LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The shot clock was about to hit zero when Ohio State’s Luther Muhammad launched a shot from behind the key. The ball hit the front of the rim, bounced off the backboard and dropped straight through.

“To be honest, every time I let it go I feel like it’s good,” Muhammad said. “That one, that was a straight heat check. I just felt like, `Today’s my day. God is on my side today.’ ”

That funky 3-pointer — Muhammad’s third in a five-minute span of the second half — stemmed the momentum Nebraska was starting to generate and helped carry the Buckeyes to a 70-60 win that ended their longest losing streak in 21 years.

Muhammad scored 18 of his career-high 24 points in the second half, including two other 3s during a 20-5 run that propelled the Buckeyes (13-6, 3-5 Big Ten) to their first win in six games.

“This group has been pretty tied together even through as hard a stretch as any of us could have dreamed of,” OSU coach Chris Holtmann said. “They’ve stayed together, and finally some things went our way.”

James Palmer and Glynn Watson Jr. combined for 37 points to lead the Cornhuskers (13-7, 3-6), who have lost three straight games and five of seven. Nebraska played without Isaac Copeland for all but a minute of the second half after he landed awkwardly when colliding with an Ohio State player under the basket. The athletic department announced Saturday night that Copeland tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and is out for the season.

Ohio State started breaking open the game after Nebraska took its last lead, 38-36. The Buckeyes badly beat the Huskers on the boards, 45-31 overall and 14-7 on the offensive end.

“I think this shows what type of team we are when we play the full 40 minutes,” guard C.J. Jackson said. “We obviously know Nebraska is a good team. They’ve been struggling here late. They’ve been ranked this year. We just know once we play the full 40 minutes we can play with anybody.”

Disgruntled fans gave a sarcastic cheer when Nebraska got a long rebound of a missed Ohio State 3-pointer with about 6 1/2 minutes left. A good number of them walked out at the next timeout.

Nebraska went 6:19 without a field goal in the second half against Ohio State’s 2/3 zone and without Copeland on the floor.

“I hear the groans. I’m groaning. It makes me sick,” Huskers coach Tim Miles said.

C.J. Jackson and Andre Wesson scored 10 points apiece for the Buckeyes, and Kaleb Wesson had 11 rebounds to go with his seven points.

Palmer had 19 points and Watson had 18 for the Huskers, who shot 36.2 percent from the field.

“We’re blowing opportunities,” Nebraska forward Isaiah Roby said. “We know every game is going to be tough. We’re getting less and less opportunities to make a name for ourselves and make some momentum.”

BIG PICTURE

Ohio State: The Buckeyes played like a desperate team, bringing the game to the Huskers to end their longest losing streak since 1997-98. Muhammad played his best all-around game with six rebounds, two assists and three steals to go with his 24 points.

Nebraska: The Huskers are nothing like the team that won 11 of its first 14 and cracked the top 10 in the NET rankings. They put a lot of emotion into their home game against Michigan State last week, and that 70-64 loss seems to have resulted in a long hangover. A road loss to Rutgers on Monday and Saturday’s loss to the Buckeyes made for a horrible week for Miles.

COPELAND INJURY

Copeland tore the ACL in his left knee a minute into the second half. The senior forward, who scored eight points, was the Huskers’ second-leading scorer for the season, averaging 14.3 points per game.

“I am broken hearted for Isaac,” Miles said. “He is a young man who had every option available to him last spring, but wanted to come back and help lead the Huskers back to the NCAA Tournament and beyond. He has meant so much to our program and has been a valued leader in the Husker basketball family since arriving on campus two years ago.”

HE SAID IT

“I didn’t necessarily look at as whether you lose one game or five games. It’s miserable. Obviously, the misery was compounded five times. I don’t look at this as fun times are here again. We’ve got to continue to be tough-minded.” — Holtmann, on the end of the losing streak.

UP NEXT

Ohio State visits No. 5 Michigan on Tuesday.

Nebraska hosts Wisconsin on Tuesday.

— Associated Press —

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — Montez Mathis registered career highs with 20 points and nine rebounds while Myles Johnson added a double-double with 13 points and a career-high 11 rebounds and Rutgers rallied to beat Nebraska 76-69 on Monday night.

