of a hole against a team like that that’s got that type of experience, that type of leadership.”
Big men Trey Kaufmann-Renn and Oscar Cluff scored 19 points apiece on a combined 15-for-19 from the field while point guard Braden Smith dished out 16 assists in the win over Northwestern.
“It’s gonna be difficult,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter said of Nebraska on Big Ten Network after the win. “Obviously, they have a lot of skill. They have a lot of good players, two-way players, guys that play on both ends, they’re well coached. We did a great job the first time rebounding. We got a lot of really good opportunities. We didn’t shoot it great, but they didn’t shoot it great either.”
By The Numbers
The game will be a matchup of strength versus strength. Purdue is second in the county in adjusted offensive efficiency (130.9), according to KenPom. Nebraska is currently seventh nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency (92.2).
One of the Huskers’ best defensive metrics is its 3-point defense. Opponents are shooting just 29.8% from distance against the Huskers, ninth best nationally. Purdue’s 38.4% from 3 as a team ranks 14th in the country.
The Boilermakers effective field goal percentage is 11th best in the country, 57.8%. Nebraska defensively is 35th in the country, holding teams to 47.6%.
The strength of the Huskers’ defense is playing without fouling. The Huskers rank sixth nationally in opposing free-throw rate at 24.8%. Purdue offensively doesn’t get to the free-throw line often with just a 28.3% rate, 339th out of 365 Division I teams.
In the first matchup between the two teams, the Boilermakers dominated the Huskers on the offensive glass, 21-6. Purdue’s offensive rebounding rate in that game was 40%, Nebraska’s was 15%.
Throughout the season, the Huskers have been pretty good at not giving up offensive rebounds. Nebraska is surrendering a 27.3% offensive rebounding rate to its opponents, good for 46th in the country. Purdue’s 36.1 offensive rebounding percentage is 21st nationally.
Keys To the Game
Obviously, the first key to the game for Nebraska is hitting first to keep Purdue off of the offensive glass. The Huskers can’t win the game and give up a plus-15 offensive rebounding margin. Nebraska will need help from its guards rebounding down on both ends of the floor.
The second key is getting and keeping the Purdue post players away from the basket on the defensive end.
In the Huskers’ loss to Purdue this season, Rienk Mast’s 3-point shooting ability was a major factor. He was 4-7 from deep and finished with a team-high 14 points. Mast, Berke Büyüktuncel and Jared Garcia will need to make plays on the perimeter.
Turnovers and converting them into points is the third key. Both Purdue and Nebraska have done a good job of taking care of the ball for the most part this season.
Nebraska is 15th in the country in allowing opponents to steal the basketball with a 7.3% rate. Purdue is 33rd nationally in the same category, 7.8%. In the Boilermakers’ win over Nebraska this season, Purdue had eight steals to Nebraska’s four.
In what was a three-point Purdue overtime win the first time, the Boilermakers had 19 points off turnovers to Nebraska’s 16.
