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brooke prior
multiple authors
OKLAHOMA CITY–His team is a little more than two minutes away from officially making history, nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg sent a pair of substitute players to relieve the junior forward. price sandfort And Burke Büyüktunsel.
The huge Huskers supporter crowd went wild, as it did on that historic afternoon when No. 4 seed Nebraska earned its first NCAA Tournament win. 76-47 No. 13 seed defeat troyThe two men who helped put on the show were wildly celebrating after finally reaching a milestone that had eluded them in their eight previous trips to the Big Dance. The pair joined the senior guard jamarques lawrence and senior forward Rienk Mast On the bench, where they began to enjoy the atmosphere and the impending victory.
“The five-minute mark hit, and you kind of know, ‘Hey, it’s in the pocket,'” said Mast, who added 11 points, six rebounds and seven assists. “You start looking around and you see everyone’s smiles in the crowd. It was really special.”
Less than 30 seconds later, Hoiberg pulled his son away. Sam Hoiberg and the sixth man Braden Frager To congratulate oneself. When the final horn sounded, the Huskers emptied the benches and hugged each other, their coaches and longtime program staff and set a new single-season program record with 27 wins.
The moment was the culmination of seven seasons of hard work from Fred Hoiberg, who had endured three consecutive losing seasons to begin his tenure as Nebraska’s head coach from 2019 to 2022. But after going 16-16 in 2022-23, Nebraska has three consecutive seasons with at least 20 wins, along with two NCAA Tournament berths and now a tournament win.
Fourth-year senior Sam Hoiberg, who was part of the Nebraska team that lost, said, “It’s almost like a storybook that ends in a victory in this tournament.” Texas A&M In the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. “We felt like that was the last thing we needed to do to get this program over the top.
“It was hard to be with teams that weren’t winning games, especially when I was on the bench. … So to be able to take advantage of what we’ve done this season has been incredible.”
Entering this year’s NCAA Tournament, the Huskers were the only team from a major conference (ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, and Big East) not to win the tournament. According to ESPN Research, their 29-point win is the largest margin of victory in a team’s debut victory since Fordham defeated Furman by 31 points in 1971.
Sandfort led all scorers with 23 points on seven 3-pointers and a pair of free throws. The junior transfer from Iowa scored 17 points in the first half, as he buried five of eight triples to help Nebraska move past a fast-starting Troy team. Sandfort’s seven 3-pointers were one of the highest totals of his career set earlier this year and set a program record for most 3-pointers in an NCAA Tournament game.
Before the game, he was surprised by his brother, Peyton SandfortWho had made his NBA debut for the Oklahoma City Thunder in Brooklyn the night before.
“These guys were looking for me off the rebound,” Price Sandfort said of his teammates helping him get open. “He threw me a lot of good passes. And Peyton, seeing it out there, was really special. He’s been to one game this year. So to have him in this game was special.”
But for all the relief and joy that came with Nebraska’s first tournament win, Hoiberg was quick to remind his players that they’re not done with the Round of 32 on the horizon.
“This is the most emotional for me out of all of them,” Hoiberg said, adding that he had started letting it all out at 1:13 p.m. “Both benches were empty, and it’s emotional for me. I think about my dad, who’s in the house right now. I hope he gets a chance to see it. I can’t wait to talk to him because of what it means to our family. And it’s emotional. There’s no doubt about that.”
“But these guys have been stepping up all year. They’ve been very resilient. They’ve had big wins. They’ve overcome tough losses, and I’m confident they’re going to do it again and be locked in.”
