Nebraska basketball looks to build off a historic season for their program
The tradition continues! It’s another year of our countdown of the top 100 preseason teams in college basketball until the start of the season. Each day, we will reveal the next team until we reach the team slotted at number one. Up next: Nebraska basketball.
In 1896-97, Nebraska played their first college basketball game. They joined a conference in 1907-1908, and made their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1985-1986. In 2025-2026, they finally added a new milestone, winning their first NCAA Tournament game in program history. They didn’t stop there, winning their second game as well, before dropping to Iowa in the Sweet 16.
The 28 wins were the most in program history, as well as the 15 conference wins. Nebrasketball is clearly heading in the right direction under Fred Hoiberg, and in season 8 he’s looking to make more history. While he does lose 4 starters from that Sweet 16, he returns the most important one in Pryce Sandfort. His offensive capability alone secures Nebraska as a tournament team.
They also return Braden Frager, the first guy off the bench who was also third in scoring. With the minutes bump he’s set to receive, he can be a breakout star. Then, there’s the new guys, like Tevn Leonhardt, who has flirted with triple doubles multiple times last season, and Boden Kapke, whose size alone makes him a distraction for the opponents.
This team is going to take a ton of threes, and make a ton of threes, and they solidified that with their bench addition in Sam Orme. Keep an eye out for Cale Jacobsen, who has patiently stayed in the program, and finally gets his chance to shine as a senior.
This team might not be as good on paper as last year, but with Hoiberg and Sandfort, the floor is already so high. Expect them to be competing in a loaded Big Ten once again this year, in front of a home crowd that has fully bought in to the basketball program.
Head coach: Fred Hoiberg (13th season overall, 8th at Nebraska)
2025-26 record: 28-7 (15-5)
2026 postseason finish: Lost in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament
Notable departures:
- Rienk Mast (13.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 3.1 APG)
- Jamarques Lawrence (9.8 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 3.8 APG)
- Sam Hoiberg (9.3 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 4.5 APG)
- Berke Buyuktuncel (6.5 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 1.9 APG)
Notable non-conference games:
- vs. Providence (Nov 7)
- vs. Boise State (Nov 15)
- vs. Butler (Nov 22)
- at Creighton (Dec 5)
- vs. Missouri (Dec 12)
Projected Rotation
PG: Trevan Leonhardt (6-6, 174, Sr.)
2025-2026 stats: 11.9 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 6.0 APG, 2.1 SPG, 0.6 BPG, 50.5 FG%, 36.8 3P%, 75.6 FT% (Utah Valley)
SG: Cale Jacobsen (6-4, 200, Sr.)
2025-2026 stats: 4.6 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 1.3 APG, 1.0 SPG, 52.1 FG%, 36.6 3P%
SF: Pryce Sandfort (6-7, 218, Sr.)
2025-2026 stats: 18.1 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.0 SPG, 47.9 FG%, 41.6 3P%, 85.5 FT%
PF: Braden Frager (6-7, 221, Jr.)
2025-2026 stats: 11.8 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 1.0 APG, 0.7 SPG, 48.7 FG%, 35.2 3P%, 80.5 FT%
C: Boden Kapke (7-0, 260, Sr.)
2025-2026 stats: 10.6 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 0.7 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.4 BPG, 47.9 FG%, 70.7 FT% (Boston College)
6: Damon Wilkinson (6-11, 250, Sr.)
2025-2026 stats: 13.9 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.8 BPG, 58.9 FG%, 72.0 FT% (South Dakota State)
7: Sam Orme (6-10, 224, Sr.)
2025-2026 stats: 12.7 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 1.8 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.7 BPG, 55.9 FG%, 39.7 3P% (Belmont)
8: Taj DeGourville (6-6, 221, Jr.)
2025-2026 stats: 5.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 3.0 APG, 0.8 SPG, 37.1 FG%, 34.5 3P% (San Diego State)
9: Colin Rice (6-9, 206, Fr.)
247Sports Composite No. 92 ranked recruit
10: Connor Essegian (6-4, 208, Sr.)
2025-2026 stats: 5.4 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 0.9 APG, 7 games played
Nebraska basketball team MVP: Pryce Sandfort
There’s a serious arguement to be made that Pryce Sandfort is the best three point shooter in the country. He made 3.7 a game last year, 4th most in college basketball, and did it at a 41.6% clip. At 6-7, his ability to catch and shoot and use his size to get leverage over defenders on hugher difficulty shots makes him a contender to be one of the best overall scorers in the country.
He lives for the big games. In the NCAA Tournament, he averaged 21 points a game, while shooting 57% from three on over 9 attempts per game. Yes, you read that right. He also shot 87.5% from the line, so there’s really no best bet to get him to stop scoring. You just have to pray he’s cold, which doesn’t happen very often. With four new starters, it may take some time for everyone to mesh, so having Sandfort early on to run the offense and get them out of tough situations will be super beneficial.
Nebraska basketball make-or-break player: Trevan Leonhardt
Leonhardt broke out last year at Utah Valley, finishing top 25 in the country in assists per game, while also grabbing over 5 rebounds a game and 12 points a game. He’s a pass first guard, dishing out 6 or more assists in five of the last six games. With high assists comes high turnovers, but the assist/turnover ratio is good enough where it isn’t too much of a concern.
He’ll fit the role of Sam Hoiberg very well as a guard who’s first job is to find Sandfort and the other high volume scorers. Defensively, he’s solid on the ball, averaging over 2 steals a game, and he can still score when needed. If he can play Hoiberg’s role as good or better, then that’ll be a huge boost for his teammates and allow them to succeed even more.
Key statistic: Three Point Attempts
When you have guys like Sandfort, Hoiberg, and JaMarques Lawrence, you take as many threes as you can. They took the 13th most in college basketball last year, at 30 a game. Expect the same this year, especially with Sandfort back. It obviously worked for them last year, and in 2023-2024, the only other time Hoiberg took Nebraska basketball to the NCAA Tournament.
Will they be as good of a shooting team as last year? Not necessarily, but they’ll still be in the upper echelon of teams next year.
Nebraska basketball 2026-27 projections
Projected conference finish: 5th in the Big Ten Conference
Projected postseason ceiling: NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 Exit