For the first time in 60 years, Nebraska men’s basketball entered the AP Top 10 on Monday.
How did the Huskers celebrate? A 72-69 road win at Ohio State, the Huskers’ first win as a top-10 team since a 79-69 win over Kansas State on March 1, 1966.
It was a slog offensively at times, but two native Nebraskans made winning plays when it mattered most.
The Buckeyes’ 2-2-1 box press sped up things offensively for Nebraska, resulting in shorter possessions in the half court.
“They had us sped up, and give them credit for changing things up and getting us out of a rhythm,” Fred Hoiberg said on the Husker Radio Network postgame show.
Lincoln Pius X grad Sam Hoiberg doing the little things has been the team’s constant all season. His offensive rebound with 3:09 on the clock and Nebraska struggling to fend off Ohio State after giving up a 14-point first-half lead was a big moment in the game. That tip resulted in a Pryce Sandfort 3-pointer.
“That was a big one and Pryce got it rolling in our last road game,” Hoiberg said. “Hit a big one right out of the gate. I thought that’s usually the one that gets him going. Hit a huge one when we really needed it.”
Hoiberg, the shortest player on the team, finished the game with a team-leading nine rebounds, the third time he’s done that this season. He’s now had nine rebounds or more in two of the last three games, with a career high of 10 in the win over New Hampshire.
He also had four assists to just one turnover and made two of his four 3-point attempts.
Lincoln Southwest product Braden Frager also had huge moments in the game. Frager led the team in scoring with 15 points off the bench. It was the third time the redshirt freshman has led the team in scoring and his ninth double-figure performance off the bench this season.
“Braden Fager made a hell of a play on that last after timeout to go get the and-1,” Coach Hoiberg said in his postgame interview on FS1.
Frager made plays off the dribble when the Huskers got a little out of sorts offensively, and the Huskers needed every one of them.
“That’s really what we had to go to,” Hoiberg said on FS1. “They were taking us out of everything else.”
Cale Jacobsen was solid off the bench as well. The Ashland-Greenwood native scored just three points but was second on the team in plus/minus (plus-7) in his 18 minutes. Jacobsen’s ball handling and playing with the proper pace after Ohio State sped up the Husker offense was key to the victory.
“I thought he gave us great minutes and kind of calmed us down,” Hoiberg said.
Continuing to Improve
Nebraska improved to 4-0 in Big Ten play for the first time in school history (2011-12 to present) and 4-0 in conference play for the first time since the 1975-76 (Big Eight Conference).
Despite the win, Ohio State showed some kinks in the 15-0 Huskers’ armor.
Maybe it was the quick turnaround and a bit of an emotional letdown after the big win over Michigan State on Friday. Nebraska had uncharacteristic non-steal turnovers in the game, which kept Ohio State within striking distance. Coming into the game, the Huskers ranked 18th in the nation offensively in non-steal turnover rate at 5.7%.
Monday, Ohio State forced eight Nebraska first-half turnovers and 12 total in the game, with just four coming from Buckeye steals.
“We’re still leaving stuff out there; there is improvement for this team,” Hoiberg said on Husker Radio Network. “We’ve got to bounce back and continue to grow and continue to get better.”
Hoiberg pointed to the ball pressure Ohio State applied that “left a lot of points on the board.:
“We missed some cutters and there’s still some mistakes,” he said. “We talked a lot about getting ducked in and they did that to us on multiple occasions.”
Stopping Thornton
Hoiberg has used the phrase “cutting the head off the snake” throughout his career when it comes to defending the opponent’s best player.
Senior guard Bruce Thornton is Ohio State’s best player, and Nebraska once again did a good job of limiting him from having a big game.
Yes, Thornton had big moments, but Nebraska held him to 16 points after averaging a team-high 20.9 this season.
Before Monday, Thornton had averaged just 14 points per game in his four games against Nebraska in his career, and the Huskers held him to under 10 points in two of those games.
Up Next
For Nebraska to keep the unbeaten streak alive, the Huskers will need to win their third straight road game at Indiana on Saturday. With school back in session, it should be a much more hostile environment in Bloomington than what they saw at Ohio State.
“We’ve got to keep this thing going,” Hoiberg said. “There’s not satisfaction in that locker room; got to bounce back with good days of prep and head in to play a really talented Indiana team that’s got one of the best offenses in the conference.”
