Darian White got her moment, too.
As Nebraska women’s basketball celebrated Senior Day in its final home game of the regular season, three of the four honorees made plays in helping the Huskers blow out Minnesota.
White, meanwhile, could only sit and watch the others check out of the game late to standing ovations. Having suffered a minor setback in recovery from a knee injury, she wasn’t available to play. That is, until the grad transfer appeared in uniform at the scorer’s table, entering the contest with under a minute to go.
The guard then received her own applause from the crowd, walking gingerly through the final possessions.
“She’s meant so much to this team and the culture that we’ve built this year,” head coach Amy Williams said after that game. “For us to still have an opportunity for her to have kind of a last curtain call from Husker nation was pretty special.”
White is unique among this class of seniors, with the other three having spent multiple years with the program. She came to the program to punctuate her career after four years of success at Montana State.
In her time with the Bobcats, White accumulated 1,716 points, the second-highest total in program history. She won Big Sky Freshman of the Year in 2018-19, then went on to be a three-time first-team all-conference selection and two-time Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year.
Even with the impressive stats and list of accomplishments, White said she’s struggled with her confidence “for a really long time,” and that’s something she had to work through at Montana State.
It was a bit easier to do so her freshman year, as she joined a senior-laden roster and helped lead a 25-6 season. She was the only non-senior in the starting lineup, averaging 12.7 points on 46% shooting that year to go along with 2.5 steals per game.
After that season — canceled by the pandemic just before the championship game of the Big Sky Tournament — the team’s six seniors left, leaving her as the only returning starter.
“I started struggling with confidence because of all the pressure,” White said. “I had to be a leader and also be able to score a little bit more and direct the team and so that was something that I just wasn’t used to.”
She worked through that with the help of a sports psychologist, and led her team in scoring for the next three seasons. White averaged career-best scoring and assist numbers in her junior year to help the Bobcats to their third-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.
“I remember just being so thrilled that we had the opportunity to play — unfortunately against Stanford, we got our butts kicked,” White said. “But it was just a great experience. To go there and be recognized and just to see how far our hard work took us.”
In year four, Montana State finished 20-11, upset in its first game of the conference tournament and missing out on the league autobid.
Thanks to COVID eligibility rules, White could’ve opted to come back to the Bobcats for a fifth season, where she would be able to smash the program scoring record and have another shot at a tourney appearance. Instead, she entered the transfer portal.
“I kind of accomplished everything that I wanted to,” she said. “I wanted to challenge myself going on the next level, and I was thinking that coming on a bigger stage and playing against some of the best girls in the country, it would expand my opportunities for my professional career.”
She looked for a program similar to the one she was leaving, and felt the Huskers matched the culture and pace of play she desired. Assistant coach Julian Assibey, along with support staff members Alex Jardine and Ben Huver, were with the Bobcats for the early stages of White’s career as well.
The guard didn’t enter with the team expecting her to be a star, but the program had similar overall goals. Nebraska made the NCAA Tournament in 2021-22 before a disappointing campaign the following season.
Williams had plenty of praise for the newcomer before the season, and White earned a starting role. Her craftiness, passing and defensive effort helped earned her that nod, but she still had to work through some inconsistencies.
Learning an entirely new system was part of that, as was adjusting to a different type of athleticism in the Big Ten was another. She had an advantage in that area previously, and it helped cover up mistakes.
Just as White seemed to be getting into a rhythm with the Huskers — putting up double-digits three times in a four-game January stretch — she got hurt late in a tough loss against Rutgers. She said she dislocated her kneecap, but it luckily wasn’t a severe injury.
“I’m just so grateful that it didn’t take me out for the rest of my senior year,” she said. “I want to give thanks to my coaches and Ben and Alex for doing everything they can to get me back, but it’s been a lot of work.”
It has been a slower road back into the lineup for White. She missed the team’s win at Michigan, then played valuable minutes off the bench in the upset victory over No. 2 Iowa. Williams put her back with the starters for the loss against Ohio State, but White has returned to the bench for the games she’s been available for since.
Regardless of her exact role, she’ll be a valuable piece for the Huskers as they enter the postseason. White described herself as a competitor, and wants to prove how far this team can go and how far her own career can go.
As far as the former, she said the team will be focused on themselves and what they know they can accomplish. She feels she’s mentally ready for what’s ahead, and so is everyone else.
“I’m excited for this team,” White said. “Being at this level, coming back to the confidence thing, it’s brought me to a point where it’s like, I’m on this level, we’re on this level, and like, we’re capable of beating anybody.”
