No. 5 Nebraska's run of 24 wins in
a row is over after narrow loss to No. 3 Michigan
[January 28, 2026]
By ERIC OLSON
Major college basketball's longest winning streak ended at 24 games
Tuesday night with No. 5 Nebraska's 75-72 loss at No. 3 Michigan.
“To beat Michigan, you have to play almost perfect and we had a
lapse at the end,” Cornhuskers guard Sam Hoiberg said.
Nebraska did not score over the final 3:20, missing its last five
shots after leading most of the game despite two key players being
out of the lineup.
“That just proved, hopefully to everybody, most importantly to the
guys in the locker room, that we can compete with anybody,” coach
Fred Hoiberg said.
Rienk Mast missed the game with an illness as did double-digit
scorer Braden Frager, who was out for a second straight game with an
ankle injury.
“It’s unfortunate, but I give our guys a lot of credit for the fight
they showed in the game from start to finish,” Fred Hoiberg said.
The 24-game winning streak was an improbable run for a school with a
modest history in men's basketball. Nebraska has emerged as the
feel-good story of the season before hitting a bump in the road at
the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The Cornhuskers' previous loss came in last year's final
regular-season game, 83-68 to Iowa at home on March 9. The streak
started when they swept through four games to win the inaugural
College Basketball Crown tournament in Las Vegas last April.
“We haven’t had this feeling in a long time. It’s been almost a
year,” Fred Hoiberg said. “They were hurt by it. We’re going to find
out what we’re made of.”
Nebraska will have some time to regroup before hosting No. 9
Illinois on Sunday.
The Huskers' 20-1 start remains the program's best and their No. 5
ranking in this week's AP Top 25 poll is the highest in school
history.
The 24-game streak was the longest in Division I since Gonzaga
reeled off 35 in a row between 2019-21.
Nebraska entered this season with 500-to-1 odds of winning the
national championship. That was down to 35 to 1 on BetMGM Sportsbook
before Tuesday's game.
The winning streak captured the imaginations of college basketball
fans because so little is expected of Nebraska on the hardcourt.
The Huskers are the only power-conference program that's never won
an NCAA Tournament game, with an 0-8 record in March Madness.
Nebraska's most recent regular-season conference championship was in
1950, and the school has finished with a winning conference record
in just three of its first 14 seasons in the Big Ten.
[to top of second column] |
Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg (23) shoots the ball between
Nebraska guard Cale Jacobsen (31) and Nebraska guard Jamarques
Lawrence (10) in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game
in Ann Arbor, Mich., Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lon Horwedel)
The program has produced one consensus All-American
— Sam Carrier in 1912-13 — and just three NBA first-round draft
picks, none since 1998.
The Huskers' fast start was a breakthrough for Fred Hoiberg, who won
115 games in five seasons as Iowa State coach and took the Cyclones
to four NCAA Tournaments. Nebraska hired him in 2019, and the
Huskers were 24-67 overall and 9-50 in the Big Ten in his first
three seasons. Since then they're 80-41 overall and 37-32 in Big Ten
play.
The Huskers had to erase double-digit deficits in five of their wins
during the streak, including comebacks from 16 points down against
Oklahoma on a neutral court in November and Indiana on the road.
The veteran team is led by Mast, a seventh-year big man who returned
from a major knee injury that caused him to miss the entire 2024-25
season.
Pryce Sandfort transferred from Iowa, Jamarques Lawrence returned
after spending one season at Rhode Island, and Berke Buyuktuncel has
elevated his game while teaming with Mast in the frontcourt. Sam
Hoiberg, son of the coach and a former walk-on, is a glue guy who
does a bit of everything.
One loss changes nothing in the big picture.
Fred Hoiberg has talked often about how he believes this team has a
chance to do something few, if any, have done before at Nebraska.
The Huskers won 11 games against opponents from outside the Big Ten
to go unbeaten in nonconference play for the first time since
1928-29. The 9-1 start in conference games was Nebraska's best since
1965-66. A league title is still out there for the taking and, of
course, the opportunity to end that nagging NCAA Tournament drought.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