The freshman Mathis appears to have found his way as he now has scored in double figures in five of the last six games. Johnson’s 13 points tied his career high.

Rutgers (9-9, 2-6 Big Ten) went on a 15-0 run and took a 33-31 lead after a Mathis layup on a fast break started by Ron Harper Jr. Nebraska (14-6, 3-5) called timeout with 1:54 left in the first half before going on a run of its own capped off by James Palmer Jr.’s a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to give Nebraska a 38-33 lead at the half.

Palmer lead Nebraska with 22 points, while Isaac Copeland Jr. added 16 points and with eight rebounds.

Geo Baker had 16 points for Rutgers, while Johnson was 6-of-8 shooting and had a key block in the waning moments of the game.

BIG PICTURE

Nebraska: After splitting games versus Top 25 opponents in a win at Indiana and loss to Michigan State, Nebraska received 66 votes in the latest AP Poll ranking them 29th. The Cornhuskers will need to protect home court versus Ohio State this weekend to recover from the loss.

Rutgers: A much-needed win for the Scarlet Knights got them back to .500 and ended a three-game skid.

RUGGED RETURN

Just 12 days removed from dislocating his left knee cap Ohio State, Eugene Omoruyi checked in with 14:59 left in the first half. Omoruyi leads the team in points (14.6) and rebounds (7.5). Wearing a big bulky brace, Omoruyi finished with eight points and six rebounds.

YOUTH VS. EXPERIENCE

Rutgers has one of the youngest teams in the nation with just a little more than a year of experience, ranking 318th in the country. The Scarlet Knights have just one senior. With three senior starters, Nebraska averages a little more than two years of player experience — 34th in the nation.

UP NEXT

Nebraska: Hosts Ohio State Saturday.

Rutgers: Travels to Penn State Saturday.

— Associated Press —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Cassius Winston scored a career-high 29 points, Nick Ward added 15 and sixth-ranked Michigan State pulled away from Nebraska late for a 70-64 win Thursday night.

Michigan State (16-2, 7-0) relied on tough defense to extend its school-record Big Ten winning streak to 19 games. The Cornhuskers (13-5, 3-4) had their school-record 20-game home win streak end.

The Spartans led by 12 points in the final 2 minutes, but Nebraska cut the lead to four twice before Matt McQuaid made a pair of free throws for his first points with 14.2 seconds to put the game away.

Nebraska shot a season-low 32.8 percent and was just 5 of 26 on 3-pointers, 1 of 12 in the second half.

James Palmer, who led Nebraska with 24 points, struggled mightily from the field, going 6 of 21, but he made all 11 of his free throws. Isaac Copeland added 13 for the Huskers.

Winston scored eight of the Spartans’ first 18 field goals and assisted on five others, but his teammates were the ones who finally created some separation.

Aaron Henry hit a 3-pointer, Kenny Goins scored off Ward’s great entry pass and Henry had a lay-in to finish a 7-0 spurt that gave Michigan State its biggest lead of the game to that point, 51-44.

Nebraska got it back to three points, but Ward’s layin and Winston’s 3-pointer made it 56-48.

The Huskers came out with the intent to slow the pace and were mostly successful.

Michigan State closed the half on an 11-2 run to lead 33-28 at the break. The Huskers, who trailed at halftime for the first time in 10 home games, shot just 28.6 percent and had only one field goal in the last 4:47.

BIG PICTURE

Michigan State: This was a gut-check win for the Spartans, who were without Joshua Langford (ankle) for a fifth straight game and Kyle Ahrens (back) for a second in a row.

Nebraska: The Huskers were feeling pretty good about themselves after an impressive win at No. 25 Indiana on Monday, and they had an amped standing-room crowd on hand for the Spartans’ visit. But they had no answer going against the nation’s No. 3 team in field-goal defense.

UP NEXT

Michigan State hosts No. 19 Maryland on Monday.

Nebraska visits Rutgers on Monday.

— Associated Press —

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Nebraska found itself in the zone Monday night.

The No. 25 Indiana Hoosiers looked completely befuddled.

