March Madness 2026: No. 4 Nebraska gets its first men’s NCAA tournament win in school history with victory over No. 13 Troy

Nebraska finally has an NCAA tournament win.

The No. 4 Cornhuskers vanquished ghosts that have haunted the basketball program for 40 years with a 76-47 win over No. 13 Troy in the first round of the South region on Thursday. The win is Nebraska’s first in nine March Madness appearances since it first made the tournament in 1986.

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The Huskers made sure to leave little doubt that the ninth appearance was going to result in another first-round loss, too. Nebraska closed the first half on a 17-6 run over the final seven minutes before halftime to take a 16-point lead.

Pryce Sandfort was a big reason why. He scored 17 first-half points and was 5-of-8 from behind the arc.

Sandfort did that with his brother Payton in attendance after he scored the first NBA points of his career. Payton Sandfort, a rookie on a two-way contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder, played the first five minutes of his NBA career in OKC’s blowout win over Brooklyn on Wednesday night. He then hopped on an early flight back to Oklahoma City on Thursday to see Nebraska make school history.

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Pryce Sandfort finished with 23 points as he got to watch the end of the game from the bench thanks to the blowout.

Troy shot just 28% from the field as the Trojans went ice cold to end the first half. Troy played with Nebraska to start the game, but the Huskers pulled away as Troy went just 4-of-17 from the field after making its first three shots of the game.

The Huskers will play their first second-round game in school history against either No. 5 Vanderbilt or No. 12 McNeese.

Nebraska’s previous tournament failures

Until Thursday, Nebraska’s NCAA tournament history was rough. Here’s a look at each of the school’s first eight NCAA tournament appearances.

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1986

The Huskers made their first tournament appearance four decades ago as a No. 9 seed in coach Moe Iba’s last year with the team. Nebraska went 19-10 in the regular season before losing 67-59 to No. 8 Western Kentucky.

1991

The…

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Author : Nick Bromberg

Publish date : 2026-03-19 18:38:00

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