While the Nebraska basketball team was happy to see Rienk Mast return to the court last Sunday against Illinois, it was clear the veteran big man was a shell of his usual self. That's not a surprise considering he was seriously ill to the point where he had to go to the ER after missing the game against Michigan and returning from Ann Arbor.
Some of his struggles on Sunday were clearly due to being weak and not all the way back from his illness. But there's a bigger issue at play with Mast, who has been in a shooting slump for a while now. Despite shooting 45% from the field and 33% from 3-point land on the season, he's shooting just 26.5% from the field (9 for 34) and 14% (2 for 14) from beyond the arc over the last three games. Two of those were before his illness.
While Mast has struggled mightily from the field of late, Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg addressed his problems while making it clear he expects the star player to break out of the slump any minute now.
Fred Hoiberg fully believes that Rienk Mast will break out of his shooting slump. pic.twitter.com/LRgGcMtu5z
— Hail Varsity (@HailVarsity) February 5, 2026
Fred Hoiberg is confident Rienk Mast will break out of his shooting slump and help Nebraska win again
"He's going to get it going again," Hoiberg said earlier this week. "There's no doubt in my mind."
"I'll say this: having to stay off his feet for a week, it probably got his legs back once he gets his conditioning back where he needs it to be. So he's going to take the lid off."
"He's too good a shooter. You know, every time he shoots it, I think it's going in. Every time he shoots it, his teammate thinks it's going in. It just, you know, listen, we've all been through it. Anybody that's been a shooter."
Clearly, part of the reason Hoiberg is unconcerned about what's going on with his big man is that Mast has been incredibly consistent over his career. He seems to think that if the illness hadn't hampered him last week, he'd already be out of it.
"In this game, you go through those slumps, and all it takes sometimes is to see one going in, and also an easy one. If you can get a layup or get a free throw, that makes those long ones a little bit easier."
The whole of the Nebraska basketball team hopes Rienk Mast can break out of his slump on Saturday against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and also help snap the Huskers' two-game mini-slump.