Nebraska fans who usually spend Thanksgiving huddled around the family table may be swapping pumpkin pie for palm trees this November.
The Husker women’s basketball team has accepted an invitation to the second annual Emerald Coast Classic, a two-day, eight-team tournament staged at Raider Arena on the campus of Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, Florida (about 15 miles from Destin’s famous sugar-white beaches) on Nov. 24-25, 2025.
Coach Amy Williams sounded more like a tour director than a tactician when the news broke earlier this week. “It is great to get back in a tournament Thanksgiving week in Florida, and we’re thrilled to be able to return home to Nebraska to celebrate the holiday together after we play,” she said, adding that the event will “provide us with great challenges as we prepare for the Big Ten season ahead.”
Those challenges start immediately. Nebraska, coming off a 21-12 campaign and its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance, opens the “Beach Bracket” on Monday, Nov. 24 against Purdue Fort Wayne at 5 p.m. CT. The Mastodons won 27 games last season and reached the WNIT Great 8, making them anything but a cupcake. In the nightcap, Virginia meets Northwestern State at 7:30 p.m. The winners collide for the bracket crown on Tuesday night; the consolation game tips that afternoon.
Across the hallway, the “Bay Bracket” serves up its own intrigue: Middle Tennessee State faces Providence, while Alcorn State tangles with Mississippi State, with identical start times six hours earlier. Together the two brackets promise four games a day and a buffet of styles—from the frenetic pressing of Virginia to the deliberate, post-heavy sets Mississippi State prefers. All games stream live on FloSports, and tournament organizers say tickets will be available in September at EmeraldCoastClassic.com.
For Williams’ squad, the trip offers more than résumé points. It’s a rare mid-semester retreat to warm weather—and a bonding opportunity for a roster still blending veteran grit with emerging star power. Sophomore point guard Britt Prince, last year’s Big Ten All-Freshman headliner after averaging 13.4 points and 3.8 assists, will steer an offense that also returns rugged forward Alexis Markowski and welcomes back do-everything guard Allison Weidner from injury recovery. The trio spent June mini-camp dissecting film of Purdue Fort Wayne’s relentless pick-and-roll attack; word is that Prince has already circled senior sharpshooter Ryin Ott’s name—twice—in her scouting notebook.
The setting itself poses an interesting subplot. Niceville’s Raider Arena seats only about 2,200 fans, creating a close-quarters vibe reminiscent of high-school state-final crowds in Lincoln rather than cavernous Big Ten venues. “It’s intimate, it’s loud, and you feel every possession,” said Williams, who coached in the 2022 edition of the Classic while at South Dakota. “For a young team, learning to communicate in that chaos is priceless.”
Still, the beach-side backdrop invites obvious distractions. Senior captain Markowski laughed when asked whether the team would sneak in sand-time between practices. “Coach loves her sunrise walks, so maybe we’ll get conditioning points for chasing her down the shoreline,” she joked after Wednesday’s workout. The staff’s unofficial rule: toes can touch water only after ice baths and film study are complete.
Whether the Huskers return home sun-kissed and triumphant or merely travel-weary and wiser, the stakes feel bigger than a typical November MTE. A pair of neutral-site victories could vault Nebraska into the early national rankings and build momentum heading into a December showdown with perennial power Iowa. A stumble, on the other hand, might serve as a hard reminder that dream seasons aren’t built in tourist destinations—they’re earned possession by possession.
So pass the cranberry sauce and pull up a stream. Nebraska’s Thanksgiving in Florida promises equal parts paradise and pressure—a perfect recipe for finding out whether holiday hoop dreams can turn into hardwood reality before the turkey leftovers are gone.
