Huskers Move to 18-0 With Win at Northwestern

The Nebraska basketball team remained undefeated with an impressive 77-58 win at Northwestern Saturday afternoon.

The Huskers led for more than 34 minutes to improve to 18-0 on the season and 7-0 in Big Ten Conference play. Nebraska continued its best start in school history while extending the nation's longest winning streak to 22 games.

Nebraska shot 51 percent from the field, including going 11-of-26 from the 3-point line. In addition to strong shooting, the Huskers turned the ball over only five times while recording seven steals and dishing out 18 assists.

Pryce Sandfort and Braden Frager each produced a 20-point effort for the second straight game. Sandfort finished with 22 points and went 5-of-10 from three. Frager scored 20 points and went 8-of-14 from the field. Sam Hoiberg added 12 points and contributed a team-high seven rebounds. He was also one of four Huskers who recorded four assists. Sandfort (13), Frager (12) and Hoiberg (10) combined to outscored Northwestern 35-29 in the second half, as overall the Huskers outscored the Wildcats by 14 in the second half.

Nick Martinelli led Northwestern with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

The Huskers got off to a quick start, using an early 8-0 run to take a 10-5 lead on five straight points from Rienk Mast and a 3-pointer from Jamarques Lawrence, who had eight points, three assists and three steals in the opening 20 minutes.

Northwestern came right back, getting a 6-0 run of their own to take a 13-12 lead on a basket from Tre Singleton at the 12:39 mark.  Northwestern led 20-19 after a Singleton jumper with 8:42 remaining in the half but that proved to be the Wildcats' final lead. The Huskers ran off six straight points in 47 seconds, a layup by Frager and a four-point play from Sandfort to take 25-20 lead with 7:55 left in the half.

Nebraska led 29-27 with 2:35 left after a Martinelli 3-pointer but got a basket from Frager and a 3-pointer from Lawrence to build its largest lead of the half at 34-27 with 1:18 left in the half.

Martinelli had 15 of Northwestern’s 29 first half points and grabbed eight rebounds, including five offensive boards, in the opening 20 minutes, as NU limited the Wildcats to 40 percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes including 3-of-12 shooting over the final eight minutes of the half.

Northwestern got to with 34-32 on a Jake West 3-pointer on its first possession of the half, but the Huskers ran off seven straight points, capped a Hoiberg 3-pointer to take a 41-32 lead and force a Wildcat timeout.

The Wildcats battled back, getting within 46-41with 13:41 following a 3-point play from Max Green but the Huskers took control with a 17-3 run, including 11 unanswered points to build a 63-44 lead following Sandfort’s fourth 3-pointer of the game.

Nebraska led by at least 14 points the rest of the way with Sandfort, Frager and Hoiberg combining to score 12 of the Huskers' final 14 points.

The Huskers return home on Wednesday evening, as Nebraska hosts Washington. Tipoff from a sold-out Pinnacle Bank Arena is set for 8 p.m. and the game will be carried on BTN and the Huskers Radio Network.