WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — For Purdue, Sunday’s first seven minutes comprised all the makings of what could have been a frustrating and unexpected home loss.

The Boilermakers made only one of their first eight field goal attempts and one of their first six free throws but trailed Nebraska only 8-3 in Mackey Arena when it really could have been much worse.

With Vince Edwards scoring 15 points and Kendall Stephens adding 12, Purdue finally got untracked and pulled away to a 66-54 Big Ten Conference victory.

Purdue (17-9, 9-4) pulled back into a second-place tie with 19th-ranked Maryland, each three games in the loss column behind No. 5 Wisconsin. The Boilermakers beat Nebraska (13-12, 5-8) for the fifth consecutive time in West Lafayette. Purdue improved to 6-1 in Big Ten home games, losing only to Maryland on Jan. 10.

“It has been a good lesson for our guys to hang in there when shots haven’t been going down,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “Sometimes when you struggle from the perimeter, it affects other parts of the game. For the most part in the last month, when we have struggled shooting the ball, we have hung in there.”

Nebraska coach Tim Miles acknowledged what might have been had his team not followed a good start with a 3-of-16 shooting drought.

“We make our first three buckets, and then we go on a long dry spell,” Miles said. “I was sitting there at halftime thinking that we had played good defense and they had missed 19 shots.”

At that point, Nebraska trailed 26-20, and Purdue had weathered the storm.

Purdue used a 10-2 run that began with 14:54 remaining to take a 48-32 lead with 12:19 to go. That burst included a three-point play from Edwards and a 3-pointer from Stephens.

After Nebraska countered with a 7-0 run, Stephens sank his fourth 3-pointer to give the Boilermakers a 51-39 advantage with 10:11 to go.

Isaac Haas and Rapheal Davis had layups that pushed the Purdue lead to 55-39 with 9:18 to go.

Nebraska closed within seven points with less than five minutes, but Dakota Mathias’ 3-pointer with 1:51 iced it for Purdue at 64-51. The freshman guard added 10 points.

“My teammates did a good job finding me when I really wanted to complement our big men,” said Edwards, who made 6 of 10 shots. “Most of the time, our big men were being doubled inside. Our bigs draw a lot of attention, so that can create opportunities. We had to knock down open shots, and we made those shots.”

Edwards, Stephens and Mathias were a collective 8 of 14 from 3-point range on a day when 7-footers Haas and A.J. Hammons were only a combined 3 of 9 from the field and 7 of 15 from the free-throw line for 13 points. Hammons had 12 rebounds, and Haas had four.

“Making those 3-point shots was huge,” said Stephens, who was 4 of 7 from beyond the arc. “They were really trapping Isaac and A.J. quickly.”

Purdue finished 8 of 21 from 3-point range, outscored Nebraska 18-7 from the free throw line and outrebounded the Cornhuskers 44-29.

Shavon Shields led the Cornhuskers with 19, and Terran Petteway added 13.

The Boilermakers took their first lead at 13-12 on a Davis layup at the 8:06 mark.

—

TIP-INS

Nebraska: The Cornhuskers have lost five of their last six. … Nebraska made its first three field-goal attempts on Sunday, then made only six of its final 26 opening-half shots. … Terran Petteway or Shavon Shields has led Nebraska’s scoring in 24 of 25 games this season.

Purdue: The Boilermakers have won six of seven, losing only at Minnesota. … In conference games, Purdue and Ohio State are the only teams to rank among the top four in field-goal percentage and field-goal percentage defense. … Purdue’s 17th victory is its most since the 2011-2012 team finished 22-13.

STAT LINES

Purdue had 18 offensive rebounds — 10 more than Nebraska — and enjoyed a 23-7 advantage in second chance points. … The Boilermakers got 19 points from their non-starters, 11 more than the Cornhuskers. … Four Purdue players — Hammons, Davis, Octeus and Edwards — combined for 32 rebounds. Nebraska finished with 29.

STAR POWER

Nebraska’s Petteway, who entered averaging a team-best 18.9 points, was held to 13 on 5-of-12 shooting, including only 1 of 6 from 3-point range. He also was guilty of four turnovers.

UP NEXT

Nebraska visits Maryland on Thursday night.

