Shorthanded Huskers no match for red-hot Northwestern in 78-63 defeat
Nebraska faced a significant uphill battle on Wednesday night with key starters Emmanuel Bandoumel and Juwan Gary out for the season with injuries.
While the Huskers tried to keep pace early, Northwestern put on one of its best shooting performances of the year to hand NU a 78-63 defeat.
Led by 26 points on six made 3-pointers from Ty Berry, the Wildcats shot 51.8% from the field and made 11 from behind the arc. That came barely 48 hours after defeating Wisconsin due to a schedule shake-up caused by COVID and injuries.
Keisei Tominaga had 22 points, as NU shot a solid 47.2% overall with nine made threes. But it wasn’t nearly enough to match the red-hot Wildcats.
Nebraska was out-rebounded 35-23 and gave the ball away 16 times in the loss. That led to Northwestern scoring 16 second-chance points and 22 off of turnovers.
The Huskers fell to 10-11 overall, and 3-7 in Big Ten Conference play with the loss. The Wildcats improved to 14-5, 5-3.
Nebraska’s hot start cooled off quickly
Tominaga got the offense going by scoring Nebraska’s first 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting. Three straight 3-pointers by him, Jamarques Lawrence, and Denim Dawson gave Nebraska a 25-22 lead.
But the Wildcats responded by closing the half on a 21-5 run to take a 43-20 advantage into halftime.
Berry scored 21 of his 26 points in the first half alone, going 8-of-9 from the field and 5-for-5 behind the arc. Northwestern shot 50% from the field and hit eight of its 15 3-pointers as a team.
Tominaga had 15 of his 22 points before the break, and the Huskers also shot 50% in the half. But the Wildcats out-scored them by nine on 3-pointers and 12 on second-chance points.
Northwestern took control down the stretch
It looked like Nebraska was going to make a game of it after going up by three midway through the first half.
But it would be all downhill for the Huskers from there. Northwestern answered with a 41-15 run over the end of the first half and into the second to take a commanding 63-40 lead with 12 minutes remaining.
To NU’s credit, it kept battling and cut the deficit down to 12 with a 9-0 run late in the second half. But it was all far too little, too late, as the Huskers never got closer than that the rest of the way.
Lawrence scored a career-high 12 points and was 4-for-8 on 3-pointers in his first start as a Husker. Sam Griesel added eight points, five rebounds, and three assists.
Led by Berry’s 26, Northwestern’s three starting guards combined for 58 of the team’s 78 points. Boo Buie had 17, while Chase Audige finished with 15.
Nebraska will hit the road on Saturday to take on Maryland. That game will tip-off at 3:30 p.m. CT and air on BTN.
