Nebraska men’s basketball avoided a bad loss Saturday at Rutgers, cruising to an 80-68 win in Piscataway, N.J. The Huskers led by as much as 20 with 12:11 left in the game.
After losing two straight, the Huskers needed a “get right game,” and they got that at the RAC.
“Anytime you can win six on the road in this league … getting back that home loss against Illinois, the last one,” Fred Hoiberg said on the Huskers Radio Network after the game. “So this is a great win for our team.”
The sixth conference road win is a program record for Nebraska, with three left this season (Iowa, USC, UCLA).
“To have guys that have been in these type of environments is just big for us,” Rienk Mast said on Big Ten Network after the game. “That’s why we’ve been so successful on the road.”
Before this season, the Huskers had never won more than five conference road games in a season since joining the Big Six Conference in 1928-29.
With the win, the Huskers improved to 21-2 on the season, the 10th time in program history they’ve won 21 games in a season.
Mast On Track
After missing the Michigan game due to illness and struggling at home Sunday against Illinois, Mast totaled a game-high 26 points and eight rebounds in his 34 minutes, his fifth 20-point game of the season and 17th of his career.
The Huskers needed to get Mast going; that was the clear emphasis early in the game.
“Just take the right shots, be aggressive, get to the rim,” Mast said. “I saw that first one go in; that was a good feel. I knew that they started kind of smaller lineups, so just getting inside and getting some easy ones to go in.”
Coming into the game, Mast had averaged 7.8 points and 3.8 rebounds in his last five games.
“I love seeing him knock down that first 3, and then I thought he just took what the defense gave him,” Hoiberg said. “He really slowed down on his post moves.”
Nebraska used its size, particularly Mast, to its advantage, outscoring the Scarlet Knights 36-24 in the paint.
“I really did think we attacked and got into the paint,” Hoiberg said. “That was a big emphasis coming into this one … We had a size advantage on the inside. They went small, which benefited them on the offensive end but gave us an opportunity to take advantage.”
Mast finished the game making 11 of his 20 field goal attempts. His 20 attempts are the most in his five-year collegiate career between Bradley and Nebraska.
The Huskers didn’t dominate the glass, but they didn’t get blown out in the rebounding categories either. Rutgers out-rebounded Nebraska 35-34 and it was 8-8 on the offensive glass.
Defensive Pressure
Rutgers came into the game averaging 9.7 turnovers per game in league play and 10.9 this season.
The Huskers’ scramble defense was on point, as Hoiberg likes to say, and the defense didn’t really break down outside of a few possessions.
In the first half, the Huskers forced eight Scarlet Knight turnovers in the final 12 minutes of the first half.
Nebraska forced 15 Scarlet Knights turnovers overall, including 10 steals, and scored 15 points off of those takeaways.
The Scarlet Knights came into the game with a turnover percentage of 15.5%, 80th in the country. After the game, that number jumped to 15.8% and 103rd nationally.
“This, to me, was a full team effort,” Hoiberg said. “I thought Cale (Jacobsen) gave us great minutes. He got his hands on a lot of balls, deflections there in the first half.”
Moving On
The win gives the Huskers confidence heading into Tuesday’s game in Lincoln against No. 12 Purdue.
The Boilermakers trailed 63-62 with 1:04 remaining Saturday at home against Oregon before closing out the game on a 6-1 run in the final minute to secure the win.
“They’re just so dangerous, disciplined, and they’ve got a lot of experience on that roster,” Hoiberg said of Purdue.
