Nebraska is having the best season in program history. The Huskers are 21-2 after Saturday’s win over Rutgers and over a month out are already shoo-in for the ninth-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament.
The father-son duo of head coach Fred Hoiberg and point guard Sam Hoiberg is right at the heart of the team’s success, but the secret to Sam Hoiberg’s breakout season in Lincoln might just be a relationship that’s even closer than father-son.
Charlie Hoiberg, Sam’s twin brother, is in his first season as a graduate manager for the team after spending the last two years as a student manager under Jamie Dixon at TCU. In an interview with Clayton Collier of First Alert 6 in Omaha, Fred Hoiberg explained how Charlie was the one to crack the code for Sam in his fifth year with the Huskers.
“Charlie’s been great for Sam,” Fred told Collier. “You know, they’re identical twins, and I do think there’s something to the twin telepathy. He (Charlie) can get into his (Sam’s) head a lot better than I can. He’s really helped Sam with his confidence.”
Charlie Hoiberg might be the secret to his twin brother’s breakout year
A former walk-on in the third-year of his father’s tenure in Lincoln, Sam Hoiberg has blossomed into one of the most valuable point guards in the Big Ten this season, averaging 9.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.4 assists. Fred never knew if that level of contribution was possible for his son.
“I had no idea what it would look like when he came on board,” Fred said of Sam’s decision back in 2021. “He said, Dad, ‘I think I want to come and walk-on, get better, and see where it takes me’ and I can’t believe it’s been five years.”
Sam Hoiberg didn’t see his first action for the Huskers until the 2022-23 season, when he played in 21 games with one start. That year, he averaged 4.1 points a game, but it took until this season for him to become a full-time fixture in the starting lineup, and it coincided with a 20-0 start to the season that elevated Nebraska into the top 10 of the AP Poll.
As much as Sam has been one of the faces of that turnaround for the program, Charlie has his fingerprints all over his brother’s fantastic season.
“He’ll tell me, ‘I feel it, Sam’s going to go off this game,’ and then Sam goes out and has a double-double,” Hoiberg told Collier. “I don’t know, there’s just something to it, and they’ve always been that way.”
Fred will certainly be hoping Charlie comes to him with another positive premonition as No. 9 Nebraska hosts No. 12 Purdue on Tuesday night.