Husker Dan: Hoiberg’s Huskers Can Hoop It Up

Is Trev Alberts’ magic paying off?

In what was improbable or even impossible to consider, the Husker men's basketball team has done it. It has won its last three games over a span of just seven days:

1. A 93-70 win at Penn State on February 27th
2. A 78-70 win at Ohio State on March 1st
3. And a 74-73 win at Wisconsin on March 6th

What is noteworthy about the three victories is:

1. All were conference wins.
2. All were road wins.
3. One was over a Top 25 team (# 23 Ohio State)
4. And one was over a Top Ten team (#10 Wisconsin)

To Dream the Impossible Dream

The most improbable win was Sunday's Husker game at Wisconsin. The Huskers' roster was depleted due to an injury to Bryce McGowens, who didn't even suit up (wrist injury). How valuable is Bryce? He's a 5-star recruit who leads the Huskers in playing time per game (33.3 minutes). He's also on track to be named the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year.

Early in the second half of the Wisconsin game, Bryce's older brother, Trey, was ejected from the game due to a flagrant foul. How big was Trey's loss? He's been averaging 26.4 minutes of playing time per game. With those two losses, the Huskers were missing over over 20 points per game and more than 50 minutes of playing time.

To make matters even worse, Alonzo Verge was on the bench with his fourth personal foul during part of the second half. How much did the Husker miss Verge's presence? During the five minutes he sat on the bench, the Badgers outscored the Huskers 13-3. When Verge came back late in the game, he picked up his fifth foul and was out of the game.

How did Hoiberg's team manage to win the dang game? Pure and simple: grit and determination - two things that have been missing from the Huskers up until now. They never quit - even when the odds were stacked against them. The allure of sporting events in general is the outcomes are as unpredictable as March weather in Nebraska. And the past week, the Nebraska men's basketball team proved the oddsmakers wrong.

Congratulations to Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg and to his players who refused to quit.

Trev's magic?

The last three Husker basketball wins came right after Nebraska A.D. Trev Alberts announced that Hoiberg would be coming back for another year to try to return the Huskers to respectability. It's not known if the one-year reprieve affected the team's performance this past week. But for now, Trev and Fred deserve to take a victory lap - or at least a partial lap - to celebrate.

The B1G Tourney

Next up for the Huskers is a March 9th B1G Tournament game with Northwestern at Indianapolis. The last time these two teams met was February 22nd in Evanston, Illinois. The Wildcats beat the Huskers 77-65. The Wildcats are tied for 12th place in the conference with a 7-13 record,

The Huskers are tied with Minnesota (4-16) for the B1G cellar spot. I'm not sure how far this Husker team can go in the tournament. But one thing is certain: If the Huskers play the way they have lately, they are going to be a tough out.

How ’Bout Them Huskers

This week's guest on our "How 'Bout Them Huskers" podcast is David Max. David, of course, is the creator of Huskerpedia.com and now HuskerMax.com. David talks about how and why he decided to launch a website devoted to Husker sports. Without his help, I wouldn't have a venue to write my columns. There would never have been Husker Dan's Army and there wouldn't be such a thing as Husker Fans Salute The Troops (huskersalute.org). And for our weekly podcasts, my grandson Will and I wouldn't have anywhere near the audience we have without David's help. Don't miss the interview! You can catch it in the player below or listen on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify or your favorite podcast app.

• Related game pages: Penn State, Ohio State, Wisconsin.

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