Huskers Travel to BYU for Exhibition Friday Night

Nebraska hits the road for its next exhibition challenge, as the Huskers will take on BYU Friday night in Provo. Tipoff from the Marriott Center is set for 8 p.m. and the game will be available online on ESPN+ (subscription required). The radio broadcast is available on select Husker Sports Network affiliates across the state, as well as on Huskers.com and on the Huskers app. 

Nebraska comes off a 79-74 loss to Saint Louis in its exhibition opener last Friday. The Huskers went deep into the bench, as 13 of the 14 players who dressed saw action against SLU. Freshman guard Jacob Lanier led NU with 15 points off the bench while senior Cale Jacobsen added 10 points and seven boards. NU led 39-37 at the half before the reserves played extensively in the second half. NU nearly rallied back for the win late in regulation, as NU had a chance to pull within two points with 24 seconds left, but missed a pair of free throws that allowed the Billikens to hold on.

NU got solid production from its big men, as Boden Kapke, Damon Wilkinson and Leo Curtis combined for 24 points and 15 rebounds splitting time. Kapke and Wilkinson made their debuts for NU while Curtis, who played in 17 games last year, hit all four of his shots and grabbed six rebounds in 13 minutes of work. The Huskers will use Friday's game in a similar manner as they try out several lineup rotations. 

The Huskers will face a retooled BYU roster after AJ Dybantsa (1st, Washington) and Richie Saunders (32nd, Memphis) were taken in last year's NBA Draft. Junior guard Robert Wright III returned after earning All-Big 12 honors as he averaged 18.1 points, 4.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game last year. 

About the Huskers
The 2026-27 Huskers bring back seven returnees from a team that won a school-record 28 games last season, including two of its top three scorers in Pryce Sandfort and Braden Frager. NU adds eight newcomers with six Division I transfers and two highly-touted freshmen to the mix.

Sandfort comes off one of the best seasons in school history, as the 6-foot-7 wing averaged 18.1 points per game, including a school-record 129 3-pointers, en route to earning first-team All-Big Ten honors. Earlier this week, Sandfort was named to the 10-man preseason All-Big Ten team as one of two unanimous selections (MSU's Jeremy Fears Jr.).  Sandfort comes off a strong NCAA Tournament run when he averaged 21.0 points per game on 57 percent shooting.  Frager was NU's sixth man last year as a redshirt freshman and averaged 11.8 points on 49 percent shooting and 3.8 rebounds per game. He was named Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year and totaled 20 double-figure efforts, including six games of 20 or more points.

Fifth-year seniors Cale Jacobsen and Connor Essegian and sophomore Leo Curtis all saw time last year and will look for extended roles. Jacobsen played in all 35 games last year, averaging 4.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, highlighted by a 15-point, eight-rebound performance in the regular-season finale at Iowa. Essegian, whose 2025-26 season ended after seven games because of an ankle injury, looks to regain his 2024-25 form when he averaged 10.7 ppg off the bench and led the Huskers with 78 3-pointers. Curtis played in 17 games off the bench, including NU's two NCAA Tournament wins and the 7-foot-2 sophomore will challenge for extended minutes. 

Nebraska Exhibition History
Nebraska is 66-8 all-time in exhibition games dating back to the 1966-67 season and has won 35 of 38 exhibition games dating back to 2001. 

• A rule change prior to the 2025-26 season last year allowed teams to have exhibition games against Division I programs. Previously, they were only allowed as charity exhibitions. Beginning with the 2026-27 season, schools are now allowed to schedule three exhibition games.

• NU played three charity exhibition games since 2017, including a trip to Mississippi State in 2017-18 and a two-game series against Colorado in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

• The Huskers close the exhibition season against Kansas State in Grand Island, Neb., on Monday, Oct. 26.

