3 takeaways from Nebraska’s surging win over New Hampshire

The first half against New Hampshire was sort of a worst-case scenario for the Huskers. The opponent couldn’t miss from the 3-point line; Nebraska basketball couldn’t buy a make.

Despite being a 31.5-point favorite against one of the worst teams in college basketball, according to KenPom, ranking 330th before the game, 13th-ranked Nebraska only led by three at the half.

New Hampshire made eight first-half 3-p0inters. Nebraska basketball had two.

In the second half, as it has a few times this season, Nebraska flipped the switch. The defense was incredible, shots started falling, and the Huskers nearly covered the spread in the 86-55 win as they improved to 13-0 for the first time in school history.

Here are three takeaways from another blowout win (bring on the Spartans).

Defense sparked the turnaround

The Huskers shot just 22 percent from 3-point range when it was all said and done. They made more 3-pointers in the second half, but still didn’t shoot the lights out.

Nebraska held New Hampshire to 27 percent from deep, although they didn’t make any 3-pointers in the second half, and 32 percent overall. The Huskers forced 15 turnovers, won the rebound battle, and ground out a win.

The Huskers gave up just 17 second-half points, which is impressive, regardless of the opponent.

The frontcourt balled out

One Nebraska player who didn’t have a tough time shooting the ball was Pryce Sandfort. The Iowa transfer made 3-of-8 triples and scored 19 points. He made 60 percent of the Huskers’ 3-pointers. He missed some free throws, but on a night when shots weren’t falling, it was good to see someone scoring buckets.

Braden Frager had 15 off the bench, too. Berke Buyuktuncel was solid as well, scoring 14 points on seven shots. He made all five free throws, blocked a shot, and had two steals. We should be talking more about his effort, and if the Huskers win on Friday against Michigan State, I suspect we will be.

Rienk Mast struggled from the field (3-of-11), but still pitched in with seven rebounds and five assists.

Ugnius Jarusevicius looks promising

You don’t want to read too much into a post-Christmas buy game on a Tuesday night, good or bad, but the MAC transfer stood out in his Nebraska debut with seven points, two rebounds, and two blocks in 11 minutes. He was 3-for-3 from the field, even making a 3-pointer.

Ugnius Jarusevicius scored 16.2 points per game and 7.3 rebounds for Central Michigan last season. The 6-foot-11 big man got his feet wet, which should lead to a bigger role and more minutes in conference play.

This team is deeper than people realize. We saw that on Tuesday as it improved to 13-0.

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