Skip to main content
All Huskers

Nebrasketball Meme of the Game: Keep-on-Dancing Edition

The Huskers punched their Sweet 16 ticket with a heart-stopping win over Vanderbilt, and the Meme Army did its thing.
Dave Feit|
Nebrasketball Meme Army Meme of the Game
Nebrasketball Meme Army Meme of the Game | Dave Feit

In this story:

Nebraska CornhuskersVanderbilt Commodores

Over the last few seasons, the long-suffering Nebraska basketball fan base has celebrated wins by flooding the responses of their opponent with memes, GIFs, gags and trolling with surgical precision.

The game goes final, the other school's social media team posts the final score on Twitter, and then the real fun begins.

It is unclear when the first postgame meme was sent, but there is agreement as to when the phenomenon exploded: after Nebraska's 63-53 upset of No. 7 Creighton in December 2022.

Since then, the regular participants have adopted a collective name: The Nebrasketball Meme Army. Thousands of Husker fans now seek out these memes and share their favorites.

But most of us lead busy lives and don't have time to scroll through 300+ responses (many of which are repeats). That is where the Nebrasketball Meme Army Meme of the Game (NMAMG) comes in.

We at the NMAMG believe that by celebrating excellence in the art of meme-making we can collectively elevate the Nebrasketball fan meme game to keep pace with the rapidly improving product on the court.

The Nebraska Meme Army Meme of the Game committee rewards: 

  • Humor. Does it make us laugh?
  • Originality. The "Rienk Mast / Bottom Text" meme format is a classic, but creativity is key.
  • Topical relevance. Bonus points for references to opponents, star players, or key moments. The meme about Berke Büyüktuncel's bloody lip from the Wisconsin game is a great example.
  • Little to no AI usage. We prefer our memes to be organic, farm-to-table creations.
  • Does not cross the line. The committee understands that the memes are — at their core — intended to troll the opponent after a loss. But this can be done without being demeaning, obscene or any type of -ist. Keisei Tominaga flipping off Penn State is a classic image, but we're going to keep it PG-13.

In the eyes of the committee, the classic "You just lost to Gary, Indiana" meme (featuring forward Juwan Gary, and used after defeating Indiana) is the gold standard. It checks every box.

Without further ado, let's get to the Memes of the Game! 

After winning their first-ever game in the NCAA Tournament, 4-seed Nebraska faced off against the 5-seed Vanderbilt Commodores.  Vandy came into the tournament as a hot team and was a slight favorite to win the game. 

What followed was the best game of the tournament.   

Nebraska jumped out to an early lead behind three pointers by Rienk Mast and (double checks notes) Berke Büyüktuncel.  This got the extremely pro-Nebraska crowd (which seemed even louder than Thursday) into an absolute lather.  Vandy kept it close with some very aggressive defense and free throws as several Huskers got into foul trouble.  Heck, Leo Curtis got first half minutes for – I think – the first time since the Michigan game.  NU led by seven at halftime. 

In the second half, Vandy got hot from outside, knocking down several threes.  With the Commodores’ style of physical, hands-on defense, Nebraska had to work for every shot.  Vanderbilt took the lead for the first time late in the second half, but Nebraska didn’t panic.  

As they’ve done several times this season, Nebraska didn’t start chucking threes in a panic.  They worked the ball into the paint for good shots and cranked up their effort on defense.  A late switch into a 1-3-1 zone stymied their offense.   

Sam Hoiberg
Nebraska's Sam Hoiberg celebrates with fans after the game. | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

A Mast put-back tied the game with 40 seconds to go.  An excellent defensive possession led to a forced shot that was rebounded by Nebraska.  As Pryce Sandfort dribbled up the court with 9 seconds to go, everybody expected him to pull up for three – including three Commodores who were about to swarm him.  That’s when Sandfort passed the ball to Braden Frager near the top of the key.  Frager drove down the lane and made a layup to give Nebraska the lead with 2.2 seconds to go. 

With one final attempt, Vanderbilt wisely gave the ball to Tyler Tanner, who played one heck of a game.  Tanner’s shot from beyond half court was a pure as you’ll ever see.  It hit the backboard, rolled around the rim, going halfway down before spitting out.   

Nebraska won 74-72, earning their first trip to the Sweet Sixteen. 

Let’s pause for a second to acknowledge that crowd.  Of the 15,677 fans in the Paycom Center, I suspect 75% were Husker fans.  And they were LOUD.  Many fans stood the entire game.  I’ve been to dozens of home games that did not have a quarter of the energy in this supposedly neutral-site game.  For a fan base with a long and storied history of taking over stadiums and arenas, this was a legendary showing.  Kudos to everybody who made the trip and turned it into a home game.  Do it again on Thursday. 

NOTE: Just like Thursday, another milestone win (and another bottle of champagne) means the Committee is relaxing its “one meme per user” rule.  We’re also going to honor a bunch of different categories.  Enjoy! 

 

Nebrasketball Meme Army Meme of the Game 

“They won their second NCAA Tournament game” - @HuskerGI 

  

Runner-up 

“J-Law cannot be contained by commode doors” - @cdj80 

 

Honorable Mention 

“It’s gotta be the clogs, Money!” - @cdj80 

 

Honorable Mention 

“The Vandy Whistler got bangaranged” - @iKracky 

 

Honorable Mention 

“You just lost to UNL East Campus (2026 edition)” - @ReidStagemeyer 

 

Honorable Mention 

“Admiral Sam outranks you” - @jorster 

 

Honorable Mention 

“Chuck Norris can make a layup from half court” - @HuskerGI 

 

Honorable Mention 

“All of Monowi is pleased (laser eyes remix)” - @BriMockOfficial 

 

Honorable Mention 

“You just lost to Justin Bolis’ wide variety of deodorants” - @JDingleGBR 

 

Honorable Mention 

“It’s our birthday and you’ll cry if you want to” - @jorster 

 

Best Husker Fans Drank OKC Out of Beer Meme 

“Tell Houston to order extra Busch Light” - @huskerfan4life9 

 

Husker Fans Drank OKC Out of Beer Runner-Up  

“We only played the game so the bars could restock” - @cdj80 

 

Best Commodores (Motown) Meme 

“Brick House” - @HuskerMax 

 

Motown Meme Runner-Up 

“The Commodores haven’t been this shook since Lionel Richie left” - @JBHuskers 

 

Motown Meme Honorable Mention 

“The Commodores – Bottom Text” - @jb9wallows 

 

Best Meme About the Lack of Vandy Fans in OKC 

“Sorry your fans can’t use a map” - @lilbluesquatch 

 

No Vandy Fans Meme Runner-Up 

“Harrison, NE is farther from OKC than Nashville” - @ReidStagemeyer 

 

Best Chandler Bing Plays for Vanderbilt Meme 

“Chandler Bing isn’t pleased with your poverty program” - @HuskerGI 

 

Chandler Bing Meme Runner-Up 

“I’d rather have this Chandler Bing” - @FeitCanWrite 

Congratulations to all our winners!

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

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Dave Feit
DAVE FEIT

Dave Feit began writing for HuskerMax in 2011. Follow him on Twitter (@feitcanwrite) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/FeitCanWrite)

Home/Basketball