Nebraska gets first Big Ten road win at Indiana, 85-70
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For the first time in nearly a full calendar year, Nebraska finally won a Big Ten road game – even if it had to avoid near disaster to do it.
Kesiei Tominaga had 20 points while Jamarques Lawrence scored a career-high 19, as the Huskers hit 14 3-pointers. That helped snap a seven-game conference road losing streak with an 85-70 victory at Indiana.
However, after leading by 22 early in the second half, NU had to rebound from a 20-3 Hoosier run that cut the lead down to three. But Lawrence scored 11 of his 19 over the final 10:40, and Nebraska made its final six free throws to close it out.
NU came out firing from the opening tip and, despite its second-half lull, had enough offensive firepower to hold on down the stretch. Led by five 3-pointers from Lawrence, Nebraska shot 42.4% from behind the arc with 19 assists on 31 made baskets.
On the other end, Indiana missed 10 of its first 11 threes and fell behind by as many as 53-31 to open the second half. The Hoosiers rallied with an impressive 23-6 run to pull within a possession, but the Huskers fired back with a 14-1 run of their own to get things back under control.
With the win, the Huskers improve to 19-8 on the season and 9-7 in league play. Most importantly, they finally got the Big Ten road goose egg off their increasingly impressive NCAA Tournament resume.
The Huskers blew the doors off to start
You couldn’t have drawn up a much better first 20 minutes than Nebraska’s in the first half.
Tominaga and Lawrence combined to make eight of their first nine shots, including 8-of-9 3-pointers, to vault the Huskers to a 35-21 lead.
Indiana eventually trimmed an 18-point NU’s advantage down to 11 with four minutes left in the half. But five straight points from Tominaga helped Nebraska close on a 9-0 run while the Hoosiers went scoreless over the final 4:02.
The Huskers took a commanding 51-31 lead into the break after shooting a blistering 57.1% from the field and hitting 9 of 19 from behind the arc. Tominaga scored 18 of his 20 points in the first half, while IU made just one of its first 11 3-point attempts.
Nebraska avoided near disaster in the second half
After a pretty alley-oop to Brice Williams on the second half’s opening possession, Nebraska’s hot start finally cooled off.
Indiana answered with a 20-3 run to cut a 22-point deficit down to 57-53. A 3-pointer by CJ Gunn pulled the Hoosiers within 59-56, and suddenly, all the momentum was on IU’s side with 11 minutes still to play.
As he did all night, Lawrence came up with the big plays NU desperately needed to stop the bleeding. He drained a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession and then found Juwan Gary for a layup, sparking a 14-1 answer by the Huskers.
Nebraska’s lead would never fall under double digits the rest of the way, as it went a perfect 6-of-6 on free throws over the final 2:25 to keep IU at bay.
Williams…
Read More: Nebraska gets first Big Ten road win at Indiana, 85-70 2024-02-22 04:12:50
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