Penn State Pushes Past Nebraska, 76-64, Extending Wins Streak to Four Games

Penn State head coach Patrick Chambers knew better than to look past his Nittany Lions’ Saturday night tip at Nebraska.

Winless against the Huskers on their home floor since the 1995 NIT, long predating the opening of Nebraska’s new arena in 2013, that the hosts were struggling through the 2019-20 season was irrelevant. Playing under head coach Fred Hoiberg in his first year in Lincoln, the volume-shooting Cornhuskers represented a danger to No. 24 Penn State.

“This was a scary game for me. I've watched a lot of tape on Nebraska and obviously… the way they can shoot the basketball, they make nine-and-a-half threes a game,” Chambers said. “Any team that can make that many threes puts fear in you as a head coach.”

Earning a dominating 76-64 win, the Nittany Lions (16-5 overall, 6-4 Big Ten) put those fears to rest.

Tussling back and forth to a 38-33 Penn State advantage at the half, the Nittany Lions would need some time to do so, though. Taking an initial shot from the Cornhuskers (7-15, 2-9) out of the gates, the hosts sending through each of their first three 3-point attempts to take a 9-2 lead at the 17:23 mark in the first half, Penn State remained patient and had answers for its deficit. Finally deadlocking the score at 13-13 on a Myles Dread 3-pointer, Penn State and Nebraska traded blows until Jamari Wheeler’s second 3-pointer gave the Nittany Lions a 21-20 advantage with 11:53 left to play in the half.

“We were fortunate that we were shooting the ball well. Nebraska definitely jumped us early in the first 10 minutes there,” Chambers said. “And I was proud of my guys the way they responded because, on the road, you never know what's going to happen. And I thought our defense got us back in the game and we did a good job defending and rebounding for the most part in the half-court.”

Though a sloppy offensive rebound and-one to Thorir Thorbjarnarson allowed Nebraska to cut down a Nittany Lion advantage that grew to 38-30 on a Seth Lundy 3-pointer in the final minute, Penn State wouldn’t give back its advantage the rest of the way.

Already keeping standout sophomore guard Cam Mack in check in the first half, held out of the starting lineup due to a violation of team rules, the Nittany Lions pounced on Nebraska’s vulnerabilities to open the second half. Following a first half that saw the visitors knock home 7 of 20 3-point attempts, Penn State pounded the ball closer to the basket to extend its lead to 13 points in the first four minutes.

Answering Nebraska’s only resistance with his third 3-pointer of the game, Dread’s made basket at the 15:07 mark gave Penn State a lead that wouldn’t dip below 14 points until the final seconds. Taking just six more attempts from beyond-the-arc in the second half, the Nittany Lions relied on its 28 points in the paint and a commanding 49-38 rebounding advantage to lead by as many as 24 points twice once crossing into the game’s final 10 minutes.

Though Nebraska created challenges for Penn State’s guards, the league’s second-leading team in turnover margin (+2.9), the Nittany Lions’ 16 turnovers and a 6-of-14 clip from the free-throw line were Chambers’ few quibbles afterward.

“We have to take care of the ball. We had 16 turnovers, so we got to do a better job there,” Chambers said. “And I'm concerned about our free throws. That's two games in a row where we haven't shot free throws well. We've been shooting pretty well from the free-throw line.

“I still think we can better. I just said that to the team, ‘Guys, great job, we've never won here before.’ So we're going to take this victory and go home. However, it's scary to think that we can get a lot better and we can get more production from certain individuals. But just keep that growth mindset to be the best team we can be by the end of the year.”

The Nittany Lions return to action Tuesday night when they travel to No. 14 Michigan State (16-6, 8-3). The game will tip at 8 p.m. and be broadcast on BTN.

Notes:

- Lamar Stevens passed the 2,000 point threshold for his career in the first half, finishing second in scoring to Dread with 13 points on the game.

“He's a warrior. Give the kid a lot of credit for his leadership,” Chambers said. “The individual accolade is nice, but he'd rather win games. I think for him, it's about winning. And this was important because we've never won here.”

- Dread’s 14 points were his highest scoring output since 14 points in an 89-86 win against Iowa to resume Big Ten play in January. His four made 3s matched his most since hitting four each against Georgetown and Bucknell in November.

*******

• Talk about this article inside The Lions Den

• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue-White Illustrated

• Follow us on Twitter: @BWIonRivals, @NateBauerBWI, @RivalsSnyder, @DavidEckert98, @ThomasFrankCarr

• Like us on Facebook