Huskers rally back for 70-67 win over Rhode Island

For a brief stretch early in the second half, it looked as if Nebraska was once again going to let the hangover of a frustrating loss to rival Creighton result in a another defeat its next time out.

Despite being down by as many as 11 points in the first half and then nine points with just over seven minutes remaining in the game, the Huskers found a way to claw their way back for their biggest comeback victory of the season and knock off the Rams, 70-67, on Sunday afternoon.

Senior forward Shavon Shields scored a game-high 19 points and freshman point guard Glynn Watson added a career-high 17 points - 13 of which coming in the second half - to lift NU to a desperately needed win. Nebraska (7-4) closed the game on an 11-4 run, and a 3-point shot by Rhode Island - which made a season-high nine treys on the day - sailed wide at the buzzer to seal the game.

“A little bit of a right-of-passage game for this team,” head coach Tim Miles said. “We’ve been by the chalk the whole time. If we’re the dog, we get beat. If we’re expected to win, we win. But I thought tonight was a toss-up game, and the guys came out and did a heck of a job finding a way to win, even though it wasn’t easy for a long, long, long time.”

Shields matched his game scoring output at Creighton in the first 97 seconds on Sunday, scoring the first six points of the day to get Nebraska off to a quick start. That momentum wouldn’t last much longer, though, as the Rams (6-4) countered with a 12-0 run that saw NU go five minutes without a point.

Down by 11 points with just over five minutes left in the half, though, Nebraska came back with an 8-0 run of their own and cut it to 32-30 on a basket by Shields with 2:23 to go. The Huskers couldn’t get over the hump and reclaim the lead, as junior Tai Webster missed a point-blank layup that would’ve tied it up and then freshman Jack McVeigh was called for traveling with seven seconds on the clock.

Rhode Island capitalized with Jarvis Garrett banking in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to take a 37-32 lead into halftime. The Rams out-scored NU 18-8 in the paint in the first half, including forward Kuran Iverson scoring 12 of his 15 points in the first 20 minutes.

“We just missed defensive assignment after defensive assignment,” Miles said. “I think we had 28 defensive errors in the first half. Defensive errors are usually ones that lead to an open shot or a score … and they were everywhere across the board.”

The Rams continued their hot shooting right on into the second half, making four of their first six attempts from beyond the arc. Two of those came after Nebraska cut the deficit to three points on a layup by junior Andrew White, but Jared Terrell and Four McGlynn hit two straight from downtown to push the lead back up to 50-41 with 14 minutes to play.

That lead could have grown much larger had Watson not kept Nebraska afloat with 10 points in a span of 5:30 down the stretch, including a basket with seven minutes left that sparked a 10-2 run for the Huskers that eventually tied it up at 63-63 on a pair of free throws by White with 3:03 to go.

“It was just one of those night where you felt like, ‘Uh-oh,’” Miles said. “But you also kept looking, and I’m like, ‘They’re not getting away from us, you know? I think the under-eight timeout was 6:43 or whatever, and I thought we really played well after that.”

Maybe the biggest shot of the game came two minutes later, as senior point guard Benny Parker - who hadn’t scored a point all day - buried a 3-pointer with 1:13 remaining to give the Huskers their first lead since the 10-minute mark of the first half at 67-65.

A turnover by the Rams led to another jumper by Watson to extend the lead to four with 22 seconds left, and Shields made 1-of-2 free throws following a basket by URI to make it 70-67 with 8.3 to go. Terrell’s 3-pointer at the buzzer air-balled wide left, giving the Huskers the win.

In his second straight start, freshman forward Michael Jacobson scored 11 points with four rebounds and two assists in a career-high 26 minutes, while White added 11 points but committed a season-high five turnovers. Iverson and Garrett both led the Rams with 15 points.

Nebraska will get a full week off before its next game, as it will host Samford on Sunday, Dec. 20, for a 6 p.m. tip at Pinnacle Bank Arena, which will be televised on BTN.

“I think we had a bad two games (before Sunday),” Shields said. “The Abilene Christian was a bad game, and then of course Wednesday night was a bad game. So I think it was big for us to rally together, come together and get a win.”

***Nebraska’s 61.1 percent shooting in the second half was NU’s best of the season. The Huskers shot 60.7 percent in the second half against Mississippi Valley State.

***Nebraska’s shot 6-of-8 from 3-point range, the highest NU shot from 3-point range since going 9-of-12 vs. UT-Pan American in 2009-10. That would serve as a new school record, but the eight attempts didn't meet the required single-game record minimum of 10.

***Watson's 17 points topped his previous career-high of 14 against Southeastern Louisiana.

***Jacobson tied his career high with 11 points (also vs. SE Louisiana).