Palmer's buzzer-beater saves 64-63 win over Illinois

After letting a valuable road win slip through its fingers two days earlier at Penn State, Nebraska returned to Pinnacle Bank Arena on Monday night facing a must-win situation against Illinois.

It took a 3-pointer by James Palmer with just 0.3 seconds in the game to finally clinch it, but the Huskers did what they needed to do with a 64-63 victory.

In a game where neither team shot better than 41 percent from the field - including a combined 8-of-41 on 3-pointers and 43 total free throw attempts - it came down to a series of runs by both teams.

Luckily for NU, it was able to snap a 6-0 run by Illinois in the final 30 seconds with Palmer’s game-winner. As a result, the Huskers improved to 13-7 overall and 4-3 in Big Ten play and remain right on track for a potential NCAA Tournament bid.

“Well, I think that was appropriate,” head coach Tim Miles said of the victory. “I’d rather be lucky than good.”

Nebraska was called for three fouls, including a technical foul on Palmer, committed four turnovers and shot just 25 percent from the field through the first four minutes of play. Yet Illinois was equally as poor offensively, starting just 1-of-11 from the field and going nearly five minutes without a field goal.

It didn’t get much better the rest of the half either.

After Nebraska took a 17-12 lead on a layup by Evan Taylor with just under 11 minutes left in the half, Illinois responded by switching to a zone and going on a 7-0 run over the next three minutes to claim the lead at 19-17.

But the Illini would quickly go away from the zone, and the Huskers immediately took advantage with a 9-2 rally of their own, capped by a 3-pointer by Palmer - NU’s first trey of the night - to go back up 26-20.

A four-point play by Thomas Allen gave Nebraska its biggest lead of the half at 32-25, but Illinois came back with five straight points to cut the deficit down to 32-30 at halftime.

“Hectic. Chaotic, kind of,” sophomore forward Isaiah Roby said of the overall flow of the game. “That’s how they like to play, so we kind of played into their hands a little bit about it. It’s a win, that’s the ultimate thing.”

Nebraska shot just 36 percent from the field and 2-of-12 from behind the arc in the first half, but Illinois was even worse at 30.3 percent and 1-of-9 from 3-point range. There were a total of 22 turnovers and 30 free throws shot in the opening half.

The Huskers stumbled out the gates again to start the second half, allowing Illinois to take its biggest lead yet at 38-34 and forcing Miles to call a timeout after just 2:39 minutes.

“I did like the (start of the) second half at all,” Miles said. “I thought we were soft coming out the second half. We fell down on a screen and roll, we gave up an offensive outback - I think we got outscored 8-2 in two and a half minutes.”

But some strong defense - sparked by a switch to a 1-3-1 zone - finally got the Huskers going in transition and led to an 14-0 run over the next three minutes.

The Illini ended up going more than six minutes without a field goal and four scoreless minutes during that stretch, while NU make six straight shots to go up 48-40.

Nebraska would eventually cool down, and after keeping Illinois at bay one the next seven minutes, the Illini clawed back once again to get back to within 59-57 on a jumper by Leron Black with 2:14 remaining.

A steal and dunk by Palmer with 47 seconds left looked to put NU back in control, but Michael Finke knocked down a basket and then followed up with a four-point play with just 8.1 on the clock to give Illinois a 63-61 lead.

Coming out of a timeout, though, Nebraska got the ball to Palmer, who drained a leaning 3-pointer with just 0.3 to play to save the win for the Huskers.

“I got scared because Glynn (Watson) had got caught up and he threw it to James, and I saw James take the dribble,” Taylor said. “When it went in, I just froze. I was like, ‘Wow, we won.’ I was really happy. This was a big game for us.”

Palmer ended up with a game-high 24 points after playing just seven minutes in the second half and overtime at Penn State. Taylor added 13 points and five rebounds coming off the bench for the first time this season.

Trent Frazier led Illinois with 19 points, and the Illini held a 46-29 rebounding advantage and an 18-6 edge on the offensive glass. However, they also committed 16 turnovers that directly resulted in 24 NU points.

The Huskers will return to action on Thursday when they play host to Michigan for an 8 p.m. tip on BTN. The Wolverines remain the one team Nebraska has yet to defeat since joining the Big Ten.

1. Palmer atones for off-night with game-winner

There was plenty of second-guessing of Miles following the Penn State loss for his decision to sit Palmer for the majority of the second half and all of overtime.

Even though the Huskers rallied back from a 16-point second-half deficit after Palmer was pulled, questions were swirling as to why NU would keep its leading scorer on the bench with the game on the line at the end.

The reasoning why Palmer was benched were his season-low five points on 1-of-9 shooting as well as several defensive errors he made in the 20 minutes he did play. The junior guard knew full well he wasn’t at his best in State College, which was why he was determined to make up for it on Monday night.

“I definitely had to come out and play well this game, couldn’t have two bad games in a row,” Palmer said. “Penn State, I really think it was on me because I didn’t show up in a road game, and we took the loss hard so we had to come out and play hard today. That’s what I tried to do, help the team as much as possible.”

Miles said Palmer responded exactly the way he had hoped.

“I’m very happy for James,” Miles said. “I thought that he bounced back in a big way. He and I had a good talk about, ‘James, I believe in you. I know you’re a go-to guy.’ I stuck with him when he was falling down tonight and some of that, but James can make plays, and that’s always valuable. I thought he was really good tonight.”

2. Huskers shake things up with new starting lineup

After using the same starting lineup for the first 18 games of the season, Nebraska went with a different starting five for the second game in a row vs. Illinois.

With sophomore center Jordy Tshimanga - who will rejoin the team on Tuesday - still out, the Huskers gave Roby and senior Anton Gill their first starts of the season.

Roby filled up the stat sheet in his season-high 35 minutes of work, finishing with nine points, 10 rebounds, four steals, two blocks, and two assists (and three turnovers).

Gill had a much quieter night, scoring five points on just 1-of-6 shooting in 25 minutes. He got the nod in favor of Taylor, who had started 40 consecutive games before Monday.

While NU’ will continue to evaluate its top lineup going forward, Miles said he couldn’t be prouder of the way Taylor responded to the change with his best individual outing in weeks.

“That means something to Evan,” Miles said. “As a guy who doesn’t score a lot but does a lot of the dirty work for the team, you appreciate starting a little more than the rest of the guys. But he was in the gym the last two days working really hard, and to see him come out and play really sharp, I was thankful. We were lucky to have him because he made a lot of good, good plays. Winning plays.”

3. Rebounding woes a glaring concern

One of the most glaring stats on the final box score that nearly led to Nebraska’s undoing was Illinois’ 46-29 edge in rebounding.

In particular, the Illini managed 18 offensive rebounds off 36 missed shots on the night, resulting in a 14-4 advantage in second-chance points.

The lopsided nature in that category shouldn’t come as a total surprise, though, as Illinois came in ranked fifth nationally in offensive rebounding percentage (37.8) while Nebraska ranked 332nd with an allowed offensive rebounding percentage of 34.6.

Miles said he was happy with how the Huskers lessened the damage a bit by giving up seven offensive rebounds in the second half compared to the 11 in the first. But he added that was an area NU undoubtedly had to improve.

“That’s that mental toughness and finesse I’m talking about that we’ve just got to commit to a block out,” Miles said.