[Trending News] Hoiberg's message paying off, update on Büyüktuncel ahead of Penn State

Hoiberg’s message paying off, update on Büyüktuncel ahead of Penn State

The Nebraska men’s basketball team will be looking for its fourth straight road win of the season Wednesday at Penn State after taking care of business against Northwestern — barely — on Sunday and Washington and Oregon a couple weeks ago.

Wednesday’s game will be a Quad 2 opportunity for Nebraska as Penn State had a NET rating of 78 on Tuesday morning. The Huskers, who have a NET rating of 46, continue to build their resume for March and, after Sunday’s Quad 1 win at Northwestern, have a 6-7 record against Quad 1 opponents.

If the Huskers (17-9, 7-8 B1G) win, head coach Fred Hoiberg will be tied for eighth place on Nebraska’s career wins list as it would be his 80th at Nebraska. In front of him in the record book would be his grandfather, Jerry Bush, who won 81 games between 1954-63.

How to watch, stream, listen

Day/Time: Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. CT

TV: BTN with Ed Cohen and Shon Morris on the call.

Stream: Fox Sports App.

Listen: Huskers Radio Network with Kent Pavelka and Jake Muhleisen on the call, including KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln, KXSP (590 AM) in Omaha and KRVN (880 AM) in Lexington. The pregame show begins an hour before tipoff and will also be available on Huskers.com and the Huskers app.

Penn State (13-13, 3-12) will be fighting for its Big Ten Tournament life. The Nittany Lions are currently bottom of the barrel in the conference standings and badly need a win to improve their chances of making the 15-team tournament.

Penn State has been struggling since the calendar flipped to 2025. It’s lost seven straight, 11 of the last 12 and are coming off a 75-73 loss at home to Washington.

The Nittany Lions have a habit of sticking around in their losses, though. Six of their Big Ten losses have come by six points or fewer, including three games by two points or one.

Penn State’s leader is point guard Ace Baldwin Jr., last year’s Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and a third-team All-Big Ten pick. This season Baldwin is averaging 14 points, 7.2 assists and 2.3 steals per game. In the loss to Washington he had 20 points, eight assists and six steals.

Penn State has had to shuffle its starting lineup throughout the season following Puff Johnson’s hand/wrist injury, which head coach Mike Rhoades confirmed on Monday was a season-ender. Johnson averaged 10.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game and hasn’t played since sustaining the injury on Jan. 15.

Another Penn State player is out for the season with an injury: former Nebraska guard Eli Rice. Rice played in just one game this season.

Penn State’s projected starting lineup

Hoiberg held a press conference via Zoom on Tuesday following the Huskers’ practice in State College, Pa. Here are the highlights:

Latest on the statuses of Berke Büyüktuncel, Brice Williams and Connor Essegian

The Northwestern game was the second that Berke Büyüktuncel has missed since badly spraining his ankle in the final minute of the Ohio State game on Super Bowl Sunday.

Büyüktuncel was not with the team at Northwestern and won’t be at Penn State, either, meaning he won’t play against the Nittany Lions on Wednesday. Hoiberg said keeping Büyüktuncel in Lincoln for the two-game swing out East was best for his rehab.

“He’s been on the court the last two days, and he’s making progress. Today went better than yesterday in his on-court workout,” Hoiberg said. “We just felt if he would have come here, just the attention with all the other guys and the equipment that we’re using right now to try to reduce the swelling, and some of the things that take out the pain, it was better if we left him back with our own equipment.”

After the Penn State game, Nebraska will host the top team in the Big Ten, No. 12 Michigan (20-5, 12-2), on Monday inside what’s sure to be a packed Pinnacle Bank Arena.

If Büyüktuncel continues to show improvement with his ankle, the tilt with the Wolverines could be the game where he makes his return. Or the staff could opt to play it safe and have Büyüktuncel return for the Minnesota game in Lincoln on Saturday, March 1.

“He’s in good hands and he’s getting a good workout in every day,” Hoiberg said, “whether he was doing it on the court or not, in the weight room, and doing some different cardio things where he wasn’t putting any impact on the leg, but he is definitely making progress. And we’ll see — hopefully get him back in some practices at the end of the week.”

The 6-10 Büyüktuncel is an important piece to Nebraska’s team. Hoiberg has called him the team’s best rebounder and post defender. The UCLA transfer was averaging 7.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game before his injury.

As for Brice Williams and Connor Essegian, both were battling illness the past two games. According to Hoiberg, both players are “totally fine.”

Nebraska must have a better start against Penn State than it did at Northwestern

Throw Penn State’s record out the door, just like you threw Northwestern’s record out the door.

If Nebraska has another dreadful start like it had at Northwestern, it’ll be a bad look and another deep hole to climb out of. Hoiberg said the urgency must be better against the Nittany Lions.

