The start of the Nebraska basketball season is still a few weeks away. Still, Fred Hoiberg and Co. showed during a Saturday exhibition game against pre-season No. 8 BYU that things could be quite a bit more entertaining than the Big Ten media thinks.
If the Huskers do manage to make more noise than their predicted No. 14 finish in the conference, it will do so thanks in large part to center Rienk Mast. The big man returned to NU this year after missing all of the 2024-25 season with an injury. Against the BYU Cougars, he showed that he is fully healthy and ready to pick up where he left off.
Yes, it was an exhibition game, but with this year being the first time teams like Nebraska can take on other Division 1 opponents in exhibition games, both teams played a bit harder than they might have against some small in-state school. Mast certainly treated the contest like a regular-season tilt.
Rienk Mast’s dominant showing powers Nebraska past No. 8 BYU in exhibition
“Draft him first right now.”In an exhibition that featured the projected No. 1 overall pick in next year’s NBA Draft, BYU head coach joked that Rienk Mast should go 1:1.AJ Dybantsa agreed.Mast scored 31 points on 11-for-15 shooting in 29 minutes.@KETV | #Huskerspic.twitter.com/BwGjRJGp7X
— Matt Sottile (@MSottileTV) October 18, 2025
He poured in 31 points on 7-of-8 three-point shooting to lead Nebraska past eighth-ranked BYU at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Mast opened the game aggressively, making each of the first five shots from beyond the arc. The senior forward continued to impress, drawing praise from Cougars head coach Kevin Young…