Purdue visits Indiana on Thursday night.

— Associated Press —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Sam Dekker matched his career high with 21 points, and No. 5 Wisconsin built a big lead early and then held off Nebraska’s late comeback bid for a 65-55 victory on Tuesday night.

The Badgers (22-2, 10-1 Big Ten) won their seventh straight game and extended their lead in the Big Ten to three games over the four teams tied for second place. The Cornhuskers (13-11, 5-7) lost for the fourth time in five games.

Wisconsin has its best 24-game record in program history and best 11-game record in Big Ten play since the 1913-14 squad went unbeaten.

Frank Kaminsky added 13 points and 12 rebounds and Bronson Koenig had 13 points for the Badgers.

Terran Petteway had 16 of his 21 points in the second half for Nebraska, and Shavon Shields finished with 12 points.

The Badgers were up 15 points in the last four minutes before Nebraska made one last run. Tai Webster’s three-point play and his layup after a turnover made it 52-42, and it was 58-53 with a minute left after Petteway converted a three-point play and made a 3-pointer.

Wisconsin went the last 4:53 without a field goal and was just 6 of 17 from the field in the second half. But the Badgers, who shot 39 percent for the game, made 24 of 31 free throws and 15 of their last 18 to improve their road record to 10-1.

The Badgers, who beat the Huskers 70-55 in Madison last month, swept the season series and avenged a 77-68 loss in Lincoln in last season’s final regular-season game. Last year’s upset of the then-No. 9 Badgers in Lincoln, played before an amped sellout crowd, clinched the Huskers’ first NCAA tournament berth since 1998.

Nebraska has looked like anything but an NCAA team this season and struggled again early Tuesday. Wisconsin had its first double-digit lead less than seven minutes into the game and led 27-13 at half. It was the second straight game Nebraska managed only 13 first-half points.

The Badgers had things going their way from the start. Leslee Smith blocked Kaminsky’s 3-point try from the top of the key after the tipoff. The ball came right back to Kaminsky, who fed Dekker for an easy basket.

Wisconsin shot just 42 percent and was 1 of 6 on 3-pointers in the first half, but that was enough to take control against a Nebraska team that shot 21.4 percent (6 of 28) in the first half and went scoreless for more than seven minutes.

Petteway, who scored 20 of his 27 points in the first half of the January loss at Wisconsin, had just five points on 2-of-11 shooting in the first 20 minutes.

TIP-INS

Wisconsin: The Badgers clinched a winning Big Ten record for the 15th straight year. … Wisconsin is 6-1 against Nebraska since the Huskers joined the Big Ten in 2010.

Nebraska: World lightweight boxing champion Terence “Bud” Crawford of Omaha gave a motivational speech to the Huskers this week and was introduced in the first half to big applause. Ex-Husker stars Will Shields (Pro Football Hall of Fame) and Alex Gordon (Kansas City Royals Gold Glove left fielder) also were in the crowd. … Shields made his 75th consecutive start. … The first 2,500 fans received the new state quarter, the Homestead Quarter, as part of a bank promotion.

UP NEXT

Wisconsin: hosts Illinois on Sunday.

Nebraska: visits Purdue on Sunday.

— Associated Press —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska followed its two worst shooting performances against Big Ten opponents with its best one in four seasons, and Terran Petteway was there to lead the way.

Petteway scored 28 points and the Cornhuskers shot 62.8 percent from the floor in a 76-60 victory over Northwestern on Tuesday night.

Petteway, the conference’s No. 3 scorer, came out of the shell he was in the previous two games. He was 1 for 11 while scoring seven points in a loss to Michigan, and he took a season-low eight shots while scoring 10 in a loss to Minnesota.

He was back to his old self against the Wildcats, going 8 for 16 and making five 3-pointers.

“The team was telling me I was being too patient, probing too much,” Petteway said. “That’s definitely the reason I came out so aggressive in the first half, to try to get going.”

Petteway made his first four 3-pointers, including three in a 1:21 span that got the Huskers out to a 21-13 lead.

“When Terran had that crazy outburst, the guys were like, `We’re not losing tonight,’ ” Nebraska coach Tim Miles said.

