As the season winds down for the Nebraska basketball team and they prepare for March Madness and the Big Dance, Rienk Mast has been on the struggle bus a bit too often. One Husker insider, Steve Sipple, believes he knows the issue, and it's that the big man is playing through a knee injury.
Speaking with his co-hosts on the morning edition of 93.7 The Ticket, the group agreed with Sipple that it's unlikely the Huskers are going to see a dominant Mast for the rest of this year. Though Sipple made it clear no one should fault the veteran for his struggles.
"Here's the deal with Rienk," Sipple explained about the Nebraska basketball star. "I think the knee's bothering him. Just look at the way he's moving. I think that he's not going to, you know, what's admirable is Fred doesn't talk about it. More admirable, Rienk never would talk about it. But the way he's laboring, it just looks like he's... See, that's why I'm not critical of Rienk, because I think he's playing through injury."
Nebraska's Rienk Mast could be nursing a lingering injury
The cohosts agreed with Sipple that the big man looked a bit gimpy when he was playing the last few games. As one put it, "I think we're past the days of 30 point Rienk Mast, but I don't mean that in a negative way. That's just who it is."
Mast has scored 30 points just once this season. He put up 31 against Winthrop on November 25. Since that game, he's scored 20 points just twice. Mast has also dealt with illness, and in his first game, when he felt 100% from the flu, he put up 26 against Rutgers. That was February 7, almost a month ago now.
After a three-game stretch where he didn't hit double digits, he scored 13 against Maryland and 11 against USC. Still, he's also struggled with accuracy, hitting just 38% and 33% of his shots, respectively, in those contests.
The last time Mast has hit better than 50% of his shots was in that game against the Scarlet Knights, and more often than not, he's had to work to get up to 40%.
It is worth noting that even a Rienk Mast who isn't 100% is still good enough that the Nebraska basketball veteran was recently named one of college basketball's "Breakout Stars" by ESPN. The real question now is if the Huskers can find a way to give him some rest and hope he can step up when he's needed in the NCAA Tournament.