This isn't Fred Hoiberg's first rodeo.

Nebraska's head coach knows the game of basketball better than anyone. So he understands it's a funny game where momentum can flip in the blink of an eye. When Hoiberg was coaching Iowa State, he remembers trailing by something like 24 points to Oklahoma before his Cyclones came back to win.

Something like that certainly happened Sunday afternoon against the Northwestern Wildcats in Evanston, Ill., and in a remarkable way.

Nebraska trailed by 20 points at the 19:15-mark of the second half, and 18 points at the 15:31-mark. That was before an improbable comeback effort that resulted in a crazy and wild 68-64 win for the Huskers on the road.

According to Nebraska Athletics, Sunday's win was the largest comeback since joining the Big Ten (19 on two occasions, most recently against Wisconsin last season). It also matches the largest comeback since 1996-97 (20, twice, most recently against USC in 2010-11).

Does basketball always need to make sense? Nope. Does this Nebraska basketball team make much sense? Nope. Do the basketball gods have an odd sense of humor? Sure seems like it.

In the first 20 minutes of basketball, Nebraska didn't look like it belonged on the court with Chris Collins' Northwestern, which entered the day with just four Big Ten wins and without two starters lost for the season due to injury in all-conference caliber guard Brooks Barnhizer (foot) and point guard Jalen Leach (ACL).

Some would call it an embarrassing first half from the Huskers, who trailed at halftime 36-21 and were out-rebounded 29-11 overall and — shield your eyes for this next part — 14-2 on the offensive glass.

"Our first-shot defense actually was OK, but then they got every miss — fourteen offensive rebounds," Hoiberg said during his postgame interview on Huskers Radio Network. "All we talked about going into this one was toughness, and they (Northwestern) got every loose ball, every 50-50 ball. Our body language, it just wasn't where it needed to be to win a road game against a team that's a lot better than what their record indicates."

It was ugly stuff in an ugly game.

In 40 minutes of basketball, the 7-foot, 280-pound Matthew Nicholson grabbed 12 rebounds and five offensive boards. The 7-foot, 260-pound Keenan Fitzmorris hauled down six rebounds, four of which were on the offensive glass. Nick Martinelli chipped in with nine rebounds, with five offensive boards.

"They were picking us apart, they flat-out punked us I thought in that first half," Hoiberg said.

Northwestern wound up winning the overall rebound battle 46-27 and the offensive glass 23-5. Those extra possessions resulted in the Wildcats owning a 18-8 edge in second-chance points.

But then the second half happened, and it was a brand new ballgame for the final 15 minutes. Nebraska outscored Northwestern 47-28 in the final 20 minutes. After shooting 27.3% and 1-of-10 from 3-point range in the first half (6-of-22), the Huskers were more efficient in the second, shooting 60% and 5-of-8 from 3.

Nebraska used runs of 11-0, 8-0 and 6-0 to claw its way back in it. Brice Williams scored six points in the first half and 15 in the second, including an 8-of-10 performance at the free-throw line, to end his day with a team-high 21 points.

Williams, Nebraska's 6-foot-7 guard and leader who is still battling the effects of the flu, gutted out another strong performance and played 38 minutes. He scored the final five points from the line to seal the win.

"Like I told them, they're gonna kill me first of all," Hoiberg joked during his postgame interview on Huskers Radio Network. "But if we can play consistent for 40 minutes like we did the last 15 (minutes), we're gonna be pretty good. We can beat anybody if we play like that. If not, we're gonna get stung."

Nebraska improves to 17-9 and 7-8 in the Big Ten while Northwestern drops to 13-13, 4-11. It was a road victory of the all-important Quad 1 variety, as Northwestern entered the day with a NET rating of 59. As of Sunday, Nebraska has a 6-7 record against Quad 1 opponents, which the NCAA Tournament selection committee should like when March hits.

After the game Hoiberg pointed to the winning plays made by a handful of role players, including Braxton Meah, Connor Essegian and Juwan Gary.

