Nebraska men’s basketball can’t get back to Pinnacle Bank Arena soon enough.
After an 97-87 overtime loss at Iowa Tuesday, the Huskers were run out of the gym at No. 20 Purdue, falling 104-68. NU has never won at Mackey Arena as a member of the Big Ten Conference.
Purdue improves to 13-4 overall and 5-1 in the league. Nebraska falls to 12-4 on the year and 2-3 in the Big Ten.
A Berke Buyuktuncel 3-pointer gave Nebraska a lead for 17 seconds early in the game, but it was all Purdue the rest of the way. The Boilermakers used a 14-0 run get a double-digit lead and never allowed the Huskers to threaten.
Nebraska didn’t shoot poorly, making 48.1% of its shots, That includes a 6-of-27 effort from 3. The Huskers also made 10-of-11 free throws.
Purdue, however, couldn’t miss. The Boilermakers shots 63.1% overall, including 19-of-33 3s. Those 19 3s set the record for 3s by a Nebraska opponent in a conference game and were one away from the Big Ten record.
Freshman CJ Cox led Purdue with 23 points, shooting 9-for-11 from the field and making five 3s. Braden Smith dished out 14 assists.
For Nebraska, Connor Essegian led the scoring with 17 points, all in the second half. Juwan Gary also got to double figures with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting.
Besides the stellar shooting for Purdue, the biggest difference came with taking care of the ball. The Boilermakers had 10 turnvoers to 17 for the Huskers. Those Nebraska turnovers turned into 22 points for Purdue.
Nebraska returns home Thursday to host Rutgers. Tip is set for 8 p.m. CST on FS1.
MORE: Nebraska Football Offers 2028 Defensive Lineman Caleb Tucker
MORE: Nebraska Football Offers 2026 4-Star Wide Receiver Nalin Scott
MORE: Nebraska Football Offers 2026 3-Star Offensive Tackle Rex Waterman
MORE: Nebraska Football Offers 2028 Edge Rusher Jalanie George
MORE: Nebraska Football Offers 2026 3-Star Offensive Lineman Jalayne Miller
Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login