What’s that about new year, new me? Nebraska clearly didn’t adopt that resolution.
The Huskers started 2026 like they ended 2025: with a perfect record in men’s basketball.
With a 58-56 win over No. 9 Michigan State on Friday night — the first ranked vs. ranked matchup at home for NU since 1991 — No. 13 Nebraska remains one of five undefeated teams in high-major basketball. The others are Michigan, Arizona, Iowa State and Vanderbilt.
NU’s 14-0 start is a school record, and Huskers fans celebrated with a court-storming Friday after hanging on to beat the Spartans, a win Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg described afterward as “gritty” — because it sure wouldn’t be called pretty.
“The big question with this team was: Could we win a rock fight?” Hoiberg said. “I think we showed a lot tonight.”
It was a typical Big Ten matchup: physical and unrelenting, featuring 11 ties and 14 lead changes — and both teams shooting less than 35 percent from the field. The Spartans didn’t score a field goal in the final 4:41, plagued by turnovers.
Typically one of the better teams in the Big Ten at taking care of the ball, Michigan State coughed it up 19 times Friday, with the worst one coming late. Trailing 58-56 with 49 seconds to play, MSU point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. dribbled off his foot after a timeout, costing the Spartans a crucial possession. Nebraska didn’t score at the other end, and Michigan State got another chance. Carson Cooper drew a foul with less than a second to play and stepped to the line with a chance to tie it and send the game to overtime, but he missed the first, putting MSU in an impossible situation.
GRIT. pic.twitter.com/jPMersdQbU
— Nebraska Men’s Basketball (@HuskerMBB) January 3, 2026
Rienk Mast led the Huskers with 19 points, 15 in the first half. But he came up big when NU needed it late, drilling a 3 with 1:54 to go to break a 55-55 tie. It would turn out to be the winning basket.
A lot of season remains, but right now Hoiberg and company look poised to do something the Huskers haven’t ever done: win an NCAA Tournament game.
Nebraska has been to the NCAA Tournament just three times since 1998, losing in the first round each time. It is 0-8 all-time in the tournament, the only power conference team never to record a victory in the NCAA Tournament. But if the Huskers continue to play like this — Friday marked NU’s second top-15 win after beating then-No. 13 Illinois 83-80 on the road Dec. 13 — they’ll likely put themselves in position for a top-four seed, which will make them a favorite through the first few rounds of the tournament.
For the Huskers, perennially known as a football and volleyball school, that would definitely be a “new year, new me” situation.
Nothing to do.
But win. pic.twitter.com/VsLDSeBjEM
— Nebraska Men’s Basketball (@HuskerMBB) January 3, 2026