Petteway went without a field goal for almost 19 minutes spanning the halves but finished his big night with a 3-pointer and breakaway dunk in the final minute.

Walter Pitchford added 14 points and Shavon Shields had 11 points and a career-high seven assists for the Huskers (13-9, 5-5 Big Ten), who snapped their two-game losing streak.

Northwestern (10-12, 1-8), which lost its eighth straight, got 16 points from Alex Olah, 12 from Scottie Lindsey and 11 from Vic Law.

The Huskers’ accuracy was their best since they shot 63 percent against Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 2010-11. Nebraska also shot a season-best 47.6 percent on 3-pointers against the Wildcats.

“We had been struggling shooting, it’s no secret,” Shields said. “So getting everyone step-in 3s and a lot of easier looks that they can knock down was something we’ve been talking about.”

The Huskers were coming off horrid road losses to Michigan and Minnesota. They shot a combined 33.6 percent in those two games, committed a season-high 20 turnovers against Michigan and scored a season-low 42 points against Minnesota.

The Huskers, down 41-40 early in the second half, scored 17 straight points to go up 57-41. David Rivers had six points during the run and Petteway scored five in a row. The Wildcats went scoreless for 6 1/2 minutes and without a field goal for almost eight.

“I didn’t think it was so much what we didn’t do,” Wildcats coach Chris Collins said. “Obviously, Nebraska hadn’t been shooting the ball well. For those guys to come out and shoot the ball the way they did… When they’re shooting the ball like that, because their defense is good, they can beat anybody in this league, especially on their home floor.”

—

TIP-INS

Northwestern: Wildcats’ season scoring leaders Tre Demps and Bryant McIntosh combined for 10 points after totaling 36 in Saturday’s loss to Purdue. …Terran Petteway defended Demps and Benny Parker guarded McIntosh most of the game.

Nebraska: The Huskers have won seven of eight games against Northwestern since 1975. Nebraska has held opponents to 37.5 percent shooting in their first six Big Ten home games.

SHIELDS OVER 1,000

Nebraska’s Shavon Shields went over 1,000 points for his career by scoring 11 against the Wildcats. “It’s an awesome accomplishment,” he said. “I couldn’t do it without these guys. But there’s a bigger picture we’re trying to get to with these guys.”

MENTAL TOLL

Northwestern coach Chris Collins said the eight-game losing streak is wearing on his team. The setback to Nebraska was only the third of the Wildcats’ nine Big Ten losses decided by more than seven points.

“We’re a little beat down, no question about it,” Collins said. “We had a stretch of five games as gut-wrenching as you can have. We are what we are. We have one win. To me, I feel we should have four or five.”

UP NEXT

Northwestern visits Wisconsin on Saturday.

Nebraska visits Penn State on Saturday.

— Associated Press —

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The injury bug couldn’t stop Michigan, so what chance did Nebraska have?

Zak Irvin had 14 points and 12 rebounds and the shorthanded Wolverines rode a strong second-half start to a 58-44 victory over the Cornhuskers on Tuesday.

Michigan, which lost leading scorer Caris Levert to season-ending foot surgery last week, played without guard Derrick Walton Jr. and forward Mark Donnal.

Walton, who averages 10.7 points and made a 3-pointer to force overtime in Saturday’s loss to Big Ten leader Wisconsin, was removed from the lineup shortly before the game because of a sore toe. Donnal was out with an illness.

Coach John Beilein still had enough on his bench.

“Guys just stepped up all over the place,” he said after giving scout-team center Max Bielfeldt a season-high 26 minutes.

The Wolverines (13-8, 6-3 Big Ten) led 23-18 at intermission and blew the game open after starting the second on a 13-2 run. Irvin closed the spurt with a 3-pointer and the Cornhuskers never got closer than eight points the rest of the night.

Aubrey Dawkins scored 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting and Bielfeldt added 12 points and nine boards for Michigan. The Wolverines shot 49 percent and were perfect (8 of 8) from the line.

Irvin said Michigan was itching to get back on the court after the tough loss to Wisconsin.

“We had a little bit of a chip on our shoulders because of the Wisconsin game and we took it out on Nebraska,” he said.

