Not Pretty, Still Perfect: Nebraska Escapes Columbus

It wasn’t pretty, but for the 15th time this season, the Nebraska men’s basketball team found the win column Monday night at Ohio State.

The No. 10 Huskers made just enough plays to escape with a 72-69 win over the Buckeyes, just a few days removed from an exhausting 58-56 win over then-No. 9 Michigan State. Just 72 hours later, Nebraska was putting its unbeaten record on the line again against the Buckeyes.

Understandably so, it’s been a tough stretch for NU.

“I caught my breath a little bit at the end, but that could have played a factor into the shooting,” Nebraska senior guard Sam Hoiberg said following the win. “You don’t want to make any excuses. It’s tough to make a turnaround like that, but you don’t want to make excuses and just keep trying to think the way they guarded did make it tougher for us, but we did miss some shots we normally make.”

Nebraska may be running on fumes, but it's still finding a way to run through the competition as it improved to 15-0. — Nebraska may be running on fumes, but it's still finding a way to run through the competition as it improved to 15-0 with a 72-69 win over Ohio State Monday. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Ohio State fell down by 14 points in the first half, making it look like the Huskers would coast to their 15th-straight win to start the year. However, OSU slowly but surely climbed back into it to take a lead late in the game.

Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said he had to tip his cap to OSU for testing his team with a tactic that they’re usually better at handling.

“Give Ohio State a lot of credit for the way that they changed things up in the second half and really made us uncomfortable and sped us up,” Fred Hoiberg said during his postgame press conference. “I thought we did a great job early in that first half playing off two feet. In the second half, I really thought we got sped up, and we’ve been pretty good against pressure this year, but it bothered us tonight.”

Other players besides Rienk Mast needed to step up Monday night to keep the #10 Huskers undefeated. — Other players besides Rienk Mast needed to step up Monday night. Braden Frager (5) scored 15 points off the bench, including seven of Nebraska's final nine points. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Nebraska also couldn’t lean on its usually solid rock in senior forward Rienk Mast. By his standards, Monday was an off-night. Mast shot just 5-for-14 from the field and made only one of the six 3-pointers he attempted, resulting in just 12 points on the night.

Instead, the Huskers were carried by a game-high 15 points from Braden Frager, off the bench no less. The Husker freshman is certainly coming into his own following a scuffle he’d like to forget against Michigan State. He’s maturing quickly this season, as evidenced by his performance Monday in Columbus.

“I’m proud of them for finding a way,” Fred Hoiberg said of his team. “The key we talked about going into this one, same thing that happened at Illinois, was getting off to a good start. We get up double digits at Illinois, we have a little bit of a cushion when they go on their run, and then we made the plays down the stretch. That’s exactly what happened again tonight. Just really proud of the guys.”

Ohio State's 72-69 loss to Nebraska is the latest one-possession loss in a string of them this season. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

For Ohio State, it’s another heartbreaking one-possession loss on the season, with one-point losses to both North Carolina and Pittsburgh also on the ledger.

“Nebraska is a really good team, and you can’t have that type of first half against a team like that,” Ohio State coach Jake Diebler said in his postgame press conference. “This game came down to other things, but this game came down to some 50-50 balls, and we’ve been the team that’s gotten those, and we weren’t tonight. That’s probably the most disappointing thing for me.”

“I feel like the tougher team won this game today,” Frager said after the win. “That’s just what it came down to there at the end.”

You might be noticing a trend with the Huskers as they near the midway point of the 2025-26 season. In back-to-back games, the opposing coaches have admitted that, to a point, Nebraska was the tougher team on the floor. That’s really saying something when you consider the first coach to make the remark was Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, who is known for having some of the hardest-nosed teams in all of college basketball year in and year out.

It's a happy plane ride home for the now 15-0 Nebraska men's basketball team, as they have four days to prepare for Indiana. — It's a happy plane ride home for the now 15-0 Nebraska men's basketball team, as the Huskers have four days to prepare for Indiana on Saturday. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Now, it’s not-so-quick of a turnaround for the Big Red as they look to get off their feet for at least a day before beginning preparation for another road test at Indiana Saturday morning. The slightly longer break will also allow the team to take a snapshot of the year they’ve had so far, but also learn from what nearly became their first loss of the season Monday night.

“They came out and pressured us, and that kind of stunned us for a little bit,” Sam Hoiberg said of Ohio State’s approach to covering them. “That’s how they got the lead back, and we kind of figured it out towards the end, got some buckets there towards the end. A mature team knows how to handle those situations and not panic. We didn’t let it take us to the end of the game and not figure it out. This is a game we’re going to learn from.”

While Nebraska catches its breath and hits the film room, Indiana is still gearing up for a midweek road test of their own at Maryland. The Hoosiers will still serve as yet another demanding task for the upstart Huskers, as they currently sit at 11-3 heading into their Maryland game with impressive wins, including a 17-point win over Kansas State and a 41-point rout of Penn State

The Hoosiers were all smiles in the midst of a 41-point rout of Penn State on December 8. — The Hoosiers were all smiles in the midst of a 41-point rout of Penn State on Dec. 8. | Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Ultimately, Nebraska left Columbus Monday with a “W” in its pocket, and it gives the Huskers a chance to grow and learn from their mistakes in victory instead of defeat. However, when a team wins its past two games by a combined five points, it also means the league has caught up to them, which makes coach Fred Hoiberg’s job even tougher down the stretch.

“There (are) a lot of things we need to learn from this as we go back and watch the film and prepare for our next game at Indiana,” Hoiberg said. “When they (went) up one, I thought our resiliency, our resolve (was vital).”

“We were able to execute down the stretch and get the looks we needed, get the stops we needed, and they made some tough shots, too,” Sam Hoiberg added. “I think we guarded well at the end, and I think we did the right things to get the win at the end.”

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