As Glynn Watson Jr. scored 15 points, Isaac Copeland added 14 and James Palmer flirted with a triple double, it was a smothering defense that helped Nebraska pull away for a 66-51 upset — its second straight victory on the Hoosiers’ home court.

“At halftime, I said `It’s OK to win with defense,” Cornhuskers coach Tim Miles said, trying to steady his team. “This is sure a confidence builder.”

The Huskers (13-4, 3-3 Big Ten) won their second straight overall, extended their winning streak in the series to a school-record three and racked up style points by limiting the nation’s second-best shooting team to its lowest point total and worst shooting percentage (36.5) of the season.

All it took was a fast start and Mills’ trademark 1-3-1 defense to rattle the lethargic Hoosiers (12-5, 3-3), who never recovered from a dismal start. Indiana has lost three straight overall and had its home-court winning streak snapped at 10.

“That was probably one of the most disappointing games that we’ve played as a team this season. We didn’t have any energy, any pop, either end of the floor,” Indiana coach Archie Miller said. “I didn’t think that we played with near enough energy to compete in this league. Offensively we were just horrendous in the first half.”

It wasn’t a matter of what went wrong but what didn’t?

While Romeo Langford scored 18 points and Juwan Howard had 17 points and eight rebounds, nobody else scored more than five. And aside from Langford and Morgan, who were a combined 13 of 29 from the field, Indiana managed just six baskets.

Palmer, meanwhile, had 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists — matching Indiana’s team assist total in a game the Hoosiers seemed to zone out.

“I thought we did a good job getting to Romeo and Juwan, making them play in a crowd,” Miles said. “We kept them out of transition for the most part. Getting off to an early lead was probably most important. Getting the crowd out of the game. The way you win big road games, you play from the front, and just hang on.”

Nebraska followed that blueprint perfectly, scoring the first nine points and extending the lead to 25-7 midway through the first half.

When the Cornhuskers missed 12 consecutive shots, Indiana closed the deficit to 26-20 late in the first half and got as close as 35-32 early in the second half.

But Nebraska answered with an 8-0 run and closed it out by methodically pulling away late.

BIG PICTURE

Nebraska: The Cornhuskers’ defense can challenge anyone in the Big Ten with its length and versatility. And when they score consistently, they can pose a real threat against any team anywhere.

Indiana: Sure, the bounces didn’t go Indiana’s way. But Miller acknowledged his team was lethargic and out of sync from the start. He knows they need to get better quickly.

STAT PACK

Nebraska: Never trailed in the game. … The 15-point victory margin was Nebraska’s largest in the series since a 38-18 victory in February 1920. . … Palmer and Copeland made their 50th consecutive starts. … The Cornhuskers also ended the Hoosiers 26-game home winning streak in December 2016, their last trip to Assembly Hall.

Indiana: Made only four of its first 19 shots and had only nine points with 5 minutes left in the first half. … The Hoosiers were 2 of 14 form 3-point range and 11 of 19 on free throws. … Justin Smith was 2 of 7 from the field after making 22 of 27 in the previous five games (81.5 percent). He had five points.

THEY SAID IT

Nebraska: “I thought our guys did a very good job with the game plan from the get go,” Miles said.

Indiana: “We just weren’t getting the ball moved,” Langford said. “We were just playing a little bit too conservative on the 1-3-1, weren’t really attacking, and that’s what you’re supposed to do against the 1-3-1 is attack and get the ball in the middle.”

UP NEXT

Nebraska: Returns home Thursday to face its second straight ranked opponent, No. 6 Michigan State

Indiana: Hits the road for the third time in four games when it visits rival Purdue on Saturday.

— Associated Press —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Isaiah Roby scored a career-high 22 points and made a couple big defensive plays late, and Nebraska beat Penn State 70-64 on Thursday night for its school-record 20th straight home win.

The Cornhuskers (12-4, 2/3 Big Ten) bounced back from two straight road losses that knocked them out of the Top 25. The Nittany Lions (7-9, 0-5) lost their third straight.

Nebraska’s home win streak is the longest among power-five conference teams and fourth-longest overall. The Huskers broke the school record set by the 1965-66 and 1966-67 teams.

