MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The celebration of Stanford’s NCAA-record eighth national volleyball title was in full swing, when the Cardinal players went flat on their backs to flap their arms and legs for some snow angels in the layer of confetti on the court.

There was some exhaustion amid the exhilaration, too, after being pushed to the limit by defending champion Nebraska.

Kathryn Plummer finished with 19 kills and 10 digs, Morgan Hentz had a career-high 32 digs and freshman Holly Campbell added a career-high 15 kills for the Cardinal in a five-set victory over the Huskers on Saturday night, 28-26, 22-25, 25-16, 15-25, 15-12.

“It took us a while to get there. Nebraska kept coming back and back,” Hentz said. “They put up an amazing fight.”

Audriana Fitzmorris added 14 kills, Jenna Gray had 57 assists and Tami Alade had eight blocks for Stanford, which won despite Plummer, the 6-foot-6 two-time national player of the year, hitting only .153 after entering with a .288 percentage for the season.

“We found out other ways to score when I wasn’t scoring,” Plummer said. “Other people stepped up.”

Mikaela Foecke had 27 kills and a game-high 29 points for seventh-seeded Nebraska, which had the crowd at Target Center on its side and effectively minimized the power and precision of Plummer but couldn’t pull away from this towering Stanford team that finished the season on a 32-match winning streak and was determined to avenge a loss to Florida in last year’s semifinals.

“I don’t know that I’ve been part of a match that was more interesting, more hard-fought,” Cardinal coach Kevin Hambly said, adding: “Foecke was unbelievable in that match. We couldn’t touch her. It’s sad to see her leave the NCAA. She’s going to have a long career ahead of her. I think we just all have a lot of respect for that team, how hard they play, the way they defend, the way they scrap.”

The Cardinal (34-1) had a much tougher time than in their three-set victory over BYU in the semifinals against the Huskers (29-7), who were champions in 2015 and 2017. They took a 3-1 lead in the final set, but the Cardinal proved they were much more than the power and precision of Plummer, who’s part of a star-studded junior class with Fitzmorris, who’s also 6-foot-6, Gray and Hentz.

“When you’re only playing to 15 points, you have to side-out very effectively. We let them get a few too many runs and weren’t able to come back. We fought hard at the end, but it wasn’t good enough,” said Foecke, who played in her program-record 22nd NCAA tournament match with fellow senior Kenzie Maloney.

Gray used a quick flip over the net to give Stanford a 13-10 lead, the largest of the fifth set to that point. Sidney Wilson’s serve was initially ruled wide, but Hambly challenged the call and a replay review reversal put Stanford in set point mode.

Foecke responded with a kill to cut the lead to 14-11, and the Huskers took the next point on a net violation. Foecke’s kill attempt on the ensuing play was thwarted by Hentz, who was consistently able to get exceptional height and control on her digs. That allowed Gray to set up Meghan McClure for the winner, sending Stanford into celebration mode. The party paused for a few seconds during an unsuccessful challenge by Nebraska on an attack line fault, but the looks on the faces of the Huskers revealed a team beginning to come to grips with a runner-up finish.

“They have a really huge block. They have really talented hitters. Jenna Gray is a phenomenal setter,” said Lauren Stivrins, who had 19 kills for the Huskers and led their surge in the fourth set.

With setter Nicklin Hames in rhythm, Stivrins scored three of their last seven points before Foecke notched the winner. Stivrins and coach John Cook were having a hard time coming to grips with the departure of Foecke and Maloney.

“They’ve created a legacy here over the last four years that we’re all going to be chasing,” Cook said. “I’m going to have to become a better coach. Our returning players are going to have to find a way to go to another level to reach what these guys have done.”

The “Go Big Red” chant broke out as soon as the national anthem ended, the NBA arena near capacity with a crowd of 18,113 tilted hard toward the Huskers with the Nebraska campus about a six-hour drive away. Those red-clad fans helped set the championship attendance record in Kansas City last year, with 18,516.

Most of the local ticket-buyers snagged seats months ago with the hope of cheering on host Minnesota in the final, but the second-seeded Gophers were felled in five sets by Oregon in the round of 16 and the Huskers emerged instead from that region to reach the NCAA semifinals for the fourth straight year.

— Associated Press —

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Reigning Most Outstanding Player Mikaela Foecke ripped her 15th kill to cap defending champion Nebraska’s rally for a 22-15, 25-16, 25-23, 25-20, 15-11 victory over Illinois on Thursday night in the NCAA volleyball semifinals.

