Nebraska MBB Opponent Preview: Ohio State

Date: Monday, January 5th, 2026
Tipoff: 5:31 p.m. (central)
Location: Value City Arena (Columbus, Ohio)

TV/Online:

Monday’s game will be broadcast on FS1 with Brandon Gaudin and Steve Smith on the call. It will also be available online on the FOX Sports and FOX Sports 1 apps.

Radio:

Monday’s game will be carried on the Huskers Radio Network with Kent Pavelka and Jeff Smith on the call, including KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln, KCRO (660 AM) and KIBM (1490 AM) in Omaha and KRVN (880 AM) in Lexington. The pregame show begins an hour before tipoff and will also be available on Huskers.com and the Huskers app. 

Preview: Courtesy of Huskers.com

The No. 13 Nebraska men’s basketball team returns looks to extend its school-record win streak Monday night, as the Huskers wrap up a stretch of three games in seven days with a trip to Ohio State. 

Tipoff from Value City Arena is set for 5:30 p.m. (central) and the game will be carried nationally on FS1 and broadcast on the Huskers Radio Network, as well as on Huskers.com and on the official Huskers app.

The Huskers (14-0, 3-0 B1G) are coming off a thrilling 58-56 win over Michigan State last Friday night. The Huskers trailed 55-52 with 4:40 remaining but closed the game with a 6-1 run, taking the lead for good at 58-55 on Rienk Mast‘s 3-pointer with 1:52 remaining. MSU had a chance to tie with 0.7 seconds left, but Carson Cooper missed the first of two free throws and intentionally missed the second one while a lane violation gave the ball to Nebraska. 

Mast had a game-high 19 points, including six 3-pointers, and a team-high seven rebounds, providing a major lift in the first half with 15 points as Pryce Sandfort battled foul trouble most of the night.  Mast leads the Huskers in scoring (16.8 ppg) and rebounding (6.8 rpg) while the 6-foot-10 forward is shooting nearly 40 percent from 3-point range. 

The Huskers, whose 14-0 start is the best in program history, shined on the defensive end against the Spartans, holding MSU to a season-low 56 points on just 34 percent shooting. Nebraska is ninth nationally in field goal defense (.374) and has held seven of its last eight opponents under 40 percent shooting.

Ohio State (10-3, 2-1 Big Ten) comes off an impressive 80-73 win at Rutgers on Friday night. Bruce Thornton had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead four Buckeyes in double figures as OSU shot 51 percent in the second half to outscore Rutgers, 43-32 at the break.

Nebraska moved to No. 11 in the NET on Jan. 3 following the win over Michigan State. NU is one of six Big Ten teams in the top 17 of the NET (No. 1 Michigan, No. 7 Purdue, No. 10 Illinois, No. 11 Nebraska, No. 12 Iowa and No. 17 Michigan State). No conference has more teams in the top 25 and top 50 of the NET than the Big Ten.