• Box Score: Northwestern 84, Nebraska 74
• Photo Showcase: NU men's basketball, Feb. 2
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EVANSTON, Ill. — Nebraska's defense Thursday night at Northwestern made a major miscalculation.
The Husker men chose to clog the lane in the first half, daring the opponents to shoot 3-pointers. Northwestern obliged, hitting 10 of 19 from long range to take a 15-point halftime lead, then hung on for an 84-74 victory.
Nebraska, down 41-26 after 20 minutes, cut the deficit to 54-53 with 10:39 left in the game and to 75-72 with 1:36 left.
But the Huskers (11-10, 3-7), who could have moved into a tie for eighth place in the Big Ten with a win, couldn't overcome the first-half failure in front of 5,239 fans at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Nebraska's early strategy was odd considering Northwestern's shooting proficiency.
The Wildcats are first in the Big Ten and 15th nationally in made 3-pointers (8.5) and have three of the top 12 3-point shooters in the Big Ten.
Nebraska coach Doc Sadler offered general criticism of his defense on his postgame radio show.
“We didn't defend,'' he told the Husker Sports Network. “As a team, we didn't defend Northwestern. You cannot win giving up 84 points on the road.''
Northwestern forward John Shurna, the Big Ten's leading scorer at 19 points a game, scored a game-high 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting. The Wildcats' Drew Crawford, the league's No. 3 scorer at 17.2 points a game, added 21.
“They've got two guys who are averaging in double figures that you've got to stop,'' Sadler said. “And they got 49 points.
“So we didn't do a good enough job of understanding what we needed to do, and that's with me.''
Husker guard Bo Spencer scored 20 of his team-high 24 points in the second half, but the senior also had eight turnovers — just one fewer than Northwestern had as a team.
Part of the reason Nebraska fell behind by 15 points at halftime was because of one of its almost-every-game offensive stallouts.
The Huskers made only one field goal in the final 8:02 of the half and saw a 24-23 deficit grow to 41-26 in that span.
Nebraska outscored Northwestern 12-1 to start the second half, closing to 42-38 on a 3 from Spencer. Then with 10:39 left, guard Brandon Richardson's steal and layup brought Nebraska back to 54-53.
But Northwestern (13-8, 3-6) responded by scoring nine points in 67 seconds to go back up by 10. A 3-pointer from Spencer with 1:36 left cut the gap to 75-72, but the Huskers got no closer.
“We were fortunate to cut it back to one,'' Sadler said. “We just couldn't close the game.''
Nebraska's next game is noon Sunday at home against Minnesota (16-7, 4-6).
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