One of the most exciting stories of the season aims to add another chapter when No. 10 Nebraska faces Indiana on Saturday afternoon in a Big Ten Conference game in Bloomington, Ind.
The Cornhuskers (15-0, 4-0) are off to their best start in school history, hold the nation’s longest active winning streak at 19 games, and are ranked in the Top 10 for the first time since 1966. They most recently won Monday at Ohio State in a game they trailed with less than five minutes remaining before using a 9-0 run to stay unbeaten.
“There’s a lot of things we need to learn from this,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said. “I’m proud of them for finding a way. Our guys found a way to make the winning plays at the end. Great teams find a way to win these games.”
Indiana (12-3, 3-1) has won four games in a row, including an 18-point victory at Maryland on Wednesday. That was the Hoosiers’ first road win of the season after they lost at Minnesota and Kentucky in December.
“I thought we took some of the things that maybe hindered us from coming away in the first two games and were able to fix it, which is great to see,” Hoosiers first-year coach Darian DeVries said. “It’s a sign of a veteran group.”
Indiana leads the nation in Division I experience, per KenPom.com, with all six players who have started this season in their senior years. That includes DeVries’ son, Tucker, and guard Lamar Wilkerson, a transfer from Sam Houston State who averages 19.5 points per game and leads the Big Ten in 3-point shooting at 41.8%.
Nebraska also is on the veteran side, with senior Rienk Mast its leading scorer (16.3 ppg) and rebounder (6.6 per game). He is one of two Cornhuskers to record a triple-double this season, along with junior Berke Buyuktuncel.
Hoiberg calls Indiana “as talented an offensive team as there is in our league.” The Hoosiers average 85.1 points per game and shoot 48.7% from the field, while Nebraska ranks 12th nationally in field-goal defense at 37.9%.
That will make rebounding a major factor in this matchup. Both teams are solid on the defensive glass but have had trouble with offensive rebounds, although Indiana has improved recently.
“I think we’ve taken really good strides,” Darian DeVries said. “I think these last two games have gained some confidence from the guys from a rebounding standpoint. You don’t have to be 7-2 and jump out of the gym to get a rebound; there’s just a little bit of want to. We’re going to need to continue to do that if we’re going to have any sort of success.”
Nebraska has won four straight over Indiana, including a 2024 meeting at Assembly Hall, but the Hoosiers have won 13 in a row at home dating to last season.
Indiana is seeking its first win over a Top 10 opponent in nine tries. The last such victory was in 2023 at Purdue, but the last time the Hoosiers beat a Top 10 team while unranked was in 2022.
–Field Level Media
