yahoo - 3/19/2026 10:39:32 PM - GMT (+2 )
They savored the first men’s NCAA Tournament win in Nebraska basketball history in their own way.
Coach Fred Hoiberg thought about his father, currently in a nursing home, as the benches emptied. He couldn’t wait to talk to him.
Sam Hoiberg, the youngest of the three, started savoring the moment even earlier. He looked up at the fans at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. There were about five minutes left, with Thursday’s South region first-round matchup between No. 4 seed Nebraska and No. 13 seed Troy no longer in doubt, and the son who initially didn't want to leave Chicago for Lincoln, Nebraska, marveled at the generations of Cornhuskers going bonkers yet again.
FAMILY TIES: Payton Sandfort surprises brother Pryce at Nebraska March Madness game
“That was a desperate crowd, desperate for a tournament win, and we were a desperate team,” Sam Hoiberg said. "So it worked well together."
Nebraska erased plenty of program baggage with its 76-47 win over Troy, and it played out in front of a noticeably pro-Cornhusker audience in the stands. They turned their first March Madness triumph in 130 seasons of Nebraska basketball into a de facto road environment for the underdog from the Sun Belt Conference.
There was a sense of relief and satisfaction afterwards that this Nebraska team finally delivered for its longtime supporters in the program's ninth NCAA Tournament appearance. Several players gathered around longtime Nebraska radio broadcaster Kent Pavelka immediately after the elusive first March Madness win was in the books. Fred Hoiberg admitted to having anxiety before tip-off and called this win “the most emotional of all of them.”
Nebraska has exceeded expectations all season after being picked to finish 15th in the Big Ten during the preseason and will face the winner of Thursday’s first-round game between No. 5 seed Vanderbilt and No. 12 seed McNeese in the second round.
“It’s almost like a storybook ending getting this tournament win,” Sam Hoiberg said. “I’ve been saying all week, it kind of felt like the last thing that we needed to do to get this program on top.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How Nebraska, Fred Hoiberg reacted to first NCAA Tournament win
read more