Husker Basketball Tickets
For over three decades, the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, has been the home of the Nebraska basketball team. The facility, opened in 1976 and has seen some of the biggest moments and best teams in Nebraska basketball history.
But the Devaney Center has not always been the Huskers' home court. In fact, the 32-year-old facility is the fourth facility in which the Nebraska basketball team has called its home court in almost 110 years of competition. For over half a century, the Huskers' home was the UNL Coliseum. Built in 1926 at a cost of $445,000, the Coliseum could seat 8,000 fans and saw more than its share of outstanding teams and athletes in 50 years as the Huskers' home court.
Before the Coliseum came along, the Huskers played their home games at Grant Hall, located north of where the Sheldon Art Gallery now stands. In 1921 and 1922, the Huskers played at the State Fairgrounds Coliseum, which accommodated more spectators than the 2,000 capacity at Grant Hall.
The Husker basketball program got its start in 1897, when Nebraska beat a team from the Lincoln YMCA, 11-8. Nebraska played teams from the Lincoln and Omaha YMCA's the first two years before playing in-state college teams in 1899.
In 1900, Nebraska basketball posted its most lopsided and significant victory, beating Kansas 48-8. Kansas, of course, has had a long history of success in basketball, but this defeat was – and still is – the biggest loss in Kansas history. Oddly enough, the coach of the Kansas team that Nebraska beat so soundly was none other than Dr. James Naismith – the man who invented the game less than a decade before.
The Huskers have seen a number of players go on to earn All-American Honors and numerous conference awards. The Huskers won a playoff game to win the 1949 Big Seven conference title and shared the honor with Kansas and Kansas State in 1950.
After a long string of losing seasons, the Huskers began to turn things around in the 1960’s and 1970's, led by fiery coach Joe Cipriano. "Cip" was one of the winningest coaches in Nebraska history, winning almost 20 percent of Nebraska's games in almost 110 years. He took Nebraska to its first NIT appearance (1967) and made the team a traditionally-competitive one until he lost a bout to cancer in 1980.
Coach Moe Iba was Cipriano's assistant and took over duties after his death, and he helped the Husker program achieve even loftier heights during the 1980's. The Huskers reached the NIT Final Four in 1983 and made the school's first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament in 1986.
Iba resigned after the 1985-86 season, and Danny Nee came in and took the program higher than it has ever been. The Huskers made four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances in the 1990's and achieved its peak in the 1991-92 season by setting numerous team records. The team captured its first-ever Big Eight tournament title in 1994, and in 1996 won the NIT national title.
The Huskers made another NCAA appearance in 1998 before Nee left after the 2000 season. Barry Collier coached the Huskers through the 2005-2006 season. |
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