Of the players on Nebraska's roster who you'd pick to be a factor that helps spark a 20-point comeback, Braxton Meah is not toward the top of the list.

Meah, though, was exactly that in Sunday afternoon's win at Northwestern, a game that featured an improbable Husker comeback. The 7-foot-1 Washington transfer finished his day with 10 points (on an efficient 4-of-5 shooting from the field) off the bench and had a season-high seven rebounds and two blocks. In the plus/minus category, he finished with a plus-9, second-best on the team behind Connor Essegian's plus-12.

Meah’s 10 points marked his first double-figure effort since Nov. 27 and just the second of the season. According to Nebraska Athletics, it also marked Nebraska's 24th double-figure effort from a Husker bench player. Meah's miss in the second half was his first since Dec. 30, as he had made his last 12 field goal attempts — which makes sense for a big who's primary offense is dunking.

For those who have paid attention, it hasn't been an easy season for Meah. After beginning the year in the starting lineup and racking up 18 starts, Meah saw a midseason role change.

The shift has resulted in fewer minutes and some DNPs. He didn't see the the court in the overtime win against Illinois or the loss against Wisconsin. After averaging a double-digit amount of minutes in his first 16 games, Meah played 4 minutes in the loss at Maryland, 7 at Oregon, 3 at Washington and 7 against Ohio State.

There are a couple messages head coach Fred Hoiberg preaches to his players. They've rung true during a stretch where Nebraska won four straight and five of the last six to put itself in position to return to the NCAA Tournament.

One of Hoiberg's messages to his players and coaching staff is to never get too high or too low. Staying even is where it's at. Basketball is a funny game that can change in a hurry. Big leads can become small in no time. Momentum shifts are real. One minute you're down 20 points, the next you're within a possession or two of taking control with 5 minutes still left on the clock.

The other message is to always stay ready, whether a player thinks he's going to play or not. Nebraska's regular season is a 31-game marathon. Then it's conference tournament time. The lucky ones play in the postseason.

It's a lot of basketball at the end of the day. A lot of chances for players to get hurt or get sick, like the Huskers are experiencing now. Some players play well and earn more minutes while others don't play as well and see their minutes cut. That's how it goes, Captain Obvious stated.

With Berke Büyüktuncel's sprained ankle keeping him off the court for two games and counting, Meah needed to stay ready and step up.

When Nebraska entered halftime at Northwestern trailing 36-21 and didn't have any juice in the first 5 minutes of the second half, an opportunity presented itself to Meah.

During one sequence early in the second half, Andrew Morgan backed down Northwestern big Matthew Nicholson, but the Wildcats also sent Nick Martinelli to double the post, much like Nebraska's defense does. Morgan lost his balance and lobbed a prayer to the top of the key, which was nearly picked off for a steal by Justin Mullins.

At that moment, Hoiberg was seen telling Meah to check in for Morgan, which he did at the 14:39-mark. The comeback started right there, and Meah didn't check out until there was 13 seconds left in the game.

When Meah was on the court during that stretch, Nebraska outscored Northwestern 30-14. He helped spark the comeback and had strong moments that helped his team win a game most watching at home shut off at halftime.

Here are four big moments that stood out from Meah's afternoon at Northwestern:

What to like: How about Meah's screen to give Juwan Gary a sliver of daylight for a 3 on a baseline out of bounds play? This may seem like a minor detail, but it definitely caught my eye live because it was a big shot that helped start the comeback.

Yes, Meah has been called for multiple moving screens this season, some of which have appeared to be his fault while others haven't. And while he looks to be sliding his feet on this screen, nothing was called from the referees because Martinelli (#2) was late on the switch and chose to go around Meah instead of through, which may have made the difference between a legal and illegal screen.

Whatever the case, Meah helped create more space for Gary to get a big shot off.

What to like: Talk about a huge, huge, HUGE moment. Meah's old-fashioned 3-point play gave Nebraska its first lead of the day, 59-58, with 3:26 left.

Meah is obviously limited in what he can do offensively, and the idea of him being a consistent lob threat hasn't come to fruition this season, but he doesn't have trouble rocking the rim. His two-handed hammer off a well-placed lob pass from Rollie Worster was beautiful.

Northwestern's backside rotation was a step late, leading to the foul and and-1 opportunity that Meah connected on. Meah's recent performance at the line has been surprising. Meah started the season 3-of-13 at the line but has made seven of his last eight.

Another aspect of this play was Essegian. It appears that part of this action is for Essegian to screen Meah's defender, the 7-footer Matthew Nicholson (#34), and then set a second screen on Nicholson to make it harder for the big man to drop to the paint and defend the rim.

As you can tell by the reaction of Nebraska's bench, everyone in this action — Worster, Meah and Essegian — executed their job.

What to like: On a few occasions Sunday, I thought Meah's presence altered some of the shots Northwestern was taking in the paint, especially late in the game.

Of course, Meah could have been the one altering them, or it could've been a situation where the Wildcats simply missed from close range — they did go 4-of-17 on layups.

But there's no debate about the play shown above — Meah got the job done. After K.J. Windham (#24) uses a Martinelli screen and turns the corner on Brice Williams, Meah rotates over, times his jump well and is able to get a finger on the lob to Nicholson before fighting for the loose ball that Sam Hoiberg ultimately comes up with.

This is the kind of rim protection many expected from Meah when he committed to Nebraska from the transfer portal last offseason.

What to like: Like we mentioned earlier, Meah's offensive ability is limited, but he can get the job done in certain situations, and the clip shown above is one of them.

Williams comes off another strong top-of-the-arc screen from Meah and, thanks to a couple defensive breakdowns from Northwestern, finds Worster, who's is left all alone along the baseline.

With Martinelli being the lone weakside defender between Worster and Meah, Worster dishes the ball off to Meah, who goes up strong with two hands. It looks like Nicholson gets a finger on Meah's dunk attempt, but the basketball gods were smiling down on Nebraska Sunday, and Meah got the friendly roll.

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