Hours after landing on the Naismith Trophy watch list, Pryce Sandfort scored a team-high 20 points and Nebraska opened its season with a 106-64 win over Le Moyne on Monday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena (Nebraska Athletics). The 106 points were Nebraska’s highest total since 2020.
The first half did it
The game was even for about eight minutes. Le Moyne actually led 12-10 early. Then Nebraska shot 62.5 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes and went into the locker room up 58-32. Those 58 points were the program’s highest first-half total since 2005, and Nebraska outscored the Dolphins 41-17 over the final 12:05 of the half.
Cale Jacobsen and Sandfort combined for Nebraska’s final 19 points of the half. Jacobsen scored seven straight in a span of 1:26 during an 11-0 run to close it out.
Box score notes
- Pryce Sandfort: 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting.
- Cale Jacobsen: career-high 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting, four rebounds, three assists. Fourteen of his points came before halftime.
- Bench: 48 points. Connor Essegian had 13, Damon Wilkinson 11 and Jacob Lanier added a double-figure night.
- Trevan Leonhardt: seven assists, zero turnovers.
- Team: 54 percent from the field, 14-of-30 from three, 24 assists against eight turnovers.
Five Huskers finished in double figures. Trevor Roe led Le Moyne with 20 points and Jayden Teat added 14, but the Dolphins shot 39 percent. Attendance was 14,715 per the official box score (box score).
Why it matters
Nebraska has now won 23 straight regular-season non-conference games dating back to 2023. Le Moyne is not the measuring stick, but the ball movement is the part to keep an eye on. Twenty-four assists with eight giveaways in an opener is a clean night by any standard.
Next
The schedule gets real fast. Nebraska plays Providence in the Hall of Fame Tipoff on Saturday, Nov. 7, at Mohegan Sun Arena. Tipoff is 6 p.m. CT on FS1 and the Huskers Radio Network.
Featured image: Photo: Michael Barera. CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nebraska_vs._Michigan_men%27s_basketball_2015_06.jpg.
