Feb 12, 2011
 
Defense pounds Oklahoma State for a 65-54 win.
 
Lincoln — Senior Lance Jeter reached double figures for the eighth consecutive game, as he scored 16 points to lead Nebraska to a 65-54 win over Oklahoma State (16-8, 4-6) on Saturday evening at the Devaney Center.

Jeter as his 16-point effort tied his second-best scoring output of the conference season. The point guard had been averaging nearly six assists per game in Big 12 action before tonight, but relied on his scoring against OSU as Nebraska snapped a three-game losing streak. Jeter hit 7-of-8 from the foul line, as the Huskers (16-8, 4-6 Big 12) hit 15 of 18 from the charity stripe and out-rebounded Oklahoma State, 38-28.

While Jeter led Nebraska's balanced offense which saw nine players crack the scoring column, the Husker defense buckled down to hold OSU to 36 percent (18-of-50) shooting, including 31 percent in the second half, as NU held its 14th opponent of the season under 60 points.

Nebraska was in control for the majority of the game, as it took the lead for good with six minutes remaining in the first half and then built an 11-point lead just five minutes into the second half. The spurt out of the locker room to expand its six-point halftime lead was due in large put to second effort on the offensive end. Juniors Caleb Walker and Toney McCray each converted put-back buckets off misses, while McCray capped the rally with a 3-pointer after a Walker offensive rebound to give NU a 43-32 lead with 14:39 left.

As has been the case all season, Nebraska's bench play was solid. Holding a 43-34 lead, senior guard Drake Beranek scored seven straight points over a 2-minute span to put the Huskers on top 50-38 with 11:23 remaining. Nebraska grabbed its largest lead of the game four minutes later, as a Walker 3-pointer was followed by a steal and lay-up from Richardson to give NU a 15-point cushion with 7:36 left.

The Cowboys attempted a late rally and cut the lead to nine on back-to-back treys from Ray Penn with 4:39 remaining, but a 19-foot jumper from sophomore Brandon Ubel stopped the threat and put NU on top 62-51 with four minutes left. Oklahoma State would trim the lead to nine again with 2:23 remaining, but Jeter solidified the win by delivering a 3-pointer that put NU ahead 12 with 1:52 left.

Nebraska had another strong performance at the charity stripe by hitting 15-of-18 for the game, including 9-of-10 in the first half. That helped the Huskers grab a 31-25 halftime lead after a slow offensive start. Oklahoma State's Marshall Moses scored the Cowboys' first six points as NU struggled from behind the arc, missing its first four 3-point attempts until sophomore Eshaunte Jones came off the bench and drilled a trey from the top of the key with 13:50 remaining to give NU a 9-8 lead. OSU connected on six of its first 13 field goal attempts to take a 14-11 lead until Jones struck again to tie the game, 14-14.

With Oklahoma State over the foul limit, the Huskers went to the line six times over the last 4 � minutes and connected on all six attempts to build an eight-point lead with less than a minute remaining and took a 31-25 halftime lead.

Moses led all scorers with 18 points, while Keiton Page added 14. Jones and sophomore Jorge Brian Diaz each added eight for Nebraska.

The Huskers head back on the road next week with a Wednesday night contest at Oklahoma. The 8 p.m. contest will be televised by ESPNU. Nebraska's next home game is Saturday, Feb. 19 against No. 3 Texas at 12:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by visiting Huskers.com. The game will be televised by the Big 12 Network.

Postgame Quotes Nebraska Head Coach Doc Sadler On the game "Tonight's game was big for us. Our kids came back from going to Baylor and we had two good days of practice. We spent all day Thursday defensively on going back to trying to make sure we were keeping the ball out of the lane and being fundamentally sound. As we all know, we've been fouling too much. I thought we did a much better job of that. I don't know the final of how many times they got into the lane, but that has a lot to do with the foul situation. I think when we keep teams off the free throw line, our defense is really good.

On Nebraska's 3-point shooting "I'm not sure if 19 3's isn't too many, but again, we hit six of them. I thought in the first half we had shot too many 3's, especially to start the ball game. We have to make the other teams defend the low post and maybe then we can get some open shots."

On how he thought the team performed offensively "Offensively, I thought it was maybe one of the better games of swinging it from side to side. They're hard to play against because they are athletic and they're maybe a little bit undersized. Overall, I thought we played a good ball game. We had seven turnovers at half. I would have liked to keep it at 11, but we got 13. We did some good things."

On Drake Beranek's play for the Huskers "The play he made in the first half when he tipped back the loose ball was as big as it's been, because it really got the crowd into the game at that point and they stayed in it from that point on."

On their aggressiveness on the boards and rebounding "I thought it was pretty good. It was very key. The two things that they do is they go to the offensive glass and to the free throw line. I thought those two things we did a pretty good job of. We got a stop the first possession of the game, but we gave an offensive rebound up and we gave a basket up. Starting the second half we did the same thing. I was disappointed in that. That was one of the things we talked about, that first five minutes not giving them anything. When we get a stop, let's not give them anything. If they make a basket on the first shot, they just make it. We gave them some stuff the first five minutes of the second half. Other than that I thought the aggressiveness was pretty good."

