Nebraska came in as 17-point favorites over Southern on Sunday, and the Huskers took care of business with an 82-59 victory at Pinnacle Bank Arena that wasn’t close for most of the game.
Bryce McGowens led the way with a game-high 18 points and 11 rebounds for his first-career double-double, while NU went 24-30 from the free-throw line and outscored the Jaguars 46-20 in the paint.
The Huskers overcame a slow start to score a season-high 82 points on 52.9-percent shooting from the field. They also assisted on 18 of their 27 made shots.
It was hardly a perfect effort, but the Huskers still strung together consecutive wins for just the fourth time of the Fred Hoiberg era and the first time since Feb. 27-Mar. 1 of last season.
Shooting was an issue on both ends of the floor to start the game, as Nebraska missed its first 11 attempts from 3-point range while Southern went more than eight minutes without a point in the first half.
The Huskers finally settled in and got things going, sparked by McGowens scoring 13 of his 18 points in the first half and holding a 24-12 edge in points in the paint and a 12-1 advantage in made free throws.
Nebraska kept the game under control the rest of the way, leading by as many as 28 and never letting the Jaguars pull closer than 12 after halftime.
Derrick Walker finished with a career-high 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting, as the Huskers out-rebounded Southern 38-30 and scored 23 points off 16 Jag turnovers.
Alonzo Verge Jr. posted 14 points, six boards, and four assists, while Keisei Tominaga had 11 points with two made 3-pointers off the bench. Nebraska shot just 4-of-23 from behind the arc.
The Huskers will one day of preparation before returning to action against Tennessee State on Tuesday night for an 8 p.m. CT tip on BTN+.
1. Verge is learning
After a stellar debut in the exhibition games, Verge quickly fell out of the good graces of some Nebraska fans when he stopped being a facilitator and reverted to his scorer’s mentality.
Rather than drive and create for his teammates, the senior Arizona State transfer would over-dribble and often settle for low-percentage shots. As the primary ball handler, that took almost all of the flow out of NU’s offense.
To his credit, though, Verge has been much better with his decision making over the past two games. A big reason why was that he took a look in the mirror and realized turning the season around started with him.
“Me,” Verge said when asked about the lack of ball movement earlier in the season. “It starts with me. I’m the floor general; I’m the point guard, so it starts with me getting my teammates involved…
“It was just a struggle the first few real games. I struggled with that, and now I’m slowly but surly getting back to my groove and seeing my guys and getting them open shots and easier buckets.”
After taking 51 shots in his first 88 minutes of play in the first three games, Verge has settled down quite a bit in the last two outings. He’s averaged 12.5 points on 60-percent shooting in wins over Idaho State and Southern while posting a 1.8-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Hoiberg said Southern played the same switching style of defense that NU saw in its opening loss to Western Illinois.
Verge was 9-of-20 from the field in 35 minutes against the Leathnecks, and Nebraska had only six assists on 23 made shots.
On Sunday, he shot 4-for-5 and helped the Huskers assist on 18 of their 27 makes.
2. Bryce is getting better very quickly
It was a tough perimeter shooting day for McGowens, who missed all four of his 3-pointers in the win.
But rather than let those misses frustrate him or even deter his confidence, the heralded freshman found other ways to take over the game.
McGowens scored 10 of his game-high 18 points at the free-throw line, going a perfect 10-of-10 from the stripe while boasting a team-high plus/minus of 24 in his 31 minutes of work.
His willingness to manufacture opportunities instead of settling for tough shots has been one of the most pleasant signs of his rapid development through the first five games for Hoiberg.
Hoiberg added that he felt McGowens’ best overall game of the season was Friday night’s win over Idaho State, where he scored just six points on 3-of-6 shooting but added seven rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block.
“He continues to grow and get confident in other ways than just scoring the ball,” Hoiberg said. “I thought his attack was great getting to the rim, getting to the line 10 times… Making plays, rebounding – to get 11 rebounds – that’s all very important in his growth process.”
3. Edwards remains a starter, but his production is lacking
When Trey McGowens went down with a broken foot in the loss to Creighton, Hoiberg surprised many by going with freshman Keon Edwards as the new addition to Nebraska’s starting lineup.
Edwards didn’t bring much to the table in his starting debut vs. Idaho State, scoring just two points on one shot with a foul in only 15 minutes.
Sunday wasn’t any better for the Houston, Texas, native, as he went scoreless on 0-of-2 shooting with a rebound, a foul, and two turnovers in only 10 minutes of work.
NU is a combined minus-9 in his 25 minutes as a starter. Of the 12 scholarship players who saw the floor vs. Southern, Edwards was the only one who did not score a point.
All of that said, Hoiberg stuck with his decision to keep Edwards in the starting five.
“Keon gives us a physical presence out there, and he’s going to knock down shots,” Hoiberg said. “He’s done a really good job setting the tone defensively in games and he helps us on the glass as well.”
THEY SAID IT
“You’re not always going to be able to knock down shots, and just being able to get to the free-throw line and to draw fouls is great. I think we were in the bonus early, so we stressed to keep attacking and get to the free-throw line.”
— Freshman Bryce McGowens on NU’s offensive mentality vs. Southern.
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