Nebraska’s men’s basketball team has a message to the fans for the rest of the season: There’s no need to storm the court after big wins.
The No. 13 Huskers beat No. 9 Michigan State 58-56 on Friday night to move to 14-0 on the season. After the game, Nebraska’s fans poured onto the court and both Jamarques Lawrence and Rienk Mast said in their postgame news conference that fans can start leaving the floor empty after games.
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“We’re supposed to win that game, guys,” Lawrence said. “No more court storms please. I just gotta say that.”
Both Lawrence and Mast are well aware that Nebraska’s basketball history doesn’t match that of most power conference programs. The team has just two NCAA tournament appearances in the 2000s and hasn’t won an NCAA tournament game across eight postseason appearances.
But Fred Hoiberg’s team appears poised to break that drought and even make a deep run into the tournament.
“I like that the fans got to enjoy that moment, but if you are the No. 13 against the No. 9 and you’re at home, in my opinion you’re supposed to win that game,” Mast said. “Again, don’t blame the fans at all that they got excited for that win, but I think from here on out we’ve proven that we belong in these games and we’re supposed to win these types of games.”
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In addition to being one of just six unbeaten programs entering the first weekend in January, Nebraska’s win streak is the longest in the country at 18. The Huskers won the College Basketball Crown tournament at the end of the 2024-25 season after missing out on the NCAA tournament.
This season, Nebraska’s No. 13 ranking is already the highest since the program was No. 11 during the 1990-91 season. That was the first of four straight seasons Nebraska made the NCAA tournament. Don’t be surprised if the Huskers start a streak like that this season.
“We’ve done something that hasn’t been done in this program ever — running the table in non-conference hasn’t been done in almost 100 years, so there’s a lot of things these guys can be proud of,” Hoiberg said. “But at the same time, the most impressive thing about this group is how they’ve handled it. They haven’t gotten big-headed. A lot of things have been written. And listen, if it flips, it’s going to go the other way. And they’ve got to handle that well.”
