Nebraska Men’s Basketball is Proving to be More Than Just Distance Shooting

When the three-pointers are flying and Nebraska’s Pinnacle Bank Arena crowd is going crazy, it’s easy to surmise the Huskers’ basketball success is directly tied to distance shooting.

It is … and it isn’t.

The eighth-ranked Huskers are showing they do not rely exclusively on three-pointers. Nebraska improved its record to 17-0 on Tuesday night with a 90-55 win over overmatched Oregon. Nebraska is one of only four undefeated college basketball teams after Iowa State was smoked at Kansas on Tuesday night.

Sure, the Huskers used the three-ball to pummel Oregon. Nebraska made 17-of-35 shots from distance, a 47 percent success rate that will take the Huskers a long way. But against Oregon, and along the way in this magical season, Nebraska has employed other methods to win games.

Defense never rests

Nebraska plays defense, hard-nosed defense. The Huskers switch, don’t get caught in bad switches, get in your face and contest shots. They seem to do this dirty work enthusiastically.

“They [Oregon] started big, and a lot of times Sam [Hoiberg] got switched off onto a 6-10 guy,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said about his son, a Huskers guard, in a postgame news conference.

“But I really thought he battled down there and was all over the place. I think he had five steals at halftime.

“Look at our numbers. I love the 20 assists, six turnovers, the 11 steals, scoring 24 points off of turnovers. I just thought we did a lot of really good things out there tonight.

“And the thing I’m most proud of is the times we’ve gotten a lead and then allowed a team to come back. We just kept extending it.”

Going into the Oregon game, Nebraska ranked 32nd in the nation in scoring defense, allowing 66.4 points per game. That’s 32nd out of 361 teams.

“Nebraska’s activity is really good,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said in a postgame news conference. “Defensively, they’re really solid. Sam [Hoiberg] is just really active.”

Making the pass

Hoiberg mentioned the Huskers’ 20 assists. Those timely passes, and those extra passes, help teammates get open looks. Speaking of dirty work, Nebraska sets screens and sometimes takes some physical punishment in doing so.

Nebraska relies on its unselfishness to get those open shots. Many times a player will give up a shot to pass to a teammate. And Nebraska relies on its transition game — getting the ball on turnovers or off the glass and getting downcourt in a hurry.

“Pryce [Sandfort], obviously it’s fun to watch him,” Hoiberg said.

“We’ve got different actions based on where he is on the floor, at all different spots. Our guys did a really good job finding him. They screened well.

“Then it was good to see Braden [Frager] get it going again as well, to extend that lead up into the 30s.”

Sandfort and Frager each shot 7-of-11 from distance (63.6 percent). Sandfort had 28 points in 31 minutes, and Frager had a career-high 23 points in 30 minutes.

“We started to be more physical defensively I think and then we were really getting buckets in transition,” Sandfort said in a postgame news conference.

“We were getting the ball up the court quick and I thought our offensive flow really started to get into a groove.”

Nebraska rebounds, too. Oregon came to Lincoln a top-25 offensive rebounding team. In the first half, the Ducks had zero offensive rebounds.

“The biggest thing for us was competing with them on the glass,” Hoiberg said.

Coming into the game, Nebraska ranked 126th in total rebounds at 37.1 per game.

Big Ten excellence

Nebraska is 6-0 in the Big Ten. Road games against Michigan, Iowa, USC and UCLA are out there. So is a home game vs. Purdue, a rematch with Illinois and the second matchup against Iowa.

Remember, ESPN’s Bracketology has 11 Big Ten teams projected for March Madness. This is a conference that, top to bottom, is as good as any in the nation.

Nebraska forward Rienk Mast plays defense against Oregon guard Wei Lin during the second half at Pinnacle Bank Arena. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Six games into the conference schedule might suggest the Huskers’ success isn’t a fluke. So is a 17-0 overall record.

Any team can lose any game in the Big Ten. Penn State — 0-5 in the conference — was a shot away from knocking off then-unbeaten Michigan last week.

Teams that live by three-point shooting can die by three-point shooting. What might be the most impressive factor about Nebraska right now is on a night they shot the lights out against Oregon, the Huskers showed they have other ways to win games.

Nebraska only got five points and four rebounds from foul-burdened star Rienk Mast, and five points from frequent star Jamarques Lawrence.

This wasn’t the first time Nebraska has used other ways to win games. Different players have led the team in scoring, and making clutch plays.

And once March arrives, the variety of ways Nebraska can win games should serve the Huskers well.

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