Cheatham, Burke lift Huskers to 74-67 win over South Florida

In the span of two days, Nebraska went from playing one of its best games of the season to one of its worst.

After an impressive win over Washington State followed by an ugly loss to George Mason, the Huskers found themselves looking to salvage some momentum against South Florida in the third-place game of the Cayman Islands Classic on Wednesday night.

Behind a combined 47 points from senior Haanif Cheatham and junior Dachon Burke, NU bounced back in a big way and pulled out a 74-67 victory over the Bulls to finish the tournament with a 2-1 record.

Cheatham ended up with a career-high 26 points on 8-of-11 shooting while Burke added a season-high 21 points to carry the load in Nebraska’s third game in as many days.

“We had an emotional meeting this morning talking about how things are going to be up and down, but we have to stick together,” Cheatham said. “I think we had a lot of fire tonight and I think we had it for all 40 minutes. I think that showed.

"I think that was probably the best game we’ve played together. We played as a team, we had each other’s back, and we came out victorious.”

Nebraska got off to a nice start with a quick 6-0 run to open the game that turned into a 10-5 lead at the first media timeout. But South Florida responded with a 13-4 run and then used three straight 3-pointers to take a 27-19 lead eight minutes later.

But led by Cheatham, who scored 11 of his 26 points in the first half, the Huskers rallied back and closed the half on an 8-2 run to pull within 35-33 going into halftime.

Nebraska shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, but the Bulls kept control by dominating the offensive glass to the tune of a 9-2 advantage that led to a 7-0 edge in second-chance points.

The Huskers quickly chipped away at the deficit after halftime and eventually reclaimed the lead at 38-37 on a layup by freshman Yvan Ouedraogo. A dunk by Burke then made it 40-37 and capped a 17-6 run for NU going back to the end of the first half.

South Florida answered with an 8-1 run of its own, led by six straight points from David Collins. But 3-pointer by Burke and a layup by Cheatham sparked a 17-2 Husker run that pushed the lead up to 63-55 with 6:42 to go.

The Bulls again clawed back with seven unanswered points and cut it to 63-62 with 3:49 remaining, sparked by switching to a 2-3 zone that temporarily gave NU’s offense fits.

But two clutch threes by Burke gave Nebraska the cushion it needed and made it 69-63 with 1:58 to play. A jumper by sophomore Cam Mack and two free throws by Cheatham in the final 40 seconds sealed the victory for good.

“I feel like I have the best teammates in the country, the best coaching staff, and they put me in the right places at the right times,” Burke said. “We’re just working. We’re just getting started.”

The Huskers shot 55 percent from the field, made 6-of-14 3-pointers, and went 14-of-19 from the charity stripe on the night, which made up for a 17-3 disadvantage on the offensive glass and a 15-2 discrepancy in second-chance points.

Ouedraogo added six points and a team-high five rebounds while Mack came off the bench for the first time this season and finished with a game-high seven assists, five points, four boards, two steals, and just one turnover.

Collins led USF with 16 points while center Michael Durr had eight points and 11 rebounds, making him the sixth NU opponent to post double-digit boards in seven games.

The Huskers will get a much-needed break before hitting the road next week to take on Georgia Tech in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Wednesday night. Tip-off for that game is set for 6:15 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPNU.

“We played three completely different teams, and it helps to play, especially in the preseason games, all these different styles and different types of basketball,” head coach Fred Hoiberg told the Husker Sports Network.

“Good tournament for us, especially to get two of these three wins. Awesome to see our guys bounce back after a difficult game last night and respond with great energy in a third game in three nights.”

1. Cheatham is the leader on, off the court

On a team that doesn’t have much in the way of established vocal leadership, Cheatham was the one guy on the roster with a resume that carried enough clout to be a voice in the locker room.

The fifth-year senior is the only active Husker to have played in an NCAA Tournament game, and Hoiberg hasn’t shied away from pushing the former Florida Gulf Coast/Marquette transfer into a leadership role.

Well, Cheatham furthered his place as NU’s leader with his play at the Cayman Islands Classic. After being relatively quiet through the first four games of the year, Cheatham stepped up and took over during the three-day tournament.

He averaged 19.2 points per game and earned a spot on the all-tournament team for his efforts. When a guy can back up his words with his play on the court, his importance jumps to an entirely new level.

"Haanif stepped up," Burke said. "Haanif's been stepping up a lot. The first couple games, I told him, 'You're good, man. It's a long season.' I feel like since then he's been playing his best games. I happy, I'm proud of him, I love him."

2. Hoiberg sent Mack a message, and Mack responded

Tuesday night’s loss to George Mason was an awful night all around for Nebraska, but especially for Mack.

The sophomore point guard scored nine points vs. George Mason but committed four turnovers and four fouls for a plus/minus of -21.

When the Huskers returned to action on Wednesday, Hoiberg delivered a strong message by shaking up the starting lineup for the first time and replacing Mack with senior Matej Kavas.

Mack didn’t check into the game until the 14:48 mark of the first half, but he responded the right way and still had a big impact on the game.

Mack is a kid with a lot of personality who sometimes wears his emotions on his sleeve. Hoiberg obviously didn’t like what he saw from his point guard on Tuesday night and made sure Mack knew it.

Credit Mack for handling the right way and stepping up when he needed to.

3. USF’s zone caused problems, but the Huskers recovered

The hardest part about the one-day turnaround in a tournament format is that coaches have very little time to prepare their teams for any potential wrinkles that opponents might throw at them.

That was the case on Wednesday when South Florida suddenly went into a 2-3 zone in the second half and cut an eight-point deficit down to one. Hoiberg said he and his staff hadn’t seen the Bulls use that zone at all yet this season, but he gave a lot of credit to his players for handling the curveball as well as he could’ve hoped.

Hoiberg especially credited Ouedraogo for stepping up in the post and keeping the rebounding under control during that stretch.

“I give Yvan a lot of credit; he was really good tonight…” Hoiberg said. “It was great to see him throwing his body around there. He’s not going to get a lot of glory going out there when you score six points, but I thought he was as key as anybody in that win just because of his physical presence.”