Pryce Sandfort transfer, explained: Why Nebraska star transferred from rival Iowa to join Cornhuskers

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Pryce Sandfort transfer, explained: Why Nebraska star transferred from rival Iowa to join Cornhuskers originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

One of the biggest hot-button issues in college athletics has been the idea of transferring and what rules and regulations should be instituted regarding it.

In the past, students who wanted to transfer between Division 1 programs had to sit out a year. Now, they are allowed to transfer freely, with no cap on the number of transfers during their eligibility.

This has resulted in some players transferring to other schools in the same conference and going from one team one year to their rival the next. Pryce Sandfort began his collegiate basketball career at Iowa in the 2023-2024 season. After two years with the Hawkeyes, Sandfort opted to enter the transfer portal and take his talents to Lincoln, Nebraska, as a member of the Cornhuskers. Sandfort saw his previous team once during the regular season, once during the conference tournament and once during the NCAA Tournament.

Here is more on Sandfort transferring from Iowa but staying in the Big Ten and joining Nebraska.

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Why did Pryce Sandfort transfer from Iowa?​

Sandfort's transfer to Nebraska looks bad on paper since it is in the same conference as Iowa, but his upbringing and childhood shed light on the decision. He was from Iowa growing up, but he attended basketball camp at Nebraska with head coach Fred Hoiberg. Sandfort said, "My grandpa coached against Fred when he was playing ... and we grew up going to his camps ... so we always kind of knew each other and talked a little bit... and when I was in high school he recruited me really hard so that just made it easier when I was in portal."

The junior winger also brought up the environment in Lincoln as a reason he picked Nebraska. " know they didn’t like us they don’t like us at all ... so I went into that game — it was a really hostile environment. It was a really really cool environment ... and when I went into the portal I kept that in mind. So, remembering that arena and that environment was something I really wanted to play in and didn’t get to play in much when I was at Iowa."

Sandfort spent two seasons playing for Fran McCaffery. While he was loyal to his coach, the fact of the matter was that he had started just eight of the 65 games he had played in. When McCaffery was fired, Sandfort transferred to a school where he knew he had a good chance to start and be a regular contributor and he found that at Nebraska.

MORE: A deep dive into the history of the Iowa-Nebraska rivalry

Pryce Sandfort career timeline​

In the current era of lax transfer rules, Sandfort has played three seasons with two schools. He began at Iowa in 2023 and played two seasons for the Hawkeyes. After McCaffrey was fired, Sandfort entered the transfer portal and stayed in the Big Ten, committing to Nebraska. He was given a starting role and ran with the opportunity, setting career highs in every category.

Pryce Sandfort stats​

Here is a look at Sandfort's per-game stats from his collegiate career.

Season	Team	Games	Starts	Minutes	Points	Rebounds	Assists	FG%	3FG%	FT%
2023-24	Iowa	32	0	8.6	2.3	1.1	0.4	35.6%	34.7%	66.7%
2024-25	Iowa	33	8	22.4	8.8	2.9	1.3	48.8%	40.0%	63.6%
2025-26	Nebraska	34	34	33.6	17.9	4.9	2.0	47.5%	41.0%	85.0%
Total	--	99	36	21.8	9.8	3.0	1.3	46.7%	40.1%	76.9%

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