Huskers bounce back with 79-57 win over NDSU

Led by a season-high 22 points by Teddy Allen, Nebraska had four players score in double figures for a 79-57 win over North Dakota State on Saturday in its second game of the Golden Window Classic.

Defensively, the Huskers held the Bison to shoot just 29 percent from the field with 17 turnovers (11 of them steals) and only 21 points in the second half.

In other words, NU bounced back about as well as head coach Fred Hoiberg could have hoped following Thursday’s frustrating loss to Nevada.

Allen scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half and added seven rebounds and five steals, while Trey McGowens followed up with 19 points. Dalano Banton nearly reached a triple-double with 12 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists for the Huskers, who improved to 2-1 on the year.

Nebraska came storming out of the gates to start the game, hitting six of its first seven shots and three of its first four 3-pointers to jump out to a 19-4 lead.

But the Huskers got a little sloppy for the rest of the first half, though, going just 6-for-12 from the free-throw line, giving up 16 second-chance points, and missing seven of their final eight shots from behind the arc.

A three at the buzzer by NDSU’s Jason Knotek – who had a career-high 16 points – cut the lead to 43-36 going into halftime. The Bison missed their first eight 23-pointers to start the game but closed by knocking down 4-of-7, including Knotek’s buzzer-beater.

Trey McGowens, who didn’t score at all in Thursday’s loss to Nevada, had 10 of his 19 points in the first half.

Allen got things going to start the second half by scoring seven of NU’s first 10 points during a 10-1 run that pushed the lead back up 16.

The Bison got back to within 10 on a basket by Lincoln, Neb., native Sam Griesel with 10:24 remaining, but the Huskers answered with another 19-4 run to go up by as many as 26 in the final minutes.

Lat Mayen had 12 points and was 3-for-3 from 3-point range, while Yvan Ouedraogo chipped in four points and seven boards off the bench. Griesel had nine points and 12 rebounds for NDSU in his return to Pinnacle Bank Arena.

The Huskers will get a few days off before returning to action on Tuesday when they host South Dakota for an 8 p.m. tip on BTN.

1. The Huskers responded the right way

Thursday’s Thanksgiving loss to Nevada was one of the more frustrating performances Nebraska could have experienced.

Not only did the Huskers only make nine of a school-record 41 3-point attempts, but analytics also showed they should have had a 98-percent chance at winning based on their quality of looks they had in that game.

With less than 48 hours to process that defeat and move on to North Dakota State, NU did everything it needed for a near-perfect bounce-back effort.

Nebraska got out to a fast start on offense, but it was its defensive effort from start to finish that said the most about the mental makeup of this team. The Huskers forced 17 turnovers with 11 steals and held NDSU to 17.9-percent shooting in the second half.

Resilience is a critical characteristic in basketball, especially in a conference as unforgiving as the Big Ten this season.

2. Rebounding is going to be an issue all year

It’s not a big surprise that Nebraska has struggled on the glass this season, especially with two scholarship frontcourt players currently inactive in Derrick Walker (suspension) and Eduardo Andre (COVID-19).

But even with those two in the fold, the Huskers are going to be at a rebounding disadvantage more and more as the year continues. After getting out-rebounded by Nevada 49-31, NU ended with a 51-42 disadvantage against North Dakota State, including trailing 22-10 on offensive boards.

Even worse, 17 of those boards came from NDSU guards, and the Bison translated those into 24 second-chance points.

Nevada and NDSU are bigger teams, but neither is anything more than what Nebraska will see come league play. If the Huskers don’t play with better all-around effort on the defensive glass, that’s going to be a big problem the rest of the way.

3. Ouedraogo’s offense still needs a lot of work

Yvan Ouedraogo played 18 minutes off the bench and tied for the team-high with seven rebounds. But his struggles putting the ball through the basket are impossible to ignore.

Ouedraogo averaged 5.7 points on 41-percent shooting last season as a true freshman, but he continues to miss badly at the rim. Ouedraogo is now just 5-of-18 from the field this year, and only four of his made shots have been dunks.

Hoiberg said after the game that he’s liked what the sophomore has given the team in terms of rebounding and physicality and said he’d been finishing at the rim much better in practice than he was last year.

But Hoiberg acknowledged that Ouedraogo needed to make better decisions with the ball and not try to force shots through bodies so much. Look for Ouedraogo to hopefully start kicking passes out to open shooters on the perimeter after offensive rebounds.