A Moment in March: What Nebraska's Tourney Win Means for the Hoiberg Family

The moment didn’t arrive all at once. It built slowly, quietly, almost cautiously — like the man at the center of it.

For most of the day, Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg stayed composed, pacing the sideline, calling sets, reinforcing the same steady message he’s delivered to his team all season: be who you are, control what you can, move on to the next thing. Even as the lead stretched against Troy Thursday afternoon, even as the final minutes ticked away, even as history crept closer with every possession.

It wasn’t until there was 1:13 left — when the benches finally emptied and the outcome was no longer in doubt — that it finally hit him. And when it did, it wasn’t just about basketball.

“I think of my dad,” Hoiberg said after his team’s dominating 76-47 win over Troy. “He’s back in a home right now. I hope he got a chance to watch this one. I can’t wait to talk to him just because of what it means for our family.”

As the second wound down on Nebraska's win over Troy, coach Fred Hoiberg finally let his guard down to soak in the moment. — As the seconds wound down on Nebraska's win over Troy, coach Fred Hoiberg finally let his guard down to soak in the moment. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In that moment, Nebraska’s first-ever NCAA Tournament win became something more than a program milestone. It became personal for both Fred and Sam Hoiberg.

For decades, Nebraska basketball had chased this moment. Every March appearance ended the same way — close calls, missed chances and frustration that lingered longer than the season itself. The weight of that history didn’t just sit on the program. It followed every player, every coach, every fan who dared to believe this time might be different.

And yet, inside the Huskers’ locker room this week, there was a different tone. They weren’t necessarily desperate or fearing another tournament collapse. Instead, they were focusing on restraint.

“You can’t go out and all of a sudden try to do things that you haven’t done all year,” Hoiberg said during the lead-up to the game.

Nebraska never lost focus in its dominating win over Troy Thursday, and it's thanks to lessons learned from NU's 2024 Tourney loss. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

His message wasn’t just strategy, but it’s serving for Nebraska’s survival as they set their sights on the Round of 32 for the first time ever, and the Huskers say they made program history due in part to what they learned in 2024’s one-and-done showing in the NCAA Tournament.

Players admitted they got caught up in the moment — the noise, the lights, the magnitude of March. They tried to soak it all in too early and too often, and in doing so, lost the edge required to win.

On Thursday, they waited.

“I lost focus,” senior Sam Hoiberg said of his performance against Texas A&M in the 2024 appearance. “I didn’t play a good game. That was one of the things I’ve been saying all week — know you’re in a dream moment, but we have to focus on this game.”

After not performing to his standards in 2024, Sam Hoiberg said he had tunnel vision Thursday against Troy. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

They did – for 35 minutes, Nebraska treated history like just another opponent, but outside that bubble of focus, something else was building.

Long before tipoff, the signs were there. Inside the arena, the crowd began to fill in, and as it did, the arena only became more and more red with Husker fans. Section after section, red shirts stacked on top of each other, until what was supposed to be a neutral site game felt like anything but.

The Husker head coach said he saw it first on a monitor in the coach’s room, and by the time he stepped out for the national anthem, it hit him.

“I got goosebumps,” Fred Hoiberg said. “Got a little emotional just seeing how the fans showed up for us.”

Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg admitted that he got goosebumps when he walked out and saw how many Husker fans were there. | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

For players, it felt even bigger.

“That might have been the best environment I’ve ever played in — home, neutral, away,” Pryce Sandfort said. “It was truly unbelievable.”

Jamarques Lawrence said he got chills. Rienk Mast said he looked into the stands late and saw nothing but smiles. Sam Hoiberg captured the emotion in a fitting phrase as well. He said it a desperate crowd, desperate for this moment and desperate for this win.

Fortunately, Hoiberg admitted, so was the team.

On the court, the game didn’t begin like a coronation as the final score would suggest. Troy came out sharp, hitting early shots, testing Nebraska’s composure, threatening to turn the night into something familiar — another game that slipped away before it could fully begin.

Early on, Troy tested Nebraska and looked all of the part of a potential upset candidate Thursday. | William Purnell-Imagn Images

For a moment, the tension crept in, but unlike the eight Husker teams before them, this Nebraska team didn’t unravel.

“We got a little out of sorts early,” Fred Hoiberg admitted. “But then we got back to who we are.”

After the tight opening minutes, the Huskers went to their bread and butter combination of ball movement, patience and a stifling defense. The numbers told part of the story: 20 assists to just six turnovers, a +16 margin in forced turnovers, a 19–3 edge in second-chance points and dominance in the paint.

“It was one of those games where you just felt like the shot’s there,” Sam Hoiberg said. “We had a feeling we were going to get some stops, and when we get stops, that’s when we go on runs.”

Pryce Sandfort led all scorers with 23 points in Nebraska's win over Troy, and 21 of them came from behind the arc. | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Once that run came, everything changed. Troy lost any positive momentum as NU’s defense tightened – then Pryce Sandfort did, well…Pryce Sandfort things.

He led all scorers with 23 points in the win, but 21 of them came via seven three-pointers, each one causing a louder reaction than the last. Each one pulled the Huskers further from doubt and closer to something they had never reached before, and it looked effortless.

For so many involved in this program, Thursday’s historic win was years, decades and even a century in the making, and from the player perspective, no one embodies that more than Sam Hoiberg.

His journey through the program hasn’t been defined by immediate success or spotlight moments. There were seasons when winning felt distant and times when his role was limited, so he spent nights in the gym alone just to get some shots up and prepare for something that hadn’t arrived yet.

Nebraska senior Sam Hoiberg called Thursday's historical win over Troy a storybook ending to his five-year career in Lincoln. | William Purnell-Imagn Images

“It was tough being on those teams that were not winning games,” he said. “Especially when I was on the bench… I used that as motivation. It’s almost like a storybook ending. That was the last thing that we needed to do to get this program on top.”

For the Hoiberg family, this wasn’t just a win. It will forever be a shared moment across generations.

A father coaching, a son contributing at the highest level and a grandfather watching on likely with tears in his eyes.

Basketball has always been woven into the Hoiberg family story. From Ames to the NBA to Lincoln, the game has been a constant thread, and on Thursday, that thread pulled everything together.

Next up for Nebraska is a Vanderbilt team that held off McNeese State Thursday evening. | William Purnell-Imagn Images

Now, just as quickly as it arrived, this historical moment for Nebraska has to be put away. That’s the paradox of March. You spend a lifetime chasing a moment like this, and you have to move on almost immediately.

“Are you satisfied?” Fred Hoiberg asked his team afterward. The answer, for the 33rd-straight time this season, came back quickly.

No.

That response might be the most telling part of all, because while this win represented a mountaintop moment, it also marks a new beginning. The weight of never having won a tournament game is finally gone. History has been rewritten, and what remains is an opportunity.

No matter what happens Saturday night against Vanderbilt, March 19 of 2026 will stand on its own. For the fans who filled the arena and turned it into a sea of red. For the players who learned from past failures and stayed locked in long enough to change the outcome. For a program that finally crossed a line it had been chasing for decades.

And for a family — standing at the center of it all — that felt the full weight of what it meant.

A father and son living out a dream they’ve both shared for decades. A shared moment, years in the making.

For one day, at least, Nebraska basketball reached the mountaintop, and for the Hoiberg family, it means everything.

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.