The 25th-ranked Nebraska men’s basketball team made quick work of Lindenwood at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Wednesday night.
It was instant offense for the Huskers, who trailed just once, at 2-0. Pryce Sandfort hit two of his first three 3-point attempts and the rout was on as Nebraska went on to win 94-60.
“I thought we got out of the gates really well today,” Fred Hoiberg said after the win. “I thought our pace was outstanding. I thought our attention to detail in the scouting report was exactly where it needed to be and that goes back to the prep that we had.”
A 22-4 run helped Nebraska jump out to a 27-8 lead at the under-12 timeout of the first half.
The hot shooting was team-wide. The Huskers made 20 of their first 26 shots from the field, something that is hard to do if you are shooting in a gym by yourself, let alone trying to do so with a defenders tracking you.
The Huskers were patient when needed and played fast when it was warranted.
“That pace was about the best it’s been in this building in a long time,” Hoiberg said. “We were sharing it, we were getting the ball up the floor before the defense got set and we accomplished a lot really without calling a play all night.”
At halftime, Nebraska had made 21 of its 32 attempts including 9-of-18 from 3-point range.
The second half was a bit of a mixed bag. Nebraska was just 1-for-8 from deep and 6-of-19 from the field in the first 10 minutes of the half. The Huskers finished the second half just 2-of-17 from 3 and 17-of-32 from the field.
Maintaining the intensity didn’t happen late in the first half and that carried over into the second half.
“I thought we got a little stagnant at the end of the first half and didn’t love how we finished it,” Hoiberg said. “Put them on the free-throw line too much, took away our rhythm, took away our flow. I thought that carried over into the second half.”
Preseason All-Big Ten forward Pryce Sandfort was in lockstep with his coach.
“We finished the half kind of poor and that kind of bled into the second half,” Sandfort said. “We talked about the importance of that in later games. That should’ve been a bigger win than it was.”
Sandfort finished with a game-high 22 points while connecting on 7-of-14 from the field and 6-of-12 from 3-point range.
Yes, it’s hard to stay focused when you are up by 29 points at the half, but the killer mentality is something that could improve.
“I think it’s just mentality,” Sandfort said. “We get a lead like that where we’re up 20 right away, it’s kind of easy to take your foot off the gas. It’s something we talk about every game. We need to be getting better at executing that.”
South Dakota State transfer Damon Wilkinson had his best night as a Husker. He made the first two 3-pointers of his career, making both of his attempts and finishing with 19 points on 7-of-8 from the field.
“It felt pretty good,” Wilkinson said. “It was my first two 3s I’ve ever made in college. I loved it a lot. I was pretty hot in warmups so I kind of had a good feeling it was going in.”
The Huskers will need to maintain their level of focus heading into Sunday when they face Boise State in their now annual trip to the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.
It will be a homecoming of sorts for Wilkinson, who is from De Smet, S.D., and played his AAU basketball in the same building for the Pentagon Schoolers.
Wilkinson is expecting nearly 100 family and friends to be in attendance.
