With a win over UCLA, Nebraska would have moved to second in the Big Ten ahead of the conference tournament. Instead, Huskers head coach Fred Hoiberg does not know what happened in a shocking 72-52 upset defeat.
Coming off a gritty 15-point win over USC, Hoiberg admitted his team “did not respond” to anything UCLA did all game. Hoiberg said he had not seen that from his Huskers before, leading to their loss.
“We just did not respond to anything UCLA did to us tonight, really for the first time all year,” Hoiberg said, via HuskerOnline. “Our team's been unbelievable with their approach and the way they got out there and handled adversity, but we did not do that well today.”
The Huskers shot just 39 percent from the floor and 21 percent from three-point range in the loss. Nebraska also shot just 50 percent from the foul line while allowing UCLA to hit 47 percent from the field and connect on five more three-pointers.
Hoiberg's son, Sam Hoiberg, was the team's leading scorer with just 12 points. Rienk Mast and Cale Jacobson each added 11, while no other Husker reached double figures.
Despite the lackluster result, Hoiberg is confident that Nebraska will rebound in its next outing.
“The biggest thing is how we're going to respond; that's the only thing that matters right now… They've responded all year, so I'm confident they'll do that.”
Nebraska is 3-1 after a loss thus far despite being just 5-5 in its last 10 games. The only time it lost consecutive games was from Jan. 27 to Feb. 1, against No. 3 Michigan and No. 9 Illinois, when Mast and Braden Frager were both compromised.
Nebraska's next opportunity to rebound comes at home against Iowa in its final game of the 2025-2026 college basketball regular season. The Huskers are just 0.5 games behind Michigan State for second in the Big Ten, with the top four teams earning a triple-bye in the conference tournament.
