1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Nebraska tennis player Henry Bilicic is here: January 20th, 2026, 11:00am

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

Henry is back on the show to talk about the past weekend for Nebraska tennis and much more. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Coming at Shue live from the heart of Lincoln America, a 93-7-a-ticket and the Ticketfm.com. Sponsored by the Downtown Lincoln Foundation. Here is your host, Derek Pearson. Give it to me Bach personality. Living Color. One of the greatest albums ever, ever, ever, ever, ever. Don't you forget it?

She and punk rides with it. That's how good it is. You know what? I need some cult of personality to get me going. 11.02 in the city. It is way too cold. 18 degrees, but that's all right. That's all right.

We're going to make it through. Bach, it is Tuesday. What is required is the Tuesday. Set the toe. We can't finish right if we don't start right. You say that as a coach, as a player. I cannot. It is much more difficult for me.

to finish right if I do not start right. So we start with the boom. That is the trend center. That is the standard. Greatly appreciated. Before we get into all the particulars, Bach, how the heck are you? Hey, not too bad.

Doing well today. It's obviously college football season is over, so we're never farther from my favorite sport starting up, but still celebrating a national champion in the Big Ten. So I, I'm doing well. I'm not missing football too much. Yes, still got NFL coming along. They're going to, they're going to march after you, Bob.

It's always football season in Nebraska. And Lincoln, Nebraska, it's always football season. They're going to come get you. And we'll talk about it. Don't get me wrong. They're going to come get you. It is, it is still as your football season. They will fight you.

They will fight you. All right. Everybody wants in. You want to be a part of the conversation. 424-6-4-5-6-8-5-the-Sartor-Hamon-Tex line. You want to be apart, and you do. Hit us up. Hit us with the what's up.

Don't just drive down the street and yell at us from the car. Be a human and say what's up and then yelling us from the car. Like then you can yell whatever you want because we're friends and family and we work that way. You can follow on all the live video streams, Facebook, YouTube, X, Allo Channel 961, download the ticket app. I keep telling you all, no matter where you are, no matter what's going on, the ticket app will come through for it. It'll always come through. Doesn't matter what part, what radio signal you can get, what device you're on, it doesn't matter. Ticket app, we'll go with you, take us where you're going.

You want us with you. You know you do. And then if you're fancy, of course. And some of you are Amazon Prime. Amazon, yes, Amazon Prime. Bach, before we introduce our guests, sir, if you would please, as you do each day, pay the bills, pay the bills. Yes, today's show is sponsored by Hamilton Telecommunity. bringing you the latest quality technology and communication services since 1901.

Whether it's residential or business, Hamilton has the answers. Visit hamilton tell.com for more info today. Thank you, kind, sir. He is, they say he's under seven foot, but I, you know, he's got the curly hair side, seven foot kind of, kind of. I, Bob, don't you think the hair, hair volume? Oh, yeah, that always sounds. Right, the hair volume. Every ballistic, Huskers tennis, joins us once again. Kind sir. How the heck are you? First of all, guys,

thank you for having me back. It's good to be here, but I'm doing great. We're fresh off a two and all weekend, so I can't beat that. It was interesting, right, to find out that in the space, so Bach experienced his first Husker tennis

this weekend. And Bach, I'm going to bring you in. What is the product that is Husker tennis and why should people attend? Well, it's really cool. I mean, especially the seating. You get like a, you're like a scout sitting up there bird's eye view to be able to see everything out there.

And I still can't wait. I'm going to go to a men's tennis. A few of them, obviously, men's tennis matches as well this year. So I just experienced the women's side. So I can't wait to see it. But yeah, I mean, if you haven't been to the Dillon Center, it's also, you know, just standing outside the center. It's a different view of, you can see, you know, the baseball field, the football field.

And, you know, obviously the skyline of Lincoln and everything. You got to make it. It's part of our job to expand people's vision. When I first got here, what I was told is that, as I said earlier, that it's football season all the time. And I said, you know what? That is limited thinking and that is limited viewing. Hushker fans are better than that.