“Northwestern, I give our guys a lot of credit. They found a way to reverse it,” Hoiberg said. “But we cannot put ourselves in that position and expect to have a chance to win.”

Since he doesn’t have a crystal ball to look in the future and see what kind of start his team will have, Hoiberg and his coaching staff simulate starts it in practice.

“Not only with once we start going live and defending in the half-court or the full court, but even in drills,” Hoiberg said. “We have a goal of the things we have to accomplish in a layup drill and a shooting drill, and if we don’t accomplish it, we do it over. We get in the line, we run. And there’s consequences for it.

“If we don’t get a certain number of stops once you start going live to simulate the start of the game, you run them. And you do it over again until they get it right. So you try to do everything you can to simulate the early game and the early start.”

Confidence-builder for Braxton Meah?

The comeback at Northwestern wouldn’t have been possible without Braxton Meah, who finished with 10 points and a season-high seven rebounds and two blocks off the bench. His 23 minutes were also a season-high for the 7-foot-1 center.

While Meah has seen his role decrease over the season, he’s one example of a player listening to Hoiberg’s “stay ready” message the coach has preaches all season.

Meah protected the rim and was rebounding with two hands, Hoiberg said. Earlier in the year, Meah would often go up with just one hand for rebounds. Meah’s energy level, however, was what impressed Hoiberg the most.

“I thought he brought it, pretty much from the first possession he got on the floor and he was able to play the most sustained minutes that he’s played all year,” Hoiberg said. “And he did it with with effort and energy.”

With Büyüktuncel out of the lineup, Meah stepping up was a must for a team that needed his size and skill set in the paint.

“I’m just really proud of him for hanging in there during a tough stretch for him where he didn’t play a couple games, he played low minutes,” Hoiberg said. “But we needed him in the worst way with Berke out of the lineup, and getting some toughness out there on the floor. And I thought Braxton provided everything for us in that game — he screened well, he sprinted into his screens. …So I hope it’s a confidence builder for Braxton, to see what he can do when he goes out there and plays with that kind of energy.”

Hoiberg’s always-stay-ready message was heard in the locker room, and it’s one Hoiberg truly believes in

Early on in his NBA playing career, Hoiberg was an end-of-the-bench guy who only got into games if there was foul trouble or an injury. He was only playing about 2 or 3 minutes each game.

But the message relayed to Hoiberg then is the same one he preaches in Nebraska’s locker room now: always be ready.

Gavin Griffiths was one of those players who saw a role change but stayed ready for when he was needed. With foul trouble to guards in front of him at Northwestern, Griffiths drilled a 3-pointer and competed on the defensive end. Those were his first minutes since the loss at Wisconsin on Jan. 26 and his first points since the game against Southern on Dec. 30.

“It’s good to see the guys continue to come in and get work, even when their roles went down,” Hoiberg said. “And I was really pleased with Gavin, not only hitting that three, but I though he made some good toughness plays, going in and cracking down. He got a foul, which I didn’t mind at all. He went in there and actually laid the wood on one of their bigs that was absolutely handing it to us on the glass. Those are the plays you don’t mind. Those are the fouls that you can accept.”

Connor Essegian’s winning plays outside of his 3-point shot — “Defensively, I thought it was his best game”

In the last three games, Connor Essegian is averaging just 4.3 points per game off the bench and made only three of his last 13 3-point attempts.

Nebraska’s offense finds a different gear when Essegian is on from behind the arc. While he came to Nebraska from Wisconsin known as a 3-point shooter, the 6-4 guard has worked to improve other parts of his game, like his 2-point offense and toughness on defense.

Hoiberg thought Essegian showed good things in the toughness department against Northwestern. Against the Wildcats he collected four rebounds and one steal while chipping in 8 points and two 3s.

“Defensively, I thought it was his best game from a toughness standpoint, going in and digging out loose balls,” Hoiberg said of Essegian. “He’s had some of those balls taken from him earlier in the year, but he was in a scrum and he came away with it against, I think, one of the tougher teams in the league. So I that hopefully gives Connor the confidence to know that he can get in there and get into a battle and find a way to win it.”

Schedule down the stretch

With the regular season winding down, here’s a quick look at Nebraska’s remaining schedule, along with the opponent NET ratings, ahead of the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis March 12-16 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse:

>> Wednesday: at Penn State (78, Quad 2)

>> Monday: vs. No. 12 Michigan (19, Quad 1)

>> Saturday: vs. Minnesota (95, Quad 3)

>> Tuesday, March 4: at Ohio State (28, Quad 1)

>> Sunday, March 9: vs. Iowa (63, Quad 2)

Recapping home and away:

Away from PBA: Penn State (78), Ohio State (28).

At home in PBA: No. 12 Michigan (19), Minnesota (95), Iowa (63).

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