Shavon Shields had 14 points to lead Nebraska (12-8, 4-4), which fell to 0-5 against the Wolverines since joining the conference before the 2011-12 season. The Huskers were outrebounded 34-26.

The Cornhuskers shot an abysmal 31 percent (15 of 49) from the floor and seemed to miss no matter where they found open looks. They were even worse in the first half, when they made just seven of their 27 tries.

“I just thought they out-competed us and out-executed us,” Huskers coach Tim Miles said. “We just didn’t show enough heart.”

Beilein, who started three freshmen Tuesday night, said the latest injury and illness news has been frustrating.

“I have not been a pleasant guy to be around the last couple of days,” he said. “All you can do is work your way through it.”

—

TIP-INS

Nebraska: Guard Terran Petteway struggled from the field and finished with just seven points on 1 of 11 shooting. He entered the game averaging 19.6, second-best in the Big Ten. Petteway didn’t crack the score sheet until he made a 3-pointer five minutes into the second half.

Michigan: Guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman has seen his playing time increase since the Wolverines lost Levert and the freshman continued to earn his keep. He had nine points Tuesday, including a pair of layups during the decisive run.

“He’s just growing, little by little,” Beilein said. “He has the speed we need right now.”

UP NEXT

Nebraska visits Minnesota on Saturday.

The Wolverines travel to in-state rival Michigan State for a Sunday matinee.

— Associated Press —

Keith Williams has been hired as an assistant coach at the University of Nebraska, completing Coach Mike Riley’s first full-time coaching staff with the Cornhuskers.

Williams will coach the Nebraska wide receivers and joins the Husker program from Tulane University, where he has spent the previous three seasons.

“Keith Williams is a tremendous addition to our Nebraska staff, and brings a great background in coaching wide receivers,” Riley said. “With Keith’s addition, I’m excited about the completion of our full-time staff. It is a mix of quality individuals who bring great skills as teachers, coaches, mentors and recruiters.”

Williams, who had eight former receivers in the National Football League in 2014, is eager to join Riley’s staff at Nebraska.

“I am really excited to join Coach Riley’s staff and thankful for the opportunity he has given me at Nebraska,” Williams said. “I have had a great respect for Coach Riley’s career from afar, and I’m ecstatic to be here at Nebraska and be a part of this program. This is one of those places that if you pay any attention to college football, you know about Nebraska. I have seen that ‘N’ my whole life.”

In his role on the Tulane staff, Williams coached the Green Wave wide receivers the past three seasons, and was also the out-of-state recruiting coordinator in 2014. This past season, the top target in the Green Wave passing game was true freshman Teddy Veal, who led Tulane with 40 receptions in his first season under Williams’ direction.

Williams was instrumental in the success of Tulane wideout Ryan Grant who completed his career in 2013. Grant finished his career with 196 receptions for 2,769 yards. Grant topped 75 receptions in each of his final two seasons, and produced a pair of 1,000-yard receiving campaigns. Grant spent the 2014 season with the Washington Redskins.

In 2013, Williams’ receivers combined for nearly 1,900 receiving yards and 18 receiving touchdowns, helping the Green Wave to a 7-6 record and trip to the New Orleans Bowl.

Before his time at Tulane, Williams served as the receivers coach at Fresno State for three seasons. While with the Bulldogs, Williams coached three All-Western Athletic Conference receivers and helped Fresno State to two bowl appearances.

Williams also has NFL experience, spending the 2008 season with the San Diego Chargers in a minority internship coaching position. He was also an assistant coach at San Jose City College, San Jose State and Solano (Calif.) College.

— NU Sports Information —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The first thing Tim Miles told reporters after his Nebraska team held off Minnesota surely resonated with fans at Pinnacle Bank Arena and folks watching at home.

“Man, I’m glad that clock ran out,” the coach said following a 52-49 victory Tuesday night.

So were connoisseurs of fine basketball. Except for a heart-pounding final 25 seconds that seemed to last an eternity to Miles, this one was hard on the eyes. There were 33 field goals and 31 turnovers, and the teams combined to miss nearly half their free throws.

“Ugly, but it’s a win,” the Huskers’ Terran Petteway said. “A win is a win. Some pretty good things, some bad things in this game. We’ll take it. We’ve got to. Now is the time we have to make our run.”

