Fred Hoiberg pinpoints 1 thing that bothered Nebraska in Illinois loss

Nebraska basketball walked into Sunday aiming to shed the collapse against Michigan. Illinois toppled the Cornhuskers, though, 78-69 against the No. 5 ranked team in the land. Head coach Fred Hoiberg got to thinking about one thing that bothered him about the defeat.

“I thought their length in the paint bothered us,” Hoiberg pointed out via Alex Berry of The Daily Nebraskan.

Illinois indeed presents six players who stand above 6-foot-7. But a 6-foot-6 star handed Nebraska lots of fits too: Freshman Keaton Wagler. Hoiberg added how Wagler going to the line 12 times became bothersome for the ‘Huskers.

Except Wagler was beyond efficient outside of the white stripe.

Where Illinois exploited Nebraska, Fred Hoiberg

Wagler went into an attack mode early on — penetrating inside to set up scoring opportunities.

Illinois freshman Keaton Wagler's rise to college superstar is one of the best stories in college basketball

The freshman just went off against No.5 Nebraska

28 PTS | 7-15 FG | 4-9 3PT | 5 REB | 5 AST pic.twitter.com/PZ7hHJGglW

— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) February 1, 2026

Nebraska became Wagler’s seventh foe he dropped 20+ points against.

But again, the length disrupted Nebraska throughout the day. Illinois received a combined 35 points from the forward/center trio of David Mirkovic, Jake Davis and Tomslav Ivisic. Mirkovic even embraced playing a villain role inside Pinnacle Bank Arena — attempting to egg on the ‘Husker fans.

David Mirkovic continues to seemingly enjoy playing the villain when the #Illini pick up big wins away from home: pic.twitter.com/lUMyv7yT0M

— Glenn Kinley (@glenn_kinley) February 2, 2026

Braden Frager led the scoring for the home team with 20 points. Pryce Sandfort added 14 points. The coach’s son Sam Hoiberg dropped 13 while guard Jamarques Lawrence scored 10 as the last Nebraska player to reach double figures.

Nebraska, though, lost a new lead against Illinois: Its 39-33 halftime lead before getting outscored 45-30. Hoiberg’s team has now lost their last two games following an impressive 20-0 start.

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