The Nebraska basketball team is off to one of the best starts in the history of the program after what might be the season-defining win over Illinois on Saturday afternoon. Not only are the Huskers 11-0, but they just got through a week where they beat in-state rival Creighton, then a 30-point win over Wisconsin, and then knocked off No. 13 Illinois, in Champaign.
So how did the Huskers do it (besides a last-second three-pointer from Jamarques Lawrence)? They did what they've done all season. They played great defense, they played excellent offense, and they took a few strong punches from Illinois and bounced back every single time in order to log the 83-80 win.
JAMARQUES LAWRENCE WINS IT AT THE BUZZERpic.twitter.com/pWTm6uD0G3
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) December 13, 2025
Pryce Sandfort did what Nebraska basketball brought him over to do
When you consider that Pryce Sandfort had two career starts over 63 games played when he came to Nebraska, it would be fair to wonder if it was wise for Fred Hoiberg to rely on him to be a big-time scorer and shooter this season.
Sandfort has rewarded that confidence in spades so far this year. Coming into the game averaging more than 15 points per game, Sandfort exploded on Saturday afternoon, scoring 32 points and 26 in the first half.
Against the Illini, he hit 12 of 18 shots and was 6 of 11 from beyond the arc. More than that, he's shown up big against prominent opponents. Today was a career high for the Iowa transfer, but he also scored 28 against Oklahoma and 21 against Kansas State. Even when he was bottled up a bit against Creighton, he still scored 13 points.
Imagine if the fouls had been called remotely evenly?
Since Nebraska joined the Big Ten, conference teams are 3-36 when they are on the wrong end of a foul deficit of 12 or more. That third win came today as the Huskers were called for 21 fouls while Illinois was called for just 9.
It's really quite impressive that NU was able to go on the road against the No. 13 team in the country and win with that big a margin. At the free throw line, the Huskers were just 7 of 8 while Illinois was 14 of 20. So right there, that's a 7-point advantage for the Illini.
Someone else can debate whether the disparity was fair or not. The fact of the matter is that few teams have that much of an advantage in personal fouls lose games. Especially when they're one of the best in the country.
Rebounding needs to be better for Nebraska basketball
It's great that the Huskers won. They are a team that can make some real noise in the Big Ten. If they want to follow through on what they've done in their first two conference games, they need to hit the boards better.
NU was outrebounded 34-27, and they allowed Illinois to haul down 13 offensive rebounds. Nebraska had just 8, and Rienk Mast had half of those on his own.
The good news here is that Nebraska has been better at rebounding all season. After a big game against Wisconsin, Berke Buyuktuncel was a total non-factor on Saturday, playing 27 minutes but scoring just 3 points and getting just 3 rebounds. He's admitted that he can be a bit up and down; he still needs to find a way to be more consistent.