Story by NU Athletic Communications
Nebraska Men’s Basketball Coach Fred Hoiberg added size and frontcourt shooting to the Husker roster with the addition of Belmont transfer Sam Orme (pronounced ORM) on Thursday. A 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward from Carmel, Ind., Orme comes to Nebraska after earning All-Missouri Valley Conference honors last season.
“Sam is a player we targeted early in the process because he has a skillset that can flourish in our system,” Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg said. “At 6-foot-9, he has the size to score inside and can stretch the floor as he shot nearly 40 percent from 3-point range last year at a high volume. Defensively, he has the length to guard multiple positions and is active in getting his hands in passing lanes. He comes from a winning program, has a high basketball IQ and gives us a player we can build around over the next two seasons.”
Last season, Orme played in 29 games, including 28 starts, in helping Belmont to a 26-6 record and a Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title. He earned second-team All-MVC honors, averaging 12.7 points per game on 56 percent shooting along with 5.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. Orme shot 40 percent from 3-point range and averaged 1.6 3-pointers per game. The versatile forward ranked fifth in the MVC in both field goal percentage (.559) and 3-point percentage (.397) while also finishing among the MVC leaders in scoring (15th), rebounding (16th) and 3-pointers per game (11th). On the year, Orme tallied 21 double-figure games, including a pair of 20-point performances, and a pair of double-doubles.
As a redshirt freshman, he appeared in 27 games, including nine starts and averaged 9.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. He shot 50 percent from the field, including 38 percent from 3-point range, and averaged nearly a block and a steal per game. An MVC All-Freshman team honoree in 2024-25, he had 12 games in double figures, including a season-high 20 points against Illinois. He closed his freshman year by averaging 12 points and 5.5 rebounds in two MVC Tournament contests.