Pryce Sandfort’s Recent Play Gives Nebraska Boost as Braden Frager Could Be Sidelined

Nebraska forward Pryce Sandfort continued his nearly unstoppable offensive game against Washington on Wednesday at maybe the perfect time.

As Nebraska awaits X-ray results on forward Braden Frager’s sprained ankle, increased production from Sandfort and his teammates is how the Huskers might have to live and survive moving forward.

The Huskers have several players who can raise their hands and raise their games should Frager miss time. As Sandfort showed in a 76-66 win over Washington — and how he’s played most of the season — the junior transfer from Iowa has the game to keep the 19-0 Huskers rolling along.

Sandfort, the Huskers’ leading scorer, scored 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting, and 4-of-7 shooting from distance as the Huskers took care of business against the 10-9 Huskies.

With or without Frager, this is what Sandfort has done. He’s averaging 17 points per game on 48.5 percent shooting and 41.8 percent shooting from distance.

At 6-foot-7, Sandfort has the size to shoot over defenders, especially with how quickly he squeezes off shots. Sandfort’s shot is one fluid motion, out of his hand in a flash. TV commentators covering Huskers games speak in amazement at Sandfort’s release.

Sandfort on offense

Looking for Sandfort is an integral part of Nebraska’s offense.

“It’s kind of felt like that the whole season with how [closely] they’ve been guarding me, but I give a lot of credit to my teammates and coaches for getting me in the right spots,” Sandfort said in a postgame news conference.

“We know how to combat those types of defensive principles if they [defenders] are going to hug me … or switch a lot or anything like that, but it’s nice when I can get going and transition when this guy [pointing to guard Jamarques Lawrence] is finding me in transition and Sam [Hoiberg] and everybody.

“I got Rienk [Mast] and BK [Berke Buyuktuncel] setting great screens and Coach [Fred Hoiberg] is drawing up good sets. It’s been good getting going even when I’m getting defended like that.”

Sandfort has scored in double figures in seven consecutive games and in 13 of the last 14. He had seven points against New Hampshire before Christmas. He has scored at least 20 in the last three games (22 at Northwestern, 28 vs. Oregon). He has eight 20-point games this season.

His biggest scoring game was at Illinois on Dec. 13, when he lit up the No. 13 Illini for 32 points in an 83-80 win that established the Huskers as a valid Big Ten contender.

And established Sandfort as a force in the conference.

“He’s got a lot of confidence and we’re going to do everything we can to find him,” Hoiberg said about Sandfort.

“Thought we ran a couple of good actions and our guys made good plays. They set good screens to get him loose and again, when we get stops and we get out in transition, we got to find where we always know where Pryce is and our guys have done a good job recognizing that.”

Frager’s injury

Frager has been an invaluable addition to the Huskers rotation, averaging 12.2 points in 22.4 minutes per game. He was injured — on a routine play — just four minutes into Wednesday’s game.

Frager was taken to the locker room after the injury and the next time he was seen he was wearing a boot on his foot on Nebraska’s bench.

So, for 35-plus minutes last night, the Huskers played “next man up” in real time.

Nebraska forward Braden Frager shoots in Huskers' game against Northwestern on Jan 17. | David Banks-Imagn Images

Stepping up

Nobody wants to test “next man up,” really, but this might be where the Huskers likely are with difficult road games ahead against Minnesota on Saturday and No. 3-ranked Michigan on Tuesday.

“I just told the guys in the locker room, everybody has to be ready,” Hoiberg said in a postgame news conference.

Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg will have to adjust playing minutes based on Braden Frager's injury. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

“Braden has given us a lot obviously, this season on both ends of the floor and everybody has to be ready to step up in his absence and contribute and I thought guys did that tonight.

“Jared [Garcia] gave us some good minutes and that lineup with Cale [Jacobsen] … gave us some good defensive versatility. We’ve got guys that, with everything we've done, are built to play big minutes.”

More From Nebraska On SI

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