March 8, 2026; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers coach Fred Hoiberg leaves the court after defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-Imagn Image Regular season praise has been pouring in for No. 11 Nebraska as it prepares to face No. 18 Purdue in the Big Ten quarterfinals Friday night in Chicago.
The second-seeded Cornhuskers (26-5) earned the highest ranking in the postseason conference tournament and were praised for a turnaround season that earned coach Fred Hoiberg Big Ten Coach of the Year honors.
The seventh-seeded Boilermakers (24-8) advanced to the quarterfinals with a wire-to-wire (81-68) win over 15th-seeded Northwestern on Thursday.
Trey Kaufman-Renn and Oscar Cluff each scored 19 points to lead Purdue. Cluff also had 10 rebounds, Fletcher Loyer added 14 points and Braden Smith set a Big Ten tournament single-game record with 16 assists.
Friday’s game will be a rematch of Purdue’s 80-77 overtime win on Feb. 10. The Boilermakers nearly squandered a 22-point lead in the second half before securing the win with Cluff’s layup with 3.9 seconds left in overtime.
“It’s going to be a tough game,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “They’ve got a lot of skill. They’ve got a lot of good players that play both sides of the ball, a lot of two-way players. They’re well-coached. We did a great job on the first rebound. We had a lot of really good opportunities. We didn’t shoot great, but they didn’t shoot great either.”
The Boilermakers entered the Big Ten tournament with a 2-4 record in their previous six games, but Smith said postseason play allowed the veteran team to hit the reset button.
“We understand that if we don’t win, we’re going to go home,” said Smith, a first-team All-Big 10 selection for three straight seasons.
“It’s the same with the next tournament (NCAA). We’re an older group and I think we understand. We’re an older group that plays a lot of games in the tournament. We’ve got to get that message out to the younger guys and get out there and compete.”
As Nebraska enjoys the brilliance of a regular season in which leading scorers Pryce Sandfort (averaging 17.9 points per game), who was named first-team All-Big Ten, and Braden Frager (11.7) earned Sixth Man of the Year and All-Freshman honors, the Cornhuskers will try to advance past the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals for the first time.
“I’m so proud of Pryce, he came into this year after basically being a role player at Iowa,” Hoiberg said. “He’s basically filled that role perfectly with really good players around him. The way he’s established himself as a hot guy who’s done a lot of things for us this season and played alongside Rienk (Mast) has been a really big deal.”
Mast and Sam Hoiberg were honorable mention All-Big Ten selections, with the latter recording a team-high 66 steals and being selected to the Big Ten All-Defensive Team.
The Cornhuskers hope to use the Big Ten Tournament as a springboard for a strong showing in the NCAA Tournament, where they have an all-time record of 0-8.
“Whatever the outcome, we will grow from it and move better into the next phase,” said Fred Hoiberg. “Hopefully we’ll be there (in Chicago) for three days. This is the first of those ‘lose or you’re out’ games. It helps us get to the next level.”
–Field level media
