Roby's career night powers Huskers past Wildcats

After a seven-game losing streak, Nebraska finally got back in the win column with a victory over Minnesota earlier this week. On Thursday, the Huskers got themselves on a little bit of a roll.

Junior forward Isaiah Roby had arguably the most complete performance of his career with 19 points, 16 rebounds, five blocks, two assists, and two steals to lead NU to a 59-50 win over Northwestern on Saturday night.

Roby was one of four players to score at least nine points on the night for the Huskers, who still only shot 32.8 percent from the field and did not substitute the entire second half.

With the win, Nebraska improved to 15-11 overall and 5-10 in Big Ten play, keeping their NCAA Tournament hopes alive for another game.

“I got challenged by my teammates a lot just to be more aggressive on both ends,” Roby said. “I would say that’s what was working for me… Everybody (challenged me). Those are my brothers, so I expect them to keep it real with me. I appreciated that.”

Roby, James Palmer Jr., and Glynn Watson combined to score Nebraska’s first 14 points of the night, and a layup by Thomas Allen gave the Huskers a 20-14 lead with nine minutes left in the half.

A 3-pointer by Allen and then three free throws by Palmer three minutes later gave NU its biggest advantage yet at 26-19. The teams would combine for just six more points on 3-of-19 shooting over the final six minutes, but Nebraska still went into halftime with a 28-23 lead.

Despite shooting just 37 percent, the Huskers recorded nine assists on 10 made field goals in the first half and held Northwestern to 33 percent from the field and 2-of-12 from behind the arc.

Nebraska’s shooting woes carried over to the second half, as it missed eight of its first nine shots and allowed the Wildcats to chip away and reclaim the lead at 36-35 on a basket by Dererk Pardon with 14:27 left.

But Northwestern followed that up by making two field goals over the next eight minutes and went nearly six minutes without a point, helping NU go on an 11-0 run and take its biggest lead of the night at 53-41 on a 3-pointer by Watson with 3:52 to play.

That would be all the cushion the Huskers needed the rest of the way, as Nebraska ended up leading for all but 2:19 of the second half and for 34:38 of the 40 total minutes.

“It wasn’t our defense,” Northwestern head coach Chris Collins said. “Our defense wasn’t the reason we lost. The reason we lost is we really struggled to score the ball, and that little stretch of turnovers against the zone was really killer for us.”

Palmer finished with 13 points on 3-of-17 shooting but added six assists, while Watson chipped in 12 points and six boards and Allen scored nine.

Vic Law led Northwestern with 15 points despite going just 1-of-8 from behind the arc. The Wildcats’ 50 points were their second-lowest output of the season, only higher than the 45 they had in a loss at Wisconsin.

“I thought it was a really solid defensive effort,” Miles said. “Glynn Watson did a very good job on Vic Law. I know it looks crazy to see that guy (Law) out there seven inches taller than our guy, but Glynn, it’s hard to post him up… I thought that was really key.”

Nebraska will return to action on Tuesday for a road trip to take on Penn State, which is set for a 6 p.m. CT tip on Big Ten Network.

1. Roby had himself a night

Aside from scoring his game-high 19 points on 19 shots, the only other criticism you could find about Roby’s performance on Saturday night was that some early confidence issues kept it from being even better. Collins said after the game that the plan was to give Roby open looks on the perimeter in order to keep guys like Palmer and Watson from getting into the lane. It took longer than it probably should have, but Roby eventually answered his teammates’ challenge and became an alpha on both ends of the floor. His 16 rebounds were a career high, and his five blocks tied for his season high. Even more, Roby became the first Husker with at least 19 points and 16 boards in a game since Aleks Maric in 2008 (32 points, 16 rebounds vs. Missouri). Of those 16 caroms, five were on the offensive end, and he didn’t commit a single foul in 38 minutes of work for a whopping 29 efficiency rating.

“I just thought he was terrific tonight,” Miles said. “That’s the Isaiah Roby I think we all see with that high ceiling.”

2. Nebraska won with defense

Roby’s final stat line is going to steal the headlines, as it should. But Nebraska’s overall effort on defense had more to do with pulling out another crucial victory than anything else. Northwestern is not a good offensive team, and that was on clear display on Saturday night. The Huskers’ shooting wasn’t much better, but the difference was protecting the rim with seven blocked shots and turning 15 Wildcat turnovers into 16 points. Northwestern only scored six points off of eight NU turnovers, serving as a 10-point swing in a game where every basket was critical. Collins said after the game that his team had prepared plenty for Nebraska’s 1-3-1 zone, but the scheme still gave the Wildcats fits during a stretch in the second half where they committed eight turnovers and made just five field goals over the final 14:27 after taking their last lead of the night. Miles said the win showed how important defensive effort like that would be to Nebraska salvaging its postseason hopes the rest of the way.

“If we don’t (win with defense), we don’t win,” Miles said.

3. Scoring is still a big concern

Nebraska shot 32.8 percent from the field and only managed 59 points, yet it was still able to pull out a relatively comfortable victory. That likely won’t happen again, no matter how well the Huskers play defensively. Once again, there were concerning stretches where NU’s offense couldn’t do much of anything. The worst came from when Allen made a 3-pointer with 7:26 left in the first half to when Roby hit a three with 12:08 left in the second, where Nebraska scored just 12 points shot 4-of-25 from the field during that 15-minute rut. Obviously losing a player like Isaac Copeland was a major blow, but the trend started even before his season-ending injury. The Huskers have now failed to score 70 points in their last 10 games, the second-longest such streak of the Miles era (only shy of the 21 straight to end his first season 2012-13).