And it showed up in volleyball. And now it's showing up in basketball. And it shows up for the College World Series and the Big Ten, whenever the hushkers get on their runs and make things. happened two-time defending Big Ten tournament champions, by the way. But in the movement that is drawing people to Dillenna to watch this Husker tennis team play, what's the elevated pitch? If you walk up to somebody who, first of all, they're going to ask you,

hey, are you a basketball player? Exactly. They're going to ask you if you're a basketball player and you tell him, no, I'm a tennis player. you know, actually you say, yes, I am a basketball player, but I play tennis for the husk. Yeah, exactly. Yes, I'm a baller, but I play tennis. That's right.

I love it. I love it. Why should people come and watch you and your team? What's in store? Yeah, I mean, like we were talking about last time, I think the really, the part that people don't understand about college tennis, it's like you can really get involved. And it's not one of those sports where you see on TV where, you know,

people are clapping and it's quiet. you can really get into it and you can really affect a match. And it's one of those events where you walk in and it's, you see it and you immediately want to come back. And it's also with the group we have this year as well, we have a young group, they're super hungry. We're going to be super loud and really one through six in singles and also in doubles. We have guys that are just going to compete for every single ball.

They're not afraid to sacrifice the body and do all these things in order to win matches. And, you know, you'll see a coaching staff that really cares that are doing everything they can to bring a national championship here in tennis. And yeah, it's just an amazing atmosphere. And, you know, a lot of times you can interact with the players. Like, it's not like, you know, a massive stadium where, you know, you can't really even communicate.

You can say, like, let's go, Henry, like, and I'll respond. Be like, all right, let's go. I hear it and you can really affect it. And, you know, one fan in tennis honestly can make all the difference. And the home quarter advantage is huge. And we have some massive matches this year, especially coming up this weekend as well. That's a big one. Tell the folks, Memphis comes to Texas.

That's right, yep. What does, what, what's the, what's the preview on that? Who are the Memphis Tigers when it comes? Yeah, I mean, they're a very talented team. They just got a big win over Harvard. And Harvard is like kind of a powerhouse in tennis. They're always ranked super high. So they just got a big win.

Yeah, they're very talented. We saw them in the regional this year, very well coached team. But yeah, I mean, like I said, a big match at home early in the season. It's nice for us because, you know, it's going to be our second weekend playing. We get to test our test us against one of the best teams in the country. But yeah, I mean, like I said, it's going to be, it's going to be, be a loud match, very competitive. They're a loud team as well. So there's going to be a lot of energy in there. And like I said, that's where the fans come into play. But it's going to be a battle for

sure. I think it's going to be a very close match. What did you think of this weekend's crowd at Dillard? I thought it was good. Honestly, I thought it was good. One thing with the crowds, though, that for anybody listening, that I feel like some people don't know, like I was saying in tennis, is feel free to get more involved. You know, you can say, let's go or start some type of chant. Like in football, the Husker Power and basketball, the same thing. Like, you can do that as well in tennis. But honestly, I was really happy with the showing we had out this weekend. And especially for a double-headed long day, we had a good crowd for both matches.

So thank you for everybody who came out. From the text line, Ben asked. He says, if I were to attend a match, what are some of the tennis etiquette things I should know? I know the basics like no heckling during the serve and whatnot, but I've gotten in trouble for violating the unrules at sporting events before. Yeah, that's a good question. That's a good question. Yeah, I mean, for sure, like he said, like obviously when the points being played right in front of you, you know, try to be quiet. But then when the points over, you know, it's usually pretty quick. You can really say whatever you want. You can say, let's go Huskers. You can also say let's go let's go, like, let's say, I don't know, Nico, let's go Nico or something like that. You can really, you know, within reason, you can say really whatever you want between the points. But yeah, like I said, the biggest thing is really the only rule there is just when the actual points being played or in between like when the, when the in the air of somebody's serving, don't say anything.

But other than that, like, bring as much energy as you want. And, yeah, bring a friend. And it's a really great time. And no cursing. And no cursing. No cursing. No cursing. No cursing.

No cursing. No cursing. Bach, question for you, right? In the space, he brought his son. How old is your son, Bach? He's four years old. Bach described your son to Henry and explain to him what your, what your duress is. What is your real friction?

