Nebraska men’s basketball overcame a 16-point deficit with a strong second half to defeat Oklahoma, 105-99, Saturday night at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.Dak.
Pryce Sandfort led the Cornhuskers (4-0) with a career-high 28 points on 10-for-18 shooting. Rienk Mast tallied 26 points including five-for-seven from three-point range. Berke Buyuktuncel added 16 points, while Jamarcus Lawrence scored 14 and Cale Jacobsen tallied 10. The Sooners (2-2) were led by Nijel Pack, who scored 27 points on 10-for-18 shooting including six-for-12 from behind the arc. Xzayvier Brown scored 20, while Tae Davis had 17.
The key was Nebraska’s ball movement, as the Huskers turned the ball over just five times while registering 20 assists. NU outscored OU off turnovers, 17-8. Nebraska also outshot Oklahoma from three-point range, 55.6 percent to 37.8 percent, hitting 15 threes to the Sooners’ 14.
In front of a partisan Husker crowd, Oklahoma raced out to a 10-0 lead. Nebraska chipped away, outscoring the Sooners 13-6 to cut OU’s lead to 16-13 seven minutes into the game. A Mast three pointer cut the Oklahoma lead to 23-20 with 11:18 remaining in the first half. But an 11-0 run by the Sooners rebuilt the OU lead to 13 at 8:18 on a Dayton Forsythe three. Two Derrion Reid free throws pushed the lead to 42-26 with 6:43 to go until halftime.
But the Huskers began chipping away. A Sandfort layup (accounting for points 17 and 18 of the first half for him) narrowed the Oklahoma advantage to 51-44, and that was the score at halftime.
The Sooners pushed the lead back to 10, 63-53, with 14:37 to go. Nebraska warmed up, though, as a Buyuktuncel dunk followed by two Lawrence threes and a Jacobsen three-point play built an 11-0 run and briefly gave the Huskers a 64-63 lead with 12:40 to go. The game was tied at 67 with 11:49 remaining, but an 11-3 Nebraska run gave NU the lead for good, with a Lawrence free throw giving Nebraska a 78-70 lead with 9:11 remaining. The Sooners cut NU’s lead to one possession twice, but an 8-0 Nebraska run boosted the lead to 97-86 with 2:43 to go. Oklahoma cut the lead to four with 27 seconds to go but solid Husker free-throw shooting finished the game for Nebraska.
The Huskers are next in action Thursday in Kansas City at the Hall of Fame Classic against New Mexico. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m., with pregame coverage beginning at 5 p.m. on KLIN.