Nebraska Basketball: Huskers Drop Northern Kentucky 80-61

Game one is in the books. Nebrasketball took down the Northern Kentucky Norse 80-61.

Nebraska was led by Terran Petteway who had 25 points and six rebounds. Petteway ended the game 6-9 from three point range and 7-15 from the field overall. In somewhat surprising fashion, David Rivers had a very productive game with 12 points and six rebounds. Shavon Shields did not miss a shot, going 4-4 from the field and 10-10 from the free throw line ending with 18 points.

The game started much like the exhibition versus Southwest Minnesota State with Nebraska starting very slow on both offense and defense. Northern Kentucky got out to an 8-2 lead as Nebraska was struggling to find any rhythm. Nebraska wouldn't struggle for long however. The Huskers outscored the Norse 43-22 the remainder of the half.

The second half was much of the same as Nebraska was able to keep a healthy lead throughout the remainder of the game. Nebraska ended the game shooting 48% from the field and 36% from three point range. One area of concern was the rebounding. Northern Kentucky had 34 rebounds, 13 of which were offensive boards. Nebraska just had six offensive rebounds and 31 rebounds overall. One of the more impressive stats was Nebraska shooting 26-30 from the free throw line, an area Nebraska really struggled last season.

Nebraska played well defensively, holding the Norse to under 40% from the field. The interior defense was solid for the Huskers, as they tallied 7 blocks and had 10 steals.

Overall it was a solid performance from the Huskers. We saw a lot of good things, and a potential future star in the form of Tarin Smith. Smith had 6 points and an assist. He showed his playmaking ability with a very nice dish out to the three point line after driving in the lane. Towards the end of the game Smith had a very impressive reverse layup, showing some fancy ball handling skills to get to the hoop.

Nebraska will look to move to 2-0 this Tuesday versus Central Arkansas at 7:00 PM at PBA.