Roby scored six of Nebraska’s eight points after Penn State tied it 48-all. He drove to the basket to give the Huskers the lead, then he ran through a wide-open lane, caught a pass in stride from Isaac Copeland and put down a big dunk. He put back Glynn Watson Jr.’s missed 3-pointer to make it 56-51.

Roby was 8 for 9 from the field, made two 3-pointers, and was 4 for 5 on free throws to go with 11 rebounds in his best overall game of the season.

On the defensive end, he made a steal and had one of his season-high four blocked shots in the last minute to help hold off Penn State, which missed 9 of its final 11 shots.

Josh Reaves hit a 3-pointer to pull the Nittany Lions to 62-61, Watson made a huge 3. Watson saved the ball from going out of bounds, gathered himself and shot a 3-pointer that bounced three times off the rim to make it a four-point game with 2:15 left.

Watson had 19 points and three of the Huskers’ nine 3-pointers.

Reaves finished a season-high 20 points, Mike Watson had 14 rebounds and the Lions held a 46-32 rebounding advantage, including 21-6 on the offensive end.

Penn State coach Patrick Chambers was back on the bench. He was suspended for Sunday’s game against Wisconsin after shoving one of his players during a timeout in a loss at Michigan last week.

BIG PICTURE

Penn State: Chambers says the Lions are improving even though the results aren’t showing it right now.

Nebraska: The Huskers are a totally different team at home. They need to carry over their mojo to the road.

UP NEXT

Penn State hosts No. 6 Michigan State on Sunday.

Nebraska visits No. 22 Indiana on Monday.

— Associated Press —

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — In a game that Iowa simply had to have, junior Jordan Bohannon carried the 25th-ranked Hawkeyes with one of the best halves of his career.

Bohannon scored 22 of his season-high 25 points in the second half, Tyler Cook had 16 points and Iowa beat No. 24 Nebraska 93-84 on Sunday, snapping a three-game losing streak to open Big Ten play.

“It’s hard to get your first Big Ten win, especially against a team like Nebraska. They have one of the most talented (starting lineups) in the Big Ten,” Bohannon said. “We got some stops when we needed to, especially down the stretch.”

Ryan Kriener added 14 points in his first career start for the Hawkeyes (12-3, 1-3). They shot 29 of 32 from the free throw line in holding off the Huskers (11-4, 1-3).

Nebraska, which shot 37.8 percent on 3s entering play, was a dismal 4 of 23 beyond the arc.

Bohannon, on the other hand, kept hitting 3s that kept the Huskers at bay.

Bohannon’s one-handed banked 3, his first basket of the game, gave Iowa a 44-40 lead at the halftime buzzer. Bohannon drilled another 3 to help slow Nebraska’s momentum and push Iowa’s edge back up to 72-63 — and he did the same after the Huskers got within 72-68.

“When you make one, the basket seems to get a little bigger,” Bohannon said.

Bohannon’s final 3, with 2:03 left, gave Iowa an 83-75 lead. He finished 5 of 8 on 3s, hit all 10 of his free throws and added five assists.

“He’s just a very good perimeter player,” Nebraska coach Tim Miles said about Bohannon, who torched the Huskers after they went to a 1-3-1 zone. “He’s one of those guys that makes his team just so much better.”

Isaac Copeland had 24 points to lead Nebraska, which dropped back-to-back games for the first time this season. James Palmer Jr. scored 20 points, but Iowa held the Big Ten’s second-leading scorer without a point for the opening 18 minutes.

“We didn’t play with as much urgency as Iowa did,” Miles said.

THE BIG PICTURE

Iowa: After missing three games with a sprained ankle, sophomore center Luka Garza checked in with 11:59 in the first half. It was a welcome sight for the Hawkeyes, who’ve desperately missed the big man’s presence in the post. Garza had eight points in 10 minutes. “It gives us another offensive weapon inside. It gives us a post presence defensively,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said.

Nebraska: The problem with blowing winnable road games, as the Huskers did against Minnesota and Maryland, is that it leaves less of a cushion for those times when shots just won’t go down on the road. Ironically, Nebraska kept it close by hitting 20 free throws.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

It’s possible, if not probable, that both teams will drop out of the poll Monday after losing to unranked teams this week.

