Men’s Basketball Preview: Nebraska Cornhuskers

Michigan State concluded their non-conference schedule with Monday’s 114-97 win over Cornell so it’s conference play from now until the NCAA tournament for the Spartans, starting tomorrow with a trip to Nebraska.

The Spartans enter this matchup at 12-1 and 2-0 in the Big Ten while the Cornhuskers are also 2-0 in the league but 13-0 overall.

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Nebraska returned from their holiday break to defeat New Hampshire on Tuesday.  Like the Spartans, the Huskers were a little slow to wake up in their return and led just 41-38 at halftime before a big second half eventually led to an 86-55 win, preserving Nebraska’s perfect start to the season.

Nebraska’s wins, however, haven’t come all against mid-majors.  They’ve won against Oklahoma (105-99) and Kansas State (86-85) as well as teams who made the NCAA tournament last year in New Mexico (84-72) and Creighton (71-50).

The Huskers opened Big Ten play on December 10 by destroying Wisconsin 90-60 at home.  Their most impressive win of the season, however, was probably an 83-80 victory at #13 Illinois on December 13.

Nebraska Rotation

Nebraska goes about eight players deep in an experienced rotation but relies heavily on their starting five, which consists of:

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#9, F – Berke Buyuktuncel, 6-10, 244, JR – TRANSFER from UCLA, second year at NE

#51, F – Rienk Mast, 6-10, 250, SR – TRANSFER from Bradley, second year at NE

#21, F – Pryce Sandfort, 6-7, 215, JR – TRANSFER from Iowa, first year at NE

#10, G – Jamarques Lawrence, 6-3, 183, SR – TRANSFER from Rhode Island, third year at NE*

#1, G – Sam Hoiberg, 6-0, 185, SR

* Lawrence spent his first two years at Nebraska, transferred to Rhode Island for the ‘24-25 season and then returned to Nebraska.

Mast and Sandfort both average 16.5 points in about 30 minutes per game for Nebraska and both are good shooters, hitting around 50% overall, 38% on three-pointers, and 80% from the line.  Mast is the team’s leading rebounder at 7 per game.

Nebraska’s…

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Publish date : 2026-01-01 22:00:00

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