Well, for that specifically, I'm going to, next time I'm going to go without my son. I love my son. But a four-year-old that is unwieldy or, you know, just kind of moving around. He, I think maybe I give him too much or something. I'm not really sure. But he was not really there to sit down as much. But that happens. But so maybe he's a year away.

But we'll give him Nebraska tennis and sitting down soon. Well, Bach, I think what we do is we bring him and we introduce him to his new best friend, Henry. Yeah. Right? Back and work. Let's meet him. Let's get him. Also from the text line, just curious, Henry, I allow you to ask, do they sell food and beverage at the tennis match?

Yes, they do. Yep. And now this year, I believe it's new. We're selling, we're selling merchandise like Husker, Hustler clothes, Husker sweatshirts, hats. That's new as well. But, yes, we do have food and drinks. Some really cool Husker pullovers. Like I, yeah, you know, I'm like, tell coach.

Yeah, yeah, no, it's true. I saw some hats, too, that I hadn't seen before up there. Yeah, like, tell coach, you know, we accept the delivery. Yeah, we'll have to let him know. Yeah, you know, he's good with the shoes. Yeah. He's good with the shoes. Yeah.

I wear a 14, 14 and a half. You're my new best friend. You're my new best friend. And right now my wife's spider senses just went up because with the rule, I'm a 14th. So the, I, when I. find people who wear 14s, especially Husker athletes. Yeah. The general rules, they give you way more shoes than you can use.

That's, that's right. So we'll go into the closet. We go. Henry, NIL, bro, we are going to hook you up for new shoes. Whatever, whatever you got in the closet not being used. Let's call it NIL and get to work. I like it. I like it.

It's in the space. You talk about the things that happen between points and otherwise. And Friday night, Saturday I'm watching. And there's a gentleman, I believe he was the number two. Yeah. He was a bit of a talker. Oh, yeah. He was a bit of a talker.

As a matter of fact, I think they moved him up to one in the second half of the doublehead. Okay. So me as a fan noticed that this guy's, you know, and I get that he's trying to pump up his teammates. He's yelling, you know, big hold on court too. Yeah, let's go. And I'm like, eh, Nico,

you might want to, you might want to get a hold of that. Yeah, yeah, do you pay attention to what your opponent is saying? Yeah, I mean, the thing with,

the thing with tennis is, it's a mental game, right? It's really, it's a team sport, but, you know, there's obviously one on one

in terms of the actual match. But, yeah, I mean, there's a lot of, like I was saying earlier, there's a lot of chatter in college tennis.

And there's a lot of mind games like any sport that can be played. And, and yeah, it's one of those things where, you know, if your opponent is, trying to get in your head. That's where, that's where your teammates

coming to play. You lean on the guys around you, lean on the guys on the bench. And, yeah, that's when you just kind of got to stay focused. But, you know, that's kind of what makes it fun too now. Come on now. And he got shut up later. Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. It was a really good match. And like I said, it was, it was a blast out there.

So talk about, let's go through the lineup and kind of who the folks would get to see. Yeah. Who's currently playing in the ones, but. Yeah. So, well, this weekend, it was alternating between Leo and Nico. And both those guys, I mean, have the level of professional tennis player.

So really either one of those guys can play one. But, I mean, both of them showcased this weekend. They can play with anybody in the country. So that's the thing that's exciting, too, about our team. It's, you know, it's rare you have a guy up there at one and two that can really beat anybody in the country. And that's what we have right now. So, you know, we're going into a match feeling very confident at the top of the lineup where it's like, we know those guys are going to be in every single match. and they're going to bring energy at the top.

And regardless of who's playing one, whereas Leo or Nico, both those guys can beat anybody. And that's the thing that's really special about our team. It's very rare in tennis. And we have not one but two guys that can do that. It was fun to watch and to explain to folks that the match starts with three doubles matches. Right.

And of the six-court layout at Dillon Tennis Center, if you're going to go to a tennis match, men's or women's, and you can get there a half hour early, you got a pretty good shot of getting center court. Right. Which is kind of where you want to be. Is that fair?

That's fair. Yeah. And the thing with the way the courts are set up is, you know, if you're sitting on center court, you can, especially in doubles, you're in a great spot because, you know, there's two other doubles matches on either side. So you can really, you can really see both. And, and yeah, center court for sure, it's the best view of, you can see every match of the facility. And, you know, that's where a lot of the crowd noise is.

