Nebrasketball: Huskers 67 Terps 65

Nebraska came out strong and aggressive on Sunday against Maryland in College Park for a big second win of the conference season. Nebraska fought back a couple deficits to beat the Terps 67 to 65.

The first half was a nice flip from the usual slow start we have been seeing from the Huskers for a majority of the season. While neither team was in any hurry to score the Huskers pressure on defense and the Terps dry spells kept Nebraska in the game from an early point on. Maryland’s struggles were highly beneficial to the Big Red as they ended the first half with a 34 to 30 lead.

Second half was a slightly different story. Maryland made some adjustments on defense which gave the Huskers some match up problems early on. Nebraska going on a dry spell on offense also didn’t do them any favors. The Terps ended up going on a 17-0 run early on to put the Huskers in the back seat and were down by as much as 12. Luckily the Big Red never let up and ended up going on a 14-0 run which brought them back into the game. The pressure of Nebraska’s comeback mixed with a dry spell of their own doomed any chance of a Maryland comeback in the end.

The Huskers were lead by Tai Webster who ended the day with 18 points and 5 assists. His leadership and new eye for the court have brought a dimension to the game that was almost nonexistent a couple of weeks ago.

Following the senior guard was Glynn Watson Jr. who had 17 points 5 rebounds against the Terps. His two three pointers helped out early against this usually high scoring Maryland team. Two guys who continue to come off the bench when needed were Isiah Roby and Jeriah Horne. Both had scoring in the single digits but continue to provide ample help when needed on offense and defense. I would not be surprised if one of these two makes their way into the starting lineup at some point this season.

As a team the Huskers shot 42% from the floor and 33% from three point range. Not ideal but good enough considering Maryland was held to 35% from the floor themselves.

Maryland was lead by Kevin Huerder who brought in in an amazing 26 points and 5 rebounds. One surprise was a the late coming of Maryland’s top player Melo Tremble. He ended the day with 14 points but most came late into the game. a dry spell and Husker pressure kept him fairly quiet until the second half.

Both teams matched up fairly well on the court. Nebraska ended the game with 15 turnovers while Maryland had 16. As for rebounds, the Huskers edged the Terps 41 to 41. Not having their top big men in the game really did hurt Maryland in the end.

Nebraska comes back to Lincoln to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes on Thursday, January 5th at 8:00 pm.