No. 8 BYU Basketball Travels To Nebraska For Exhibition Game
Oct 16, 2025, 11:33 PM | Updated: Oct 17, 2025, 6:54 am
PROVO, Utah – BYU basketball is about to embark on a new challenge to open the season with a public exhibition against a power conference opponent.
In the past, secret scrimmages were a way for Division I basketball programs to get a look at a team before starting the season. Now, after a rule change by the NCAA, programs are allowed to play two exhibitions and host opponents with ticket revenue and a televised broadcast.
On Saturday, BYU will take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the first of a two-game exhibition series between the programs. BYU will play in Lincoln on Saturday at 11 a.m. (MT), Noon in Lincoln (CT), and then the Cornhuskers will travel to Provo for an exhibition next season.
Next week, BYU will host the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Delta Center on October 24 as the second exhibition game this season.
Debut of AJ Dybantsa
It will be the debut of BYU’s talented roster led by preseason All-Big 12 selections Richie Saunders and the nation’s No. 1 recruit in the class of 2025, AJ Dybantsa.
The Cougars appeared on the preseason AP Top 25 poll at No. 8, the highest preseason ranking in program history.
BYU basketball will face Nebraska on Saturday
Nebraska is barely outside of the top 50 of the KenPom ratings entering the season. The Cornhuskers won the inaugural College Basketball Crown tournament last season.
BYU coach Kevin Young and Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg both have connections to the NBA. Young was a longtime assistant in the Association, while Hoiberg served as the head coach for the Chicago Bulls for three seasons.
THERE IS BASKETBALL THIS WEEK❕ pic.twitter.com/AYO7War40S
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) October 12, 2025
“I was talking to Fred Hoiberg, and I said, ‘Hey, man, look, this is really our first time doing it. So what do you want to do? And we were just kind of having some conversations,” Young said last week.
“It’s different in the NBA, I don’t know, it’s not a big deal. You go play five or six exhibition games, and off you go. Here, I think it has now become kind of a big deal, because it’s new. So I don’t really know what to make of all of it. I’m glad we’re playing a team like Nebraska, who is going to be really organized offensively and going to challenge us and things like that.”
Coaches with NBA backgrounds
Hoiberg said that he and Young exchanged some film of each other’s teams. That’s a byproduct of being a game that won’t count in the standings. Young also noted there’s been transparency between the two staffs for entering this game.
“We did have an agreement on certain things, Young said, “Just like, ‘Hey man, this is what we’re going to do. We’re not going to try to trick you.’ This will be our coverages and stuff like that. Just so we can both get the most out of it.”
Focused in. pic.twitter.com/OPRW5dOBTu
— Nebraska Men's Basketball (@HuskerMBB) October 14, 2025
The value for BYU basketball is that they get an early road environment test to see how this talented roster responds. Based on Nebraska’s official ticket office, the only sections with tickets remaining at Pinnacle Bank Arena, which seats 15,500, are in the upper deck.
Last season, BYU’s first game away from Provo wasn’t until December. They can get that out of the way early this weekend.
There will be no linear television broadcast for this game, nor any BYU-centric radio broadcast. The game will air on the premium subscription-based service called Big Ten Plus.
No. 8 BYU at Nebraska
Exhibition
Date: Saturday, October 18, 2025
Venue: Pinnacle Bank Arena (Lincoln, Nebraska)
Tip-off: 11 a.m. (MT)/Noon (CT)
Stream: Big Ten Plus
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast daily on KSL Sports YouTube and KSL NewsRadio (SUBSCRIBE). Harper also co-hosts Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL NewsRadio.
Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU athletics in the Big 12 Conference on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram: @Mitch_Harper.
