Huskers dominate No. 23 Michigan in 72-52 blowout

Facing a golden opportunity to pick a marquee victory over a ranked opponent, Nebraska needed a near perfect performance on both ends of the floor in order to pull off an upset of red-hot No. 23 Michigan.

When the final horn sounded on a stunning 72-52 victory, it was clear the Huskers got exactly that on Thursday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Nebraska took control in the early minutes and never looked back, dominating a Michigan team that had won nine of its previous 10 games coming in en route to NU's most complete outing of the year.

James Palmer led the way with 19 points while Isaiah Roby posted a career-high 14 points and three assists for the Huskers. As a team, Nebraska shot 55.3 percent from the field, 45.5 percent from 3-point range, and had 12 assists on 26 made baskets.

On the other end, the Wolverines ended up just 37.5 percent from the floor, were 4-of-18 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 12 times.

With the win, the Huskers improve to 14-7 on the season and 5-3 in Big Ten Conference play, and they now hold an invaluable signature victory on their NCAA Tournament resume.

"I thought our guys bought in, they were very focused and competitive with energy and did a great job," head coach Tim Miles said. "I'm really proud of our guys."

Miles couldn’t have drawn up a much better first half than what Nebraska put on over the first 20 minutes of the night.

After making the first push with an 8-0 run to take an 18-12 lead, the Huskers just kept on going and eventually made it an 18-4 rally to take their biggest advantage of the half on a layup by Isaac Copeland with 4:11 to go.

On the other end of the floor, Michigan - which came in averaging 76.3 points per game - struggled to do much of anything offensively.

Not only did the Wolverines at one point go more than seven minutes without a field goal, they also turned the ball over eight times in the first half, nearly equally their Big Ten-leading average of just 9.8 turnovers per game.

Copeland ended up scoring 10 of his 13 points to send NU into halftime up 32-21, as NU shot 60 percent from the field and held a 24-12 edge in points in the paint.

That momentum carried right on over to the second half, as a 3-pointer by Anton Gill highlighted a 10-1 run and gave Nebraska a commanding 45-28 lead after seven minutes of play.

"Everybody touched the ball, and everybody was aggressive," Copeland said. "I think on the stat sheet you saw everybody scored that played. When we're like that, we're hard to guard."

The Huskers would not take their foot off the gas from there, either, pushing their lead to as much as 21 with another 12-3 run to make it 63-42 on a pair of free throws by Palmer with 4:57 to play.

It was cruise control the rest of the way, as NU eventually emptied its bench for the final two minutes to put the game away.

As it turned out, walk-on guard Malcolm Laws’ two points equaled that of Michigan’s Moritz Wagner, UM’s leading scorer coming in at 14.9 points per game.

“They were like verbally frustrated," Roby said when asked if NU could sense Michigan's frustration on offense. "They were yelling at each other, and you could see that. We were kind of feeding off of it, and the crowd was feeding off of it.”

Copeland finished with 13 points and four rebounds while Gill added 10 points on 2-of-3 shooting from behind the arc. Charles Matthews led Michigan with 15 points and was the only Wolverine to score in double figures.

Nebraska will hit the road on Monday night to take on Ohio State for a 7 p.m. CT tip on BTN.

1. Nebraska was ready for the challenge

This was a game that was so crucial for Nebraska in so many ways, especially in regards to adding a massive piece to its NCAA Tournament resume.

However, against a team that was hitting its stride as well as anyone in the conference, the Huskers needed to be at their absolute best from start to finish.

According to Miles, his team had been as dialed in as it’s been all season in the days leading up to Michigan, and that showed with how well NU executed on offense and especially on defense.

“I thought our mentality was really good in practice from the get-go…,” Miles said. “We were just locked in. In fact, we didn’t even walk-through (Michigan’s) stuff today, we just went through their out-of-bounds plays - I haven’t done that in years - just because we felt like they knew. They were talking us through film and stuff like that. It was good.”

2. Defense changed the game

The biggest turning point in this game was how relentless Nebraska was defensively, as it flustered and frustrated a potent Michigan lineup on nearly every possession.

By closing out hard on the perimeter and denying entry passes into the post, the Wolverines were often times left scrambling to set up shots in the half court, something rarely seen from a John Beilein-coached team.

Behind a defensive game plan formulated by assistant coach Kenya Hunter, Nebraska held Michigan to season lows in points (52), 3-pointers made (4), and 3-point percentage (22.2). The Wolverines’ 37.5-percent shooting from the field marked their second-lowest total of the season.

Asked what grade he would give Nebraska’s overall defensive effort for the night, Copeland said: “Probably like an A.”

Why not an A+ for what was easily the Huskers’ best defensive performance in years?

“Nah, because they still scored.”

3. Welcome to the big stage, Roby

Miles has been bullish on Roby’s potential for years, dating all the way back to when he committed to Nebraska as just a sophomore in high school.

While Roby has shown plenty of flashes of his potential, that high opinion finally came to fruition with arguably the sophomore’s best all-around game of his young career.

Along with a career scoring night with 14 points (on 6-of-7 shooting), Roby was a menace on the defensive end of the floor. Matched up against Michigan’s star center, Wagner, Roby’s length and athleticism gave the Wolverines fits all night.

He was so good that Beilein praised him a couple times during his post-game press conference.

“With them playing with Roby as a five-man, it’s a nightmare for a lot of teams,” Beilein said. “It’s going to be a nightmare for a lot of teams, because he can shot threes as well; he’s very, very skilled.”