Nebraska men’s basketball won its first Big Ten Conference road game of the season Wednesday night when the Huskers took down Indiana in Bloomington 85-70.
The win improved Nebraska’s record to 19-8 (9-7 Big Ten) on the season, matching its best 27-game start in the Big Ten era (2017-18). Nebraska’s win completed the first season sweep by the Huskers over Indiana since 2013-14 and its first win in Bloomington since 2019.
Near Flawless First Half
Nebraska started fast, building an eight-point lead (16-8) at the 14:59 mark of the first half. The Huskers played nearly flawlessly in the first half; the first turnover of the game didn’t come until the 12:58 mark.
Keisei Tominaga scored a team-high 20 points, with 18 coming in the first half. He shot 4-of-7 from 3 and 7-of-10 overall in the first 20 minutes of the game.
“The start we had was exactly what we needed, and obviously Keisei had a heater going in the first 20 minutes,” Coach Fred Hoiberg said in his postgame radio interview. “Our guys did a great job finding him. We just pretty much ran an action where we were coming down the floor and went and got the bottom hip of his defender and if they chased him he got into the paint, and if they went under he was getting free for open looks.”
The Huskers finished the first half on a 9-0 run and took a 51-31 lead at the break. In the first half, theC Cornhuskers made nine of their 19 3-point shots (47.4%) and 20 of their 35 shots from the field (57.1%).
The defense was the story in the first half. Nebraska held Indiana to just 37.5% from the field and 1-of-9 (9.1%) from beyond the arc.
Nebraska’s 51 first-half points tied its season high for a first half with the Lindenwood game. It was the third time Nebraska scored 50 or more points in the first half this season.
The 51 points also were the Husker’s highest-scoring first half in conference play since joining the Big Ten in 2011-12.
Bench Guards
Nebraska had just eight total turnovers and 19 assists. That’s better than a two-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio..
“Nineteen assists, eight turnovers on the road, that is going to give you a chance to win,” Hoiberg said.
Jamarques Lawrence came off the bench again and finished the game with a career-high 19 points, five assists and just one turnover. Lawrence was a perfect 5-of-5 from 3-point range in the game.
“I’m really proud of Jamarques. He’s been putting so much time and work into his shot,” Hoiberg said. “Getting into the gym, he’s always one of the first ones in there and he’s always coming back for an extra session. To see that pay off with a 5-for-5 night from 3 and big ones that really helped us keep that thing at double digits was huge … It’s fun to see, when a guy is putting the work in, it paying off for him, and that is what is going on with Jamarques right now.”
Sam Hoiberg played 18:06. Hoiberg and Juwan Gary were tied for a team-high plus-17 even though Hoiberg didn’t attempt a field goal. He had multiple deflections and was terrific defensively.
Responding
Nebraska built a 22-point lead early in the second half and then things fell apart.
In his postgame comments, Hoiberg said the Huskers played 36 really good minutes. The other four-minute span was not great. Indiana cut the 22-point lead to three (59-56), at the under-12 timeout of the second half.
Nebraska responded by going on a 14-1 run and got the lead back to 16.
“That was so important to get that thing back to doubledigits,” Hoiberg said. “Then we got that thing back up to 16 and the final margin of 15. This shows the poise you have to play with on the road and that is exactly what our guys did. They found a way to get a big one.”
Road Wins
The Huskers showed tremendous poise on the road when they could’ve faltered. They blew double-figure leads at Minnesota and Rutgers previous, but history didn’t repeat itself on Wednesday. They kept their composure and showed poise on the road in a tough situation.
“What I told them at the under-12 media timeout; I said ‘Guys, I promise you right now we have a three-point lead. If we would’ve said before the game that we are up three with under 12 to go, we would take that. Let’s get our composure back, get our poise,” Hoiberg told Big Ten Network. “And that is exactly what happened.”
Before Wednesday, the Big Ten conference led all major conferences in the country with a home-team winning percentage of 70%. After Wednesday, road teams have won just 32 of the 75 road games this season. Nebraska’s first road win not only gives the Huskers confidence going forward that they can win away from Pinnacle Bank Arena, but it also goes against the trend in the country and league this season.
