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Nebrasketball to Play in Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City in November

The Huskers will join Kansas State, Mississippi State and New Mexico for a two-day event at the T-Mobile Center.

Kaleb Henry

Hall of Fame Classic
Hall of Fame Classic / Nebraska Athletics
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Husker fans will get plenty of action in Kansas City this fall.

While the Nebraska football team will open the 2025 campaign in KC against Cincinnati, the men's basketball team will be there a couple months later for the Hall of Fame Classic.

The Huskers will be joined by Kansas State, Mississippi State and New Mexico. The games will take place at the T-Mobile Center on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 20-21.

Semifinal round matchups, game times, broadcast details and ticket information will be announced later.

Nebraska last appeared in the event in 2018. The Big Red opened with an 85-62 win over Missouri State before falling to eventual NCAA runner-up Texas Tech, 70-52 in the title game.

Nebraska head coach Tim Miles looks on during the second half of the 2018 Hall of Fame Classic championship game.
Nebraska head coach Tim Miles looks on during the second half of the 2018 Hall of Fame Classic championship game against Texas Tech. / Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Kansas State, who hasn't been in the event since 2021, is back for the fourth time in program history. The Wildcats went 16-17 last season.

This will be the first trip to the Hall of Fame Classic for Mississippi State and New Mexico. Both teams earned NCAA Tournament bids last season, with the Lobos advancing to the second round.

Nebraska has a losing record all-time against all three opponents in the event. NU is 94-129 against former Big Eight/Big 12 foe Kansas State. The Huskers are 0-2 against Mississippi State and 0-1 against New Mexico.

Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg holds up the College Basketball Crown trophy after the Huskers beat UCF in the championship game.
Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg holds up the College Basketball Crown trophy after the Huskers beat UCF in the championship game on April 6. / College Basketball Crown/Intersport

The Huskers are coming off a 21-14 season that ended with a title at the College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas. The Huskers return five letterwinners from last season, including starters Berke Büyüktuncel and Sam Hoiberg, along with Connor Essegian, who averaged 10.7 ppg off the bench last season.

The Big Red will also have new pieces that weren't part of the 2024-25 campaign. Rienk Mast, a third-team All-Big Ten selection in 2023-24, is back after missing last season with an injury. The Huskers also have brought in several transfer portal pieces, including former Husker guard Jamarques Lawrence, who was part of the last Nebraska team to make the NCAA Tournament.

No other regular-season games have been announced for the Huskers' 2025-26 season, though a report indicated the Nebraska-Creighton game will be played in early December. The Huskers will host BYU in an exhibition game at Pinnacle Bank Arena the weekend of Oct. 17-18. 

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Kaleb Henry
KALEB HENRY

Kaleb Henry is an award-winning sports reporter, covering collegiate athletics since 2014 via radio, podcasting, and digital journalism. His experience with Big Ten Conference teams goes back more than a decade, including time covering programs such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oregon Ducks, and USC Trojans. He has contributed to Sports Illustrated since 2021. Kaleb has won multiple awards for his sports coverage from the Nebraska Broadcasters Association and Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association. Prior to working in sports journalism, Kaleb was a Division I athlete on the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Track and Field team where he discussed NCAA legislation as SIUE's representative to the Ohio Valley Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. 

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