South Dakota head coach and former Nebraska assistant Craig Smith’s homecoming back to Lincoln almost ended in a stunning upset over his old team, as the Coyotes put together a furious second-half rally and almost knocked off the Huskers on Saturday, 73-61.

After an impressive start to the day, Nebraska’s offense went cold for the bulk of the second half and allowed USD to turn a once 22-point lead into just a two-point deficit with less than eight minutes remaining.

The Huskers were able to hold on down the stretch to snap a three-game losing skid and a improve to 5-3 on the season.

“It was a very good game,” head coach Tim Miles said. “South Dakota played the way I thought they would. I knew it would be difficult to separate. Even at halftime when we were up 14, to me it felt like it was a lot tighter than that… We knew it would come, and I was really proud of our guys who performed down the stretch. I thought South Dakota competed really hard, and really out-competed us in the second half.

“When you get punched in the mouth, you can’t look at that and say, ‘Oh gee, what’s going on? Do I have any teeth left?’ You’ve just got to swallow them, spit the blood out and keep battling.”

Nebraska came storming out of the gates and opened with a 19-2 run to start the game, and a big reason was a major spike in its 3-point shooting compared to previous recent outings.

The Huskers ended up knocking down six of their first 13 attempts from beyond the arc in the half, including three by Jack McVeigh, who came in just 2-of-19 from 3-point range over the past four games.

That helped NU lead by as many as 22 midway through the half, but South Dakota would slowly work its way back and closed the gap to 12 with an 8-0 run in the final minutes, eventually sending it to halftime at 45-31.

Aside from the late Yote rally, it was a very efficient first half for the Huskers offensively. In addition to shooting 46.2 percent from downtown and 50 percent overall, Nebraska ended up recording 14 assists on 16 made field goals and was 7-of-8 from the free throw line.

“We looked like Edward Scissorhands out there for the first eight minutes or so,” Smith said. “Lot of turnovers, just driving in there and like playing volleyball and throwing it up there and seeing what would happen.

“It’s different for us. Their guys are way bigger, way stronger, the thickness of them when you go in there, we’re just bouncing off them like a pinball. We had to adjust, and once we finally kind of settled in I really liked what I saw out of our team.”

South Dakota continued to hang around through the midway point of the second half, getting it down to 56-47 with nine minutes left to play. A big reason for the comeback was Nebraska going more than three minutes without a point and starting the second half just 5-of-16 (31.3 percent) from the field.

The Yotes weren’t done there, either, as a 3-pointer by Trey Dickerson and a basket by Matt Mooney cut the lead down to 56-54 with under eight minutes left.

A 3-pointer by Tai Webster finally snapped a 12-0 Coyote run and a five-minute scoring drought for the Huskers, and Nebraska would regroup to go on an 11-4 of its own to push the lead back up to nine with 3:30 remaining.

A put-back by Michael Jacobson and a pair of free throws by McVeigh bumped the lead to 71-60 and finally put the victory away for good.

“Credit to them, no doubt, because they definitely switched up defenses and pressed obviously and kind of got us on our heels and out of our attack mindset, which I felt was pretty good at the start of the game,” Jacobson said. “It got to two points there, and - not good.”

Five Huskers ended up scoring in double figures in the win, led by 16 from McVeigh (who ended up with four made 3-pointers) and 12 points, nine assists and six rebounds from Webster. Jacobson finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

Now, Nebraska turns its attention to one of the one of the biggest games on its non-conference schedule when instate rival and 10th-ranked Creighton comes to town on Wednesday night.

“Yeah, I’ve been waiting for them for a long time now, ever since we lost up there and got embarrassed by them,” Webster said. “I know they try to tell us one game at a time, but in my mind personally I’ve been thinking about Creighton. I don’t want to go out four years never beating them.”

1. Improved 3-point shooting was the difference

Nebraska seemingly couldn’t buy a 3-pointer during its previous three-game losing streak, but that changed in a big way on Saturday as the Huskers knocked down a season-high nine threes on the day. The most encouraging aspect was the return of McVeigh as the go-to perimeter threat, as he knocked down 4-of-9 shots from beyond the arc after going just 2-of-19 over the previous four outings. McVeigh’s biggest shot of all came on a 3-pointer with 2:45 remaining that put NU up by nine.

2. Zone causes NU fits once again

The same old story continued for Nebraska, as once South Dakota switch to more zone looks in the second half, the Huskers began to unravel offensively. The Coyotes used a combination of press/zone to throw NU out of sorts for what would end up a five-minute scoring drought. It’s no secret that zone defenses have caused Nebraska problems for years, and there’s no doubt that the likes of Creighton and Kansas are going to pack the lane and make NU beat them with jump shots in the half court. Miles acknowledged the need to improve his team’s play against zone, and it better start happening in a hurry. “We have to firm up our zone attack,” Miles said. “I’ve got to do a better job.”

3. Rebounding continues to be an issue

Just like in the loss at Clemson, Nebraska far too often struggled to possess defensive rebounds and ended up giving South Dakota too many extra possessions. Despite facing a much smaller Coyote lineup, the Huskers ended up tied 40-40 in total rebounds and saw a 12-8 disadvantage on the offensive glass. While that only resulted in six second-chance points for the Yotes, it’s something the Huskers cannot afford to continue, because better teams will exploit those far more often than not.

“I’ve got to thank the University of Nebraska and certainly Coach Miles for letting us play this game. It means so much for our program… It’s all win for us and not much to gain for Coach Miles and Nebraska, but once he says something he’s going to stick to his word.”

- South Dakota head coach Craig Smith on what Saturday's game at Nebraska meant for his program.