Wednesday night's game in Seattle between Nebraska and Washington did not start how many thought it would.

And that has nothing to do with the 9:30 p.m. Central Time tip that was pushed back to 9:42 p.m. Instead, it had everything to do with Washington and the 3-point line.

The Huskies, the cellar-dweller of the Big Ten Conference who came into the game averaging 6.6 3s, was wicked hot to start the contest. They opened by making eight of their first nine 3-point attempts, including the first seven — wicked hot.

Washington led by 13 points with 10:32 left before halftime and it looked like Nebraska would get run out of Alaska Airlines Arena in the first half.

But eventually, Danny Sprinkle's team cooled off. It was bound to happen.

Basketball is a game of two halves, and Nebraska owned the second along the way to an 86-72 come-from-behind win, the Huskers' third straight to push their record to 15-8 overall and 5-7 against Big Ten competition. The win was of the Quad 2 variety. Washington drops to 11-11, 2-9.

Brice Williams scored a team-high 23 points and went 4-of-7 from 3 and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line while also dishing out four assists. Williams, fresh off AP Player of the Week and Big Ten Player of the Week honors, has now scored over 20 points in each of the last three wins.

Juwan Gary and Connor Essegian stepped up offensively, too. Gary finished with 17 points and seven rebounds while Essegian came off the bench to add 16 points while going an efficient 4-of-5 from 3. It was a strong response from Essegian, who was held to 2 points and an 0-of-2 outing from 3 on Sunday at Oregon.

Nebraska shot 53% overall and an uncharacteristic 58% (11-of-19) from 3. The Huskers valued the ball and only turned it over six times — and without counting the final turnover, a run-the-shot-clock-out on the last possession, all the turnovers came in the first half.

The Huskers also attack the rim when it was there and were awarded for it. They went 17-of-22 at the free-throw line while the less-physical Huskies went 8-of-12.

After the 3-point barrage from Washington, Nebraska still just trailed by 10 points at the break, 47-37, thanks to 50% shooting from the field and 50% from 3 (5-of-10). The Huskers' offense helped NU stay in the game, a line not heard much this season.

But the story of the game was the finish.

Fred Hoiberg's crew threw the first punch of the second half and was back in it in the blink of an eye. That punch turned out to be a right-hook knockout blow the Huskies couldn't overcome. Nebraska opened the second stanza with a 15-2 run that gave it a 52-49 lead. Gary scored six points during that stretch while Brice Williams added five.

When it was all said and done, Nebraska outscored Washington by a whopping 49-25 in the final 20 minutes. And the Huskies, hot from 3 at the beginning, struggled from deep the rest of the way, missing 15 of their final 18 3s.

Three Huskers scored in double figures in the second half alone — Gary with 14, Williams with 13 and Essegian with 10.

"We just came out with a casualness tonight," Hoiberg told Huskers Radio Network after the game. "They made their first seven threes and it wasn't pretty. In the locker room, I'll say this: we jumped them hard, and they responded. I give them all the credit in the world for coming out and throwing the first punch."

Hoiberg said he was pleased with how his team handled the two-game West Coast swing. It can be tough, the coach said, playing a game in Eugene, Oregon, and staying there until it was time to fly to Seattle for a late 7:30 p.m. tip local time.

"It's a different experience, and I talked to our guys about that," Hoiberg said. "There's a lot of downtime. You're in the hotel. You're watching film. We couldn't go (practice) too hard because it's a lot of games in a short amount of time. So to lay around, and I just thought it was a little bit off. But to our guys' credit, they figured it out and we went on a monumental run there in the second half."

Nebraska hosts Jake Diebler's Ohio State next, and it'll be a pre-Super Bowl matchup on Sunday in PBA with a tipoff time of 1 p.m.

As of Wednesday night before Nebraska's game, Ohio State's NET rating was 27, so it'll be a Quad 1 opportunity at home for the Huskers.

Ohio State (13-9, 5-6) had a three-game win streak to end January that included victories over No. 11 Purdue, Iowa and Penn State before dropping one to No. 23 Illinois last Sunday. The Buckeyes will host No. 18 Maryland on Thursday before flying to Lincoln.

"We've played three really solid games in a row now after that Wisconsin loss," Hoiberg said. "You beat two ranked teams and then you come into this one, and I thought we maybe played our best 20 minutes of the season."

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