Nebraska finally has an NCAA tournament win.
The No. 4 Cornhuskers vanquished ghosts that have haunted the basketball program for 40 years with a76-47 win over No. 13 Troyin the first round of the South region on Thursday. The win is Nebraska's first in nineMarch Madnessappearances since it first made the tournament in 1986.
The Huskers made sure to leave little doubt that the ninth appearance was going to result in another first-round loss, too. Nebraska closed the first half on a 17-6 run over the final seven minutes before halftime to take a 16-point lead.
Pryce Sandfort was a big reason why. He scored 17 first-half points and was 5-of-8 from behind the arc.
Sandfort did that with his brother Payton in attendanceafter he scored the first NBA points of his career. Payton Sandfort, a rookie on a two-way contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder, played the first five minutes of his NBA career in OKC's blowout win over Brooklyn on Wednesday night. He then hopped on an early flight back to Oklahoma City on Thursday to see Nebraska make school history.
Pryce Sandfort finished with 23 points as he got to watch the end of the game from the bench thanks to the blowout.
Troy shot just 28% from the field as the Trojans went ice cold to end the first half. Troy played with Nebraska to start the game, but the Huskers pulled away as Troy went just 4-of-17 from the field after making its first three shots of the game.
The Huskers will play their first second-round game in school history against either No. 5 Vanderbilt or No. 12 McNeese.
Nebraska's previous tournament failures
Until Thursday, Nebraska's NCAA tournament history was rough. Here's a look at each of the school's first eight NCAA tournament appearances.
The Huskers made their first tournament appearance four decades ago as a No. 9 seed in coach Moe Iba's last year with the team. Nebraska went 19-10 in the regular season before losing 67-59 to No. 8 Western Kentucky.
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The 1991 season was the greatest in modern Nebraska basketball history at the time. The Danny Nee-coached Huskers went 26-8 and finished a game back of Oklahoma State and Kansas for the Big 8 title. That earned Nebraska a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, but the Huskers were upset 89-84 by Xavier as the Musketeers shot 54% from the field and 43% from behind the arc.
Nebraska took a step back the next season but still comfortably made the tournament as a No. 8 seed. However, this game wasn't very close. No. 9 UConn outscored the Cornhuskers by 15 points in the first half on the way to an 86-65 win.
After going 20-10 in the regular season, Nebraska got into the tournament as a No. 10 seed. But they drew a ranked New Mexico State team in the first round and got blown out in the second half in a 93-79 loss.
The Huskers made their fourth straight tournament in 1994 in star Eric Piatkowski's senior season. The Nebraska legend averaged 21.5 points per game in his final season as Nebraska finished fourth in the Big 8. But Piatkowski ended up going his whole career without an NCAA tournament win as No. 6 Nebraska was upset by No. 11 Penn after the Quakers had a 12-point halftime lead.
The 1998 season ended up being the last time a Nebraska team coached by Nee made the NCAA tournament. Nebraska finished fourth in conference play — this time after the Big 8 had become the Big 12 — and was led by current Los Angeles Clippers coach Tyronn Lue. But you know where this is going. At least Nebraska wasn't upset, though. The No. 11 Huskers lost 74-65 to No. 6 Arkansas.
Second-year coach Tim Miles led the Huskers back to the NCAA tournament after a 16-year absence. The Huskers won eight of their last nine regular-season games to make the tournament and snuck in as a No. 11 seed. However, Nebraska lost 74-60 to No. 6 Baylor.
The Huskers finished with a winning record for the first time under Fred Hoiberg two seasons ago as they finished third in the Big Ten. After losing to Illinois in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament, Nebraska was a No. 8 seed and drew former Big 12 foe Texas A&M in the first round. The Aggies rushed out to a 58-44 lead at halftime on the way to a 98-83 win.