The Cornhuskers (29-6) will go for their sixth title Saturday night against Stanford (33-1), which swept BYU in the other semifinal.

Nebraska led 12-11 in the fifth game when a Foecke kill was ruled out of bounds. However, Nebraska challenged and the call was reversed after officials went to the video monitor and determined an Illinois blocked had gotten a finger on the ball.

The Cornhuskers then went up 14-11 on an Illinois error before Foecke, also the 2015 MOP when Nebraska won the championship, closed it out.

Lexi Sun had 10 kills and 10 digs for the Huskers, who have won 13 straight since losing at home to Illinois in late October.

Jacqueline Quade had 21 kills for the Illini (32-4), who had won 17 straight.

— Associated Press —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska, in basketball, is now a red state.

The No. 24 Cornhuskers left no doubt, turning in their best performance of the season against Creighton, their in-state rival from Omaha.

James Palmer made three of his career-best six 3-pointers in the first three minutes and finished with 30 points, and the Huskers won 94-75 on Saturday night to end a seven-game losing streak in the series.

“James is a playmaker, and the bigger the stage, the bigger the performance,” said Nebraska coach Tim Miles, who won for the first time in the series and also broke through to win for the first time in 15 games against teams coached by Greg McDermott.

Creighton’s Mitch Ballock made his first six shots, all 3-pointers, and finished 7 for 10 from long range with 23 points. His efforts weren’t nearly enough.

The Huskers (8-2) shot 53 percent from the floor, including 52 percent (14 of 27) on 3-pointers.

Isaiah Roby had 15 points and eight rebounds, Glynn Watson Jr. had 13 points and Isaac Copeland added 11 points.

The 19-point winning margin was Nebraska’s biggest in the series since 1997.

“Every guy made these huge plays,” Miles said. “You start with James Palmer shooting the ball really well, Isaiah and Isaac Copeland doing what they always do, and then you look at Glynn. I was so happy for Glynn. And then Tom Allen, it was like he was shot out of a cannon tonight.”

The win was especially sweet for Watson, who was 0-3 in his career against the Bluejays.

“I can’t really put it into too many words,” he said. “It’s a great feeling. I’m very happy for me, my coach and my team.”

The sellout crowd at Pinnacle Bank Arena began chanting “Go Big Red!” as the Huskers put the finishing touches on their performance.

The Huskers led by as much as 21 points in the first half but couldn’t put the Bluejays away until late.

“Today we were so hyped before the game,” Palmer said. “We were ready to play. It really showed in the first half.”

The Bluejays got a dunk from Martin Krampelj and a layup and 3-pointer from Davion Mintz to make it 77-67 with 6:11 left.

Allen missed a 3 as the shot clock was running out. If the Bluejays had gotten the rebound, they would have had a chance to cut the lead to single digits. But Roby came up with the ball and passed to Copeland, who swished a 3 to put the Huskers up 84-70 with 3:46 left.

Mintz had 13 of his 15 points in the second half and Ty-Shon Alexander scored 10 for Creighton (6-3).

“Nebraska played great,” McDermott said. “We were concerned with their dribble penetration and their ability to get to the free-throw line. We tried to plug up the lane early. To their credit, they made us pay with the 3-point shot. That kind of got the crowd into the game and got us off to a rough start, and then we’re fighting an uphill battle the rest of the game.”

BIG PICTURE

Creighton: The Bluejays got all they could want from Ballock, but the rest of the team shot 19 of 50 from the field, and their 12 turnovers were converted into 17 Nebraska points.

Nebraska: The Huskers were up 13 points in the second half at Minnesota on Wednesday and squandered the lead in an 85-78 loss. When Creighton trimmed its 21-point deficit to nine, the Huskers responded well and never let the Bluejays get closer.

HOME COOKING

Nebraska extended its home winning streak to 17 straight games, with 12 of those victories by double digits. That marks the Huskers’ longest home winning streak since a school-record 20-game streak spanning the 1965-66 and 1966-67 seasons. Nebraska is 6-0 at Pinnacle Bank Arena this season, winning every game by at least 15 points.

MILES VS. MAC

Miles said the end of his personal 0-for-14 streak against McDermott-coached teams at the Division I and II levels will make for good conversation when the two play golf together next summer.

“It’s meaningful,” Miles said. “But I won’t be happy until we get 13 more.”

