Palmer, defense lead NU to 79-56 win over Cowboys

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Nebraska was well aware of the opportunity that presented itself heading into Sunday night’s neutral-site showdown with Oklahoma State at the Samford Pentagon, and the Huskers capitalized emphatically.

Senior James Palmer Jr. went off for a game-high 29 points and five assists to help NU turn a close game at halftime into a blowout 79-56 route in front of a Husker-filled capacity crowd of 3,800.

After leading by two at intermission, Nebraska (9-2 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) took the game over on both ends of the floor in the second half. Not only did the Huskers score 47 points on 48.1 percent shooting after halftime, they also held the Cowboys to 37-percent from the field, 0-of-9 from 3-point range, and scored 22 points off 11 OSU turnovers.

As a result, NU picked up another valuable high-major victory away from Pinnacle Bank Arena to cap off an impressive first month of the season.

“You have to prove you can win away from home, and while this had a great environment to it, you still have to win away from home,” head coach Tim Miles said. “I thought our guys did a good job because they performed better as the game went on… That means a lot. They never let Oklahoma State back into the game.”

Offense was hard to come by for both teams through the bulk of the first half, as the game was tied at just 15-15 more than 12 minutes in. Palmer kept the Huskers in it by scoring 13 of their first 19 points, but Oklahoma State was eventually able to go up by as much as 28-21 while NU made one field goal over four minutes.

Things then finally started to click again for Nebraska on both ends of the floor, as it forced back-to-back shot-clock violations and hit three straight 3-pointers to end the half on an 11-2 run and go into halftime up 32-30.

The Huskers committed eight turnovers and got out-scored 20-10 in the paint in the first half, but they made up for it by hitting 5-of-10 from behind the arc and getting 16 points from Palmer.

“We didn’t want to settle against a team that pressures like Illinois,” Palmer said. “We definitely wanted to attack the basket and get to the rim.”

The second half started with Watson shooting two free throws after Oklahoma State’s bench was hit with a technical foul leaving the floor at halftime.

That and some stingy defense helped Nebraska extend its lead to 38-32 on a steal and score by sophomore Thomas Allen with 16:16 left to play.

The Cowboys would go nearly five minutes without a point, and a pretty dish from Palmer to junior Isaiah Roby for an And-1 gave NU its biggest lead yet at 43-32 with 15 minutes to play.

Nebraska’s defense continued to fluster OSU, at one point forcing five straight turnovers to help push its lead up to 15 after a layup by senior Tanner Borchardt.

That advantage ballooned all the way up to 69-46 following a 10-0 run sparked by an And-1 dunk and jumper by senior Isaac Copeland with just over three minutes remaining.

The Huskers would lead by as many as 25, and a 3-pointer in the final seconds by walk-on Justin Costello gave the game its final 23-point margin.

“We really played defense well down the stretch, and I think we got stronger as the game went on,” Miles said. “I thought we kind of had to process the whole deal – maybe vent it out a little bit. You saw (the players) bickering a little bit, and our timeouts were fun…

“When you look at that, I think the guys felt that, like you felt, ‘Is this Texas Tech all over again?’ But they were able to overcome that.”

Copeland finished with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting with five rebounds, while Allen added 14 points despite not starting for the first time all season due to an illness.

Nebraska ended up hitting 8-of-18 from behind the arc as a team on the night, while OSU went just 2-of-15. The Cowboys came into the game averaging nine made 3-pointers per game and were hitting over 41 percent from downtown.

The Huskers will get another week off before returning to action on Saturday when they play host to Cal State Fullerton for a 1 p.m. tip on Big Ten Network.

1. Allen's toughness was on full display

You can’t say enough about how impressive of an effort Allen gave on Sunday night. Less than 48 hours before tip-off, the sophomore guard was in a hospital bed while dealing with a nasty stomach virus and migraine headaches.

He first got sick on Wednesday, and by Friday night he had checked himself into the hospital, where he stayed from about 10 p.m. until 3 a.m. Saturday morning.

He didn’t travel with his team to Sioux Falls, and it wasn’t until he woke up Sunday morning that he decided he felt well enough to play.

Allen made the drive up with a graduate assistant, and while he didn’t start for the first time all season, he ended up playing 27 minutes and scoring 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

2. Nebraska's defense changed the game

Nebraska was finally able to adjust to Oklahoma State’s physical pressure defense and get its offense going at the end of the first half, but it was its relentless defense in the second half that blew the game open.

The Huskers arguably played their best 20 minutes of defense of the season after halftime, and it wasn’t just because they held the Cowboys without a made 3-pointer and forced 11 turnovers.

Miles said Oklahoma State scored just one field goal against NU’s 1-3-1 zone, which created all sorts of problems for OSU in the half court and was a primary cause of all those turnovers.

“With Oklahoma State, the way they play so physical, you’ve got to run to that fight, and we didn’t,” Miles said. “We kind of warmed to the fight, took a look at our blood, ‘Ehhh, OK, we’ll fight.’ I thought that was really good, and you could see the second half how well we played defense and were able to get to the foul line early and often.”

3. OSU had no answer for Palmer

After and off-and-on start to the season, Palmer has been fantastic the past two games.

Following his 30-point effort last week vs. Creighton, he was just as dominant against Oklahoma State and again did so by following the formula that led to his first-team All-Big Ten selection a year ago.

Of his game-high 29 points, Palmer got 14 of those at the free-throw line on 15 attempts by himself. Of those 15 free throws, 14 came in the second half. He also added five assists (four after halftime) to just one turnover in a game-high 38 minutes of work.

Miles said he was especially impressed with Palmer’s positive demeanor when things weren’t going so well in the first half, saying the senior didn’t get discouraged and kept trying to pick up his teammates.

“He was really poised,” Copeland said. “He didn’t really get bothered or rattled… He was really aggressive and really poised. I’m really proud of him.”