The Pick Six Podcast - Husker sports news and analysis · Omaha World-Herald

Nebraska's season ends in heartbreak

March 27, 2026·32 min·1 clip

Iowa caught Nebraska at the wire after Nebraska held a dream start for most of the game.

1. The Pick Six Podcast episode centers on Nebraska’s heartbreaking Sweet 16 loss to Iowa in the World-Herald postgame show. 2. Sam McEwen and Ben Doody host the show, with McEwen covering Nebraska basketball and Doody adding postgame analysis from Omaha.com. 3. The episode asks what this season means for Nebraska after a 28-7 year and a Sweet 16 run. 4. Nebraska opened with a 12-2 lead, and the hosts say that start was exactly what the Cornhuskers wanted. 5. Iowa answered by sticking to its system, moving the ball late, and finding shots that Nebraska could not stop. 6. The hosts say Nebraska looked tired in the final minutes and lost cohesion offensively. 7. Price Sanford scored 25 points, and McEwen says Sanford and Frager kept Nebraska in the game. 8. Frager, Rink Mast, and Berkay Buchtingell are cited as important early contributors for Nebraska. 9. The hosts point to Iowa’s late three-point play from Fulgaris and Nebraska’s four defenders on the floor as a visible turning point. 10. Doody says the key margin was Nebraska’s failure to turn a 65-62 lead into a two-possession game. 11. McEwen calls the season a dream season despite the bitter finish. 12. The hosts say Nebraska’s 28-7 record is the best season in school history. 13. They repeatedly say the loss will sting because it came against Iowa. 14. McEwen argues Nebraska’s seven-man bench in the NCAA tournament was too short for this stage. 15. He says Conor Essegian would have been the eighth guy if healthy, but his ankle injury kept him out. 16. The conversation emphasizes that Nebraska needs a point guard who can control every possession like a quarterback. 17. The tone is analytical and frustrated, with long stretches of roster projection and possession-by-possession breakdown. 18. The format is a two-host postgame conversation with rapid back-and-forth and no interview guest. 19. Nebraska fans following the Iowa rivalry and offseason roster moves. 20. Casual listeners who want a short sports recap without roster talk.

As heard by us

A painful finish, with roster questions giving the loss its clearest context.

The discussion frames Nebraska’s heartbreak as more than one bad possession: the dream start, the long hold on the lead, and the late finish all feed the same collapse. That broader view matters, because the loss was already unraveling before the final play.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want the heartbreak explained, not just relived.

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