After ending last season as the last Big Ten team to play a game before COVID-19 shut down the sports world back in March, Nebraska was the conference’s first game of the 2020-21 season on Wednesday.

What a difference eight months can make.

In debuting another revamped roster, Fred Hoiberg’s squad looked significantly improved across the board in a 102-55 rout over McNeese State in mostly empty Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Nine Huskers scored in the win, and six finished in double figures, led by 14 each for Teddy Allen, Trey McGowens, Dalano Banton, and Shamiel Stevenson.

Nebraska shot 50 percent from the field and 41.7 percent (10-of-24) from 3-point range on the day and scored 43 points off 27 MSU turnovers.

In the end, the 102 points were the most the Huskers had scored in a game since a 106-37 over Mississippi Valley State back on Nov. 6, 2018.

A 3-pointer by junior forward Lat Mayen on the opening possession got things rolling for NU, as it made its first four tries from behind the arc. Three of those were by Mayen, who finished with 13 points and six boards.

The Cowboys were still within six points with just under 11 minutes to play in the first half, but NU went into halftime on a 26-13 run and led 50-28 at the break. In last year’s season opener vs. UC-Riverside – a 66-47 loss – Nebraska scored just 47 points total.

After a somewhat slow start to the second half, the Huskers completely blew things open with a 23-2 run to go up 86-43 and never looked back.

Nebraska made 10 3-pointers and seven dunks, had 29 points in transition, and assisted on 19 of its 36 made field goals with only 10 turnovers.

Kobe Webster scored 13 points off the bench, and Yvan Ouedraogo finished with nine points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Thorir Thorbjarnarson chipped in eight points and was the primary defender on Dru Kuxhausen, who led the nation in 3-pointers last season. Kuxhausen still led MSU with 11 points but was 3-of-8 from behind the arc.

The Huskers will get right back to work tomorrow when they open the Golden Window Classic against Nevada. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m., and the game will be televised on BTN.

1. Dalano Banton is such a unique weapon

Name another team that has its starting point guard doing the jump ball for the opening tip-off.

Nebraska did just that with Banton on Wednesday, and it was the perfect start to the 6-foot-9 sophomore’s Husker debut, as it showed just how unique a weapon he could be running the offense.

The former Western Kentucky transfer had six assists and five rebounds before making his first field goal of the game, and he filled the final stat line as much as any Husker has in years.

In all, Banton finished with 14 points, six rebounds, six assists, four blocks, three steals in 22 minutes of work. He was also 4-of-7 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free-throw line.

2. The offense was great, but the defense might have been better

While the 102 points will steal the headlines from Wednesday’s opener, Nebraska’s play defensively was arguably just as impressive.

Considering the type of defense this team played last season, this was a significant step forward in effort, aggressiveness, and want-to on the other end of the floor.

Along with the 43 points off of the 16 steals and 27 total McNeese State turnovers, the Huskers also held the Cowboys to just .724 points per possession and forced a turnover on 35.5 percent of MSU’s 76 possession.

Nebraska kept the Cowboys’ best weapon, Kuxhausen, in check all game and held them to go 7-for-15 at the rim. And that was without post players Derrick Walker (suspension) and Eduardo Andre (positive COVID-19 test).

3. The rotation is now pretty clear

We finally learned what Nebraska’s starting lineup would be on Wednesday, as Banton, McGowens, Allen, and Mayen were joined by Thorbjarnarson in the first five.

After that, though, the Huskers stuck with primarily an eight-man rotation until finally going deeper into the bench with roughly nine minutes left in the game.

That main rotation also included Ouedraogo, Webster, and Stevenson, and all eight players saw at least 19 minutes of action. Thorbjarnarson played a team-high 26 minutes.

Part of that was NU being without two scholarship bigs in Walker and Andre. Walker was suspended for 16 games for an NCAA violation while at Tennessee two years ago. Andre was held out after producing a positive COVID-19 test.

So that rotation will likely look the same for at least the next few weeks, with the starters potentially fluctuating a bit depending on opposing lineups.