Nebrasketball Overcomes Horrid Start to Hold Off USC Upstate

As the temperatures stayed below freezing and the winds pushed the feels like temps lower, it may have been Nebraska men's basketball that started Saturday's game even colder.

The Huskers started out 6-for-22 shooting with five turnovers in the first 15 minutes of play against the Spartans of USC Upstate. That horrid start had the Big Red down double-digits to the .500 team out of the Big South Conference.

"For whatever reason in this building, we've not gotten off to the type of starts that we need to get our incredible crowd behind us," Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said after the game.

Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

And then, everything flipped to the home side.

The Spartans went 7:19 between scoring. In the middle of that stretch, the Huskers tore off on a 17-0 run, making 5-of-7 shots and adding a trio of free throws.

Nebraska didn't trail for the remainder of the game, leading by as many as 16 points, en route to the 72-63 final. The Huskers remain unbeaten at 8-0 while the Spartans fall to 4-5.

NU was playing without guard Connor Essegian. The senior was announced earlier in the day as out for the remainder of the season with an ankle injury suffered against Winthrop. He'll apply for a medical hardship waiver to return next season.

Nebraska guard Connor Essegian is out for the remainder of the 2025-26 season with an ankle injury. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Essegian's absence meant an uptick in minutes for other guys off the bench, with Braden Frager and Cale Jacobsen each scoring 11 points in the game. Kendall Blue and Jared Garcia combined for more than 13 minutes of work.

"We lost a guy that helped win a lot of games for us last year with Connor, and we're still waiting on Ugnius (Jarusevicius) and Leo (Curtis) to get back healthy as well," Hoiberg said. "I thought Jared Garcia gave us as good a stretch as he's as he's been all year. We actually had him guard the five a little bit, and I liked the way it looked when he was out there with BK (Berke Buyuktuncel).

"But he was plus 17 in his 10 minutes. And he had five big defensive rebounds for us. This is a growth game for Jared.

"Kendall is going to have to give us minutes moving forward as well. It's good to see him get out there on the floor in that first half. So, it's just that next man up mentality. That's what you have to have."

Pryce Sandfort led Nebraska with 20 points, making 4-of-8 from 3. The rest of the Huskers shot just 4-of-22 from deep. Rienk Mast, who did not make a three-pointer, added 15 points after his 31-point outburst on Tuesday.

NU shot 41.7% for the game. Upstate made 36.4% of its shots, including 12-of-35 from deep.

Nebraska guard Pryce Sandfort shoots a three-pointer against USC Upstate. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

"I'm very disappointed with how we played overall today," Hoiberg said. "The one positive, as I said to the guys, is we're 8-0. There's not a lot of people that can say that right now, and we've been battle tested. We played good teams.

"We need to learn from this one, which I'm confident our guys will do. They've been awesome, and they've handled adversity well, but for whatever reason, it didn't happen like it needed to today."

Nebraska will next put its undefeated season on the line in eight days. The Huskers host the in-state rival Creighton Bluejays on Sunday, Dec. 7. The game is set for a 4 p.m. CST tip on FS1.

Box score

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Nebraska Athletics Postgame Notes

Nebraska improves to 8-0 for just the third time in school history and first since a 10-0 start in 1977-78.
Nebraska has now 12 straight games dating back to the 2025 College Basketball Crown, which ties for the fifth-longest win streak in school history and longest since a school-record 14-game streak in 1990-91.
Pryce Sandfort finished with NU team highs in both points (20), rebounds (nine), and assists (four). His 20 points marked his fourth 20-point game of the season, while his nine rebounds were a season-high, topping the eight against Winthrop on Tuesday. Sandfort now has a 22-to-3 assist-to-turnover ratio on the season. Sandfort now has five career 20-point efforts.
Nebraska got a pair of double-digit efforts off the bench with 11 points apiece from Cale Jacobsen and Braden Frager. NU now has 10 double-figure efforts from its bench this season. Jacobsen also tied his career high with 11 points for the second straight game.
Cale Jacobsen’s five steals were not only a career high (previous best of three, set two times) and matched the most by a Husker in Fred Hoiberg’s six-plus seasons. The last Husker with five steals in a game before today was Juwan Gary, who had five against Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 9, 2024.
Nebraska’s 17-0 first-half run was its highest of the season (16-0 vs. West Georgia).
NU has now held five of its eight opponents to under 40 percent shooting as USC Upstate shot 36.4 percent.