[3] Much of the team's modest modern-day success came during the fourteen-year tenure of Danny Nee, Nebraska's all-time winningest head coach.

After Nee was fired in 2000, head coaches Barry Collier, Doc Sadler, and Tim Miles combined to take the Cornhuskers to the NCAA Tournament just once in nineteen seasons.

[4] As near as can be determined, the University of Nebraska was first represented by a men's basketball team on February 2, 1897, six years after the invention of the sport by James Naismith.

NU faced another university for the first time in 1899, winning games against Nebraska Wesleyan and Doane to claim the unofficial state championship.

Nebraska, by then 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.

[6] His first team won fourteen of fifteen games; the student newspaper blamed the only loss on Nebraska's inability to adjust to Minnesota's 100-foot floor.

Athletic director Fred Leuhring arranged for Nebraska to play its home basketball games in 1921 at the State Fairgrounds Coliseum, which had a wider court and more seating capacity than Grant Hall.

In 1948–49, Good's Huskers went 16–10, tied Oklahoma for the Big Seven championship and defeated the Sooners in a conference playoff to qualify for an NCAA berth.

Jerry Bush, dubbed the "Big Bear of the Coliseum," never produced a winning team in his nine seasons at Nebraska, and never finished higher than fourth in conference play.

The Jayhawks defeated the Cornhuskers 102–46 earlier in the year, with star center Wilt Chamberlain single-handedly matching Nebraska's forty-six points.

[9][10] "Slippery Joe" brought an up-tempo style of basketball to the Coliseum; his Nebraska teams ran a full-court press and fast-break offense, which led the Big Eight in scoring average in 1966, 1967, and 1968.

Guard Jerry Fort, who finished his career with a then-school record 1,882 points, was the first Nebraska player chosen first-team all-conference three times.

By the 1979–80 season, Cipriano's failing health – he would die of cancer in November 1980[12][13] – meant he had to share coaching duties with assistant Moe Iba, and they took Nebraska to the NIT again.

Moore earned All-Big Eight honors in 1982, when he won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award as the nation's top player six feet tall or shorter.

Moore scored 1,204 points, shot .901 from the free throw line during his career, and was NU's first three-time academic All-Big Eight selection.

The cornerstone of Iba's teams from 1983 through 1986 was Omaha native Dave Hoppen, a three-time All-Big Eight center and the first Nebraska basketball player to have his jersey number (No.

Despite Hoppen's injury, Iba's team earned the school's first NCAA Tournament berth, where they lost to Western Kentucky 67–59 in the first round of the Southeast Regional.

The 1990–91 team included two future first-round NBA draft picks, senior Rich King and redshirt freshman Eric Piatkowski.

Nebraska's NCAA Tournament run ended at four in 1994–95, but the Cornhuskers kept their postseason streak alive with an NIT berth, advancing to the second round.

Lue, a six-foot point guard, finished his career as the seventh-leading scorer in school history, and ranked in the top ten in twelve other categories.

Behind Nebraska's longest conference winning streak in twenty years, Nee's twelfth team at NU finished fourth in the Big 12 and returned to the NCAA Tournament.

Nebraska won its first two games in the 2004 NIT, including a thrilling 71–70 road victory over in-state rival Creighton in the opening round.

NU rebounded to finish 19–14 and make its second postseason appearance in three years in 2006, the program's most wins under Collier and the first time his Huskers won a Big 12 Tournament game.

Collier abruptly resigned in August of 2006 to become the athletic director at his alma mater Butler, ending his career at Nebraska with an 89–91 record.

The late job opening created by Collier's abrupt resignation was filled in just one week, when Doc Sadler was introduced as the twenty-sixth head coach in program history.

Sadler's program saw limited success through his six seasons in Lincoln, finishing above .500 four times but winning only one postseason game and failing to reach the NCAA Tournament.

Despite typically lackluster offensive performances, Sadler's strong defenses earned him eighty-nine victories through his first five seasons in Lincoln, the highest total in school history.

Behind a 15–1 record at "The Vault," Miles led the Cornhuskers to the program's first NCAA Tournament berth since 1998, but NU lost to Baylor in the first round.

On February 6, 2017, Nebraska suffered their worst home defeat in program history, closing the regular season with a thirty-six-point loss to Michigan.

[18] The first event at the new arena was NU's 2013 summer commencement ceremony, and the first concert was held a month later when Michael Bublé performed to a sold-out crowd on September 13.