For the first time in 10 years, Nebraska will be in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, as the Huskers were selected for the first time since 2014 on Sunday evening.
Nebraska (23-10) is the No. 8 seed in the South Region and will play ninth-seeded Texas A&M (20-14) Friday at the FedEx Forum in Memphis with tip off set for 5:50pm central time.
The 2023-24 season marks the eighth time in school history that Nebraska has received an NCAA bid and the first since the 2013-14 season. The Huskers’ No. 8 seed is the highest since 1994, as the Huskers look for their first NCAA Tournament win in school history. Only the 1991 (No. 3 seed) and 1994 (No. 6 seed) teams received higher seeds than the 2023-24 Huskers. Nebraska was also a No. 8 seed in 1992.
Under the direction of Big Ten Coach of the Year Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska’s 23 wins is the most since the 1990-91 season and is second in school history. Nebraska finished tied for third in the Big Ten with a 12-8 mark, the program’s best conference finish since 1992-93, and comes off a Big Ten semifinals appearance this past weekend. This will be the fifth time that Hoiberg has taken a team to the NCAA Tournament, as he guided Iowa State to four straight NCAA appearances between 2012 and 2015.
Nebraska features a balanced attack led by All-Big Ten performers Keise Tominaga and Rienk Mast. Tominaga, a two-time All-Big Ten performer, leads Nebraska in scoring at 14.9 points per game and has a team-high 71 3-pointers. The 6-foot-2 senior guard has seven 20-point games this season, including a pair of 30-point performances. Mast, a 6-foot-10 junior forward, averaged 12.5 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game in his first season at Nebraska, as he leads the Huskers in both rebounds and assists. Mast had a team-high six double-doubles during the regular season, including a 34-point, 10-rebound effort against Ohio State.
The Huskers feature four players who average double figures in Brice Williams (13.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg) and Juwan Gary (11.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg) and eight players who average at least 18 minutes per contest. As a team, the Huskers average 77.6 points per game to rank fourth in the Big Ten and is NU’s highest scoring average since the 1995-96 season. NU leads the Big Ten in 3-pointers per game (9.5/gm) while its 312 3-pointers shattered the previous school mark of 270 set in 2019. Gary is the only active Husker with NCAA Tournament experience, as he played in two tournaments in his time at Alabama, including the Crimson Tide’s 2021 run to the Sweet 16
Texas A&M is 20-14 on the season after losing to Florida in the SEC semifinals on Saturday. Nebraska leads the all-time series with the Aggies, 12-8, but the teams have not met since the 2010-11 season.
The winner of the NU/Texas A&M matchup will face the winner of the game between No. 1 seed Houston and No. 16 seed Longwood on Sunday.
