Nebrasketball Memes of the Game: Indiana Edition

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 do not 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 any further ado, let's get to the Memes of the Game!

No. 23 Nebraska's 83-80 win at No. 13 Illinois was a classic game decided in the final seconds. Nebraska came out hot and managed to hold off the Illini (and some questionable calls) before Jamarques Lawrence hit a three pointer with 0.2 seconds left.

As you would expect, that victory inspired some great memes.