LINCOLN, Neb. — It’s not this simple. But in the three seasons that Sam Hoiberg did not play for his dad as Fred Hoiberg coached Nebraska, the Huskers finished 24-67. Since Sam joined the rotation as a freshman, they are 84-45.
He is the driving force behind the best Nebraska season in longer than a generation — perhaps the greatest season in program history. That label of best ever rides on Nebraska’s ability to earn its first victory in the NCAA Tournament, a goal that motivated Sam during his days on the bench as a redshirt in 2021.
“Part of the reason I haven’t stepped back and thought about how big of a turnaround this has been,” Sam said, “is because I feel like it won’t be a satisfying ending if we weren’t able to get that.”
For now, the Huskers are 24-4, 13-4 in the Big Ten and ranked No. 12 after a seven-week stint in the top 10. They’re just 4-3 in February and without a win against a team that currently sits above .500 since Jan. 10. But Nebraska checked in as a 3-seed, 11th overall, in the top 16 released last week by the NCAA selection committee.
The Huskers hit the final stretch of regular-season play Saturday at USC, followed by a visit to UCLA on Tuesday and Senior Day at Pinnacle Bank Arena on March 8 against Iowa.
On that Sunday, Nebraska will honor Sam, among the most revered competitors ever to play for the Huskers.
“It’s just mentality,” Fred Hoiberg said. “You have to play with the toughness and the chip on his shoulder when you have the size that he does.”
Standing 6 feet and every bit of 180 pounds after his four-plus years of work in the weight room at Nebraska, Sam is Tom Izzo’s favorite player.
So said the Michigan State coach after Nebraska beat the Spartans last month.
“The coach’s son usually takes a beating,” said Izzo, who coached his own son, Steven, at MSU. “(But) anybody in Nebraska who bitches about him, I would like to meet that guy. Because that kid plays so damn hard, so smart.”
Sam Hoiberg stands at 6 feet tall but has a 40-inch vertical. (Dylan Widger / Imagn Images)
Sam is a pest on the defensive end, ranking second in the Big Ten in steals per game. He leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 4.96, on track to shatter the Nebraska single-season record of 3.05 set 40 years ago by Brian Carr on the Huskers’ first NCAA Tournament team. And Sam’s 5.4 rebounds per game place him first among guards in the Big Ten.
Really, though, his impact is difficult to measure statistically. He just plays winning basketball.
Defense ➡️ offense for @HuskerMBB 🤯
📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/FDmcOkrFtW
— Big Ten Men’s Basketball (@B1GMBBall) February 26, 2026
Sam and his twin, Charlie, were not allowed to guard each other in practice during their two years on the varsity basketball squad at Lincoln Pius X High.
“Too competitive,” said Charlie, who joined their father’s coaching staff at Nebraska this season as a graduate assistant.
The brothers competed incessantly as kids — around the mini-hoop in their basement, for the last bite of food or the better seat in a car.
“All the normal stuff,” Charlie said. “You just want to win so bad that you’ll do anything. Being a twin is part of that. Everything was a battle.”
Their battles manifested most notably on the golf course, where the Hoiberg twins both regularly shoot even-par or better over 18 holes. Thrown clubs were common. Maybe still are.
Their older brother, Jack, turned down a golf scholarship to South Dakota and walked on at Michigan State in 2017 to play for Izzo. Fred, after a 10-year NBA career and five seasons as coach at his alma mater, Iowa State, was fired during his fourth year in charge of the Chicago Bulls in 2018.
Sam and Charlie soon after settled in Lincoln for the back halves of their time in high school. Sam was always a bit better at basketball, Charlie said, and Charlie had a slight edge in golf.
Charlie graduated Magna Cum Laude from TCU last year. Sam, meanwhile, understood his situation with the Huskers from the start in 2021-22, his redshirt season.
“I know how it looks to be the short kid that is supposedly on the team because he’s just the coach’s son,” Sam said. “That’s something I thought about when I went to work.”
He helped spark a strong finish in 2022-23. Nebraska won 16 games. Then it reeled off three consecutive 20-win seasons, a first at the school, as Sam’s minutes per game jumped from 12 to 19 to 23 and 32 this year.
Charlie sits behind the bench and helps keep Sam in the right mindset. As a senior, he’s taking 6.7 shots per game, more than twice his previous high, and shooting 54.3 percent. Still, he averages just 9.6 points, 64th in the Big Ten.
Is it enough to earn Sam a spot on the all-conference team?
“I don’t know if people who pick out the awards can tell that he probably makes the most winning plays out of anyone in the entire league,” Charlie said.
On the road against Illinois in December, Sam contributed seven points, five rebounds and six assists.
Nebraska was plus-23 in his 30 minutes on the court. It won 83-80 on a Jamarques Lawrence 3-pointer. Hoiberg delivered the assist.
“Any time you’re plus 23 in a three-point game,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said, “your ability to dominate a basketball game does not show up in points.”
It shows up in adoration.
Players come and go.
But you’ll never forget Sam Hoiberg.
— Nebraska Huskers (@Huskers) February 26, 2026
There’s one question to ask in considering Sam Hoiberg for a spot on the All-Big Ten team.
How do you replace him? It’s a thought that already worries the Nebraska coaching staff.
The Huskers have Cale Jacobsen, a 6-4 junior who shares many of the intangibles that set Sam apart from other Big Ten guards. An overlooked factor that aids in Sam’s rebounding and his knack to get loose balls: He has a 40-inch vertical leap.
Sam can dunk, though he’s never done it in a game. He maneuvers in the paint around much bigger players. His quickness and vision are underrated.
If you were to look up “Sam Hoiberg playing basketball” in the dictionary. pic.twitter.com/3XdAOmBjhP
— Ben Stevens (@BenScottStevens) February 14, 2026
“One of the main reasons I was determined to become a better player,” Sam said, “was to prove people wrong.”
He set a goal this year to avoid the anxiety of living on the tourney bubble. Nebraska handled it well two years ago, winning six of seven games to end the regular season. It secured a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament and lost against Texas A&M.
Last year, the Huskers lost five consecutive games at the end, including three by one possession, and got sent to the College Basketball Crown — which they won in its inaugural season.
This winter, Nebraska’s 20-0 start landed it as one of the first tourney locks. It eliminated stress, Sam said.
All of it matters in the bid for that elusive win.
“This is the year,” Sam said.
From Izzo to Purdue’s Matt Painter, coaches have paraded through Lincoln and offered praise for the Huskers. Nebraska features one of the league’s top shooters in Pryce Sandfort and one of its most versatile freshmen in Braden Frager.
But belief in this team’s ability to win in the tournament revolves around the undersized son of the head coach.
“Sam doesn’t care if he scores,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “Sam doesn’t care if he gets an assist. Sam just wants to win.”
Sam has talked with fellow senior Rienk Mast about how Nebraska might build statues of them if they clear the big hurdle. It rates as something close to an obsession.
“We really do not want to leave this place,” Sam said, “without getting that done.”