Shavon Shields scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half and Nebraska survived an eight-minute field-goal drought to end the game. The Cornhuskers (11-7, 3-3 Big Ten) made 11 of their last 12 free throws after starting 3 for 9 from the line and hung on as Minnesota missed what would have been three straight game-tying 3-pointers before the final buzzer.

Minnesota (12-8, 1-6) has lost six of its last seven games. Five of the Gophers’ six conference losses have been by five points or less.

“We’ve lost our fair share of close ones,” Gophers coach Richard Pitino said. “That’s the best we’ve executed. I thought we got open looks. The reality of the situation is when you miss 10 free throws on the road like that in a one- or two-possession games, you’re not going to win.”

Petteway added 11 points for the Huskers in a slog that had 43 fouls called, 25 in the second half.

Andre Hollins had 21 points for the Gophers, who shot a season-low 30.8 percent from the field and made only 9 of 19 free throws. Joey King added 11 points.

Shields’ jumper with 8:01 left was the final field goal for the Huskers, who shot 40.5 percent.

Hollins’ layup and Carlos Morris’ 3-pointer from the corner pulled the Gophers’ within 50-49, but Benny Parker was fouled and made the free throws to make it a three-point game with 25 seconds left.

Hollins, Morris and DeAndre Mathieu each were off with their 3-point tries at the end.

“The initial one Hollins got off I thought was a decent look, and that one worried me. It looked like it had a good line,” Miles said. “The ones after that didn’t have the arc or the line. But when you’re in a scramble situation, and you’re switching on defense and there are long rebounds and they’re desperate… It felt like we were running around there for 18 seconds.”

Minnesota had an eight-minute field-goal drought and shot just 28.6 percent in the second half yet still had a chance to the end.

Pitino praised Nebraska’s defensive effort, which kept the Gophers from getting good looks inside.

“We’re not going to get any sympathy,” Pitino said. “Miles is a good friend of mine. That’s the way it works. We’ll break through. We’ve still got a ways to go here.”

—

TIP-INS

Minnesota: The Gophers came into the game averaging a Big Ten-leading 11.1 steals and finished with nine. … The Gophers have lost three straight to Nebraska.

Nebraska: Terran Petteway reached 1,000 points in his career with an early 3-point basket. The game also marked Petteway’s 50th consecutive start, most on the team besides Shields’ 68 in a row. … The struggling Tai Webster made his best play of the year when he juked Joey King on his way to the hoop for a layup that gave Nebraska a 15-7 lead.

UP NEXT

Minnesota hosts Illinois on Saturday.

Nebraska hosts Michigan State on Saturday.

— Associated Press —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The story of Nebraska’s 53-43 win over Illinois Sunday is found in the numbers.

Illinois made just 15 of 55 shots, 27.3 percent, the lowest an opponent has shot against Nebraska since Tim Miles became the Cornhuskers’ coach in 2012. The Fightin’ Illini’s 43 points were the second fewest allowed by a Miles-coached Nebraska team.

“A big part of our offensive struggles, Nebraska deserves a lot of credit for that,” said Illinois coach John Gross. “Their defense is ranked in top 25 in the country for a reason when it comes to efficiency. I thought they were very difficult to score on tonight. I thought they defended very well. They did a great job.”

Nebraska forward David Rivers said the Husker defense worked as planned.

“We played pack defense and just executed what the coaches have been preaching to us all week,” Rivers said. “We were solid on defense packing it in, keeping it tight, trying to get the shooters the best we could. I think our screen-and-roll defense was good tonight and that was something we were working on.”

Nebraska (10-6, 2-2 Big Ten) built an 11-point lead midway through the second half and made 4 of 4 from the line in the final two minutes to seal the win. The Huskers shot and made just one free throw in the first 38 minutes of the game.

Illinois (11-6, 1-3) cut the Nebraska lead to six late in the game but struggled to hit shots. The Fightin’ Illini made just 15 of 55 shots and didn’t have a basket after the 3:14 mark until Aaron Cosby’s short jumper with :14 left.

Nebraska took the first double-digit lead of the game on Petteway’s 3-pointer that put the Huskers up 34-24 with 16:48 remaining. But Illinois’ Kendrick Nunn countered with a 3 on the next possession.

