After a 7-0 start to the season, Nebraska was reeling after back-to-back losses in embarrassing fashion to then-No. 15-ranked Creighton and Big Ten opponent Minnesota.

But Fred Hoiberg’s crew showed fight after that disastrous second-half collapse at Minnesota. The Huskers rattled off consecutive wins over Michigan State at home and Kansas State on the road, beating Jerome Tang’s Wildcats by 16 points inside Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan.

As of this writing, Nebraska now sits at No. 50 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings, used by the selection committee to help determine the field of 68. The Huskers haven’t made the Big Dance since the 2013-14 season. Nebraska is the only power conference program that has never won a game in the tournament, losing all seven contests in its history.

The victory over K-State snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Wildcats and was the first Husker win in Manhattan since Jan. 11, 2006. Getting out of the Creighton-Minnesota-Michigan State-Kansas State four-game stretch with a record of 2-2 is a positive development that gives the Huskers momentum as they ready for Big Ten play, which picks back up Jan. 3 at Pinnacle Bank Arena against Indiana.

But first, Nebraska must take care of business in the final two non-conference games of the season — against North Dakota (8-4) and South Carolina State (3-10). North Dakota comes to Lincoln today for a 6:30 p.m. tilt. The South Carolina State bout will be played Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday’s game against North Dakota is not televised but will be available online at B1G Plus with Jessica Coody and Erick Strickland on the call.

North Dakota comes into Wednesday with the fifth-best offense in the Summit League (75.3 points per game) and the second-best defense (68.3). The Fighting Hawks are riding a two-game win streak, dispatching both Waldorf College (87-36) and Utah Tech (79-62).

In the win over Utah Tech on Saturday, North Dakota shot 41 percent from 3-point range (12-of-29) and enjoyed 28 points from 6-foot-6, 190-pound sophomore guard Treysen Eaglestaff, who went 6-of-11 from 3 and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.

Eaglestaff, an in-state player from Bismarck, is shooting 38 percent from deep this season (33-of-86) and averaging 15.5 points per game.

The Fighting Hawks are led by 6-8, 185-pound sophomore forward BJ Omot, who’s averaging a team-high 16.2 points (fifth in the conference) to go along with 4.2 rebounds. He scored 20 points against Utah Tech.

Tsotne Tsartsidze, a 6-9, 235-pound native of Tbilisi, Georgia, is the third Fighting Hawk who is averaging double-digit scoring at 10.3. He’s also averaging 4.5 rebounds per contest.

North Dakota has one native Nebraskan on its roster — Brady Danielson. Danielson, a former standout football and basketball player at York High School, is in his fifth year in the program.

The 6-4, 205-pound Danielson has played in 131 career games with 39 starts. This season, he's averaging 4.2 points and 2.8 rebounds.