Huskers no match for Pardon, Northwestern in 81-72 defeat

For the first 20 minutes, it looked as if Nebraska had managed to pull off one of its most efficient overall efforts of the season to knock off Northwestern and open Big Ten Conference play with a victory.

The following 20 minutes in the second half put any of those hopes to rest, however,

After leading by as many as 12 points just after halftime, the Huskers watched the Wildcats completely dominate the paint and the boards on both ends of the floor to come back and hand them an 81-72 defeat on Wednesday afternoon.

When all was said and done, Northwestern had out-rebounded NU 40-25 (including 14-8 on offensive boards) and outscored it 32-22 in the paint, with true freshman power forward Dererk Pardon - in just his second game since coming out of his redshirt - breaking out with a game-high 28 points and 12 rebounds.

"When you don't play defense well, you don't look good in any way, shape or form," head coach Tim Miles said. "So I'm concerned with our tenacity... It was really just a disappointing game."

A relatively slow start offensively by both teams eventually turned into a full-blown 3-point shootout by the end of the first half, as Nebraska and Northwestern combined to knock down 12 shots from behind the arc in the first 20 minutes.

A pair of early 3’s by senior guard Benny Parker helped the Huskers jump out to an early 12-5 lead, but the Wildcats came storming back with a 16-6 run that included four 3-pointers to go up 26-22 with just under eight minutes left in the half.

Nebraska was able to keep pace over the next six minutes, and then back-to-back 3s by Tai Webster and Andrew White reclaimed the lead at 36-35 with 39 seconds remaining. The Huskers forced a shot clock violation on the ensuing defensive possession, and then White buried a jumper at the buzzer to push the lead to 38-35 going into halftime.

The Huskers ended up going 7-of-15 from 3-point range in the half and had 12 assists on 15 made field goals compared to just one turnover. Parker scored all 12 of his points in the half on four made 3s, which topped his previous career-high of two.

"Guys were just moving the ball and we were just sticking to out game plan," Parker said of the first half. "Then halfway through the second half we just fell away from that and just kind of had a mental breakdown. They just capitalized on all out mistakes."

That momentum initially rolled right on into the second half, as Nebraska took its biggest lead of the day at 51-39 after a 3-pointer and then steal and layup by Parker with 17:49 to play. But the Wildcats weren’t about do go away quietly.

Pardon, who replaced injured 7-foot center Alex Olah in the post, scored 23 of his 28 points in the second half to help Northwestern slowly chip away at the lead. By the time guard Bryant McIntosh buried a 3-pointer to tie it at 60-60 with just over seven minutes to play, the Wildcats had mounted a 21-9 run.

Northwestern would later take its first lead of the second half on a put-back dunk by Pardon that made it 67-66 with 3:11 to play. Nebraska would have no answer from there on, as Pardon continued to dominate the glass and make one clutch basket after another, while the Huskers could only scramble to play catchup the rest of the way.

"We were right there the whole game, and it just shows that there's a fine line between winning and losing in the Big Ten," White said. "I've got to credit their team, they made a lot of plays in the crucial moments. I've been saying this whole season, when you have tight games there are going to be a handful of crucial moments, and they won the most of them. That's probably the most frustaing part, is just not quite getting over the hump."

White led Nebraska with 22 points and five rebounds, while Parker finished with a career-high 17 points on five made 3-pointers to go along with seven assists, five rebounds and two steals. Webster was the only other Husker to score in double-digits with 11 points.

The Huskers won’t have much rest with the Big Ten grind now underway, as Indiana (11-3) comes to town on Saturday for a 3 p.m. tip. The Hoosiers rank third nationally in scoring with an average of 89.1 points per game.

"Life is about balance, and basketball is about balance - we have to be good at both (offense and defense)," Miles said. "But I'm really disappointed in our defensive effort."

***Sophomore Jake Hammond did not play at all in Wednesday's loss. Miles said it was a coach's decision not to use the 6-10 center because he wanted to go with more of a smaller lineup to help with offense.

"I thought that maybe going small would add more skill and allow us more flexibility on their screen-and-roll stuff," Miles said. "Especially without Olah, but I would have done that even with Olah in the game. I decided to give that a try. I'm just going to have to look at it and grade it out and see how it was, because it was good for us for a while, but nothing was good for us down the stretch defensively."

***Nebraska’s six turnovers was a season low (11 vs. Arkansas Pine Bluff).

***Nebraska’s 18 assists was the second-highest assist total of the season.

**White's 22 points marked his fourth 20-point game of the year. White also hit a career-high five 3-pointers (previous high was four on three occasions).

***Nebraska allowed an opponent to shoot over 50 percent for just the third time in the last 58 contests dating back to 2013-14.

***Nebraska’s 40-25 rebounding deficit was its lowest of the season, and marked the fifth time in 14 games NU was out-rebounded.

***Pardon’s 28 points and 12 rebounds were highs for a Nebraska opponent this season.