Field Level Media
Dec 29, 2019
Four Nebraska players scored in double figures as the Cornhuskers defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 73-52 on Sunday afternoon in Lincoln, Neb.
Haanif Cheatham led Nebraska with 17 points, pacing the Cornhuskers in a comfortable and straightforward victory. Nebraska led 34-21 at halftime and was never seriously threatened in the second half.
Yvan Ouedraogo scored 11 points for Nebraska, while teammates Cam Mack and Matej Kavas finished with 10 points apiece for the Huskers (6-7), who are preparing for the heart of their Big Ten season in January.
If there was any drama left in Sunday's game, it left when Nebraska uncorked an 11-0 run to turn a 49-37 lead into a 60-37 bulge with 6:53 remaining in regulation. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (4-9) never got comfortable on offense, the dominant theme of the day in a game when neither team shot very well.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi finished 20 of 63 from the field, or 31.7 percent. The Islanders were just 7 of 22 from 3-point range. They finished 5 of 13 from the foul line. They couldn't establish a reliable dimension of their offense beyond the work of their two foremost scorers.
Jordan Hairston led the Islanders with 19 points, but he hit a modest 7 of 17 shots from the field and got to the foul line only twice. Irshaad Hunte scored 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting for the Islanders. Other than Hairston and Hunte, the rest of the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi roster was just 8 of 37 from the field, under 25 percent for the day.
Nebraska won by 21 points despite shooting just 34.8 percent from the field (23 of 66) and 28 percent from 3-point range (7 of 25). Nebraska outscored Texas A&M-Corpus Christi by 15 from the free throw line, 20-5. Nebraska forced 21 turnovers from the Islanders, part of their complete defensive performance.
Field Level Media