Nebraska Fan Favorite Berke Büyüktuncel Gets Bloody Mouth and Crowd Goes Wild

Nebraska junior forward Berke Büyüktuncel literally, took one for the team. A big, bloody hit right in the chops.

Early in the second half Wednesday night, Büyüktuncel went up to block a shot from Wisconsin’s 7-foot center Nolan Winter. For his troubles, Büyüktuncel got hit, hard, in the mouth.

Blood poured out of his mouth — a good amount of blood. He had to leave the game — a 90-60 Huskers win over the Badgers in Nebraska’s Big Ten opener. As Buyuktuncel left the game, he riled up the crowd, especially the student section, on the way off the court.

The Pinnacle Bank Arena crowd loved it. “I thought BK was unbelievable the way that he went out there and that block when he cut his mouth was really impressive,” Huskers coach Fred Hoiberg said in a postgame news conference.

Büyüktuncel, who was gladiator-like walking off the court, brushed off his injury.

“I have two stitches. I’m going to be fine,” he said at a postgame news conference. “This was not hatred but … [the] intensity comes from last year’s game, too. In their home court, they beat us real bad.

“So we just wanted to win this game way too much and we lucky that we have a fan group like this. We cannot thank them enough. We needed to engage them into the game more.”

Büyüktuncel was referring to the Huskers’ 83-55 loss last January in Madison. With the 23rd-ranked Huskers at 10-0 on the season, for now, those days are in the rearview mirror for the Huskers.

Huskers’ fan favorite

Büyüktuncel was a fan favorite before his blood was running down his chin and onto the court.

“He always brings so much energy,” Huskers senior forward Rienk Mast said in a postgame interview. “He definitely brings the energy for our group.

“I know a lot of guys feed off of his positivity and I love for him that the crowd’s embracing him and his physicality and his hustle.”

Büyüktuncel is a 6-foot-10, 244-pound power forward in his second Nebraska season. He’s from Bursa, Türkiye. He transferred to Nebraska after one season at UCLA.

Buyuktuncel is averaging 8.1 points and 6.7 rebounds a game this season, a statistical improvement from last year when he averaged 6.0 points and 5.5 rebounds.

Nebraska guard Sam Hoiberg scored 12 points against Wisconsin, one of five Huskers to score in double figures, | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

“I think he’s playing with confidence,” Hoiberg said. “Even when his shot was not falling, he was still having a huge impact for our team.

“The one I’ll point to is Creighton. He didn’t shoot the ball well, but he had 13 rebounds and played a really good floor game, made good passes, made good decisions.

“I think comfortability in the system is coming into his second year. His health, his body, I think he’s in much better shape right now. We’re going to keep going.

“As soon as we get satisfied, this thing is going to be over. Our guys are going to keep this hunger. They were all talking about what we have to do to put this one behind us.”

Huskers were dominant

Nebraska used balanced offense and tenacious defense to blow out the traditionally strong Badgers. Wisconsin (7-3, 1-1 Big Ten) was held to 60 points. The Badgers arrived in Lincoln averaging 87.9 points per game.

“It is our normal defense that we need to do every game,” Büyüktuncel said. “It was maybe a little bit extra effort, but it is our normal defense to be aggressive like that. It was just a normal defensive thing for us.”

Nebraska led 47-31 at the half, and poured it on from there. The Huskers shot 55 percent from the floor in the first half. Nebraska takes its 10-0 record on the road to No. 13 Illinois on Saturday afternoon, in what will be a major test for the Huskers.

“That’s really what BK does for us is he’s so effective defensively and a great rebounder,” Huskers guard Sam Hoiberg said recently in a postgame news conference.

Nebraska’s scoring balance was ideal. Five players scored in double figures: Mast (17), Braden Frager (15), Büyüktuncel (14), Pryce Sandfort (14) and Hoiberg (12).

“Berke has been playing like that on defense,” Fred Hoiberg said. ‘It’s just tonight he had 14 points.

“He goes out and does little things every game that don’t show up in the box score, and tonight he goes out and has a couple blocks. The thing about it was that he made shots; he was four for five

“He went out there and did a little bit of everything for our team. He had 14 points and I think it would have been a lot higher had he not cut his mouth open.”

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