Purdue 74Nebraska 62
Nebraska 31 31 - 62 Purdue 41 33 - 74
Huskers Fall at No. 13 Purdue
James Palmer Jr. had a team-high 22 points and seven rebounds, but Nebraska was unable to overcome an early deficit in falling at No. 13 Purdue, Saturday afternoon.
Palmer had a game-high 22 points, including 9-of-10 from the line, and paced the Huskers in rebounds and assists (three) to lead a pair of Huskers in double figures. Isaac Copeland had 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting but Nebraska fell behind by double figures early in falling 11-6 and 2-2 in the Big Ten. The win snapped Nebraska’s four-game win streak.
Vincent Edwards led three Boilermakers in double figures with 21 points, including 17 in the first half. Issac Hass added 14 points and six boards while Dakota Mathias added 11 for Purdue (15-2, 4-0 Big Ten), which extended their home win streak ti 18 games.
The Boilermakers, who had won their last three games by at least 30 points, were pushed by NU, which was within 52-43 with 9:11 left. Nojel Eastern’s basket started an 11-3 run for Purdue as the hosts extended the margin to 63-46 on a P.J. Thompson 3-pointer with 5:23 left.
Nebraska continued to battle, using a 5-0 run to get within 72-59 after Isaac Copeland’s 3-pointer with 1:59 left, but could not get the deficit back to single figures.
Nebraska held Purdue to 44 percent shooting, including 6-of-21 from 3-point range, but the Huskers committed 16 turnovers that led to 19 Boilermaker points.
Behind 17 first-half points from Edwards, Purdue rode a hot start and built a 41-31 halftime lead. Edwards hit 7-of-10 shots from the field and added five boards and three assists in the opening half.
Purdue jumped out to an early 10-2 lead in the first three minutes, including 3-pointers from Carsen Edwards and P.J. Thompson, to force an early Husker timeout.
Nebraska got a 3-pointer from Anton Gill to pull within 10-5 and got within 16-10 after a Glynn Watson 3-pointer, but the Boilermakers used an 11-2 spurt to stretch the lead to 27-12 following five straight points from Edwards and a basket from Isaac Haas, as the Boilermakers hit 11 of their first 14 shots in the half.
The Huskers started to chip away at the Boilermaker lead, using an 8-4 spurt to cut the deficit to 31-20 after an Isaac Copeland dunk. Trailing 33-20, Palmer scored six straight points to pull Nebraska within seven at 33-26 after a pair of free throws at the 2:36 mark. NU got it to seven against at 38-31 after a Watson 3-pointer with 47 seconds left in the half, but Dakota Mathias hit a 3-pointer on Purdue’s next possession to stretch the lead back to 10.
Nebraska shot 46 percent from the field in the first half, but was out-rebounded 18-11 which led to a 9-2 advantage in second-chance points.
The Huskers return home on Tuesday night, when they host the Wisconsin Badgers. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. and a limited number of tickets are available by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets or by calling (800) 8-BIGRED.
Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.
