Field Level Media
Jan 29, 2019
No. 24 Wisconsin leaned on balanced scoring and defense to defeat Nebraska 62-51 on Tuesday night in Lincoln, Neb.
Brad Davison scored 13 points and Ethan Happ and Nate Reuvers had 10 points apiece as the Badgers earned their fourth straight victory. Happ added nine rebounds for Wisconsin (15-6, 7-3 Big Ten), while D'Mitrik Trice, Khalil Iverson and Brevin Pritzl had eight points each.
Nebraska lost its fourth straight game despite double-digit scoring efforts from Isaiah Roby (18 points), James Palmer (14) and Thomas Allen (10). Roby added nine rebounds, but shooting woes ultimately doomed the Cornhuskers, who shot 28.3 percent from the floor to the Badgers' 43.6 percent.
Still, Nebraska (13-8, 3-7) showed resilience, taking a 40-37 lead on an Allen 3-pointer with 12:05 remaining. However, Wisconsin responded with successive treys of its own, as Charles Thomas IV and Pritzl connected from deep to spur an 8-0 run that gave the Badgers the lead for good.
The Cornhuskers played their first game without senior forward Isaac Copeland, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee after falling awkwardly Saturday during Nebraska's home loss to Ohio State. Copeland was Nebraska's second-leading scorer at 14 points per game.
Nebraska struggled from the field in the first half, shooting 7 of 30 (23.3 percent) while enduring a scoring drought of 6:03 midway through the half. After a Palmer layup gave the Cornhuskers an 8-7 lead at the 14:43 mark, the hosts didn't score again until Tanner Borchardt split a pair of free throws with 8:40 remaining until halftime.
The Cornhuskers went another 1:45 until their next field goal, a Palmer jumper that cut the Badgers' lead to 23-11 and helped spark a turnaround. After trailing by as many as 14 points in the first half, Nebraska rallied to enter the break facing a 28-21 deficit.
Wisconsin improved to 9-4 against Nebraska since the Cornhuskers joined the Big Ten in 2011. The Badgers now hold a 15-14 lead in the all-time series.
--Field Level Media