Coming into this edition of March Madness, the Nebraska Cornhuskers had never won an NCAA Tournament game in their program history. That all changed on Thursday as Nebraska rolled to a 76-47 win against Troy in the round of 64 to grab their first ever NCAA Tournament victory.
Following the game, Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg spoke about the program’s history-making win, via CBS Sports.
“We’re not satisfied,” Hoiberg said. “I can promise you that.”
With the win, Nebraska, who came into March Madness as a No. 4 seed, will move on to face the winner between No. 5 Vanderbilt and No. 12 McNeese State. Despite an early challenge from Troy, the Cornhuskers took control of the game and never looked back.
Nebraska was led by junior star Pryce Sandfort who finished with a game-high 23 points, as well as five rebounds, two assists and two steals in 38 minutes. All of Sandfort’s made shots against Troy were 3-pointers, going 7-of-12 from distance. He was also 2-of-2 from the free-throw line.
Coming into the game, Nebraska had made eight previous appearances in the NCAA Tournament, losing all of them in the opening round.
This is Fred Hoiberg’s seventh season at the helm as Nebraska head coach. He took over the program ahead of the 2019-20 season, and the team had made only one NCAA Tournament appearance under his watch prior to this year. The program has shown considerable improvement since Hoiberg became coach, and this year’s 26-6 overall record, and 15-5 in Big Ten play was Nebraska’s best mark with him as head coach.
