Borchardt sparks Nebraska to grinding win over Stetson

LINCOLN, Neb. - When Tanner Borchardt joined the Nebraska basketball team in October of his freshman year, he had a looming concern in the back of his mind that he was just doing it to please everybody else.

Fast-forward a year and a half, and after a mental reset and complete body change he rejoined the team with his own goals of providing solid reps in scout team and eventually earning a scholarship.

Friday night, 11 months to the day after his return to the basketball court, Borchardt came off the bench for a career-high 8 points and 10 rebounds to help Nebraska overcome a sluggish offensive effort and beat Stetson 71-62 in his first game as a scholarship player.

Nebraska finished the 2017 half of its schedule at 10-5, a mark head coach Tim Miles called "the baseline" for the team to have a successful year. In its nonconference finale, the Huskers shook off the pesky Hatters to avoid its fourth straight year with a mid-major home loss.

"In my mind, the underdogs won tonight," Miles said. "If you look at this game and you look at the way Stetson played, they outplayed us, they had better energy, they ran their stuff better, they defended way better.

"We were lucky enough to have an underdog in Tanner Borchardt that came out and really did some great things in a short amount of time that I thought helped steady us, give us a little bit of a lead and a shot of confidence. Sometimes you need that, and he really served that purpose tonight."

Playing all 14 of his minutes in the second half, Borchardt made his biggest impact on the glass, grabbing 5 of his boards on the offensive end and drawing four fouls against a Stetson team that was in foul trouble all night.

That included, in simple terms, a 14-0 "Borchardt run."

From the 11:01 to 4:01 marks of the second half, Nebraska outscored the Hatters 14-0 in the near-six minute stretch in which Borchardt was on the floor. In his 80 seconds of rest, Stetson hit two threes to tie the game at 48.

"Whatever Coach wants of me, I'm going to go in there and do," Borchardt said. "He told me coming out of halftime he was going to use me off the bench, so I just had to stay ready.

"It's all those reps on scout team, you know."

The Huskers needed any spark they could get. A woeful first 20 minutes saw a 24 percent shooting clip, including a 1-for-16 effort by Nebraska's top three scorers, James Palmer Jr., Glynn Watson Jr. and Isaac Copeland.

But the defense kept NU in it as a sound rotation held the Hatters to just 1-for-9 shooting from three-point range in the first half.

Sophomore center Jordy Tshimanga grabbed 6 of his 8 first half rebounds on the defensive end and finished with 10 boards to go with 6 points, but the Huskers had no offensive answer against a stingy 2-3 zone and went into the locker room tied at 24.

"They played their zone really high and things were open on the baseline, but some of our guys were like, 'I'm afraid to make the pass,'" Miles said. "They don't want to make a mistake, and they care. Not our best night, but I credit Stetson for that."

In addition to Borchardt's contribution, Palmer and Copeland shook off a combined 1-for-18 start to tie for the Husker scoring lead with 13 points apiece.

The Huskers never trailed after Stetson held a 27-26 lead two minutes into the second half, but they may have never been able to shake off two later ties if Borchardt hadn't cracked the code on the zone defense.

"Just watching from the bench, it looked like if we got it to the high post we could dump it down pretty easily, but we just weren't doing that in the first half," Borchardt said. "We just had to make some shots, which they ended up falling towards the end of the game."

As Nebraska was able to shake off its third big test from a mid-major opponent, the players said the team's confidence is high going into Big Ten play. But it's even more reassuring for the Huskers that the 10th player off the bench could provide the spark they needed in a tight contest.

"T is probably the reason we won the game," senior guard Evan Taylor said of Borchardt. "Big game for him, but what's best for us is we've been seeing him work since the summer.

"We know he's capable of this, but I'm happy for him. Tonight is his night. He's the man. He's the reason why we won the game."