So, yeah, for sure. It's a really, really cool spot to sit in. And then once you, and then once, so whoever wins two of the three, doubles matches gets a point, a team point. Right. Which is a huge advantage because then you're getting into singles play, six singles matches, all at the same time. Yep. Several points of distraction. So let me ask, if you're playing at either extreme, either outside court.

Right. Is that pro or con? Is that you don't want to be there because it kind of means, yeah. I mean, the thing with playing, and so the way it's designed, the people don't know, it's either it's five and six are on opposite sides of the facility. And then, you know, three, four, one, two are like towards the middle. And the thing with playing five and six is, and I'll give a shout to one of my teammates, Chouan and also Niels,

they alternated at six this weekend, is when you're bringing a lot of energy down there, not only do the teammates feel it, but the entire building feels it. So it's one of those spots where it's like the X factor in a way, because you're down there, like, and, you know, you're further. away from some of your teammates. But if you're bringing the energy, everybody's feeling it. And, you know, those are some absolute battles. And that's a really key spot for us.

You remember the USC match? Yeah. Joanne was playing six. And he was on the last court. It came all down to him. And the entire match, he was bringing energy. You know, the way it works in tennis is, guys hear that. And when you hear somebody being like, let's go red or that's a big hold on six

or whatever it is, even, like, you'll hear you're like, all right, all right, like, Joanne's good down there. So I think it's really important to have guys down there that are bringing the energy and are just going to compete and don't care where they play in the lineup. And that's the reality not only for them, but one through six, our guys don't care where they play. We all just want to just, you know, play and just, you know, help, help win. That's what it is. In most, especially power for sports, the talent at the top is kind of similar. And then where depth is kind of determines where you land in this thing, tennis, probably more so.

can't miss. Right. You can't miss. So what happens? Where would you normally play? Yeah, I mean, if you weren't hurt. I would say it kind of depends. I would say I'd probably be towards the top of the doubles lineup.

Okay. I was playing last year. I was between like one and two doubles with Anton. Yeah. And then singles, it just kind of depends. I mean, it's just like a lot of it is, it's just matchup based, a lot of it. And the way my style is, like I'm obviously taller, like we were talking about, so I have a big serve.

So the way our lineup is, I would say I'd probably be around probably the sixth area. So pretty similar to where Joanne is and Niels is. And like I was saying, that's the thing with our team is we're so deep this year. And we have guys that on any even moment, we're super kind of balanced throughout the lineup where we can move guys around. And it's cool. I mean, like I was saying, like I was saying, it's like we don't really have any eagles in the team. You know, like for example, Joanne plays six the first match and the second match she doesn't play six. and we have a freshman's first college match,

and Joanne is right there supporting him the entire match, talking to them before the match, and that's rare in college sports, especially nowadays with the portal and how everything works. And, you know, that's what I feel like our team is very unique. There are no egos, and we all just, you know, support each other throughout the entire man. You described it as you guys like each other. Yeah.

Where does that come from? Honestly, that comes, I would say a lot from the culture we've built. And that's credit a lot to Pete, Brett, and junior, our coaches, especially Pete when he, you know, his first year, He really emphasized the team culture. We did a ton of stuff outside the court. We played Oldsmith Frisbee as a team. We went to all the women's soccer games as a team.

He organized a lot of team meals. And that kind of puts the foundations in place for us to kind of have these relationships. And that's also a lot of times in tennis. That's why you trust guys. You know, you know them. For example, like if I know Nico off the court and we've had this relationship, especially like as a leader, then I know how to approach him in a match because I know how he is, how he is as a person.

So that's kind of what it comes down to is, is if the relationships aren't built off the court, then the results aren't going to happen. And is that a part of how much work you know they're putting in and the way you competed practice? 100%. Yeah, not even a question. I think we have a lot of faith in, like you said,

how we practice and how hard we practice. And that's when it comes down to the end of the match, that's why we're feeling the most confident. Does it help that you were somewhere else before you were here, that you've got a point of reference to go, you know what? We have it pretty good. We have a pretty good here at University of Nebraska.

