University of Nebraska senior guard Sam Hoiberg was honored for his performance on the court and in the classroom on Tuesday, as he was named a first-team Academic All-American by the College Sports Communicators.
Hoiberg, who graduated from Nebraska last December, had a 3.479 GPA in sports media and communications, is one of five student-athletes chosen as a first-team honoree, joining Nick Martinelli (Northwestern), Tamin Lipsey (Iowa State), Zuby Ejiofor (St. John’s) and JT Toppin (Texas Tech).
Hoiberg is the first Husker men’s basketball player to earn first-team Academic All-America honors since Shavon Shields in 2015 and 2016. It is the 10th Academic All-American award earned by a Husker basketball player and the first since Kobe Webster, a third-team honoree in 2021. Sam’s selection is a rare father-son accomplishment, as his father, Fred, was a first-team Academic All-American at Iowa State in 1995.
Hoiberg led Nebraska to its most successful season in program history, as the Huskers finished 28-7 record and the program’s first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 2025-26. He started all 35 games, averaging 9.3 points, 4.5 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game, as he was second in the Big Ten in steals and eighth in assists per game. He set a school record and finished ninth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.74-to-1) as a senior. A member of the Big Ten All-Defensive Team, Hoiberg was an honorable-mention All-Big Ten selection by both the coaches and media.
In the classroom, he is a three-time CSC Academic All-District honoree, a four-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and a three-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar. He is an eight-time member of the NU Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll and was selected to the Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Society.
Hoiberg is Nebraska’s 375th Academic All-American, a number which leads the Big Ten and is second only to Stanford among NCAA Division I programs.