THE NUMBERS

Nebraska’s Isaiah Roby scored 17 points on 8 of 10 shooting with nine rebounds. But he battled foul trouble in the second half. …Isaiah Moss had 12 points and 10 assists for Iowa, and Joe Wieskamp had 10 points with seven boards. …Iowa committed 13 turnovers. …Nebraska was 26 of 42 inside the arc.

HE SAID IT

“He knows (that) all I’ve ever done is encourage him to keep shooting,” McCaffery said about Bohannon, who moved into fourth place on made 3s in school history. “We’ll just keep telling him to shoot. That’s what he does.”

UP NEXT

Nebraska: Hosts Penn State on Thursday night.

Iowa: At Northwestern on Wednesday night.

— Associated Press —

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Nebraska’s final attempt to score had gone awry, and as the buzzer sounded, Maryland’s players rushed to the middle of the court to celebrate the team’s most significant victory of the season.

“We beat a really good team. We need that for a confidence builder,” coach Mark Turgeon said after the Terrapins used a late push to get past No. 24 Nebraska 74-72 on Wednesday night.

Bruno Fernando had 18 points and 17 rebounds, Anthony Cowan Jr. scored 19 points and freshman Jalen Smith accounted for Maryland’s final seven points to finish with 15, including a tiebreaking layup with 3.8 seconds left.

The Terrapins (11-3, 2-1 Big Ten) had previously lost to Virginia, at Purdue and at home against Seton Hall. Turgeon rarely misses a chance to point out that this is “fifth-youngest team in the country,” but he also knows that isn’t an excuse for losing.

“Our guys are doing great,” Turgeon said. “We’re getting better. I’m just glad we won.”

Maryland trailed 71-70 before Smith made a follow-shot off a 3-point try by Cowan with 28 seconds left. After James Palmer converted 1 of 2 free throws for Nebraska, Smith drove the middle of the lane for his decisive layup.

Following a timeout, Nebraska (11-3, 1-2) tried to work the ball up the court before Ricky Lindo Jr. knocked away a pass under the basket to seal it.

“It was extremely encouraging for all of us, just to see how far we’ve come,” Fernando said. “Wins like that mean a lot to us, to the coaches, to everybody at the whole University of Maryland.”

Palmer scored 26 points and Glynn Watson Jr. added 12 for the Cornhuskers, whose four-game winning streak ended.

Nebraska coach Tim Miles lamented his team’s poor free-throw shooting (15 for 23), lack of rebounding (Maryland dominated 38-28) and a defense that allowed the Terps to hit eight 3-pointers.

“You can’t give them eight 3s and not rebound. Pick one that you want to be awful at,” Miles said.

It was a tough loss to take, as was an earlier seven-point setback at Minnesota, but Miles accepted it as life in the Big Ten.

“You’ve got to look at it from a global, big-picture perspective and say, `This is just the way it’s going be,” he said.

The final minutes went back and forth, with neither team able to take charge.

After a three-point play by Smith put Maryland ahead 70-67 with 2:42 left, Watson made two free throws and Palmer turned a steal into a dunk for a 71-70 lead with 2:13 remaining.

That would be the last time the Huskers were in front.

“You hear the celebration in the opposing locker room, and it’s disappointing because you probably played well enough to win but you just didn’t do enough little things,” Miles said.

The game was tied early in the second half before Maryland missed eight straight shots over a four-minute span while falling behind 47-39.

Fernando ended the drought with a layup and made another before Aaron Wiggins and Cowan drilled 3-pointers to cap a 10-2 run that tied it at 49 with 12 minutes left.

Neither team led by more than four points the rest of the way.

SLOW START

Smith struggled in the first half, scoring only three points in nine minutes.

“He wasn’t very good early, was he?” Turgeon said. “I was chewing on him, the assistants were chewing on him, and he responded.”

DEFENSE RULES

The Cornhuskers limited Maryland to 28-for-60 shooting. It was the 38th time in 39 games Nebraska’s opponent failed to exceed 50 percent, dating to last season. Minnesota topped 50 percent on Dec. 5 in an 85-78 victory.

BIG PICTURE

Nebraska: Playing on the road in a loud arena, the Cornhuskers gave a tough Maryland team everything it could handle. But Nebraska needs to be more aggressive on the boards and against the Terps got only three players to the foul line.

