Quantcast HuskerMax

   Stats & coverage
Box score
BBS
LJS
OWH, 1
DN
Photos
LJS
OWH
Dec. 8, 2010
 
The first half makes the difference in Alcorn State win.
 
Lincoln. — Four Huskers scored in double figures, including a team-high 16 points from senior Lance Jeter, as Nebraska picked up its fifth straight win, a 78-57 victory over Alcorn State Wednesday night at the Devaney Center.

Jeter hit 5-of-9 from the floor and had season bests in both steals (seven) and assists (six), as his seven steals was one shy of the school record. He scored seven of his points in a 7-0 second-half spurt that gave Nebraska some breathing room after Alcorn State cut a 27-point lead to 63-48 with 5:20 remaining.

In addition to Jeter, sophomores Jorge Brian Diaz (15) and Brandon Ubel (14) combined for 29 points in season-best efforts, while junior Andre Almeida added 10 points off the bench, as Nebraska (7-2) topped the 70-point mark for the fourth time this year.

A hot-shooting Husker team picked up where it left off in Sunday's second-half comeback win over Creighton, as NU hit 55 percent (17-of-31) of its shots en route to a 40-17 halftime lead. The Huskers worked the ball inside to sprint out to a 10-2 lead through the first 3 � minutes, as Diaz scored 10 of Nebraska's first 22 points.

The Braves hung tough in the early stages and trailed just 22-14 with 13 minutes left in the first half before the Huskers ended the half on a 20-3 run, capped by a 3-pointer from senior Drake Beranek as Nebraska's 40 first-half points were a season high

Ubel, who tied his career-high with 14 points, gave the Huskers a spark out of the locker room by scoring all 10 of his second-half points in the first 6 � minutes. That lifted the Huskers to a 56-28 lead before Alcorn State guard Marquiz Baker caught fire to score 17 of his game-high 32 points in the final 13 minutes. Baker led the Braves (0-7) to pull within 63-48, before Jeter single-handedly stopped the run as he scored seven points in a 43-second span, capped by a steal and layup to put NU up 70-48 with 4:27 left.

Ten Huskers found their way to the scoring column as NU hit 48 percent (29-of-60) from the floor. The Braves finished with a 30 percent shooting clip (19-of-64). Behind junior Caleb Walker's 12 rebounds, Nebraska held a 49-to-35 advantage on the glass.

Following five wins in a row, Nebraska remains at home to host TCU on Saturday afternoon at the Devaney Center, as the Horned Frogs topped Texas Tech, 81-77 on Wednesday. Tipoff between the Huskers and Horned Frogs is set for 1 p.m. and tickets can be purchased by visiting Huskers.com or by calling 1-800-8-BIG-RED.

Nebraska Postgame Notes

*-Nebraska started the same starting five (Richardson, Jeter, Walker, Ubel and Diaz) for the fourth consecutive game.

*-Nebraska has now won 19 straight home non-conference games and is now 43-1 in home non-conference games under Doc Sadler.

*-The 40 points NU scored in the first half was a season high and the most since scoring 41 at Iowa State on Feb. 24, 2010.

*-Lance Jeter's seven steals is a career high, topping his previous high of four set on two other occasions, most recently against Davidson on Nov. 19. It is also one off the school record of eight, which has been done four times, most recently by Cookie Belcher against Oklahoma State on 2/7/01

*-Lance Jeter finished with a team-high 16 points and six assists, matching his season high in assists. Jeter has 22 assists and two turnovers in his last four contests.

*-The 17 points Alcorn State scored in the first half was the second-lowest total by a Husker opponent this season (UAPB-15).

*-Caleb Walker snared a career-high 12 rebounds, marking the second straight game he had at least 10 rebounds.

*-Brandon Ubel matched a career high with 14 points in tonight's win. He also had 14 points against Texas Tech on Feb. 25, 2010. His 3-pointer in the second half was his first of the season.

*-Jorge Brian Diaz set a season high with 15 points, hitting 6-of-9 shots from the floor in the win. Diaz's previous season best was 14 against USC.

*-The Huskers had 10 players in the scoring column for the second straight game.

Nebraska Head Coach Doc Sadler Opening Statement "It's a win. I think you better always enjoy the wins. I thought at times, especially the first half, we did some really good things defensively against a team that drives the basketball. We didn't put them at the free throw line a crazy number of times in the first half, and that's something that they'd been doing quite a bit of.

On the second half "I'm disappointed that we didn't finish the basketball game in the second 20 minutes (compared to) the way we defended the first 20, but I guess that can be normal. Again, you look at our three-point field goal percentage, it's something that's got to get better. It's still not anywhere close to what we need to do. You look at our free throw percentage, and then you look at the turnovers. I could sit here and tell you a lot of things we didn't do, but the fact of the matter is, we did win the basketball game and that's the most important thing."

On how they fixed first-half woes from previous games "We just made shots and got some easy baskets. We haven't changed anything. We reversed ends in practice for the last couple of days. (Tonight) We shot it better in the first half, and in the second half, we shot it like we did in the first half in the other games. Maybe we can petition to get the rules changed where we can just play on that one end the whole game."

On the injury status of Eshaunte Jones "Eshaunte's messing with a really tender groin muscle. When he shot the first layup, he looked like it kind of strained him, so that's why he didn't play more."

On the status of Christian Stanhardinger "I'm not even worried about Christian. As I said last week, that's a situation that I'll address when he gets his academic stuff taken care of. Finals are over next Friday, so we'll see what happens."

Senior point guard Lance Jeter On the disappointment in the second half "It was hard, it was reversed today. In the first half we did what needed to do, but the second half looked last our usual first half. It was hard, but that's something we've got to work on. Coach (Sadler) is always talking about when we have a lead like that, we have to finish them, but obviously we let No. 5 (Marquiz Baker) get hot, he brought them back. We've got to keep pushing. We had a goal coming out of half time and we didn't succeed. We usually pride ourselves on defense but we let up in the second half.

On how you work on staying focused for the whole game "It's a mental thing. It's something we've got to do. We have to come out in the second half be strong those first five minutes. We didn't do that. We did some good things in the beginning but since we had that big lead we let up. That's something we can do against good teams, and we have a good team (TCU) coming in here Saturday who has some quality wins. We will have to play well to get that victory."

On TCU "They have good guards who can do damage, and that's something our team and Coach (Sadler) noticed right away. We have to come ready to practice these next two days. TCU has our attention. This is going to be a good game and we want a good, quality home win. We;re going to come ready to practice tomorrow."

Sophomore Brandon Ubel On the tale of two halves again "I think you can probably tell that we just didn't come out with the same intensity or fire that we did in the first half. Obviously that's something we have to fix, because it flipped on us today. We have to figure out how to put a full game together."

On how to practice to put together a full 40-minute game "In practice, we go pretty hard and pretty long. Toward the end of practice, Coach (Sadler) is always on us about losing focus and losing a little bit of our speed. He tells us to stay focused throughout."

Alcorn State Head Coach Larry Smith On the first half "We had a horrific first half. We wanted to pack our bags and go after that. In the second half, the kids came out and competed. I can only be happy with that. We came out and played hard and scrapped. We dug ourselves such a huge hole that we were unable to get out of it. Overall, I'm very, very disappointed in our start and our first half performance. In the second half, I thought we came out and scratched and fought and got back into the ball game."

On Nebraska's size advantage "It's hard when you're giving away so much bulk and size. We just try to spread the floor and hopefully our guys can get in the seams and create situations and make plays. Unfortunately, it didn't happen enough tonight."

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.