But the Illini fell behind 40-29 on Petteway’s layup with 11:06 left. Nebraska then went cold, hitting just one basket over a five-minute span. Leron Black’s dunk with 8:09 left capped a 6-2 Illinois spurt, cutting the lead to 42-36.

“We’re sitting there at one point, late in the game, 6, 7 minutes left, we’re holding them to 27 percent and we’re only up six,” Miles said. “I’m like `what do we got to do?’ You can’t play much better defense than that. It wasn’t like we were awful turning the ball over. We were shooting a decent percentage. But it was just one of those nights. Nobody’s going to the foul line. It’s going to be a tight game. I was proud of our team effort.”

Nebraska again pulled away, outscoring Illinois 7-2 in the next five minutes and taking a 49-38 lead on Petteway’s 3-pointer with 3:25 left. Illinois got no closer than eight the rest of the game.

Illinois, which didn’t lead after the 15:49 mark of the first half, put up 17 3-point shots in the first half and made just three, but Nebraska couldn’t take advantage of the poor shooting and led by just six at the half.

Shavon Shields had 11 points for Nebraska. Nunn and Malcolm Hill each had 10 for Illinois.

TIP INS

Illinois: The Illini played its second game without leading scorer and rebounder Rayvonte Rice. The senior guard, who was averaging 17 points and 7 rebounds a game, fractured a bone in his left hand Monday and underwent surgery Wednesday. He will be out for several weeks.

Nebraska: Avery Harriman, the seven-year-old son of Nebraska assistant Chris Harriman, joined Rivers and Shavon Shields at Nebraska’s post-game press conference. Avery, who has been battling leukemia, had no evidence of cancer in his second biopsy this week.

“For what he went through he is like — I mean he is little, but everybody can look up at what he has been through,” Rivers said. “He is big to the team, we are like a family. So it is big for everyone.”

UP NEXT

Illinois visits Northwestern Wednesday.

Nebraska visits Wisconsin Thursday.

— Associated Press —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Terran Petteway and Shavon Shields are going to continue to carry the offensive load for Nebraska, but it looks like they’ll have more help the rest of the season.

The Cornhuskers unveiled a nine-man rotation for the first time with the return of two injured players, and it served them well in a 65-49 victory over Rutgers on Thursday night.

With Illinois coming to town Sunday and a trip to No. 4 Wisconsin next week, coach Tim Miles wants all hands on deck.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that the guys kind of look at this like, `OK, this is finally us,’ ” Miles said. “This is our squad. And those guys aren’t close to being 100 percent, so it’s not us, but at least we can have the personnel out there that can be effective.”

Petteway scored 20 points and Shields added 11 for the Huskers. Benny Parker and Walter Pitchford added nine apiece, and three other players contributed at least four points.

Leslee Smith played for the first time after having knee surgery in July, and Moses Abraham was back after missing seven games with a broken right hand. Those two give the Huskers some much-needed defensive presence in the post and allow Miles to provide more rest for David Rivers.

Miles also wants to increase swingman Nick Fuller’s minutes. Fuller had four points and four rebounds while matching his season high of 13 minutes.

The Huskers shot 49 percent against the Knights, their best outing in 11 games.

“We want everybody to shoot,” Petteway said. “If you see us on the court, we’re yelling at Dave or Benny (Parker) because they pass up open shots. Me and Shavon have to score, and that opens up the floor when they are knocking down shots because they can’t just concentrate on me and Shavon driving.”

The Huskers (9-6, 1-2) are off to their best start in Big Ten play in their four years in the conference. Their previous starts were 0-4, 0-5 and 0-4.

Rutgers (9-7, 1-2) shot 34.7 percent and turned the ball over 19 times in its first-ever Big Ten road game. The Knights led by seven points early, but the lowest-scoring and worst-shooting team in the league struggled mightily after the opening 10 minutes.

Bishop Daniels had 12 points and Kadeem Jack had 11 for Rutgers.

“We started well and we sort of lost our offensive flow,” Knights coach Eddie Jordan said. “Our defense was good in the half-court, then we turned the ball over and we missed free throws. We got out-classed and it was just one of those nights.”

