Nebraska tips off at Northwestern in a few hours, and for the first time in a long time, the weight of an entire season sits on one afternoon. The Cornhuskers are 17–0, one of just three unbeaten teams left in men’s college basketball alongside Miami (Ohio) and Arizona, and they’ve quietly built the nation’s longest active winning streak at 21 games.
At 4 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network, all of that perfection walks into Evanston, where nothing about the matchup is comfortable, even if the records say otherwise. The game will not only be about protecting a zero in the loss column. What remains to be seen is whether this version of Nebraska is real enough to survive the grind that has broken so many promising starts before it.
Viral 2022 Turning Point Still Fuels Nebraska’s Current Run
The Cornhuskers were picked 14th in the Big Ten preseason poll, an afterthought in a league that rarely waits for late bloomers. Fred Hoiberg knows that better than anyone. His first three seasons in Lincoln were brutal, a 30–71 stretch that had people openly questioning whether his NBA pedigree meant anything at this level.
Then came the so-called “pizza game” against an undefeated Purdue in Dec. 2022, when the program was struggling to stack double-digit wins.
“I’m gonna buy some pizza for the students before the game,” Hoiberg said at the pregame press conference. “Get here early. Be loud. We’re certainly going to need them against this team that we’re playing.”
Hoiberg made good on his promise. The first 250 students to arrive at the game got their due slices. Then, Nebraska outdid the Boilermakers 32-22 in the second half and forced overtime, but lost 65-62.
However, something intangible changed inside the program. They finished the season 16-16, which led to back-to-back 20-win seasons. Since that night, Nebraska is 71–35, and suddenly the rebuild looks more like a resurrection.
This current team has fully leaned into that identity. Pryce Sandfort’s 28-point outburst on Tuesday against Oregon was the latest example of how Nebraska can find offense from multiple places when it needs it most.
Sam Hoiberg, often viewed through the lens of his last name, has carved out his own value, wreaking havoc on defense with six steals and five assists in the Oregon game and setting the tone with relentless pressure.
Meanwhile, Rienk Mast continues to be the quiet engine, scoring efficiently, rebounding, and making the right reads without ever hijacking possessions.
Can Northwestern Beat the Cornhuskers?
Northwestern has lost four games in a row, but it very well could be the opponent that can unravel Nebraska’s streak. The Wildcats are 8–9 and still searching for consistency, but they have one thing Nebraska must account for: Nick Martinelli. The sophomore is the Big Ten’s leading scorer at 23.8 points per game, and he’s capable of turning any contest into a late-game knife fight.
Northwestern nearly stunned Michigan State last week, and that performance alone should erase any temptation to treat this as a formality. Their other losses, such as to Rutgers and Minnesota, were close as well. Welsh-Ryan Arena has a habit of compressing games, slowing tempo, and forcing visitors to execute every single possession.
Beyond today, the stakes only grow. If Nebraska survives Evanston, it returns home to host Washington, then travels to Minnesota before a looming January 27 showdown at No. 4 Michigan. An undefeated January is suddenly on the table, a phrase that would’ve sounded absurd a year ago. But none of that matters if the Huskers stumble this afternoon.
The margin for error for Nebraska is thin, the environment unforgiving, and the target on their backs now undeniable. Everything Nebraska has built since that Purdue turning point will be tested in a few hours. The streak, the ranking, the belief, it all tips off at 4 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network.