Not everybody has all this. Yeah, I mean, for sure. I was talking to Matt, one of the new guys on the team, and he transferred as well. And we were talking about it like, man, like, a lot of these guys don't know who've come here, you know, right away. I'm like, this is not normal. This is pretty good.

Everything about this place is special. And you can easily take it for granted. But yeah, it's amazing. It really is. What are the perks if you're going to say to another player? and it's what what happens a lot now is athletes talk for a different program right and they will ask you well what what's it what's it like at Nebraska you get the the smile that's on your face is what I would imagine comes to what comes to mine well I would say a couple things the first

thing I would say just about the school in general like the overall support here is unbelievable like I was saying like the life skills academic support and then obviously the athletic support is nothing like I've ever seen and I have friends who have deployed basketball in colleges, all these big schools, Indiana, Iowa, whatever, same thing in football. And I've talked to them about it. Nothing compares to Nebraska in terms of that. And they'll also support you post-athletic career. And, you know, you have people, family and friends for life here. That's the first thing I would say.

And then in terms of the tennis program, I would say you're coming to a school that is hungry to win. And a coaching staff that's going to push you, they really care about you, but they're going to push you and you're going to make you work hard. and at the end of day, you're going to get better here, both as a person and as a player. But ultimately, you're coming here to work hard. And there's expectations you have to meet here. And that's what makes it so great. When you speak to that and you watch other programs, because this athletic department engages, there's a lot of crossover in living space and perks and benefits and all those things.

What do you see? How does that show up in Nebraska basketball? That's a very good question. I think those, you know, the thing that I'm the most proud of about the basketball team itself is not only, obviously, you know, the records are great and they're undefeated and, you know, seven in the country. And it's amazing. But just the way those guys are that people don't see, like the way they handle themselves around the stadium and academically and in the community and around the training table,

it's, it really, like, I think that's a lot of the reason why they're doing so well. And I think that's, like I was saying earlier about our team, I see a lot of stuff in their team that's also in our team. Like no egos, they don't care who's scoring the most points. Like you see, you know, one game, rinks putting up 25 and the next game is somebody else. It doesn't matter. They don't care.

So I think that's what makes them so good. And a lot of that is kind of how Nebraska is built as an athletic department and just the overall support. And just it's really one family as an athletic department. I've always felt like that since I've been. Henry, I'm going to ask you a question before we go to break. if the wrist was healthy. Yeah.

Right. And you're just, you're, you're at, just finished your workout and your phone rings. And it says, Coach Hoyberg, he's on the phone. And he says, listen, Henry, I need you, I need you to shoot up tonight. What can you give me? What, what, a couple of threes, a bucket of two, three revows. What can, what do we bring it?

I would tell him, I'd be like, coach, I'll play hard for you. I was like, I might be able to space the floor for you a little bit, and I'll grab some rebounds. Other than that, I would need a few weeks, but that's about all I got for you right now. So if he said March, okay, it's January. He said March.

You know, just for that, you know, load management, end of the season. Right. I need to run you out there for three or four games. Right. You know, I'm going to put you out there. What can you give me? Yeah, I think I'd be able to space the floor for sure. I mean, I still, like I said, I still play a lot and the jumper still there from time to time.

So I think I'd be able to get out there in space the floor. And I would defend too. I'd get on the floor. I wouldn't be afraid. How many points are you better than everybody on your tennis team? So are we including coaches or not including coaches? Well, let's start with the players. Yeah, players.

I would say, you know, we got some shooters in the team, though. Like, Kirsten can play a little bit. He grew up playing. But yeah, none of them have beat me one on one yet. We need to have the tennis basketball tournament. That's right. That's right. And then the coach is, is Cobalt the guy or is there somebody else?

He's the guy. He can play. He can play. But, you know, next time you see him, you got to ask him about a California trip. We played one one on one game. He hasn't played me since. Oh. So.

Bach. Got him. Got him. Yeah, exactly. We're going to have to. We'll share that. We'll post that. Absolutely.

Absolutely. We'll post that. break more husket tennis it's henry bill uh is it ballistic it's ballistic i thought i want to make sure i get it right our henry ballistic by dp we'll be right back download our app by searching 93.7 the ticket in your app store you're listening to one-on-one with d p on 937 the ticket and the ticket fm dot com