Things didn’t go the way Husker fans and Fed Hoiberg’s team wanted in Houston Thursday night, losing to Big Ten rival Iowa 77-71. It’s rough to take, but you can’t be upset with this Husker team. In my view they are one of the greatest Nebraska basketball teams in school history, making the Sweet Sixteen and exceeding our expectations. Before the season no one saw this team accomplishing what they have. Did the ending suck? Absolutely, especially falling to Iowa. But like the 93 Husker football team, this season and this game sets the stage for next season and will drive them to greater heights.
And why not, all this team did was run off 20 straight wins to start the season, a program record. They finished with a 28-7 record, and the 28 wins are the best in school history. They were rewarded with their highest seeding ever in the NCAA tournament and finally got the monkey off their backs for being the only program to not win a tournament game. They were the first Nebraska team to make it to the Sweet Sixteen and they did it with the smallest NIL budget of all the sixteen qualifiers.
Disappointed? Yes. Still stunned at what they accomplished. Yes, and yes again. They led Iowa for 32 minutes of the game and simply ran out of gas. The NIL roster showed up late, Fred Hoiberg lacked the depth needed to go deep into the bench as only seven players saw time on the floor. It wasn’t hard to see that his team’s legs were gone as they went on a five-minute scoring drought late.
While the Huskers played well enough to win, they weren’t the team we’ve seen over the last two games. They only shot 41 percent from the field while Iowa lit things up, shooting 43 percent from 3-point range and going 13/30. The Huskers, who have taken advantage of the 3-point shot all season went 13/38. Rink was 0/7, Buyuktuncel was 0/4, Hoiberg was 0/3, and Jacobson was 0/2. Sandfort and Frager went a combined 11/18. Not the night Husker fans had hoped for.
Sam Hoiberg, the sparkplug of the Huskers, wasn’t the difference maker he usually is, unable to get that big steal or stop when needed. And unlike him, he committed five of Nebraska’s ten turnovers. Iowa scored twenty points off those Nebraska miscues. But Sam’s the man, you can never take what he accomplished away from him.
As for other missteps, we won’t even talk about only having four men on the floor late in the game allowing Iowa to take a six-point lead. Coach Hoiberg took the blame for that one. You can point to it as a monumental gaff and some may even say a turning point, but there were only fifty-eight seconds left, and the tide had already turned at that point. That play isn’t why the Huskers lost.
But a huge shout out to Sam Hoiberg, Pryce Sandfort, Rink Mast, Berke Buyuktuncel, Jamarques Lawerance, Braden Frager, Cale Jacobsen and the rest of the team. They played their guts out all season and came up short. Regardless of what happens or what is said going forward this team was resilient and fun to watch and will go down as the team that pushed Nebraska basketball onto the national stage.
I’ve always admitted I don’t know jack about basketball, I’m a football guy, but this Husker team had me watching. They got my attention, and maybe, just maybe, like the 93 Husker football team did, they can carry the excitement over into next season.
GO BIG RED!!
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