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Not many expected much from this team. Not this season, not tonight. After all, they have a new coach, a thin bench, it's anyone's guess whether or not they're going to break 55 on any given night and they're going on the road for the first time vs. a team that beat them last year in their own building. This team didn't stand a chance. Problem is, no one told the Huskers (5-1) that as they came away with a 79-63 win.
In the last game Nebraska played, Dylan Talley scored 27 and Brandon Ubel notched 17. The rest of the team scored 16 points...combined. That was not the case tonight. The Huskers got respectable games from Talley and Ubel who scored 14 and 11, respectively, but Andre Almedia and Ray Gallegos were the story tonight. Each scored 20 as Wake Forest (3-3) had no answer inside for Almedia who's jump hook, mid range jumper and any other sort of shot he decided to try were working tonight. He also collected 11 rebounds, recording his first double-double as a Husker. Gallegos caught fire after halftime, scoring 17 of his 20 in the second stanza.
The Huskers started the game fast, jumping out to a 14-6 lead. Wake Forest has suffered from slow starts this season, most notably falling behind Iona 41-5. They lost that game. But they fought back on the backs of a 13-2 run which included 8 points from Chase Fisher. That sort of run is something that has baffled Husker teams in the past, but this team was able to fight through that and actually take a 28-24 lead into the half. From there, it was all Huskers, who used a 51 point second half to record their largest true road game victory since defeating Texas Tech by 13 on January 31, 2009. For a 15 point win or more, you have to go back two more seasons to a win over Miami on December 30, 2006 and f
This was a good win for the Huskers. It does not change the trajectory much of the season, but it is a good sign so early in the Tim Miles era that Nebraska was able to fight through some adversity on the road and put away an opponent. The Huskers will need to continue to get contributions from guys like Gallegos and Almedia if they want to build off this victory, but for a day, it was something that has not been experienced often in Nebraska basketball recent history.
The Huskers next take the court Monday December 3 vs. the USC Trojans. Tip off will be at 7 pm and carried on BTN.