Huskers rally back for crucial road win over Badgers

MADISON, Wis. - When it came to overcoming a myriad of adversity, Nebraska’s 74-63 victory at Wisconsin may have been the signature game of the season thus far.

Playing in their fourth game in a span of just eight days - three of which on the road - the Huskers overcame short preparation, tired legs, and 26 called fouls against them to earn their first win over the Badgers in Madison since 1990.

James Palmer Jr. continued his All-Big Ten Conference push by scoring 20 of his game-high 28 points in the second half, helping NU rally back from an 11-point deficit - its largest comeback of the season - with only 10 minutes to play and finish with another crucial road win.

Not only did Nebraska improve to 17-8 overall and 8-4 in league play, but it is also now off to its best conference start since 1998-99.

“What’s great to see is some guys that have been through some real losing stay in there and battle and learn how to win,” head coach Tim Miles said. “Some of those older veteran guys who have been transfers or whatever played with a fearlessness that, ‘We can do this.’”

Nebraska started off ice cold offensively, missing its first five shots from the field and going the first four minutes without a point. As a result, Wisconsin jumped out to an early 10-4 lead, which included junior Ethan Happ knocking down the first 3-pointer of his career.

After NU was able to rally back and tie the game, Happ and the Badgers responded again with an 8-0 run to go back up 18-10 with just under 12 minutes to go in the half.

The Huskers were able to stay within reach over the next few minutes and finally got their offense going with a 9-1 run to take their first lead of the night at 30-29 on a pair of free throws by Palmer with 1:13 left.

Wisconsin ended up going more than five minutes without making a field goal but still managed to take a 32-30 lead into halftime on a last-second basket by Happ, who scored 18 of UW’s 32 points in the first half.

As the fouls continued to rack up on Nebraska to open the second half, the Badgers took advantage with a 7-0 run capped by an Aaron Moesch 3-pointer with just under 13 minutes to play to take their biggest lead yet at 50-40.

A dunk by Khalil Iverson put UW by its largest lead of the night at 11, but the Huskers responded with an impressive 10-0 run to pull all the way back to within 55-54 with 7:28 remaining in the game.

A layup by Isaac Copeland eventually tied it up with 5:24 left, and then Palmer scored to give Nebraska its first lead of the second half at 60-58 with 4:35 to play.

“We just stayed positive,” Copeland said. “Everybody on the bench, whether you weren’t playing, haven’t played at all, the game’s not going your way; we all stayed together and just picked each other up.”

Copeland knocked down two free throws to increase the lead to 62-58, and Palmer added two more to make it 64-58 with 1:55 left while Wisconsin went nearly four scoreless minutes.

Glynn Watson and Happ traded free throws to make it 65-60, and then Copeland hit one of two from the charity stripe to put NU up 66-60 with a minute to play.

Palmer was fouled with 40.8 left and made both free throws, and then Brad Davison threw the ball out of bounds for a costly Badger turnover with 35 seconds.

Watson made two more free throws to give Nebraska a 70-61 advantage, and that was enough to send Badger fans heading for the exits.

Watson added his final two free throws to put the game away for good with 20.1 left, as the Huskers ended the game on a 30-8 run and held Happ - who finished with 25 points - without a field goal for the final 14:22 of the game.

In fact, Iverson’s dunk to give Wisconsin an 11-point lead was UW’s only made field goal over the final 12 minutes.

“I think just the defensive stops and getting out in transition,” Palmer said. “That’s what really opened the game up for us. We made our free throws down the stretch as well.”

Copeland finished with 17 points and five rebounds while Watson added 15 and five assists. The trio of Palmer, Copeland, and Watson combined to go 21-of-24 from the free-throw line, and Nebraska ended up 24-of-28 from the stripe as a team.

Wisconsin, on the other hand, shot a dismal 16-of-31 (51.6 percent), including Happ going 8-for-19.

“You can’t give them both - you can’t let Ethan get his, and you can’t let them get threes. It’s got to be one or the other,” Miles said. “I thought when we went zone, now that double (on Happ) is coming from different spots…

“I thought that was better and it was harder for him to get free, maybe it would frustrate them a little bit more too.”

Nebraska will get a much-needed break before returning to action on Tuesday, Feb. 6, with a road trip to take on Minnesota.

1. Defense travels

Trailing by 11 points with only 10 minutes left to play, Nebraska was in desperate need of a spark. Just as it’s always been with Miles’ teams, the Huskers turned to their defense to find one.

By switching up between a 1-3-1 zone and some new full- and half-court traps, NU was able to fluster Wisconsin’s offense to the point where the Badgers literally couldn’t make a shot during the comeback.

Miles noted what was as impressive as anything about Nebraska’s defensive performance was that some players had never executed those aggressive trap concepts in a game until Monday night, and yet executed to near perfection.

“For those guys to just go out and play on instinct - some of those guys had never practiced those spots…” Miles said. “I thought those last 10 minutes, when you’re playing four games in eight days, three on the road, that’s pretty good fight out of your team to see them come out of here with a W.”

2. Palmer as good as ever

If Palmer wasn’t already firmly on the All-Big Ten radar coming into the Wisconsin game, his most recent performance most certainly pushed him to the forefront of the discussion.

The junior was as good as ever during the Huskers’ rally, scoring 20 points in the second half and knocking down 11 of his 12 free throws (8-of-9 in the second half).

He also hauled in a team-high eight rebounds and added two steals and a block in a whopping 38 minutes on the court.

Palmer has emerged not only as the frontrunner to win the Big Ten’s Newcomer of the Year, but he’s building a legitimate argument to push for the league’s overall Player of the Year honor.

The former Miami transfer has averaged 25.2 points over the last six games and now has seven 20-point efforts on the season, including at least 28 points in four of the past five outings. He’s also scored in double figures in 23 of NU’s 25 games.

3. Nebraska has grown up

What stood out as much as anything in the comeback victory was how resilient Nebraska was under some extremely difficult situations.

It’s justifiable to question if Husker teams of year’s past would have had enough fortitude to respond the way this squad has, not only on Monday night, but multiple other times this season.

Nebraska was tough, clutch, and unwavering when it looked like the game was about to fall out of reach. Those are traits the Huskers themselves admit might not have been there in previous seasons, or even earlier this year.

“It’s definitely come a long way,” Copeland said of NU’s mental toughness. “If we had the same situation earlier in the year, I don’t know if we would have come back.”