Postgame Notes

-Nebraska improved to 14-0 on the season, extending the best start in school history.

-Nebraska has won 18 straight games dating back to last season, extending its school-record streak.

-Nebraska's win over No. 9 Michigan State was the 27th win over a top-10 team in school history and first since defeating No. 6 Wisconsin in 2023-24.

-Fred Hoiberg now has five top-10 wins at Nebraska following tonight’s game and 12 top-10 wins in his collegiate coaching career.

-Nebraska improved to 2-0 all-time in ranked vs. ranked home matchups in school history with the other one coming on March 3, 1991, when No. 15 Nebraska defeated No. 15 Kansas, 85-75.

-Nebraska moves to 11-11 in their last 22 games against ranked opponents dating back to March 1, 2022.

-Rienk Mast made six three-pointers, which is one shy of his career high seven that he made earlier this season against Winthrop. It is the third time this season he made at least five 3-pointers in a game. The three blocked shots also tied a career high set two other times, most recently in 2023 when he was at Bradley.

-Nebraska’s 58 points was a season low (previous low was 69 vs. UMES) and the first time in the 18-game win streak that NU was held under 1.00 points per possession.

-Nebraska was 0-25 under Hoiberg when scoring fewer than 60 points prior to tonight’s game.

-Michigan State was held to a season-low 56 points. The previous low was 60 vs. Duke on Dec. 6.

-Nebraska has now held 10 of its 14 opponents under 1.0 points per possession, including six of the last seven and are 49-3 when doing so over the last three-plus seasons

-Nebraska remains one of the six unbeaten teams in the country (Michigan, Arizona, Iowa State, Vanderbilt and Miami (OH)).

-The Big Red forced 19 MSU turnovers, which is the second most they have forced in a game this season, and the most that Michigan St. has committed in a game this year.

-NU is now 50-5 when holding their opponents under 70 points over the past three-plus seasons.

Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg

On matching the fight and physicality
“We got outrebounded by 14 but I thought we thought we did a hell of a job in that first half where we really needed to go out and set the tone. I think they had two at halftime and I thought our transition defense was exceptional and we never took the wrong path chasing down a rebound that we couldn’t get. This is the best defensive rebounding team in the country and we were dead if we were going to chase balls down. I thought our guys really followed the game plan and those were the keys, we had two of them tonight. It was get back and rebound and I said it about a thousand times in the last three days. Not very often are you going to win a game where you shoot under 25 percent in the second half against a top ten team. But I thought our activity on the defensive end, 19 turnovers is what we forced, they take really good care of the basketball. That was the difference, was finding a way to manufacture some points. Pryce (Sandfort) unfortunately got in foul trouble, we hung in there without him and were even at the break, we felt pretty good about that and then he picked up his fourth with about 10 to go and again we hung in there but knew they would make a run. We got up nine, talked to Braden (Frager) about the incident, that can’t happen. It's a great opportunity to learn from when you get up like that. I’m proud of how we bounced back after that moment, he knew right when it happened that he messed up. But he found a way to regroup, hit a huge three for us a couple possessions later and I thought made some really good defensive plays out there as well. Total team effort, Rienk (Mast) obviously was our offense tonight. Pryce (Sandfort) 13 points in 20 minutes. I thought Jamarques (Lawrence) gave us good offensive minutes. But everybody that played made a big contribution. Our communication was much better in the second half, first half Kohler (Jaxon) got loose on us, we adjusted, went to a switch and did a better job, I think he made one in the second half. Just proud of our guys, we found a way to win an ugly one. We can certainly learn from this, it's always better to learn when you're in the left column.”

On creating 19 turnovers 
“Just hands activity and the deflections. We weren't great early in the deflection category, but I really thought we got active on it, and that was the key to the turnovers. They play so fast, and for us to get back and force them into the half court, that's exactly what we needed to do. And listen on the glass, I think they got four or five in that last possession. So, other than that, I thought we were pretty darn good offensively.”

Senior forward Rienk Mast

On matching their physical and mental toughness
“I'd say they still kind of kicked our ass on the glass. They outrebounded us by a pretty decent margin. Mental toughness in a game like this, there's stretches where they play well, where we play well, and especially on their t runs, you just try and stay composed, and it's next action, and I feel like throughout this season, we've done a pretty good job. I've really liked how these guys responded in games like the Oklahoma game or the Kansas State game, where the other team had crazy runs and we were able to respond. So yeah, we've been tested before, and we responded again today.” 

On Braden Frager’s technical foul
“He's a ball of energy. That's what makes him special. So you don't want to keep that fire too low. You want to feed it the right way. He got a tech in a kind of crucial moment that wasn't smart, but he's a freshman, and I think he learned from that for going into the next game. I like the way he responded in this game. And he hit some big threes, and he was huge down the stretch for us.”

Junior guard Pryce Sandfort

On finding gritty plays and hustling on defense
“Yeah, it was a huge factor. We talked about it already with the turnovers - back of hands and getting those hands on the balls, and we talked about at halftime being the first to the floor, making that dive before play. And we knew that getting that energy behind us and the crowd was going to be big. And I feel like we did that pretty well.”

Senior guard Jamarques Lawrence

On forcing 19 turnovers
“Urgency. Urgency. There’s nothing else to say. We came out just being active. We knew coming into this game was going to be very important.”

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo

Opening statement
“Happy for Fred Hoiberg. Not that many years ago, everybody was on his butt. He did a hell of a job. Nebraska did a hell of a job. That was probably the best game, their biggest game in 36 years, they responded. I was really disappointed, we didn’t look like we had the toughness. I spent a lot of time talking about football yesterday, and been a big believer my whole life, and I will continue to believe this. The toughest team won, and we didn’t make big plays down the stretch. Big rebound when we’re three up, dribbled off our leg a couple times. We had 19 turnovers and they only had seven steals. That means that 12 times, we just turned the ball over for no reason. We stepped out of bounds twice, dribbled out of bounds. Can’t win against good teams. This is a very good team. If I found some silver lining in an absolutely dark cloud, we weren’t playing very good most of the game in my humble opinion, and we still were in there. Jeremy said at halftime ‘it’s tied’, and then we got down nine, just as quick as we got down, we got right back in the game. We just didn’t make the plays, and (Rienk) Mast hit that big three, and then the rebound they got when we had position was a big play. But all in all, they’re a good team. Love the environment. Big fan of Fred and his program. Somehow we’re gonna grow from this starting when we get on the plane.”

On the way his team responded down the stretch
“That doesn’t surprise me, we were tired, we were missing a guy and in all honesty they're a good team and it was an incredible environment. Do I think Jeremy (Fears Jr.) would do that again the rest of the year, turn it over, we didn’t get a shot? No, I don’t think he will. I measure Jeremy (Fears Jr.) in a lot of ways, that is different then most people and most of my ways are the huddles and the halftimes. He's maturing and getting better each and every day. They (Nebraska) created some problems with their switching for us and we needed one more shooter. Divine’s (Ugochukwu) been shooting well. That's not an excuse, just the fact that life and those other guys just struggled a little bit. So, it is what it is.”