Huskers pick up important Big Ten win over Wisconsin

It wasn’t a game that was going to win any beauty pageants, but that mattered none for Nebraska when the final horn sounded on Tuesday night.

In an offensively-limited contest that saw both teams shoot under 43 percent from the field and a combined 7-of-33 from 3-point range, the Huskers were able to grind out another important conference victory with a 63-59 win over Wisconsin at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

James Palmer led the charge with 18 points and five rebounds, but free throws ultimately decided the final score above all else.

Despite shooting just 9-of-23 in the second half, NU countered by making 18-of-24 free throws over the final 20 minutes compared the Badgers going just 4-of-10 for the entire game.

As a result, Nebraska was able to push its overall record to 12-6 overall and 3-2 in Big Ten Conference play.

“We need to tighten up,” head coach Tim Miles said. “First of all, give credit to Wisconsin… But I don’t think our mentality was where it needed to be, either. You can see in the amount of assists (8), the poor shooting percentage from three (14.3), and just some of the guys in their performances.”

It was a fairly uneventful start to the game on both ends of the floor until Nebraska got rolling first with an 8-0 run aided by a five-minute scoring drought by Wisconsin to take a 24-14 lead.

But a sudden flurry of turnovers and offensive miscues by the Huskers allowed the Badgers to close the half on a 10-2 run and cut NU’s lead to 26-22 going into halftime.

Wisconsin shot just 33.3 percent from the field in the first half but managed to score 12 of its 22 points off of seven Nebraska turnovers, the majority of which came in the final five minutes.

“They’re a slow-paced team, and we wanted to try to do something,” Palmer said. “Since it wasn’t a high-paced game, we wanted to try to get to the free-throw line. I think we did a good job of that.”

Neither team came out firing to open the second half, but Wisconsin stumbled a bit more by being whistled for six fouls and committing as many turnovers (four) as it had shots attempted through the first five minutes.

That helped the Huskers steadily pull away and take their biggest lead yet at 41-28 after back-to-back And-1s by Isaac Copeland and Palmer with just under 14 minutes to go.

Just when it seemed like NU was close to putting the game away, though, the Badgers again clawed their way back by making five of their next six shots and trimming the lead to 43-38 with just over nine minutes left.

Nebraska was able to go back up by 10 after a technical foul on Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard but followed that up with a nearly three-minute scoring drought. That allowed UW to get back to within 51-47 after seven straight points by Ethan Happ.

The Huskers ended up going almost five minutes without making a field goal but were able to cling to the lead at the free-throw line and on the defensive end.

Nebraska went the final 3:14 without making a shot from the field, but a 15-point edge in free throws in the second half was enough to overcome two Badger 3-pointers in the final 10 seconds.

“That’s just the way it’s going to be against Wisconsin right now just with the state they’re in,” Miles said. “It’s going to be a rock fight. So it didn’t surprise me.”

Copeland finished with 12 points and six rebounds while Thomas Allen and Anton Gill both added eight points off the bench. Center Jordy Tshimanga, who had struggled all season mightily, posted his best game of the year with a season-high nine points and six rebounds in 18 minutes of work.

Happ led Wisconson with a game-high 19 points, 11 rebounds, and four steals but was just 1-of-6 from the free-throw line before fouling out.

The Huskers won’t have much time to rest before returning to action against on Friday night, as they head out to take on Penn State for a 6 p.m. tip on BTN.

1. Tshimanga finally makes his mark

While it was a modest final stat line, there may not have been a better sight for Nebraska’s sore eyes than watching Tshimanga put together by far his best individual outing of the year.

Not only did he post a season-best nine points, he did so on an efficient 3-of-5 shooting from the field and went 3-of-4 from the charity stripe. The sophomore center’s six rebounds also tied for his fourth-highest output over the first 18 games.

“I thought Jordy did a really nice job in the second half,” Miles said. “He defended well, he was good for us on offense and on the glass; It was good to see. That should give him a shot of confidence.”

2. Allen comes up big off the bench

Another relatively unsung hero in the victory was the freshman guard Allen, who dropped his third-highest point total of the year and did so in a much different fashion this time around.

Rather than get his points from the perimeter, Allen attacked the basket more than he had all season and made three of his five field goals. He was also a perfect 2-for-2 at the line in 15 minutes of action.

“I feel the same way about Thomas Allen (as Tshimanga),” Miles said. “Not the usual suspects. Some of the other guys really came to save the day.”

3. Another cold night for Watson

Glynn Watson's up-and-down season continued with another quiet night for the junior point guard, as he managed just three points at the free-throw line and missed all six of his shots from the field.

Watson, who came in having reached in double-figures 10 of the first 17 games, has now been held to seven points or less in four of the previous five outings.

Miles said Watson struggled defensively early and was “not mentally strong" against Wisconsin’s perimeter defense. Even so, he still played 27 minutes and scored all three of his points on three clutch free throws in the final 47 seconds.

“I thought he did a good job after sitting out for a while of coming in and making free throws when we needed him to,” Miles said. “We’ll get him going.”