Maryland: The Terrapins must build on this victory rather than merely bask in it. “We’re going to enjoy this one and move on,” Fernando said.

UP NEXT

Nebraska faces Iowa on the road Sunday.

Maryland travels to Rutgers on Saturday. The Terps are 6-0 against the Scarlet Knights since joining the Big Ten in 2014.

— Associated Press —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska coach Tim Miles knows that playing games during winter break can be a struggle, learning that lesson a couple of years ago when the Cornhuskers lost to Samford on Dec. 20.

No. 25 Nebraska avoided another holiday slip-up on Saturday, defeating Cal State Fullerton 86-62 behind 23 points from James Palmer Jr. and 10 points and 10 assists from Glynn Watson Jr.

“Every team that played today has got the same thing going on, usually, except for those dudes in Hawaii, they’ve got a good thing going on,” Miles said of the winter-break games. “I want to see us go out, play well, build a lead, win the game and nobody gets hurt. I think that happened.”

The Huskers knew they’d have to bring some extra energy. Both the players and their coach said the crowd of 15,000 that filled Pinnacle Bank Arena contributed to the victory.

“The Husker fans are unreal,” Miles said. “I told our guys at halftime: `There’s not a team in the country getting 15,000 fans tonight unless it’s Kentucky-Duke or something like that. This is ridiculous. Let’s perform well for them.’ We knew it was going to be a good crowd. It was awesome to be a part of.”

Nebraska (10-2) won its 18th straight home game, a streak dating to last season.

Isaiah Roby had a career-high 20 points for the Cornhuskers while Isaac Copeland added 12.

Kyle Allman Jr. had 14 of his 16 points in the second half to lead Cal State Fullerton. Khalil Ahmad had 12 points and Austen Awosika had 10 points.

The Cornhuskers used a 10-2 run to go up 27-16 on Palmer’s turnaround in the lane with 5:57 left in the first half. Cal State Fullerton (3-9) never got closer than seven in the final 25 minutes.

Nebraska went up 51-31 on Thomas Allen’s jumper with 15:27 remaining. The Titans cut the lead to 12 on Allman’s free throws with 8:53 left.

But Palmer’s fourth 3-pointer and two free throws by Watson started an 11-2 Nebraska run that put the game out of reach — and sent the Huskers home for Christmas.

“We started off slow, but we picked it up and came out with the win, then we can go home,” Watson said “We ain’t played in a week or so. Everything went good.”

The Titans struggled from the outside against Nebraska’s man-to-man and zone defenses, making just 4 of its 19 3-point attempts. Nebraska capitalized on the foul line, converting 24 of 38 to Cal State Fullerton’s 8 of 16.

Titans coach Dedrique Taylor said his team did some good things, but Nebraska and the crowd were too much to overcome.

“We battled on the glass,” he said. “I thought we did what we needed to do rebounding. That shows that we can rebound. I thought we executed some actions down the stretch there, but again being in this type of atmosphere, it’s a heck of a learning experience and we played a really good ballclub and they showed us why they’re good.”

BIG PICTURE

Nebraska: Miles became third winningest coach in Nebraska history. He now has 107, passing Moe Iba, who won 106 games from 1981-86. Danny Nee (1987-2000) tops the list with 254, one more than Joe Cipriano (1964-80)

Cal State Fullerton: Nebraska was the first ranked team the Titans have played this season. But Cal State Fullerton’s strength of schedule is ranked No. 17 by KenPom, largely because the Titans have played nine of their 11 games on the road or at neutral sites.

UP NEXT

Nebraska: Hosts Southwest Minnesota St., the Division II school where Miles coached from 1998-2001 on Saturday in its final nonconference game of the season.

Cal State Fullerton: Hosts Portland on Saturday in what will be just its fourth home game of the season. The Titans will play 11 of their first 15 games away from Fullerton.

— Associated Press —

The Nebraska Athletic Department and the University of Akron have finalized a two-part agreement, addressing the 2018 canceled football game between the schools and scheduling a future contest in Lincoln.

