Nebraska men’s basketball won 67-56 against Rutgers on Sunday. The win improves Nebraska to 21-9 on the season and 11-8 in the Big Ten.
The senior night win was special for Fred Hoiberg and his team.
“To send these guys out like that was a perfect ending,” Hoiberg said. “You know it’s just sad, emotional, it’s Keisei Tominaga’s last game in Pinnacle Bank Arena, for everything that he’s been through in the last three years, and what he’s meant to our program.”
Setting the Tone
Josiah Allick set the tone early with two offensive rebounds on the game’s opening possession. Allick finished with his first double-double at Nebraska with 10 points and 12 rebounds (including six on the offensive end).
The Huskers held Rutgers without a field goal for the first 4:01 of the game.
Juwan Gary also had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds while adding three blocked shots. Gary now has five double-doubles for the season and eight in his career. Sunday was the second time this season Nebraska had multiple double-doubles in a game (joining the Oregon State win on Nov. 18).
“Josiah set the tone for us early in that game,” Hoiberg said “We just got out-toughed in the game in Piscataway.”
Nebraska gave up 25 offensive rebounds and 54 total rebounds in the 87-82 overtime loss at Rutgers on Jan. 17.
Sunday, Nebraska gave up 19 offensive rebounds but won the total rebounding battle 44-40. In the loss at Rutgers, the Huskers gave up 20 second chance points, Sunday just 13.
“I thought on the offensive glass especially, we were relentless, we were all over the place,” Hoiberg said. “That put-back dunk by Juwan Gary, but again, it started with Josiah early in that game. Brice [Williams] got in there and got a couple as well. And they still got 19. That’s still a lot of offensive rebounds, but we battled with them. We got 14 of our own. And that’s who they are, that’s what they do. We talked about rebounding and taking care of the ball.”
Nebraska is now 14-0 this season when winning the rebounding battle.
Dominant Defense
Nebraska held Rutgers to 32.8% shooting, its lowest since shooting 32.3% against Indiana on Jan. 9. It is also the ninth opponent in a row the Huskers have held under 43% since Jan. 27.
Just how good was Nebraska’s defense? The Huskers didn’t make a field goal for the final 5:59 of the game yet won by double figures.
Historic Win
Nebraska has now won 18 home games, the most in school history. The 18-1 home record is the best home record since the Huskers went 11-0 in 1965-66.
The 10-0 home record in Big Ten play is just the 11th time in school history and third since WWII (2017-18, 1965-66) that Nebraska posted a perfect home conference record.
The 11 Big Ten wins assures Nebraska of its first winning record in conference play since 2017-18. The 11 wins ties for the fourth-most conference wins in a season in school history.
The 21 wins ties for sixth on the Nebraska single-season win chart.
