Nebraska men’s basketball checked the most important boxes on its list Saturday in Southern California as the Huskers took down USC 82-67. They played with physicality, kept the Trojans off the free-throw line and won the turnover battle to pull away in the second half.
Nebraska improved to 25-4 overall and 14-4 in Big Ten play, setting new program records for regular season and Big Ten win totals. The seventh conference road win also builds on the program record set in the 80-68 win at Rutgers on Feb. 7. The previous record was five, and Nebraska has one more road game remaining.
Sam Hoiberg Impact
Nebraska has done a great job of not getting sped up and taking care of the basketball this season. Its 13.9% turnover rate is 22nd in the country.
USC didn’t force a turnover in the first 9:20 of the game. That was until Sam Hoiberg, the nation’s leader in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.92) picked up his second foul.
Fred Hoiberg is not one to keep players in the game after they pick up their second foul in the first half. This season, Nebraska has done so just 6.7% of the time, 342nd of 365 Division I schools in first-half two-foul participation.
With Hoiberg on the bench next to his father, USC took advantage and forced seven Husker turnovers in the final 11:40 of the half.
“Our formula has been taking care of the ball when we play in transition, and we did not do that in the first half,” Fred Hoiberg said on the Huskers Radio Network. “We got sped up. Their pressure bothered us. I thought we got a little rattled out there, flustered. We weren’t executing.”
USC took advantage of Hoiberg’s foul trouble to carry a 36-31 lead at the half.
The second half was a different story. The Huskers jumped on the Trojans thanks to an inspired halftime conversation.
“We challenged them at halftime,” Coach Hoiberg said. “We got on them pretty good, and they came out and responded in a big way. I thought our hands were very active. They got us a couple of easy ones early in the half, and then we really executed well, I thought, for the rest of the game.”
Nebraska improved its plus-6.6 second-half scoring differential, which ranks third in the Big Ten, with a 12-2 start in the first 4:04 of the half.
The Huskers outscored the Trojans 51-31 in the final 20 minutes of the game.
Rebounding and Turnovers
It’s clear the Cornhuskers have struggled to out-rebound Big Ten opponents. Saturday, Nebraska was the more physical team, out-rebounding the Trojans 41-25. USC came into the game averaging 37.1 rebounds per game, fourth in the Big Ten.
The Huskers’ 18-5 offensive rebounding edge was a bit of a surprise. USC is a top-100 offensive rebounding team in the nation with a 33.2% rate. Saturday, Nebraska held the Trojans to just 17.9% on the offensive glass while its own offensive rebounding percentage was 47.4%.
“Rebounding, that was a big message,” Hoiberg said. “You win the glass to win the game. (We had) 18 offensive rebounds and held them to five, and they’re one of the best offensive rebound teams in the country.”
For the second game in a row, one of the high-scoring wings led the team in rebounding, something the team needed more of. Redshirt freshman Braden Frager grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and Sandfort finished with six after recording eight in the win against Maryland on Wednesday.
Despite Nebraska’s final 11:40 of the first half, where the USC pressure affected the Huskers, Nebraska won the turnover battle 14-12, outscoring the Trojans 19-12 in points off turnovers.
After the locker room talk — and getting Sam Hoiberg back on the floor — Nebraska dished out 11 assists with only one turnover in the first six and a half minutes of the second half to right the ship.
Sandfort and Buyuktuncel
Sandfort scored 32 points on 12-21 shooting, including 5-10 from 3-point range. It was his 13th 20-point game this season, which is now the third-most by a Husker in the Big Ten era. The only Huskers with more 20-point games in a season in the Big Ten era are Brice Williams (20, 2024-25) and James Palmer (18, 2018-19).
Berke Büyüktuncel was a major factor on Saturday for the Huskers. His plus/minus of plus-24 led the team. In his 24 minutes of action, the junior forward scored nine points, grabbed six rebounds, had four assists, nabbed three steals, blocked two shots and committed zero turnovers.
“I thought BK was phenomenal,” Hoiberg said.