• Nebraska will play host to Akron at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 6, 2025. Akron will receive a guarantee of $1.45 million for the 2025 game in Lincoln.
• Nebraska will pay Akron $650,000 for the originally scheduled game on Sept. 1, 2018, that was canceled due to severe weather in Lincoln. The contract signed in 2014 provided a guarantee of $1.17 million for Akron to play the game in Lincoln, and Nebraska has agreed to pay more than half of that guarantee despite the game being canceled.

“We are pleased to finalize an agreement with Akron that is beneficial for both institutions,” Nebraska Athletic Director Bill Moos said. “We have had good dialogue with Akron during this process and are appreciative of the cooperation and patience from everyone involved. We look forward to Akron making a return trip to Memorial Stadium in 2025.”

The 2025 game against the Zips will be the home opener at Memorial Stadium for Nebraska. The Huskers open the season at Illinois on Aug. 30, before Akron will visit Lincoln. Nebraska also has a non-conference game scheduled at Cincinnati on Sept. 13, 2025, with one remaining non-conference opening.

— Associated Press —

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Nebraska got 29 points from James Palmer Jr. and the Huskers pulled away in the second half to defeat Oklahoma State 79-56 on Sunday night at the Sanford Pentagon.

Palmer came in averaging 18.7 points per game but blew by that number early in the second half. He scored a season-high 30 points in Nebraska’s last outing, a 19-point win over Creighton on Dec. 8.

Playing in front of essentially a home crowd, Nebraska (9-2) also got 16 points from Isaac Copeland Jr. and 14 from Thomas Allen. Allen came off the bench after suffering an illness all week. He was diagnosed with a stomach virus and was in a Lincoln Hospital until early Saturday morning. He left Lincoln for Sioux Falls at 7 a.m., arrived at the venue around noon and played 27 minutes going 5 of 7 from the field.

“For him to come in and be able to understand the defensive game plan and what’s going on, I think you can see what we saw in the recruiting process,” Nebraska coach Tim Miles said. “Sometimes he’s kind of the fifth Beatle. He did a great job tonight and made huge baskets.”

Nebraska’s biggest lead of the first half was 32-30 when Glynn Watson Jr. buried a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer after the Huskers trailed for most of the half. It was part of a 23-5 run that carried over into the second half and gave Nebraska a 46-35 lead when Allen hit a 3-pointer with 13:53 to play.

Oklahoma State trailed by double figures the rest of the way.

The Huskers extended the lead to 24 when Copeland hit a jumper to make it 70-46 with nearly three minutes to play. A late 3-pointer from freshman Justin Costello made it 79-54 with 29 seconds left — Nebraska’s biggest lead of the game.

The Sanford Pentagon is four hours north of Lincoln, Nebraska, and the 3,000-seat venue was overwhelmingly filled with Huskers fans.

“I think it might have caught our guys off guard a little bit. I don’t know if they knew exactly what to expect,” Miles said. “We just needed to process the whole deal, and I thought we got stronger as the game went on. You have to prove that you can win away from home, and although this had a great environment to it, it’s still away from home.”

Freshman Yor Anei led Oklahoma State (4-6) with a season-high 17 points and Lindy Waters III and Michael Weathers scored 13 apiece.

TURNING POINT

Trailing 28-21, the Huskers clamped down on defense and got a pair of 3-pointers from Isaac Copeland to take momentum into halftime. The Nebraska defense also forced two shot-clock violations in the final two minutes of the half, adding to their momentum surge.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

The Cowboys entered the game shooting 42 percent from 3-point range. Their previous season low was seven made 3s, in their last outing, a 63-53 loss to then-unranked but now No. 24 Houston on Dec. 8.

BIG PICTURE

Oklahoma State has now lost four in a row. The Cowboys shot just 13.3 percent from 3-point range, hit 8 of 15 from the free-throw line and committed 19 turnovers.

The Huskers made 21 free throws and shot 91.3 percent from the stripe — both season highs — and had 10 steals. They have won four of their last five.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma State will be home for three straight, beginning Dec. 21 vs. Central Arkansas. The Cowboys open their Big 12 conference schedule on Jan. 2 vs. Iowa State.

Nebraska returns to home for two straight, beginning Dec. 22 against Cal State Fullerton.

— Associated Press —