Nebraska Basketball picked up another dominant victory at Pinnacle Bank Arena Sunday night as the Big Red defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers 73-55.
The Huskers move to 20-8 on the year and 10-7 in the Big Ten. It’s only the 7th time in program history that the Huskers reach 20 wins in a season. The team also picked a record 17th win at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
It was a tale of two halves for the Big Red offense Sunday. NU could not take the lid off the basket in the first 20 minutes of play shooting 34.5% from the field and knocking down just two threes. Despite their struggles on the offensive end, Nebraska was locked in on defense holding Minnesota to just 20 points on 28% shooting. Heading into the locker rooms NU led 28-20.
The second half saw the exact opposite.
The Big Red caught fire from all spots on the court bursting out to a 15-6 run in the first five minutes of the half extending their lead to 17. From that point on the Huskers never looked back not allowing their lead to fall below 15 points.
It was a masterful performance from Juwan Gary. Gary led all scorers with 22 points and had 8 rebounds to go along. Gary caught fire from three in half two, knocking in four long balls, a career night. Gary finished the night 7-of-13 from the field and 4-of-7 from three. Brice Williams also had a great performance scoring 15 points and corralling eight rebounds.
Nebraska is now in sole possession of fifth place in the Big and could go as high as fourth in the standings dependent on results later in the week from Wisconsin and Northwestern. If the Huskers can finish the season in the top four they will secure the all-important double bye heading into the Big Ten tournament.
Nebraska has a favorable schedule to end the season as they’ll play the three worst teams in the conference. Their first matchup will be on the road taking on Ohio State on Thursday, Feb. 29.