Fred Hoiberg’s Crew Beats Penn State by 23 Points on the Road

In the first game of a two-game road swing everything was working for Fred Hoiberg and his players in the first half.

The Huskers went into halftime with an 18 point lead. This was made possible by having three starters in double figures. Bryce McGowens had 13 points as he lead Nebraska at half. Alonzo Verge chipped in with 12 and Derrick Walker had 10 points.

The team was 7-12 from the three point line which is probably what Fred Hoiberg had envisioned going into this season.

That was the first half at least. Hoiberg probably emphasized to his players that Penn State is going to make a run. Expect it.

That huge run never ended up happening.

In the beginning of the second half Nebraska actually expanded the lead from 18 to 23 in the first four minutes.

The largest lead of the game ended up being 32 points as Bryce McGowens was sitting on the bench jumping up and cheering for his teammates. This was something the players needed. This was a game that Hoiberg needed as well.

It was an emotional blowout loss for Penn State on senior night. Penn State senior John Harrar was seen in tears during a timeout early in the second half. That’s a difficult sight knowing how much he cares about his experience at Penn State. Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry put Harrar back in with a little over a minute left just so Harrar could get recognition from the home crowd. It was a cool moment.

Nebraska ends up winning the game 93 - 70. This is the third time this season that a Big Ten team has scored more than 80 against Penn State. One of those games was against Iowa and that game went into two overtimes. This is considered to be one of the best defensive teams in the Big Ten and Nebraska could have gone for 100.

All five if Nebraska’s starters ended in double figures as Bryce McGowens ends with 25 points. The team as a whole shot 13-20 from three for the game for a cool 65% from three.

Nebraska now plays Ohio State on Tuesday at 6 p.m. on BTN.