Nebraska locked in on defense and outhustled Minnesota

Locked in the kind of gritty, physical game that favors the Gophers, Josiah Allick squared up with the brawny Pharrel Payne, met the big man at the rim and sent his attempt flying. Rienk Mast tumbled out of bounds as he saved the ball and set up a fast break. Seconds later, Juwan Gary spotted up and buried a 3-pointer from the wing. Pinnacle Bank Arena exploded.

The Huskers had scrapped and fought and banged bodies with Minnesota before Gary’s triple gave them their biggest lead of the night to that point. The early edge that defined Nebraska’s early play combined with its usual shotmaking and perimeter abilities.

The result was a caliber of play that went beyond the Gophers’ capacity.

Minnesota, battered inside and unable to withstand the Huskers on the perimeter during a decisive 15-6 run, couldn’t keep up. The 73-55 win was the fourth straight for NU.

Regardless of the situation, Gary saw to it that the Gophers (17-10, 8-8 Big Ten) rarely came down cleanly with a rebound; they constantly had to contend with an extra set of hands dislodging the ball, poking it away.

Mast walled up on Payne on defense and drove into his chest on the other end, finishing with a lunch-pail 10 points and six boards. Allick crashed the glass and got to the rim, at one point converting an and-one despite a foul hard enough to get Dawson Garcia called for a flagrant.

“We knew we were gonna have as good a crowd as we’ve had all year, and we need to get them into the game early, and I thought we did that with hustle plays,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said. “We didn’t do it with making shots, but we did it with hustle plays, which I know this fanbase appreciates as much as anything. So just found a way to continue to go out there and play when the ball wasn’t going in, and that’s a great sign.”

Gary found his stroke in the second half, knocking down four of his six attempts from 3-point range as Nebraska found a better rhythm on offense and left the Gophers behind by double digits for the majority of the period. The fifth-year junior ended the game with 22 points and eight rebounds.

Before he heated up, baskets were at a premium.

Defensively, Nebraska (20-8, 10-7) was locked in from the jump. Its sharp double teams got into Payne and Garcia’s faces when the forwards got the ball on the low block, resulting in contested shots and difficult skip passes out to the perimeter. Minnesota turned the ball over 11 times and was 18-for-58 from the field.

Bodies connected when shots went up as the Huskers cleared out space under the basket and came away with rebounds. Twice in the first half, Sam Hoiberg and Garcia clashed for boards. Hoiberg, giving up 11 inches, came away with the ball both times. Nebraska finished the evening with a 44-38 advantage on the glass.

“They just wanted to be tough,” guard Brice Williams said. “I knew they thought we were gonna be soft with how we played at their place, but the game plan was just to out-tough them. They’re gonna shoot shots and they’re gonna attack the glass, and we just have to keep them off the glass and no second-chance points.”

It was an effort that Nebraska needed when shots weren’t falling in the first half. The Huskers went nearly three minutes before their first points and bricked eight of their 10 attempts from deep in the first half, including wide open looks Tominaga and C.J. Wilcher usually knock down. NU entered the break shooting 34.5% from the field as attempts from outside clanged off the rim and point-blank looks spun off the cylinder.

Nebraska finished at 39.3%, including 6-for-23 from beyond the arc.

It was enough on a night the offense wasn’t at its best. And on the occasions the Huskers found their footing, the ceiling raised for a team looking to play its best basketball as the calendar turns to March.

“Our mindset is never let our defense affect our offense,” Gary said. “We was playing our best defense in that first half, so the second half was more continuing on defense, but let’s up the ramp on the offensive side. So once a few shots went in, that confidence of ours rise up to a whole other level.”