Nebraska basketball head coach Fred Hoiberg was apparently trying to add at least one more portal player to the roster for next season, but it appears those efforts fell just short. That’s the bad news. The worse news is that Hoiberg lost out on Ezra Ausar to a conference rival.
On Friday, the Huskers received the news that Ausar had picked his landing spot between his three finalists. Nebraska, Villanova, and USC were considered the finalists. In the end, sunny Los Angeles was too much of a pull.
As it turned out, the former Utah Utes forward pulled the trigger for the USC Trojans. That, of course, means that next season, Hoiberg and company will have to go up against one of their last portal targets when the Nebraska basketball team faces off with one of the new additions to the Big Ten.
Utah transfer Ezra Ausar commits to USC over Nebraska and Villanova pic.twitter.com/fux2eiewq0
— Robin Washut (@RobinWashut) April 18, 2025
What missing out on Ezra Ausar means for Nebraska basketball
Ausar announced his commitment on social media and likely ended the Cornhuskers' pursuit of any more portal entries. That would mean that NU has still added a few bodies as part of the rebuild for next season.
It’s been a busy offseason, considering that the Nebraska head coach has been doing a bit of double duty. While he was working on getting new players for next season, he was also trying to coach up the guys that were left for the CBC. That coaching job was good enough that NU won the whole thing and got itself a nice little chunk of NIL change in the process.
Former Iowa forward Pryce Sandfort, former Central Michigan big man Ugnius Jarusevicius, former Air Force and Nebraska native Will Cooper, and former St. Thomas guard Kendall Blue are all new arrivals this spring.
There was also a returnee among the portal acquisitions. Former Nebraska basketball turned former Rhode Island Rams and now back to Huskers guard Jamarques Lawrence is the most recent addition.