No. 22 Hoosiers blow past Huskers 80-64

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Nebraska traveled to Assembly Hall on Wednesday night as heavy underdogs against an Indiana team that had just lost two of its past three games and was desperate to get back on track.

While the Huskers kept it competitive for the first 15 minutes, it was only a matter of time before the No. 22 Hoosiers once again looked like a Big Ten title contender in what ended in an 80-64 blowout defeat for NU.

Troy Williams scored a game-high 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting while Indiana shot a blistering 52.9 percent from the field, and a decisive 33-10 IU run from the end of the first half on through the second proved to be the difference.

With the loss, Nebraska dropped to 14-13 overall and 6-8 in conference play, while the Hoosiers - aided by an upset loss by Iowa against Penn State - moved into a tie for first-place in the league standings at 21-6 and 11-3.

"They had 17 possessions and I think they got 33 point from 5:22 (left in the first half) on into the second," head coach Tim Miles said. "At the end of the first half, I think we didn't have our best lineups on the floor, and they got us some. Then in the second half, I think they were just downhill. They were coming at us, especially Troy Williams. Troy Williams was just shot out of a cannon, and we didn't handle that very well. He really hurt us bad that way."

Nebraska opened the game completely dialed in on both ends of the floor and used a quick 7-0 spurt to take an early 14-8 lead after a layup by junior guard Tai Webster with just over 13 minutes to go in the first half.

But it wasn’t much longer until Indiana came storming back with a huge surge over the final five minutes of the half. A pair of 3-pointers by Nick Zeisloft and Collin Hartman helped give the Hoosiers their first lead in more than 14 minutes of action with 1:11 on the clock.

McVeigh was called for an offensive foul with just 6.3 seconds remaining, and head coach Tim Miles was hit with a technical foul for slapping the court in argument over the call. Senior guard Yogi Ferrell made one of his two free throws off the technical, and appeared to drain a 3-pointer as time expired to make it a four-point mistake by Miles.

However, the officials reviewed the shot and ruled he didn’t get it off before the buzzer, sending Nebraska into halftime down 41-34. McVeigh scored 12 of his career-high 17 points in the first half to go along with three rebounds and two assists, while White added 10 points to keep NU within reach.

"It's hard to play at this place," McVeigh said. "That's not an excuse. They're good team, and they shot the lights out... They hurt us in that little run and got the momentum, but it comes back to us as well. It was on all of us for that one."

Six points right out of the gate by Troy Williams quickly pushed Indiana’s lead up to 50-36 not even three minutes into the second half. A dunk by Thomas Bryant shortly after pushed IU’s run to 11-2 to start the second period and 28-6 going back to the five-minute mark of the first half.

The Hoosiers would go on to lead by as many as 19 early in the second half, but Nebraska was intent on at least keeping it interesting. A long two by freshman guard Glynn Watson capped a 9-0 run by the Huskers that cut the deficit to 57-47 with 12 minutes still to go.

A drive and layup by Webster got it back to single digits at 62-54 with nine minutes left, but Indiana would answer with seven straight points and never looked back. A one-handed dunk by Hartman with just under five minutes lit up the Hoosiers and their 17,000 fans in attendance to put an exclamation point on the win.

"A couple turnovers, some missed inside shots - we never got to the foul line all night - and pretty soon you look up and it's 14 (point deficit) again," Miles said. "That's when we lost a lot of confidence and it was a little bit disheartening for us."

White finished with 15 points and five rebounds, while Webster added 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting to go along with six assists. Indiana, however, knocked down nine 3-pointers as a team and went 17-of-23 from the free throw line compared to Nebraska’s 6-of-10.

The Huskers will return to action on Saturday when they play host to Ohio State for a 6 p.m. tip at Pinnacle Bank Arena, which will be televised on Big Ten Network.

***Miles was asked about his technical foul late in the first half, but said he felt his decision to switch to a zone in the final minutes of the half was far more detrimental than him getting T'd up.

"I don't know," Miles said when asked if the technical was warranted. "I was mad that fouled. I was mad that the type of foul was called, because I thought we got bumped before that. I turned my back and slammed the floor, and tried to do it crouching down - I'm not a very good athlete, so I ended up falling down. I'm sure that didn't look great. It is what it is. Whether that hurt the team, I don't know. You'll figure that out."

***McVeigh's 17 points set a new career high, topping his previous best of 16 (twice), most recently set back on Jan. 2 against - who else - Indiana.

"Growing up I always wanted to play against Indiana," McVeigh said. "They just seemed to fall those nights."

***With tonight’s game, Benny Parker moves into a five-way tie for 10th on NU’s career games list with 123. Parker has played in every game for NU over the last four seasons.

***White finished with three 3-pointers tonight, moving him into sixth place on NU’s single-season list with 72.

***Nebraska falls to 1-7 against ranked teams in 2015-16.