3 thoughts on Kendall Blue’s commitment to Nebraska basketball

The Nebraska basketball roster continues to take shape for the 2025-26 season, and Fred Hoiberg made another move on Wednesday — the second one actually — landing transfer portal guard Kendall Blue.

Blue is like some of the other commitments for Nebraska basketball; it came out of nowhere, just like the addition of former Air Force wing Will Cooper.

Cooper is a former in-state recruit who played in 21 games for Air Force last season. He shot 37 percent from 3-point range and averaged 11 points per game over the past month of the season.

Cooper added some size and depth on the wing. Blue does the same thing. He’s played the past three seasons for St. Thomas and was an All-Summit Player last season after scoring 12.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists. He’s got one season left to play. Here are three thoughts on his commitment.

More 3-point shooting

Nebraska basketball wasn’t a great 3-point shooting team in 2024-25. The Huskers fell off from the 2023-24 season, and Fred Hoiberg said in his post-season press conference that he wanted to prioritize shooting.

Blue is another reflection of that. The 6-foot-6 guard could play the two or the three for the Huskers. He’s also been a reliable 3-point shooter for his entire career. Blue only shot 32 percent as a freshman and sophomore, but made 76 treys before 55 last season (41.7 percent in 2024-25).

His game is about more than that, but Fred continues to add floor spacers. The Huskers have now added four players who shot 37 percent or better from beyond the arc last season.

A versatile scorer and playmaker

One thing that stands out about Blue is that during the 2023-24 season, he led the Summit League in field-goal percentage. For his career, Blue has made 59 percent of his 2-point attempts.

Blue doesn’t get to the free-throw line in that match but excels in the mid-range. He’s someone who can score in isolation, is an above-average creator (2.4 assists per game), and had a decently high usage (22 percent).

That’s about the same as Brice Williams’ junior season and Juwan Gary in 2024-25. Nebraska needed a high-volume scorer. Blue fits the need.

Plenty of depth/options

Hoiberg has given himself plenty of lineup options for next season. Jamarques Lawrence is clearly going to be the point guard; Rienk Mast will be one of the bigs, as long as he’s healthy, but outside of that, a lot is up in the air.

Blue could easily be a starter. It will be a battle between him and Connor Essegian for the two. Essegian has a higher usage rate in part because he came off the bench. He could fill that role as a sixth man/3-point specialist again. You could also see plenty of lineups with Blue/Essegian and Pryce Sandfort on the floor at the same time.

Think about that floor spacing/shooting with Rienk Mast and Lawrence. You also have a defensive specialist and reliable shooter in Sam Hoiberg, along with Will Cooper, who can provide depth/shooting on the wing.

Hoiberg feels like the backup point guard at this point. He’ll also play off-guard. With three quality bigs, Ugnius Jarusevicius, Mast, and Berke, along with Cale Jacobsen, Justin Bolis, another intriguing frontcourt player, and Braden Frager, a 6-foot-7 forward who redshirted last season, there are plenty of quality options.

The 2023-24 team made the tournament and could play a lot of different ways. It was also loaded with shooting, and it feels like Hoiberg has replicated, or at least tried to replicate that formula.

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