TIP-INS

Rutgers: Rutgers has scored 47, 50 and 49 points in its first three Big Ten games. … The Knights last visited Lincoln in December 2007 for a nonconference game that Nebraska won 63-51.

Nebraska: Abraham played 13 minutes and had five points and three rebounds. Smith had two rebounds and two assists in 13 minutes. … Nebraska finished with 14 assists, matching a season high.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT

“After we lost that last game (at Iowa Monday), I told myself I’m ready. I couldn’t watch my team suffer inside any more.” — Smith, on his decision to return Thursday.

UP NEXT

Rutgers hosts Wisconsin on Sunday.

Nebraska hosts Illinois on Sunday.

— Associated Press —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — In February, Indiana came into Pinnacle Bank Arena, built a 16-point first-half lead, but lost to Nebraska 60-55. Wednesday, the Hoosiers blew another 16-point first-half lead, but rebuilt the margin to 13 and held off the Cornhuskers 70-65.

“That’s a great sign of maturity for us,” said Indiana coach Tom Crean. “It takes a while for that maturity process to kick, especially when they’re away from your bench, on the other end of the floor. We closed the game well. Obviously, they made a comeback at the end.”

Nick Zeisloft hit a pair of free throws with 33 seconds left and Collin Hartman added one 21 seconds later to stem Nebraska’s comeback and seal the win for Indiana.

The three free throws were the only points scored by Indiana (11-3, 1-0 Big Ten) in the final 4:50 of the run-filled game.

Nebraska (8-5, 0-1) came out of halftime strong, hitting five of its first seven shots, outscoring Indiana 14-2 and taking a 46-42 lead on Walter Pitchford’s shot-clock-beating 27-foot 3-pointer with 15:28 left.

Indiana expected that Nebraska comeback, said Robert Johnson, who led the Hoosiers with 14 points.

“We talked about that, preparing for that run,” he said. “We talked about different things, like momentum swings and things like that. It just all comes back to getting stops. Once they go on the run, you’ve got to keep your composure, get something good offensively and try to string together two or three stops to get back into the game and get the lead back.”

The Hoosiers did more than that, taking a 49-48 lead on James Blackmon Jr.’s free throws with 13:30 left, extending the margin to 56-49 on Troy Williams’ putback with 8:55 left. Hanner Mosquera-Perea’s inside jumper with 4:50 left capped a 25-8 Indiana run, putting the Hoosiers up 67-54.

The Huskers countered with a final 10-0 run, holding Indiana scoreless for more than four minutes and cutting the Hoosier lead to 67-64 on David Rivers’ free throws with 1:05 left.

“I thought our guys were pretty good the second half,” said Nebraska coach Tim Miles. “The first half, I thought they were just too uptight. I felt like we gave them a good run. It’s hard not to think you beat yourself when you miss all those early shots.”

Indiana came into Wednesday averaging 86 points a game and, in the first half, it appeared the Hoosiers would match that mark.

Indiana used a 15-1 run to take a 17-8 lead on Emmitt Holt’s jumper with 12:57 left in the first half. Indiana led by as many as 16 before Nebraska put together a 10-2 run capped by a Terran Petteway 3-pointer with eight seconds left to trail 40-32 at the half.

“In the first half, we tried to play at their pace and that is why they got their lead on us. In the second half, we looked like us, but we have to put together a full game,” Petteway said.

Crean and Miles got into a verbal confrontation at mid-court after a hard foul by Nebraska’s Tai Webster on Mosquera-Perea with 9:43 left in the game. Neither coach would talk about the confrontation in post-game interviews.

TIP-INS

Indiana: The Hoosiers, who were 7 of 24 from 3-point range, had made at least seven 3-pointers in their previous 14 games this season. … Last year, the Hoosiers made seven or more 3-pointers just 8 times in 32 games.

Nebraska: The Huskers played without Leslee Smith and Moses Abraham, their two experienced big men who they hoped would return for Big Ten conference play. … Abraham, who has a broken hand, and Smith, recovering from a torn ACL, are now expected to return in about two weeks.

UP NEXT

Indiana visits Michigan State Monday.

Nebraska visits Iowa Monday.

— Associated Press —