Nebraska men’s basketball won one of the biggest games in program history on Tuesday night, 88-72 over No. 1 ranked Purdue.
“I’m happy for our guys. I talked to them, going into this game, about being part of teams that have knocked off the number one team in the country,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said after the win. “I had a couple as a player, and I had a couple as a coach at my previous stop. There’s nothing like it, to go out and get this win, and I talked to our guys about there will probably be people coming on the floor and to enjoy it with the fans.”
It’s the Huskers’ (13-3) biggest win of the season and the biggest win of the Hoiberg era at Nebraska.
“It’s a great win,” Hoiberg said. “It’s a huge win for our program, but we’ve got a lot of work left to do. I think that’s the way we all need to look at this thing. This can’t be the highlight of our year. We have to build off this one. We bounced back from a tough loss [at Wisconsin]. Now, we’re going to see how we handle a big, emotional win like this, and we’ll know tomorrow.”
Husker Basketball History
The Husker win is the fourth against a top-ranked team in school history. Two of those wins now belong to the Hoiberg family.
Hoiberg’s grandfather, Jerry Bush, was the head coach when Nebraska defeated No. 1 ranked Kansas State 55-48 on March 3, 1958.
It’s the first win over the No. 1 team since Feb. 2, 1982, a 67-51 win over Missouri. It is also the first home win over a No. 1 team since Dec. 12, 1964, against Michigan.
Hoiberg now has four wins over ranked opponents in his time at Nebraska, none bigger than the win Tuesday night inside of Pinnacle Bank Arena.
“This is a special win, and again, the thing I’m really happy with is it shows what we’re capable of,” Hoiberg said.
Rienk Mast
No mask, no knee sleeve, no problem at all for Husker center Rienk Mast. The transfer from Bradley had the toughest task of the season and his collegiate career in battling with Purdue All-American and 2023 Naismith Player of the Year Zach Edey.
The moment, the player and the team weren’t too big for Mast.
“It doesn’t get much bigger than that. Number one team, reigning National Player of the Year, I just see that as a challenge,” Mast said “Luckily the shots were going in in the beginning and it gave the team a little spark and everybody started believing, ‘hey there’s something there today.’ So yeah, rise to the moment and I think everybody did that today.”
“He made good plays, did some really good things, made a couple 3s,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said of Mast. “He didn’t turn the ball over. He’s just a good player — very experienced, tough.”
Mast’s toughness has been on full display in his short time in Lincoln. Just look at what he has already endured.
He was the victim of an unprovoked mugging that sent him to the hospital. He had to wear a mask in order to play days later. Three and a half weeks ago he had a knee operation that cleaned up a small piece of loose cartilage in his knee and missed just two games.
In the first half Tuesday, night he went head first into a shoulder that caused both of his nostrils to gush blood.
But Mast opened the game with a 3-pointer and Nebraska never looked back. If he isn’t the best player on Nebraska’s roster, he is without question the most important piece to the Nebraska puzzle this season.
Defense The Difference
With 3:44 left in the first half, the 7-foot-4 Edey picked up his second foul.
That wasn’t the difference in the game. To that point Edey was pretty ineffective, finishing the half with two points on 1-of-4 shooting, four rebounds, two blocked shots and two turnovers.
The reason: Mast and the quick double teams that came at him. Mast and the second defender had quick, high hands to distract the 7-foot-4 center and make passes difficult.
“My plan was to be annoying,” Mast said of the game plan to defend Edey. “I kind of did a little fist bump because he was already complaining to the refs before the first media timeout. Just being annoying, being on his body, playing physical with him.”
The Huskers were quicker with their rotations than they were Saturday in the loss at Wisconsin. They were first to the front of the rim on a dive from a Purdue player and they had high-hand closeouts more often than not Tuesday night.
The Huskers’ deflected passes and had almost double-digit steals (nine) in the game. The defensive energy just felt different.
“I think everybody came in and was like ‘Okay we dropped one but we have another opportunity on Tuesday.’ Nobody was hanging their heads,” Mast said. “Everybody came in hungry and dialed in to the scouting report and I think today showed that we’re a very good team. This was the best team effort that I’ve seen probably in my career.”
Moving On
Nebraska travels to Iowa for an 8:30 p.m. tip Friday night. That is three days after one of the biggest wins in program history. It’s also a winnable road game in the league, which, if you are playing to break program history, you need to get as many of those as possible.
“Yeah we’re not preparing every day to beat Purdue. We’re competing for a National Championship — well first a Big Ten Championship and then a National Championship,” Brice Williams said. “Celebrate tonight but never get too high and never get too low. Just keep moving forward. That was a big win but that’s not all we’re here to do.”