On Oklahoma State guard Keiton Page "We lost him a couple of times, but you're going to lose him. I would have liked to pick him up a little more full court because I thought maybe in the last seven or eight minutes if we had done that consistently, he might have missed some shots. He is a good player; he is very clever. When we did make mistakes he made us pay."

Senior Point Guard Lance Jeter On what the key to victory was "It was pretty much our defense. That was something we were doing in the beginning of Big 12 play, but we had gotten away from it a little bit lately. We definitely got it back tonight. I think Brandon Richardson and Drake Beranek did a good job."

On if he sensed that Oklahoma State was getting frustrated on offense "Yeah, definitely. On their offense, they come off a lot of picks so us being there was good. That's just giving credit to the coaching staff for getting us prepared."

On if this was a hard-work game to break the losing streak "Definitely. Being at home and having the crowd motivate us was big. Playing solid defense and getting good shots on offense, basically bringing our hard hats to work. That's something that we did tonight."

On if there was a turning point in the game "I think when Drake Beranek dove and gave his whole body in the first half, that set the tempo for the game that we were coming to play. Drake is known for that; giving his whole body up. That's something you always need and he seems to be the one that gives the spark to us. That's just Drake, he's a hustle guy."

On how big getting a road win in the near future is "It's definitely big because we don't have one yet. It's a good opportunity. Oklahoma is a good team, so we are going to try and win. We definitely need to be mentally tough with the crowd not being on our side."

Senior guard Drake Beranek On if it feels good to break the losing streak "You never want to lose three (in a row) but you have to just stay the course and keep the faith. Hopefully we can take this confidence into Oklahoma and see what we can do."

On how the team's defense was tonight "That's something that we worked on pretty hard these last two days. They had some tough, hard-nosed players but our big guys stepped up. And I think that's a pretty good recipe for success against Oklahoma State."

On his diving play in the first half "I like to lay out every once in awhile, going back to my baseball days. I've done it before, and in Big 12 play, possessions are huge. I'm going to do anything it takes to get us an extra possession."

On if that play got his teammates going "That was pretty special for me, having the Nebraska fans cheering for us. I don't think my play definitely got my teammates going, but it got the crowd going and I'm sure that got the team going. Anything that helps like that is huge, especially in a Big 12 game, because these are hard to win."

Oklahoma State Head Coach Travis Ford On the game "Let's give Nebraska credit, they played a lot better than we did tonight. There's not a whole lot to be said about this performance by us."

On how much Nebraska's defense affected OSU's offense "We had some good looks. They played good defense. They hold their opponents down, that's something they do, but we had some decent looks. No question we didn't capitalize on some opportunities. That puts so much pressure on our basketball team on the road. It puts so much pressure on your defense when you don't make layups. That's kind of the story of us. we just couldn't get the ball in the hole."

Game Notes *-Nebraska snapped a four-game losing streak to Oklahoma State that dated back to the 2006-07 campaign. Nebraska is now 20-9 all-time against Oklahoma State in the Devaney Center. No current Husker had defeated Oklahoma State in their career at NU before tonight.

*-The Huskers held OSU to just 54 points, marking the 14th opponent Nebraska has held under 60 points this season. NU is now 13-1 this season when holding opponents under 40 points.

*-Lance Jeter reached double figures for the eighth consecutive game with 16 points, including season bests in both free throws made (seven) and attempted (eight)

*-Nebraska out-rebounded Oklahoma State, 38-28, marking the first time in six games NU had out-rebounded an opponent this season. The +10 advantage was the seventh time this year NU had at least 10 more rebounds than an opponent. It is the first time since the Kansas game on Jan. 16, that NU enjoyed a +10 or more advantage on the glass.

*-Nebraska went 15-of-18 from the foul line, the seventh time this season NU has shot 80 percent or better from the line. As a team, Nebraska is shooting 79 percent over the last nine contests dating back to Jan. 12.

*-With tonight's win, Nebraska Coach Doc Sadler recorded his 86th win at Nebraska, tying Harry C. Good (1947-54) for fifth place on NU's career wins chart.

*-The Huskers improved to 15-1 at home, marking only the sixth time since the Bob Devaney Sports Center opened (1976) that Nebraska has won 15 or more home games.

*-Nebraska started Lance Jeter, Brandon Richardson, Caleb Walker, Toney McCray and Jorge Brian Diaz.

*-Eshaunte Jones enjoyed a solid performance with eight points, his highest total in Big 12 action (previous high was 7 points vs. TAMU). Jones also had a season high three assists off the bench.

*-Nebraska's bench out-scored Oklahoma State's 22-11, the 13th time this season NU has doubled an opponent's bench scoring.

*-Nebraska's 16th win of the season eclipses last year's total of 15 wins.

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.