Exhibition Games Under Fred Hoiberg

Season	Opponent	Result	Score
2019-20	Doane	W	91-63
2021-22	Peru State	W	97-58
2021-22	Colorado @	W	82-67
2022-23	Chadron State	W	87-60
2022-23	at Colorado @	L	61-72
2023-24	Doane	W	84-53
2024-25	Grand Valley State	W	73-53
2025-26	BYU	W	90-89
2025-26	Midland	W	91-50
2026-27	Saint Louis	L	74-79
@ - Charity Exhibition game

Series History vs. BYU
Nebraska is 1-4 all-time against BYU in a series that dates back to 1931 not including last year's exhibition contest. The last regular-season meeting between the teams was an 88-66 BYU win in the title game of the 2009 Las Vegas Classic on Dec. 23, 2009. In that game, Jimmer Fredette led BYU with 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting.  Eshaunte "Bear" Jones paced the Huskers with 21 points off the bench, his highest point total in his three seasons at Nebraska. 

• Prior to the 2009 meeting, the teams met four times between 1931 and 1935, including home-and-home matchups in 1935-36. In the first meeting in Lincoln, NU posted a 52-34 win over the Cougars before BYU won in Provo, 46-39, 11 days later.  

• The Huskers, who played in the Big 12 from 1996-97 until 2020-11, are 484-576 all-time against the current members of the Big 12. NU defeated Kansas State in the Hall of Fame Classic title game last November.

• Nebraska has won its last four regular-season games against Big 12 teams dating back to the 2023-24 season, when Nebraska won at Kansas State. 

• The Huskers do not have a Big 12 team on the 2026-27 regular-season slate.

Scouting BYU
BYU looks to make its third straight NCAA Tournament appearance after going 23-12 last season before falling to Texas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars were 19-6 and ranked No. 22 in the country when Richie Saunders suffered a season-ending injury and went 4-6 down the stretch. The Cougars had No. 1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa, who led the nation in scoring last season at 25.5 points per game while also pacing

BYU with 6.8 rebounds per game.

Despite those losses, BYU has another All-American caliber player in junior guard Robert Wright III. A first-team preseason All-American, Wright averaged 18.1 points, 4.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game last season and is the only starter back. BYU also returns Khadim Mboup (2.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg), Dawson Baker (7.5 ppg in six games before a knee injury), but has added a number of transfers, including Jaxon Kohler (12.5 ppg, 8.9 rpg at Michigan State, Colin Chandler (6.4 ppg at Kentucky), Jake Wahlin (4.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg at Clemson). BYU also has another top-10 freshman in Bruce Branch III, who played for Prolific Prep and was a McDonald's All-American last year.

Kevin Young begins his third year at BYU after leading the Cougars to back-to-back NCAA Tournament showings. Before taking over the BYU program, he served as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns from 2020-24, as he was the associate head coach of the Suns for his final three seasons. During his tenure in Phoenix, the Suns made the 2021 NBA Finals and made the playoffs all four years he was with the franchise. He also was an assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers from 2016 to 2020 and was in the NBA G League from 2007-16, serving as head coach of the Utah Flash (2010-11), Iowa Energy (2011-13) and Delaware 76ers (2014-16).

Last Year vs. BYU
Rienk Mast finished with a game-high 31 points, including 7-of-8 from 3-point range, as Nebraska topped BYU, 90-89, in an exhibition game on Oct. 17, 2025. Mast hit 11-of-15 shots from the field, including his first seven 3-pointers, as NU overcame an early double-figure deficit and withstood a BYU comeback in the final minutes.

The Huskers shot 50 percent from the field, including 16-of-34 from 3-point range, had 24 assists, including nine from Jamarques Lawrence, and just 10 turnovers. Connor Essegian added 20 points, including five 3-pointers, off the bench while Pryce Sandfort added 12 in the win.

Nebraska trailed 50-46 at the break before opening the half with seven straight points to take a 53-50 lead after a Mast 3-pointer. NU opened the second half with a 17-4 spurt over the first 5:03 of the half. Nebraska led by as many as 13 and built an 87-76 lead with 5:09 left. BYU chipped away behind AJ Dybantsa, who led the Cougars with 30 points, as he had seven of his points in a 9-1 spurt that pulled BYU within 88-85 with 2:25 left. A pair of Sam Hoiberg free throws stopped the run, but BYU continued to battle, getting to within one after a pair of free throws by Khadim Mboup with 16.8 seconds left and had two chances to win in the final seconds but both 3-point attempts were off the mark.