Meah, who has seen his role decrease as the season as gone on, was huge for his team against Northwestern. In 23 minutes off the bench, the 7-foot-1 center recorded a season-high 10 points to go with seven rebounds and two blocks. He ended his day with a plus/minus of plus-9.

Meah also went 2-of-3 at the free-throw line. In his first 19 games, Meah went 3-of-13 at the line. In his last three games, he's gone 7-of-8.

"The guy I thought played his best game as a Husker was Braxton Meah," Hoiberg said. "I thought he was all over the place, had a couple big blocks. We ran a little play where Connor set a backscreen to get him a lob, he made free throws again."

Essegian, who like Williams is battling through an illness, was held scoreless in the first half and missed all three of his 3-point attempts. In the second half, though, the Wisconsin transfer scored eight points with four rebounds, two assists and one steal. He hit both of his 3s.

Known as a sharpshooter, the 6-4 Essegian helped his team in the paint amongst the trees. He battled for rebounds with bigs.

"Connor, I thought, stuck his nose in there and got a little dirty and grimy and got some big loose balls," Hoiberg said.

As for Gary, the player known as the heart and soul of the team played poorly in the first half, scoring just four free throws. In the second, a switch was flipped — he scored 13 points and went 4-of-5 from the field, 2-of-2 from 3 and 3-of-3 at the line.

Gary finished with 17 points and two steals.

"Juwan obviously gave us some good minutes down the stretch," Hoiberg said. "I didn't think he was very good the first five (minutes) of the second half. We got him out there, sat him down, talked to him, got his spirit up and he went out there and I thought made a lot of great plays for us."

During the second half, the BTN broadcast noticed there was a wrap on Hoiberg's right hand. It wasn't there in the first half.

After the game, Hoiberg explained what happened.

"Had a little incident with a whiteboard at halftime," Hoiberg said with a laugh. "I'll never learn. I've done this several times, where I've hurt a foot or broke a toe one year. I'm on a blood-thinner, and that's the problem. I cut the hand on the whiteboard, and this thing will bleed for a long time."

Hoiberg and Kent Pavelka, the voice of Nebraska men's basketball, then joked about coaches hitting whiteboards — including Illinois' head coach Brad Underwood.

"Little-known secret, Brad Underwood did the same thing in Lincoln," Pavelka said.

"He broke it (whiteboard)," Hoiberg said with a laugh. "He must be a lot tougher than I am, he actually broke the whiteboard."

For the second consecutive game, Nebraska was without its starting power forward, Berke Büyüktuncel, who badly sprained his left ankle against Ohio State on Sunday, Feb. 9.

Hoiberg provided an update on the 6-10 UCLA transfer, who's the team's best low-post defender and rebounder.

"Berke is making great progress. The swelling is going down, he's feeling better every day," Hoiberg said. "Hopefully we can get him a little bit on the court tomorrow to get back out there, get a little sweat, get some shots up. But he's doing everything you're supposed to do and we'll hopefully get him back on the court soon."

Büyüktuncel did not travel to Northwestern. And with the team staying on the road and flying to Penn State tomorrow, it's likely Büyüktuncel will not play against the Nittany Lions, either.

After the Penn State game, the Huskers welcome No. 20 Michigan to Pinnacle Bank Arena for a game on Monday, Feb. 24. If his rehab continues to go well, it could be the game where Büyüktuncel makes his return.

Nebraska will stay in Chicago before flying to State College, Pa., to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions (13-13, 3-12 B1G). That game will be played Wednesday with a tip time of 5:30 p.m.

As of Sunday, this contest will be a Quad 2 opportunity for Nebraska as the Nittany Lions saw their NET rating fall from 73 to 78 in the latest update.

Mike Rhoades' Penn State crew is at the bottom of the Big Ten standings and driving the struggle bus in a big way right now. The Nittany Lions have lost seven straight and 11 of their last 12.

Penn State's last game was a 75-73 loss at home to Washington.

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