A Nebraska basketball team that was a juggernaut all the way through the end of January has looked far too human since the month of February started. A Nebraska basketball team that has had some serious problems surface over the last few weeks had those same problems raise their ugly head again on Wednesday night.
The good news is that the problems are fixable. The Huskers can change how they do things and try to get back on the kind of track they were for most of this season. That track was a team that one analyst even had going all the way to the National Title game.
What are the issues that are becoming a bit of an Achilles heel for Nebraska this month?
Rienk Mast is a shell of his former Nebraska star self
There's been a lot of talk that Rienk Mast isn't anywhere near 100% as the season goes on. He may be nursing a knee injury that's gotten worse as the year has gone on. That could be part of the issue. However, he really hasn't been the impact player he was in 2024 for most of this campaign.
After a long stretch where the big man was in a serious funk, he scored 26 against Rutgers, then 18 against Purdue, and now he's back in a funk. Since the end of 2025, Mast has scored 20+ points one time. Against Maryland, he broke a three-game streak during which he scored less than 10 points. While he did score 13 (on 5-of-13 shots), he still missed several point-blank shots and had just 4 rebounds. Mast either has to find his second wind, or Nebraska needs to start playing around him rather than through him.
Rebounds continue to make things nerve-wracking for Nebraska
Rebounds have been an issue in this second half of the season as the Huskers have looked less unbeatable than they did earlier in the season. At one point on Wednesday, Maryland was outrebounding NU 28-21. As the Huskers have done often this season, they took things over as the game ticked towards the end and ended up outrebounding the Terapins 35-34, but it's still something they've got to get better at as the regular season winds down and attention turns to the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments.
Nebraska has to find a fix for the slow starts
The single biggest issue for Nebraska once again was the way they came out of the gate in the 74-61 win. Nebraska started 0-for-6 in the game and scored just 32 points in the first half. Their slow starts have been a signature in the last month plus, and turning it on in the second half has allowed them to overcome them. With games against USC, UCLA, and Iowa up next, the Huskers need to find a way to get off to a better start.