Nebraska Men’s Basketball Recap: Nebraska beats Stony Brook 84-63

First things’ first, welcome back Juwan Gary. Gary missed the first three games due to a suspension, but the way he played tonight you would have thought he was there the entire time. Nebraska was looking to start a season 4-0 for the first time since 2018 and did so in somewhat convincing fashion. The story of the young season so far for me has been the balanced scoring, which continued tonight. 4 guys had double figures, led by Gary’s 19 points. There will be much stiffer competition, starting Saturday, but so far so good for Nebrasketball.

1st half analysis:

Nebraska led 36-28 at halftime despite starting off sluggish from deep, as it went 0-4 in the opening minutes. Keisei Tominaga eventually hit back-to-back 3s, which gave him 8 points to start the opening 4 minutes. Neither team could hit the broad side of the barn from beyond the arc, as both sides finished the half 3-17. Nebraska went 5-9 from the free-throw line, however they made their last 4 attempts from the stripe. Both teams also committed five turnovers (Not unlike football last Saturday).

Chris Maidoh led the Seawolves with a solid half, scoring 7 points and gathering 6 rebounds. Keenan Fitzmorris was their most productive player off the bench, finishing the half with 5 points and 4 rebounds.

Nebraska was led by Rienk Mast, who had 11 points and 7 rebounds. Keisei Tominaga had 10 points, while Josiah Allick had 6 rebounds despite being held scoreless. Juwan Gary came off the bench in his first came of the season and led the bench scoring with 6.

Nebraska outrebounded the Seawolves 16-12, and a 7-5 edge on the offensive glass. Nebraska was 11-14 from inside the arc, while Stony Brook was 9-16.

2nd half analysis:

Well the teams might have started off a little rough to begin the game, but that certainly wasn’t the case to start the second half. Nebraska started off 6-8 from the floor, including 3-4 from the three-point line in the opening 4 minutes. Stony Brook countered with a quick 8-0 run in just under a minute that closed the lead to 7 at the under 12 timeout. Nebraska eventually started to pull away at the halfway mark, going on a run themselves to put them up 14. That lead would continue to grow, as eventually the bench mob got involved in the last 2 minutes, highlighted by Matar Diop hitting a couple of free-throws.

Final stats:

Nebraska wins 84-63 on what was a good shooting night for the Cornhuskers. Nebraska shot 55.0% from the floor, but only 8-26 from 3. Nebraska had its worst night from the free-throw line, shooting 10-17 for 58.8%. Stony Brook shot 37.9% from the field, including 7-30 from beyond the arc. The Seawolves finished 6-10 from the charity stripe. Nebraska outrebounded Stony Brook 45-28, including a 12-9 advantage on the offensive glass. Stony Brook committed 9 turnovers, while Nebraska committed 14.

Stony Brook was led by Jared Frey, who had 15 points, while Dean Noll had 14 and Chris Maidoh had 9. Maidoh led the Seawolves with 8 rebounds, while Keenan Fitzmorris had 6 and Aaron Clarke had 5. Stony Brook finished with 6 assists on 25 made field goals.

Nebraska was led by Juwan Gary who had 19 points, while Brice Williams had 17, Keisei Tominaga had 16 and Rienk Mast had 14. Williams led the team with 9 rebounds, while Mast had 8, Gary and Josiah Allick both had 7. Nebraska had 19 assists on 33 made field goals.

Nebraska takes on Oregon State on Saturday, November 18th at 3 pm CST in Sioux Falls, South Dakota at the Sanford Pentagon. The game will be streaming on Peacock.