Huskers steamroll hapless Rutgers 90-56 to snap Big Ten losing streak
In a game pitting a Nebraska team riding an 11-game regular season conference losing streak against a Rutgers squad that had lost 17 straight Big Ten games coming in, Saturday’s game was a must-win situation for two programs desperate to stay out of the league's cellar.
Nebraska made it clear from the opening tip that it had no intentions of keeping its losing streak going any further, rolling right over the Scarlet Knights en route to a completely dominating 90-56 blowout at The RAC Arena.
Junior guard Andrew White posted one of the best performances of his NU career, leading the way with 28 points on 11-of-14 shooting along with nine rebounds, and three other Huskers (9-8 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) scored in double figures while 11 had at least one point.
As a result, Nebraska led by 20 points at halftime and increased its lead to as many as 36 before settling on the 34-point victory, marking the biggest conference road win in program history. It was also NU's first true road win since Dec. 1, 2014, at Florida State last season.
"You never expect this in this league, or any league, really," head coach Tim Miles said on his postgame radio show on the Husker Sports Network. "We got up early by about 14 or 16, and they got it down to about (nine), and I kind of thought like, 'OK, here it goes. we're going to get tight now.' But it just never really developed. We kept making shots."
Nebraska came out of the gates blazing offensively, jumping out to a 14- 2 lead behind 10 combined points by White and freshman guard Glynn Watson. The Huskers ended up making their first six field goal attempts, including their first three 3-pointers, and led by 17 after a 3 by senior forward Shavon Shields with 11:30 left in the half.
Rutgers (6-11, 0-4) would eventually claw back and cut the deficit to nine with seven minutes to go, but that rally wouldn’t last much longer, as NU came storming back and pushed its lead back up to 46-26 going into halftime.
The Huskers ended up shooting 55 percent (18-of-33) from the field and 75 percent (4-of-7) from beyond the arc in the first half, with White leading the way with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting to pos his best 20 minutes of the season. Rutgers, on the other hand, shot just 33.3 percent from the floor and was 0-of-7 from 3-point range.
"(White) played terrific," Miles said. "Andrew, he's getting better. He's getting used to be circled on the scouting report and he's making the adjustment."
A 3-pointer by White and a steal and layup by Watson boosted Nebraska’s lead to 22 in the early minutes of the second half, and the Huskers would continue to roll and eventually take their biggest advantage of the day at 83-47 on a dunk by sophomore forward Nick Fuller with 5:26 left to play.
The rest of the game was essentially mop-up duty for NU’s bench and underclassmen, as all 14 players on the active roster ended up seeing the floor before the final buzzer sounded.
Watson finished with 12 points and four assists, and Shields scored 11 points while freshman forward Edward Morrow added 10 points and three rebounds.
"You need an enzyme, right? You need something to get you started, and this is at least that," Miles said. "Now I'm not ready to say we're turning the corner. But you know, it's got to give the guys a shot in the arm, it's got to give them a lift, and it should. They played very determined, and they had a very strong effort. That's what we need out of them again on Tuesday."
The Huskers will look to keep their momentum going when they return to action at home against Minnesota on Tuesday night, with tip-off set for 8 p.m. on the Big Ten Network. The Gophers (6-10, 0-4) just suffered a 77-52 defeat to Northwestern on Saturday.
Around the rim
***Nebraska’s 90 points was the most by the Huskers in a conference game since scoring 93 against Colorado in 2006. NU’s previous high in Big Ten play was 82 against Minnesota on Jan. 26, 2014.
***It was NU’s highest road total in conference play since scoring 96 at Oklahoma on Jan. 20, 1999.
***The win snaps NU’s 11-game conference losing streak dating back to last season and was NU’s first road win since a win at Indiana on March 5, 2014.
***Nebraska out-scored Rutgers 52-20 in the paint, 22-6 in points off turnovers, 20-9 in second-chance points, 12-0 in fastbreak points, and 32-25 in points off the bench.
***Nebraska led for 39:45 of the 40-minute game.
***The Huskers out-rebounded Rutgers 43-25, including a 15-9 edge on the offensive glass.