The start of the Nebraska basketball season is still a few weeks away. Still, Fred Hoiberg and Co. showed during a Saturday exhibition game against pre-season No. 8 BYU that things could be quite a bit more entertaining than the Big Ten media thinks.
If the Huskers do manage to make more noise than their predicted No. 14 finish in the conference, it will do so thanks in large part to center Rienk Mast. The big man returned to NU this year after missing all of the 2024-25 season with an injury. Against the BYU Cougars, he showed that he is fully healthy and ready to pick up where he left off.
Yes, it was an exhibition game, but with this year being the first time teams like Nebraska can take on other Division 1 opponents in exhibition games, both teams played a bit harder than they might have against some small in-state school. Mast certainly treated the contest like a regular-season tilt.
Rienk Mast’s dominant showing powers Nebraska past No. 8 BYU in exhibition
"Draft him first right now."
— Matt Sottile (@MSottileTV) October 18, 2025
In an exhibition that featured the projected No. 1 overall pick in next year's NBA Draft, BYU head coach joked that Rienk Mast should go 1:1.
AJ Dybantsa agreed.
Mast scored 31 points on 11-for-15 shooting in 29 minutes.@KETV | #Huskers pic.twitter.com/BwGjRJGp7X
He poured in 31 points on 7-of-8 three-point shooting to lead Nebraska past eighth-ranked BYU at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Mast opened the game aggressively, making each of the first five shots from beyond the arc. The senior forward continued to impress, drawing praise from Cougars head coach Kevin Young.
"Draft him first right now. I mean, the guy didn't miss a shot. It felt like he was incredible. He’s really, really big obviously, and he got going. I’m sure Fred would want him to shoot it like that every night, but we didn’t adjust and he made us pay. He's a problem out there because of those two things I just mentioned."
BYU's AJ Dybantsa, who scored 30 points of his own and is considered the likely No. 1 pick in next year's NBA Draft, was also plenty impressed by what he saw from Mast.
"It's tough. He's like 6-foot-10, 7-foot-3. Shoot, I'd draft him first, too."
Mast wasn't the only bright spot for Nebraska in the 90-89 win on Saturday. Connor Essegian, who's expected to have a bigger role this season, scored 20 points and hit 5-of-10 shots from beyond the arc.
Point guard Jamarques Lawrence struggled from the field, but he did show an ability to dish the ball that's been lacking for Nebraska the last few seasons. He finished with 9 assists against BYU. The Huskers will play another exhibition against Midland University on October 27 before opening their regular season against West Georgia on November 3.