One of the last unbeaten teams in college basketball is about to walk into a proving ground.
No. 7 Nebraska, riding the nation’s longest active win streak at 24 games, heads to Ann Arbor on Tuesday night to face its biggest challenge yet: a road showdown with No.
3 Michigan in a heavyweight Big Ten clash. The Cornhuskers are 20-0 overall and 9-0 in conference play, off to their best start since the 1965-66 season-and they’re not just winning, they’re learning how to win under pressure.
Take Saturday’s game at Minnesota. Nebraska was down by eight in the first half, looking a little shaky.
Then came the response. The Cornhuskers flipped the script and ended up winning by 19.
That kind of turnaround doesn’t happen without a team that knows how to adjust, stay calm, and punch back when it matters.
“Championship teams respond the right way, and that’s exactly what they did,” head coach Fred Hoiberg said. “In the second half, we’ve done a really good job of coming out of the locker room.”
That second-half surge has become a calling card for Nebraska this season, and they’ll need every bit of that resilience against a Michigan squad that’s been rolling.
The Wolverines (18-1, 8-1 Big Ten) have bounced back impressively from their lone blemish of the season-a home loss to Wisconsin on Jan. 10-with four straight wins, each by double digits. And before that stumble, they opened the year 14-0, with 10 of those wins coming by at least 18 points. This is a team that doesn’t just beat you-they bury you if you’re not ready.
Michigan plays fast. Really fast.
The Wolverines average over 72 possessions per 40 minutes, one of the quickest tempos in the country. But lately, teams have been doing everything they can to slow them down, trying to drag Michigan into half-court battles and limit their explosive runs.
“It’s because of our spurtability,” Michigan head coach Dusty May said. “We’re seeing it every game-pass, pass, pass, pass, late clock action.”
Translation: teams are trying to grind the game down to a crawl, because once Michigan gets rolling, it can get out of hand quickly.
Nebraska, though, might be uniquely equipped to handle that tempo. The Huskers are allowing just 64.9 points per game in Big Ten play, the second-best mark in the league.
Only one opponent all season has shot better than 50% against them. It’s a defense that doesn’t just hold the line-it frustrates, clogs passing lanes, and forces tough shots.
That sets up a fascinating contrast with Michigan’s offense, which is shooting 50.9% in conference play. The Wolverines have plenty of size up front-6-foot-9 forwards Morez Johnson Jr. and Yaxel Lendeborg, plus 7-foot-3 center Aday Mara-but rebounding has been a sore spot.
“With our bigs, we’ve been a little bit disappointed with our offensive rebounding all year because we think we can be elite,” May admitted.
Still, Michigan’s offense has been balanced and efficient, with Lendeborg leading the way at 14.4 points per game. On the other side, Nebraska’s attack has become increasingly centered around Pryce Sandfort, who’s been on a heater in Big Ten play. He’s averaging 19.7 points per game in conference action and has dropped 20 or more in four straight.
But it’s not just the scoring that’s turning heads.
“I love Pryce, his 22 points is great, but the 10 rebounds and four blocks shows toughness,” Hoiberg said.
Sandfort’s emergence has helped Nebraska stay dangerous even as they deal with some injury concerns. Redshirt freshman wing Braden Frager missed the Minnesota game with an ankle injury he suffered last Wednesday against Washington. He had scored 20-plus in his previous two full Big Ten games, and his status for Tuesday remains uncertain.
“We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen with Braden,” Hoiberg said. “He’s going to continue to be day-to-day.”
A win in Ann Arbor wouldn’t just keep Nebraska perfect-it would be historic. It would mark the longest win streak by a Big Ten school since Illinois rattled off 29 straight during its run to the 2005 national title game. But there’s one big hurdle: Nebraska has lost its last 26 true road games against Top-5 opponents.
Still, this year’s team has been rewriting the script. They’ve won five straight Big Ten road games, their longest such streak since that same 1965-66 season. And they’ve shown they can take a punch and come back swinging.
Tuesday night in Ann Arbor? It’s not just another game on the schedule. It’s a statement opportunity-for both teams.