Fred Hoiberg received good news on Wednesday as Bradley transfer Rienk Mast announced his commitment to Nebraska on Instagram Wednesday.
The 6-foot-9, 240-pound native of Groningen, Netherlands, has two years of eligibility remaining. He averaged 13.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists while shooting 51.8% from the field (including 35.3% from 3 on 2.3 attempts per game) and 73.6% from the free-throw line, garnering first-team All-Missouri Valley honors as he led the Braves to a 25-10 record and a regular season conference title.
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Nebraska announced the addition of Mast for the 2023-24 season on Thursday night in a release.
“Rienk has a skillset which I think will flourish in our system,” Hoiberg said. “Offensively, he is very crafty around the basket while he is also comfortable stepping out to the 3-point line. He has been one of the best rebounders in the Missouri Valley Conference for the past two years and comes from a program that won its conference and played in the postseason last year. Rienk will provide an immediate impact in the frontcourt for us next season.”
Mast redshirted his first season while dealing with an injury. As a redshirt freshman in 2020-21, he averaged 8.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists while shooting 48.7% from the field, 35.9% from 3 and 72.4% from the line. He started 19 games and earned a spot on the MVC’s all-freshman team. He announced on march 20 that he was entering the portal and chose Nebraska over interest from Iowa and Cincinnati among others.
In 2021-22, Mast started all 31 games, upping his production to 11.6 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game while shooing 47.6% from the field and 69.5% from the foul line, earning third-time All-MVC honors.
This past season, he took a big step forward as a distributor, nearly doubling his assist total. He also notched nine double-doubles and fell just one rebound shy in four other games. He scored in double figures in all but three games this past season with a high of 30 (plus nine rebounds) in a conference tournament win over Northern Iowa. He grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds and scored 13 points against Illinois-Chicago early in the season.
Mast is primarily a post-up big who has great touch and good skill around the basket, but he can also step out to the arc and knock down 3s off the catch. He’s a plus passer, making him a good fit for Nebraska’s offense and a capable replacement for the departed Derrick Walker.
Mast is the first commit of the offseason for Nebraska, joining 2023 wing signee Eli Rice out of IMG Academy’s post-grad program. The Huskers currently have three scholarships still to fill after losing three seniors plus two underclassmen to the transfer portal.
Nebraska will be hosting more visitors this weekend and next as Hoiberg and his staff look to fill out the roster.
Jacob Padilla has been writing for Hail Varsity since 2015. He covers football, volleyball men’s basketball and prep sports. He also co-hosts the Nebraska Preps Postgame and Nebraska Shootaround podcasts for the Hurrdat Media and Hail Varsity podcast networks. His love of basketball can best be described as an obsession and if you need to find him, he’s probably in a gym somewhere watching, coaching or playing hoops.
