Nebraska’s historic basketball season featured excellent shooting, a swarming defense and enough rebounding to win a school-record 28 games.

The Huskers featured something else, something behind the scenes that fueled a team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 after breaking an 0-8 streak in March Madness games.

Role acceptance.

As much as you can in a frenzied 40 minutes of running, jumping and defending, the Nebraska players largely kept to the script. Every player had a primary job — and some secondary jobs, too.

It’s one reason why the Huskers, who might have looked overmatched when the starting lineups were announced in the pregame, were so successful. They bought into Fred Hoiberg’s coaching and culture, and the results were remarkable.

Jacobsen sees the Huskers’ growth

Cale Jacobsen is a prime example of role acceptance. The 6-foot-4 guard could have played more minutes at many other places. He stayed in Lincoln.

The former walk-on from Ashland, Neb., averaged 19.7 minutes last season and played all 35 games in the 28-7 season. Those minutes were valuable with his sticky defense, rebounding and timely shooting. He averaged 4.6 points per game, shot 52.1 percent from the field and 36.6 percent from distance. He averaged 2.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists.

He played 25 minutes against Kansas State the other night, the Huskers’ final exhibition game before the regular season opens Monday against Le Moyne, of the Northeast Conference.

“I think we’ll see a lot of the same,” Jacobsen said at a news conference Thursday about players accepting their roles.

“It’s a lot of good people. That’s kind of what they’re looking for in the portal, right? Obviously, it’s shooters and guys that are big and long, but then it’s also: You got to fit the culture and what we like to do.

“And so, as roles start to get kind of divided, you’ve just seen our group come together even more and kind of back each other and support each other in those things.

“And so, not something that I think we’re worried about because we know we have a lot of good people upstairs in the locker room.”

Exhibitions beneficial

Nebraska played its permitted total of three exhibition games, going 1-2. Beyond the record, going against other teams gave the players a chance to gauge where they were and what they needed to do.

“I think you saw growth the first three games,” Jacobsen said. “Obviously, from our summer sessions in June and July to then August, I think we got better.

“And then from August to whenever it was, the middle of October, we continued to make strides and then these last three games we’ve seen a lot of different things. It’s good to get it on tape, right?

“You see it and then it’s how can we address it. So, we’ve had another week to then improve on what we saw against Kansas State.

“For our group to get to go play three really good teams and three really different systems, but all really good, especially offensive teams.

“We played some of the top offensive teams in the country this preseason. And so, it was good to test ourselves and to challenge ourselves and, yeah, just for our group to see what it’s like to play at this level and to play together and have to fight through [opponents’] runs.

“I think that will really help us down the road. And so, hopefully prepared us well for Monday, what we’re going to see against this Le Moyne team.”

Different style?

With the superior outside shooting Nebraska should get from Pryce Sandfort and Braden Frager, the Huskers are looking for chances to drive the ball to the basket.

“I just think with the shooting that we have on the floor, we’re going to have to get some paint touches and [attack] the defense in that way,” Jacobsen said.

“So, when you play with Pryce and Braden and those guys, the floor kind of opens up and yeah, that’s just been kind of a natural response to what the defense has given us.”

Monday’s challenge will be containing the three-point shooting of Le Moyne, a new Division I school from Syracuse, N.Y.

“Yeah, they’re really good offensively and we’ve watched a lot of their stuff already and I think the biggest thing for us is obviously we’re in rotation, right?” Jacobsen said.

“That’s part of our defense. But the next step then is when you’re flying at a guy we can’t stop short. We can’t stop inside the three-point line. We got to really make sure we get people off the three."

Nebraska’s second game is a neutral-site game in Uncasville, Conn., against Providence, of the Big East.

“I think we’re in a good spot going into the opener, but we also know we have a long ways to go to get to the team that we want to be,” Jacobsen said. “So, it’s been fun to see how the groups come together, but we got a long ways to go obviously.

“I think we’ve seen a lot [of growth]. I think even on the defensive end from game to game, we’ve gotten better for stretches and that’s kind of been the big thing with this group is we’re good when we’re good and we need to make sure that’s more consistent.

“So, whether that’s the end of the Kansas State game or at halftime, the first two [games] we’ve had moments that are good, but we’ve also had moments where we let our foot off and so we need to be better at that.”