Huskers notch Hoiberg's first win in 90-73 victory over SDSU

It took three games longer than most anyone had expected to do it, but Fred Hoiberg finally notched his first victory as head coach of Nebraska men’s basketball on Friday night.

Sophomore Cam Mack posted a career-high 24 points and four assists while Dachon Burke and Haanif Cheatham added 17 points apiece, as the Huskers responded from consecutive home defeats to open the season with a dominating 90-73 win over South Dakota State.

It was by far NU’s most impressive all-around effort of the season, as it came storming out and took a 31-point lead in the first half and never looked back.

After two ugly losses to UC-Riverside and Southern Utah, Nebraska came into Friday night’s game ranked dead last in the Big Ten in scoring, field goal percentage and free throw percentage and second-to-last in 3-point shooting.

Against the Jackrabbits, the Huskers shot a season-high 49.3 percent from the field, recorded 50 of their 90 points in the paint, and had four players score in double figures on the night.

“I think the biggest thing was that I’m proud of our guys was the approach they had this week after a very disappointing loss,” Hoiberg said. “Sometimes it’s tough to put a really disappointing one behind you, and it’s tough to get over. Our guys did that.

“They got back to work after the day off and sustained it for the entire week. They did a lot of the things that we preach to them; most specifically in that first half, the pace."

Nebraska got off to a fast start and took a 12-2 lead right out of the gates. That grew into a 36-14 advantage, as NU hit 10 of its first 17 shots from the field. A layup by freshman Yvan Ouedraogo eventually capped a 19-2 run to give the Huskers their biggest lead yet this season at 45-14.

That would turn into a comfortable 51-27 lead at halftime. Nebraska shot a blistering 56.8 percent from the field, scored 26 of its 51 points in the paint, and out-rebounded SDSU 24-20 in the first half.

Mack scored 14 of his 24 points in the first 20 minutes, making him one of eight Huskers to score before halftime. South Dakota State, on the other hand, went just 9-for-33 (27 percent) from the field and 1-13 from 3-point range.

“Coach really preached on pace," Mack said. "He said nobody in the country can run with us. Just kind of picked it up and got the win.”

It only took a few minutes into the second half for Nebraska to put its foot on the gas pedal again with a 10-2 run that pushed the lead back up to 69-39.

South Dakota State pulled back within 17 twice from there, including getting it to 78-61 with just under seven minutes to play. But that was as close as the game would get.

Along with their 17 points, Burke and Cheatham and seven and six rebounds, respectively, while freshman Kevin Cross added 10 points off the bench. Junior Jervay Green filled up the stat sheet with six points, five assists, and four rebounds.

Douglas Wilson led SDSU with 15 points and 14 boards, though the Huskers ended up with their first rebounding advantage of the year with a 45-44 edge.

“It’s a long season," Burke said. "If you look across the country there’s a lot of teams going through that. I feel like these first two games we should have won but it’s a learning experience. We’re not going to take it and hold our heads down, we’re going to take it and learn from it and I think we did a good job tonight.”

The Huskers will return to action next Friday with a home game against Southern, which is set for a 7 p.m. CT tip and will be aired on BTN Plus.

1. The shots finally fell

It wasn’t just that Nebraska had easily its best shooting performance of the season against South Dakota State that was the difference from the first two games. The Huskers saw shots – including some tough shots – fall early, and that gave them a boost of confidence that carried them for the rest of the night.

Nebraska was 35-of-71 from the field in the win, including hitting a season-high seven 3-pointers. In the previous two games, NU had gone a combined 43-for-128 and hadn’t shot better than 37 percent.

The overall 3-point clip still wasn’t good (7-for-26, 26.9 percent), and the issues at the free-throw line remain (13-of-23, 56.5). But when the Huskers can see the ball go through the hoop early in games, it can make all the difference in the world for a team that needs all the confidence it can get.

2. Defense and rebounding were much improved

While Nebraska was much better offensively on Friday night, Hoiberg said it was set up by the effort and intensity his team played with on defense and on the glass. After being dominated on the boards and committing way too many defensive breakdowns in the first two losses, the Huskers stepped up in a big way in both regards vs. SDSU.

The perimeter rotations were quick, and the double teams in the paint caused all sorts of problems for the Jackrabbits, especially in the first half, when South Dakota State shot just 9-of-33 from the field and 1-of-13 from behind the arc and committed nine of its 13 total turnovers.

Not only did those improvements get stops, they also allowed Nebraska to play with the tempo it wanted by getting the ball out in transition off defensive rebounds. Six of Ouedraogo’s 12 boards came on the offensive end, helping NU close the second-chance points gap to just a 13-11 disadvantage.

3. This is what it’s supposed to look like

For those frustrated by the product on the floor during Nebraska's two losses to open the year, Friday was a much-needed relief in that it painted a picture of how a Hoiberg team is supposed to look.

The Huskers ran South Dakota State off the floor during stretches in that win, giving glimpses of just how fast this team can go when it does what it’s supposed to do on both ends of the floor.

Hoiberg said his favorite play of the game came in the first half after a made SDSU layup. In a span of about five seconds, Green took the inbounds pass and heaved the ball up the floor to Cheatham for a layup.

The biggest advantage Nebraska will have over almost every team on its schedule is its tempo, and Friday night showed just how dangerous of a weapon that could be when the Huskers get rolling.