Nebraska basketball: “Hate Never Wins” – How the Cornhuskers won their biggest fight of the season

When the Nebraska basketball team took the floor last Saturday afternoon, for their game against Rutgers.  The Huskers were looking to make a statement.

The Huskers were seeking their 5^th win in a row, as they march further towards a bid in the NCAA tournament.  The team had other things on their mind as they took the floor.

In the last week, the Nebraska campus has made headlines as one of their students is the self-proclaimed “biggest white nationalists in Nebraska” This student has been outspoken and has even gone so far as to threaten violence and as he put it he wanted to be “very violent.”  This struck some of the Nebraska student athletes hard and in a team meeting after the Minnesota game, Nebraska decided that they were going to do something that would unite the team and help unite their fellow students.

The Huskers took to twitter, and to the media with a simple message.  That message is “Hate Never Wins.”  This has now become the rallying cry of a Husker team fighting to make the NCAA tournament team and grab their first win in their history in the tournament.  The Huskers have been on an impressive run since before this student started speaking out, and it appears the team is using this as their motivation the last few weeks of the season.

The basketball players along with their coaches have all decided to wear their Black uniforms for the rest of the season, as well as wear the “Hate Never Wins” shirts during warm ups and while on the bench.  When teams are trying to make the tournament, they must latch on to anything they can to give them that little extra motivation at the end of the year, to get them over the hump, especially when you are a program like Nebraska who has not had much success in the overall college basketball landscape.

Their was a basketball game played on this day as well, as Nebraska was able to defeat a pesky Rutgers team behind a sold out crowd at the Vault.  Nebraska got off to a fast start and then were able to seemingly cruise to a victory.  The fans were into the game from the jump and were behind the Nebraska basketball team from the beginning and supported their cause.

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In a world in which everything is compartmentalized, it is refreshing to see a team take a stand and fight for what is right while also playing a sport.  When team captain Evan Taylor was asked “what do you say to the Stick to Sports crowd.”  Taylor responded with “This is something bigger than basketball, this is real life.  I hope all of the fans can get behind us.”

Taylor is right things like this affect each human in a different way.  While it may not affect you directly, no one knows how many of these student-athletes have a class with this individual or have been exposed to his hate speech and actions.  It has been rumored that some of the hate speech has been directed at Taylor, Glynn Watson and James Palmer directly.  No person should ever have to endure that.

Regardless if you are a fan of Nebraska or not, this is about more than just a team from Lincoln.  This is about humanity and standing up for what is right.  Athletes have a platform that most other people do not have.  Athletes are always in the spotlight, and sometimes being in that spotlight means, the players can bring light to an issue that may otherwise get swept under the rug.  I applaud the administration and the coaching staff at Nebraska for letting their players have the autonomy to stand up for what they believe in.

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Nebraska wore the black uniforms and the “Hate Will Never Win” shirts again for their game against Maryland on Tuesday night.  The Huskers won another hard-fought battle, and furthered their accomplishments, on what has been arguably the best season in Nebraska Basketball history.

Nebraska could be on their way to their second tournament appearance under head coach Tim Miles.  With the way this season has turned out for him, and the way he has handled a very difficult situation for his players.  He should remain the coach at Nebraska for years to come.