UP NEXT

Creighton hosts Green Bay on Friday.

Nebraska plays Oklahoma State on Dec. 16 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

— Associated Press —

Lincoln – On the heels of a 7-1 start, the Nebraska men’s basketball team is ranked 24th in the Associated Press poll released Monday. It marks the first time that the Huskers are nationally ranked by the AP since Nov. 17, 2014.

The Huskers, whose 7-1 start is the program’s best since the 2003-04 season, are one of seven Big Ten teams ranked this week. NU is joined by Michigan (5), Michigan State (10), Wisconsin (12), Iowa (18), Ohio State (19) and Maryland (23). In addition, Purdue and Indiana are also receiving votes in Monday’s poll. It marks the second straight week that seven Big Ten teams are ranked. Prior to last week, that had not happened since Feb. 9, 1999.

Nebraska is coming off a 2-0 week with a 68-66 win at Clemson, which is receiving votes in Monday’s poll and a 75-60 home win over Illinois. The Huskers are in action twice this week, traveling to Minnesota on Wednesday before hosting Creighton, which is also receiving votes this week, on Saturday.

— NU Athletics —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — James Palmer Jr. only made four field goals Sunday, but the Nebraska guard hit 12 of his 14 free throws to lead the Huskers to a 75-60 win over Illinois.

That’s exactly what Fighting Illini coach Brad Underwood didn’t want to see in the Big Ten conference opener for both teams.

“I thought we might try to set a Nebraska record and see how many free throws we’d let Palmer shoot tonight,” Underwood said. “It’s really funny, you spend a couple days and most of our talk was about not fouling. The one thing Palmer does is he puts a lot of fouls on people. We want him to shoot the ball. That was frustrating. But he’s an awfully good player. That showed today.”

Palmer finished with 23 points, Isaac Copeland scored 16 and Glynn Watson Jr. added 14 for Nebraska.

Nebraska (7-1) made 25 of its 30 free-throw attempts as an aggressive Illinois (2-6) defense committed 23 fouls, playing right into the Huskers’ hands, Palmer said.

“As a team we definitely wanted to get to the free-throw line; we knew they extended their defense and pressured,” he said. “We just wanted to get to the basket.”

Nebraska came out hot, hitting its first three field goals and all six of its free throws to go up 13-2 just 2 1/2 minutes into the game.

Illinois trimmed its deficit to four points midway through the first half but Nebraska closed on a 10-2 run to take a 39-23 halftime lead.

The Illini cut the Husker lead to 10 early in the second half and came within nine three times in the final 17 minutes, the last time at 60-51 on Da’Monte Williams’ jumper with 6:26 left. But a 7-0 Nebraska flurry capped by a breakaway Isaiah Roby dunk put Nebraska up 70-53 with 3:40 left.

“It was really important with these guys, to get on top of them and then keep them at arm’s length,” said Nebraska coach Tim Miles. “That’s been hard for a lot of teams to do. Gonzaga hasn’t done it. Notre Dame didn’t do it. We were able to. I think getting to the foul line for us was important and the fact we made some 3s tonight helped too.” Nebraska hit 6 of 14 3-pointers Sunday .

Underwood agreed that the early lead — and Nebraska’s smothering defense — were critical to the outcome.

“That’s a veteran basketball team who jumped on us early,” Underwood said. “It was uphill from the get-go. We never really got anything established for long periods of time at either end

“Give Nebraska credit, they’re top five in every defensive category. They contest everything. When we don’t shoot the ball and turn it over as much as we did it’s going to be tough night for us.”

Giorgi Bezhanishvili led Illinois with 14 points. Kipper Nichols scored 12 and Ayu Dosunmu added 10 for the Illini.

QUOTABLE

Nebraska radio play-by-play announcer Kent Pavelka called his 1,000th Husker game Sunday.

“Kent Pavelka is an icon in my eyes,” Miles said. “First of all, not many people get to 1,000 games. He’s great with the call and he’s truly a homer, he is with us, he travels with us. He’s part of the team. I hope college athletics never loses that, that’s still a cool part of life, those radio calls. I’m really happy we got a W on his 1000th game.”

BIG PICTURE

Nebraska: The Huskers have now won 16 straight home games. It’s their longest home winning streak since winning 16 in a row in 1981-82 and 1982-83 season. It was Nebraska’s 10th straight Big Ten home win, dating to the start of last season.

