Horne leads Huskers to much needed 81-76 win over Southern
It wasn’t easy, and at some points it was downright ugly.
But the only thing that mattered at the end of the night for Nebraska was that for just the second time in a span of 26 days, the Huskers were able to pull out a victory in an 81-76 win over Southern on Tuesday night.
True freshman guard Jeriah Horne was the surprise of the game, as he exploded with far and away the best game of his young career with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting while hitting 4-of-6 from 3-point range.
In all, six Huskers scored eight points or more, including four in double figures, and it was enough to get Nebraska a desperately needed win on the heels of losing six of its previous seven outings.
“I’m proud of these guys," head coach Tim Miles said. "I thought they played hard, and we played with better pace. We withstood a very good effort by an excellent Southern team. They have a lot of potential to make the NCAA tournament.
" Quite frankly our bench was excellent. They were 14 for 25 and when you see a guy like Jeriah Horne gets 18 and guard Anton Gill gets 10, those two guys go six for nine from three. That’s a great deal of help for our offense.”
Nebraska’s cold shooting funk carried over to open the game, as the Huskers quickly fell behind 11-5 after starting out 2-of-8 from the field and 0-of-3 from 3-point range.
Two 3-pointers by junior guard Anton Gill helped get things back on track, and eventually NU rallied back to a nine-point lead with 10 minutes remaining in the half.
That lead would hold into halftime, but Southern was able to trim it down to four when guard Brendon Ganaway banked in a 30-foot heave at the buzzer to make it 40-36 going into halftime.
No Husker scored more than six points in the first 20 minutes, but their 40 points marked their most in a half since scoring 45 in the first half vs. South Dakota on Dec. 3.
Just like the first half, the second half got off to an ugly start for Nebraska, as Southern opened with a 6-0 run to reclaim the lead at 42-40 just 2:35 in.
A 3-pointer by sophomore guard Glynn Watson finally snapped a six-minute scoring drought for NU going back to the end of the first half, and it sparked a 10-2 run that put the Huskers back up 51-47.
Senior guard Tai Webster, who had scored in double figures in every game this season, finally recorded his first points on a layup with 11:46 remaining. That helped Nebraska slowly build up a 61-53 lead with nine minutes to go.
A 3-pointer by Horne gave the Huskers their biggest lead yet of the second half at 66-59 with 6:45 to play. Webster ended up scoring all 10 of his points in the final 12 minutes to help keep NU on top, and then a clutch jumper by Horne with 14 seconds made it a 79-73 advantage.
"I just got into a rhythm and just kept it going, I guess," Horne said. "I just trusted my teammates and they found me for open shots."
But Southern quickly answered with a 3-pointer by Emanuel Sheperd with 4.3 remaining. Two free throws by Watson with 3.0 to go finally put the game away, saving Nebraska from a disastrous second-straight home upset.
Watson finished with 13 points while going 6-for-7 at the free throw line, while Gill ended up with 10 points and was 2-of-3 from beyond the arc.
The Huskers get a another long break before returning to action for the start of Big Ten play, where they travel to take on No. 16 Indiana on Dec. 28 for a 5:30 p.m. tip.
"I thought these guys just kind of believed," Miles said. "Like ‘If we play hard, we're going to win’, and you have to believe that regardless of whose name is across from you, whether that be Gardner-Webb, Indiana, Maryland or anybody.
"So I thought that was a good step forward. We've got to keep encouraging them and building them up and understand that there’s going to be some discomfort, pain to the game, the physical style we have to play to be successful.”
3-POINT PLAY
Horne must play more
For a team struggling to do much of anything offensively the past few games, there wasn’t a better sight for Nebraska fans' sore eyes than watching Horne breakout with a game-high 18 points. The Kansas City native came into the game having scored just 14 points all season and had played only nine minutes in previous five games combined, including just 2 vs. Gardner-Webb. Because Nebraska went with a smaller lineup paired with the ongoing struggles of sophomore Jack McVeigh, Horne had a golden opportunity for a big game and he capitalized on it in a major way. Miles said he’s still trying to figure out where Horne fits in NU’s rotation, but Tuesday’s performance showed what he can bring to the Huskers.
Free throw shooting has gone from great to awful
There was a point not too long ago when Nebraska ranked 13th nationally in free throw shooting percentage at better than 78 percent. Over the past two games, however, the Huskers have been flat out bad at the charity stripe. After going just 15-of-26 (57.7 percent) in Sunday’s loss to Gardner-Webb, NU was only 20-of-30 (66.7 percent) against Southern. That final number was padded by the fact that Nebraska made six of its final seven three throws to close out the game. For a team that has such issues scoring, it cannot afford to give away so many free points at the line.
Youth movement is served
It was no secret that Nebraska was going to have to rely heavily on a corps of underclassmen this season, and Tuesday’s win may have been the best sign yet that the team's youngest members are ready for the next step. Obviously Horne was the star of the show, but fellow freshman Isaiah Roby showed flashes once again with four points, three rebounds, and a block in 16 minutes. Freshman center Jordy Tshimanga only played 14 minutes because of NU’s smaller lineup, but he made the most of his time with six points and five rebounds. That freshman trio is going to have to keep growing up in a hurry, but Tuesday night was a nice step in the right direction.
AND-1
"Everybody felt like they accomplished something in practice yesterday. It was a very physical, hard practice, and I thought we played harder today. So I think we can at least rest our head on our pillow tonight knowing that the way we have to win and the way we have to play is to give all-out effort, extreme effort, run harder, play harder, and good things will happen."
- Head coach Tim Miles on how he felt Nebraska responded coming off Sunday's loss to Gardner-Webb