Huskers roll past Rutgers 67-55 for another important win

After a week full of off-the-court storylines, Nebraska put any potential outside distractions aside and took care of business once again in a 67-55 victory over Rutgers on Saturday.

James Palmer Jr. led the way with 15 points, five rebounds, and four assists, while three other Huskers scored in double figures to help NU shoot 45.5 percent from the field.

With the win, NU improved to 19-8 overall and 10-4 in Big Ten play, marking the program’s best 26-game start since 1991-92 (19-7) and its highest season win total since 2013-14.

The Huskers also reached double-digit conference victories for just the 12th time in school history, including only the second time since 2000.

“Obviously you can spend a lot of emotional energy in a week like that… ” head coach Tim Miles said. “You look at what’s at stake, and you’ve got (being in) fourth place in the Big Ten, undefeated at home in the league, and a chance to play yourself into the NCAA Tournament - that’s a lot at stake.

“So we needed their focus, and I think they understand what they’re goals are, and they want to accomplish them.”

Nebraska exploded out of the blocks with an 8-0 run to open the game, while Rutgers started 0-for-4 from the field with two turnovers on its first six possessions.

The Huskers’ lead grew to as much as 20-4 over the next few minutes, highlighted by a monster dunk from Isaiah Roby.

“When I knew he got the step, I just stood up on the bench,” Palmer said of Roby’s dunk. “I knew he was going to dunk it.”

But the Scarlet Knights would eventually get things settled down on both ends of the floor and steadily chipped the deficit down to 33-28 with three minutes to go in the half.

Nebraska closed out with four straight free throws to go into halftime up 37-28, shooting 48.3 percent from the field but getting out-rebounded 11-6 on the offensive glass.

“That was big for us, because we usually don’t come out that hot,” Roby said. “The past couple games we’d been coming out kind of slow, so that was big for us to get a big lead.”

Two baskets by Jordy Tshimanga helped spark a 10-0 run to help Nebraska match its largest lead of the day at 48-32 with less than 15 minutes left to play.

Rutgers tried to keep it close by answering with a 6-0 rally, but it would be all NU the rest of the way.

Nebraska came right back with a 15-6 run over the next five minutes and led by as many as 19 points with 6:41 remaining in the game, and it would only be semantics the rest of the way.

“The first half I was worried because we had given up the lead,” Miles said. “The second half I thought we played well with the lead and we earned the lead. I was pleased with the second half, and I was pleased with their effort and their demeanor.”

Roby put together yet another stat-stuffing performance, finishing with 10 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, and two blocks. Glynn Watson and Isaac Copeland both added 11 points, while Tshimanga chipped in eight points off the bench.

Corey Sanders led Rutgers with 14 points, but the Scarlet Knights shot just 34.8 percent from the field and 14.3 percent (2-for-14) from 3-point range.

Nebraska will return to action on Tuesday night for another home game when Maryland comes to town for a 6 p.m. tip on BTN.

1. Huskers blocked out the noise

As Nebraska opened its final practice leading up to the Rutgers game on Friday, Miles could sense things were off a bit with his team. But by the end of the session, the coach had a much better feeling.

Given all that was going on over the previous few days with the team’s organized response to hate speech on UNL’s campus, there was a legitimate question over where the Huskers’ focus would be.

By jumping out to a 20-6 lead and never trailing in a 12-point conference him win, NU showed it was perfectly capable of putting on blinders and putting its full focus on the task at hand once it stepped onto the court.

Miles said he told the team to just stay off of social media the past couple days and worry only about the things they could control, and despite all of the outside noise, Nebraska looked just like the team that had won six of its last seven games coming in.

“The coaches did a good job of just keeping us focused,” Roby said. “We had a lot of stuff to think about off the court too, but once we get on the court, it’s all basketball. They did a good job that.”

2. Duby get his day

Going back to his days at Winthrop, Duby Okeke has always been a fan favorite. The problem is since transferring to Nebraska, the senior center’s playing time has been sporadic at best.

Even though Okeke said his off-and-on role has been tough on him at times, he was able to step up with one of his best all-around games as a Husker on Saturday by posting two points, four rebounds and a game-high four blocks.

“I’m really proud of Duby, because it’d be easy to sulk and pout, and he hasn’t,” Miles said. “He’s still talking in meetings; he’s still talking game plan. His reps are down, and we told him, ' There are still times we’re going to need you. Just because you haven’t been in the rotation for a couple times, you’re going to be reincarnated here.

“Tonight, I think the first play he blocked a shot that looked like it was going to be a layup, and everybody cheered. When they were chanting his name coming off, that was a pretty cool moment for him and well deserved.”

3. It was a full team effort

It was pretty much more of the same when glancing at the final box score, as Palmer once again led the team in scoring and fellow stars Copeland, Watson, and Roby all finished with double-figure games.

But it was the full range of contributions from the starters on through the nine other players who saw the court in the win that was the difference for Nebraska.

Along with Okeke’s impressive game, Tshimanga had another strong showing with eight points on 4-of-6 shooting, two rebounds, and a steal. Evan Taylor had four points, four rebounds, and four assists.

“All of those little 4-for-6’s (from the field), they add up, especially when you have some 5-for-12’s (like Palmer),” Miles said.