Nebraska men’s basketball dropped a 79-74 exhibition contest to Saint Louis on Friday night, opening its schedule with a defeat at home as head coach Fred Hoiberg used a rotation of 13 players.
The matchup offered several early takeaways for a squad experiencing heavy offseason turnover, returning seven players alongside eight newcomers. Nebraska lost key producers from a program-record 28-win team a season ago, making Friday’s experimental lineups a necessity for an exhibition that won’t count toward the official record in 2026-27.
Hoiberg Tests New Rotations Against Saint Louis Pressure
Thirteen players saw action for the Huskers in the exhibition loss. Hoiberg experimented with different combinations, while Preseason All-Big Ten selection Pryce Sandfort and reigning Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year Braden Frager started alongside Boston College transfer Boden Kapke in the frontcourt. Sandfort logged 22 minutes and 42 seconds of action, and Frager played an even 21 minutes, while Ashland-Greenwood native Cale Jacobsen led all Huskers with 26 minutes on the court.
The Saint Louis defensive pressure created distinct hurdles for the new-look roster. Billikens head coach John Schertz deployed an aggressive scheme relying on the triple and designed to crowd ball handlers and force quick decisions, while also outscoring Nebraska 13 to zero in fast-break points.
We don’t face this; it’s hard to simulate when you are working on your own stuff that you have on both ends. To see this for the first time, get exposed with it, it’s going to give us a great opportunity to really start honing in on it because we’re going to see a lot of that. We’ve still got a couple weeks before it counts, but we’ll see a lot of that this year.
Saint Louis hauled in nine offensive rebounds in the first 20 minutes and finished the game with 13, securing 53% of their missed shots in the first half alone.
Lanier and Curtis Shine Off the Bench
Freshman guard Jacob Lanier stole the show off the bench. The 6-foot-6, 200-pound guard from Parkview Magnet High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, logged his first minutes in the scarlet and cream and didn’t act much like a freshman at all.
In just five minutes of first-half action, the former four-star recruit in the 2026 class led the team with nine points after the first half, capping his minutes with a fadeaway three-pointer at the buzzer to give Nebraska the lead heading into the break.
I think he showed the talent that he has. But also as a freshman, you learn a lot about what you can and can’t do that maybe you could do in a high school setting by driving into the pile a few times… I love the kid’s confidence.
Sophomore forward Leo Curtis also provided a major boost. When the 7-foot-2 forward committed to the Big Red, he was regarded as one of the rawest prospects in the 2025 recruiting class, yet Hoiberg trusted him enough to play in 17 games last spring, including nine conference contests and two of Nebraska’s three NCAA Tournament games. Curtis looked bigger, more confident, and more capable against Saint Louis, scoring nine points on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting night—including a wing three-pointer in the second half that he stepped into with confidence and drained—while grabbing six rebounds.
Huskers Prepare for BYU Road Trip
The exhibition gave returning standouts Pryce Sandfort and Braden Frager, two of last season’s top three scorers, valuable minutes alongside Utah Valley transfer Trevan Lenhardt and fellow newcomers. Both Sandfort and Frager combined for 13 points to help adjust to the Billikens’ pressure.
Nebraska hits the road next Friday, Oct. 16, to take on BYU.
Broadcast coverage and game time have yet to be announced.
