page_title: Nebraska Cornhuskers men's basketball
section_title: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: Nebraska Cornhuskers men's basketball / History / Early years
caption_attribution_description: English: University of Nebraska men's basketball team of 1921.
context_page_description: The Nebraska Cornhuskers men's basketball team represents the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the Big Ten Conference of NCAA Division I. The program's first year of competition was 1897, and since then NU has compiled an all-time record of 1,501–1,373, with seven NCAA Tournament and 16 NIT appearances. The team is currently coach by Fred Hoiberg.
  Nebraska has the distinction of being the only major conference program to have never won a game in the NCAA Tournament, and did not make the tournament until 1986. Much of the team's modest success came during the 14-year tenure of Danny Nee, Nebraska's all-time winningest head coach. Nee led the Cornhuskers to five of their seven NCAA Tournament appearances and six NIT bids, including the 1996 NIT championship, NU's only national postseason title. After Nee was fired in 2000, Barry Collier was hired and led the program for six years, until leaving to become athletic director at Butler University. Nebraska then hired Doc Sadler from UTEP, who led the Cornhuskers through the school's transition from the Big 12 to the Big Ten, but like Collier, failed to make an NCAA Tournament appearance.
context_section_description: The University of Nebraska has experienced a great deal of athletic success, but its men's basketball program is an exception. NU has never won an NCAA Tournament game, and hasn't won a conference championship since sharing the Big Seven with Kansas and Kansas State in 1950.
  As near as can be determined, the school was first represented by a men's basketball team on Feb. 2, 1897, just six years after James Naismith set down the rules of the game. The Nebraska "Bugeaters" defeated a team from the Lincoln YMCA 11–8 victory at Grant Memorial Hall, NU's home for all but two seasons until the Nebraska Coliseum opened in 1926. Nebraska doubled its schedule in 1898, losing twice to the Lincoln YMCA and splitting two games with the Omaha YMCA. NU faced another university for the first time in 1899, winning games against Nebraska Wesleyan and Doane to claim the unofficial state championship. Nebraska, now known as the "Cornhuskers", played an out-of-state opponent for the first time the following season, defeating James Naismith and Kansas 48–8 in what is still the worst loss in KU history. NU's 1900 team was retroactively ranked second nationally by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.
  In 1911, Ewald O. Stiehm, NU's fiery football coach, became the school's first full-time basketball coach. His first team won 14 of 15 games, its only loss coming at Minnesota. The student newspaper blamed the loss on Nebraska's inability to adjust to the Gophers' 100-foot floor. Under Stiehm, Nebraska won or shared the MVIAA championship in 1912, 1913, and 1914, and guard Sam Carrier became Nebraska's first All-American. After the 1916 football season, Stiehm was offered $4,500 annually to take over as football coach and athletic director at Indiana; despite suggesting he'd remain at Nebraska for less money, the school refused to offer him a raise and Stiehm left. Nebraska won another conference title in 1916, after Sam Waugh replaced Stiehm as the Cornhuskers' coach for one season.
  Waugh was succeeded by E.J. Stewart, whose three Cornhusker teams had a combined record of 29–23. Nebraska was 22–2 in 1919–20 and 11–3 in 1920–21 under P.J. Schissler. After the 1920 season, Schissler challenged the University of Chicago to a postseason game, but the offer was declined. The Cornhuskers also were invited to a postseason AAU tournament in Atlanta, but didn't participate.
  The program's most significant event during the 1920s was the building of the Nebraska Coliseum, dedicated on February 6, 1926. The Cornhuskers lost 25–14 to Kansas in the first game at their new home, which was built at a cost of $445,000 and seated 8,000 for basketball. Prior to that, Nebraska played most of its home games in Grant Hall, which seated about a fourth as many fans as the Coliseum and was located just north of where the Sheldon Art Gallery now stands.
  Athletic Director Fred Leuhring arranged for Nebraska to play its home basketball games at the State Fairgrounds Coliseum in 1921, in order to accommodate more spectators. The Cornhuskers played two seasons at the Fairgrounds Coliseum, which had a wider court than Grant Hall. The first game there was played on January 14, 1921, when Nebraska defeated Grinnell 31–10 before a crowd of 1,500. After two seasons, the Cornhuskers returned to Grant Hall, which had been remodeled, and continued to play home games there until the Coliseum opened.
  Nebraska ended the decade with an 11–5 season under Charles T. Black, a former Kansas All-American. Over the next 19 seasons, the Huskers had just two winning seasons, one of which was a Big Six championship in 1937.
  The 1930s produced four more Cornhusker All-Americans: Don Maclay in 1931, Steve Hokuf in 1933, George Wahlquist in 1936, and Robert Parsons in 1937. Maclay was the Big Six scoring leader in 1930, scoring 112 points in 10 league games.
caption: 1921–22 Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball team
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