Huskers stun No. 20 Purdue in 83-80 upset
Add a new chapter to a season that no one has been quite able to figure out for Nebraska basketball.
Having lost five straight games and facing a Purdue squad ranked No. 20 in the country and regarded as one of the Big Ten Conference favorites, the Huskers once again managed to defy the odds and pull off an 83-80 upset on Sunday afternoon at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Behind a combined 37 points off the bench from sophomore forward Jack McVeigh (21) and freshman Jeriah Horne (16) along with an impressive defensive performance from its undersized and undermanned front court, NU used an 8-2 run in the final 1:10 to pull off its first win over the Boilermakers since 2013-14.
Despite Purdue making 14-of-24 3-pointers, including 8-of-11 in the second half, Nebraska was able to counter by knocking down nine shots from behind the arc of its own.
The Huskers held a 40-35 edge on the boards and a 39-16 advantage in bench points to come away with one of its most improbable victories of the season.
"Getting 37 (points) and 10 (rebounds) out of those two guys (McVeigh and Horne) was critical," head coach Tim Miles said. "We don't win without it... I thought we did a lot of good things today. I think really the story of the game is Jack and Jeriah getting 37 and 10.
"None of us would have predicted it, and to get it - we needed every single ounce of it."
Purdue, which came in as the top 3-point shooting team in the conference, knocked down four of its first seven attempts from behind the arc to jump out to an 18-9 lead to start the game.
But the Huskers were able to match that with some hot perimeter shooting of their own. Back-to-back threes by sophomore guard Glynn Watson and Horne sparked what would turn into a 23-8 run by Nebraska, and a 3-pointer by McVeigh eventually put NU up 32-26 with 3:39 left in the half.
McVeigh ended up hitting all four of his shots from behind the arc in the first half, the last of which giving the Huskers a 37-31 lead with 1:22 to go. Senior guard Tai Webster made two free throws with 10.5 on the clock to make it a eight-point lead, but a last-second layup by Purdue’s Vincent Edwards sent NU into halftime up 39-33.
Nebraska held Purdue to shoot 35.3 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Boilermakers - the top rebounding team in the league - 23-21 in the first half, including eight on the offensive end.
It didn’t take long for Purdue to respond after halftime, as a 3-pointer by Carsen Edwards capped a 9-3 run and tied it up at 42-42 just two minutes into the second half.
The Boilermakers would end up making their first four 3-pointer to start the second half and went up 55-50 with just over 12 minutes to play. McVeigh was able to help NU keep pace by scoring seven of the team’s nine points during a two-minute stretch.
"I feel like that's been our whole season, especially in the Big Ten," Horne said. "Unfortunately we've lost a couple close ones, but tonight I felt like we just came together even more and we were able to get over the hump and make sure we had each other's backs."
A layup by Isaac Haas gave Purdue its largest lead of the second half at 61-54, but Nebraska chipped away over over the next two minutes and pulled within 61-60 on a floater by Horne with 7:28 remaining.
Five straight points by sophomore forward Michael Jacobson reclaimed the lead for the Huskers at 65-63, but the Boilermakers quickly answered with their 11th, 12th and 13th 3-pointers of the day to go back up 72-67 with 2:51 to go.
Freshman center Jordy Tshimanga converted an And-1 to make it 75-73 but then fouled out on the ensuing possession. That left Jacobson, playing with four fouls of his own, to handle the bulk of the workload inside on his own.
All Jacobson did was respond with a steal of Caleb Swanigan and then scoring the go-ahead put back on an offensive rebound to give Nebraska a 79-78 lead with 40.5 remaining.
A three-second violation on Swanigan gave NU the ball back, and McVeigh added a free throw to make it 80-78 with 25.1 left. Another Purdue turnover then led to two more free throws by Watson that pushed the lead to 82-78.
Watson was called for a block with 6.4 to play, and Dakota Mathias made two from the line to get it back to 82-80. Purdue fouled McVeigh on the ensuing inbounds pass with 5.7 left, and he again made one of two to make it a three-point game.
Purdue’s last-second three was off the mark, and the final horn sounded to seal the upset for the Huskers.
“Every night someone’s got to step up, and tonight everyone did,” McVeigh said. “When you look at it, the whole team played big time.”
Webster finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Watson added 12 points. Jacobson ended up with nine points and seven boards, but his defense down the stretch played a major role in NU’s victory.
Mathias led Purdue with 19 points and was 5-of-7 from 3-point range, while Swanigan posted 14 points and 14 rebounds.
The Huskers return to action on Thursday when they host Michigan State for a 6 p.m. tip on ESPN or ESPN2.
"We can play with anyone," Webster said. "We showed it in the past, and we showed it again tonight that we can play with anyone in the Big Ten."
3-POINT PLAY
1. McVeigh, Horne's resilience was the difference
There aren't many players in high-major college basketball who would handle the adversity that McVeigh and Horne have gone through this season as well as they have. Even after both players were scratched from the lineup for entire games per coaches' decision, McVeigh and Horne stuck with it and came through with the best games of their respective careers on Sunday. Like Miles said, Nebraska doesn't win this one without those two, and a big tip of the cap goes out to McVeigh and Horne not letting their egos derail their determination.
2. Nebraska did everything no one thought they could
On paper, all of the things that Purdue has done the best this season were the exact things that have killed Nebraska all year. They have a huge and talented front court with one of the best players in the country in Swanigan, and they were the best 3-point shooting team in the conference at over 41 percent as a team. Well, even though the Boilermakers made 14 threes, the Huskers were somehow able to overcome everything else. Nebraska out-rebounded Purdue 40-35, had more blocked shots (4) than Purdue (2), and outscored the Boilermakers 32-20 in the paint and 17-13 on second chance points. If you somehow saw that coming, I'd suggest purchasing a lottery ticket asap.
3. Jacobson's "gutsy" performance was key
If you noticed Jacobson going back and forth from the court to the locker room during the game, it was because he was playing through an illness that had him vomiting during breaks and even required him to get an IV in the locker room at halftime. Miles said there were points during the game where Jacobson's skin looked so pale it was almost "translucent". For a guy to be that sick and still put up nine points, seven rebounds, two assists and a steal in 23 minutes against the biggest test he'd faced all season, it doesn't get much tougher than that.
AND-1
“Well, it counts as one (win), so we’ll take that. I think more than anything, everybody needs to see success to keep building your confidence. We should have a good vibe, but we also know what it takes to play against the likes of Michigan State.”
- Head coach Tim Miles on what Sunday's win over Purdue means going forward