Illinois: The Fighting Illini entered the game ranked 18th in 3-pointers, making an average of 10.9 per game on 40 percent shooting. Illinois was 6 of 15 from 3-point range Sunday, shooting exactly 40 percent.

UP NEXT

Nebraska travels to Minnesota Wednesday

Illinois hosts No. 16 Ohio State Wednesday.

— Associated Press —

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Isaac Copeland Jr. wasn’t about to let this resume-builder slip away for Nebraska.

The Cornhuskers had watched Clemson cut an eight-point lead down to 66-64 in the final seconds and made sure his teammates knew it was time toughen up. “We’re winning this game. We’re winning this game,” Copeland, a senior, shouted in the huddle.

“Chill out, bro, chill out,” James Palmer told his teammate, according to Nebraska coach Tim Miles.

“Hey guys, it’s OK,” Miles told them. “We’re all on the same team. We’re all in the same direction.”

A winning one for the Cornhuskers, who closed out the Tigers for a 68-66 win to start the ACC/Big Ten Challenge — and gained a critical check mark when the NCAA Tournament committee looks to fill the field next March.

Palmer scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half and Copeland added 16 points for Nebraska (6-1), which earlier had dropped a game Texas Tech it came in expecting to win.

“We had been tested before with Texas Tech and we gave up early, and that’s why we lost by so much,” Copeland said of the 70-52 loss last week. “We knew going into this game we had to be strong, stay together.”

That’s just what they did when, ahead by two, they forced a turnover from Clemson’s Marcquise Reed with 9.4 seconds left. Glynn Watson Jr. followed with two foul shots seconds later to seal the win.

“It’s our first real road test of the year, so passing it was really important,” Miles said.

Nebraska thought it had a strong NCAA case after winning 22 games and going 13-5 in Big Ten play. But the Cornhuskers were left out, then got beat in the NIT opening round. A win like this, Copeland said, will help change that.

“We’re headed to high places,” he said.

Nebraska took control midway through the second half as Palmer had two straight baskets and Copeland followed with a power jam. When Thomas Allen struck with a 3-poiner from the right corner, the Cornhuskers were ahead 64-56.

Clemson, despite its late surge, could not catch up and lost its second straight game after starting 5-0.

It was also a strong start for the Big Ten, which has lost the past two challenges to the ACC — last year by an 11-3 margin. The conferences play 14 games in all, the majority on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The win improved Nebraska to 5-3 in challenge games since joining the Big Ten in 2011-12. The Cornhuskers picked up their third road win in challenge play after victories at Wake Forest (2012) and Florida State (2015).

It was also a bit of revenge for a tight loss at Clemson in the 2016-17 challenge when it was the Tigers pulling out a 60-58 win.

Elijah Thomas led Clemson with 16 points. Reed, who scored 24 and 27 points the past two games, was 6-of-14 shooting for 15 points.

Shelton Mitchell said it was frustrating to follow its 87-82 loss to Creighton in the Cayman Islands Classic final by dropping a home game. “But this is the time we need to stick together,” he said. “We lost two games, but it’s a long season.”

BIG PICTURE

Nebraska: The Cornhuskers looked fast, strong and talented and they’ll have a chance to show that in Big Ten play starting this week against Illinois as the league begins its 20-game regular season.

Clemson: The Tigers dropped out of this week’s Top 25 after losing the final of the Cayman Island Classic to Creighton 87-82 last week. They still looked like they were on island time as they played a step slow as Nebraska had 10 offensive rebounds and five steals.

STAT STUFFER

Isaac Copeland Jr. made a mark all over the place for Nebraska. He had six rebounds, three of them on the offensive glass. He made all four of his foul shots, had three of his team’s 10 assists to with a block and a steal.

TURN ABOUT

Nebraska coach Tim Miles recalled how his team had several chances to win here in 2016 before losing 60-58 as Clemson controlled much of the second half. This time, Miles said it was the Cornhuskers who dictated things in their victory. “You have to play from the lead on the road,” he said. “It’s really important.”

The Cornhuskers never gave up the lead after Copeland’s basket put them ahead 39-37 with 16:03 to go.

UP NEXT

Nebraska opens Big Ten Conference play against Illinois on Sunday.

Clemson faces St. Peter’s on Dec. 4.

— Associated Press —

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Glynn Watson Jr. had 20 points to lead Nebraska past Western Illinois 73-49 Saturday. But, after the game, the senior guard wanted to talk about rebounding.

Watson led Nebraska with nine rebounds, matching his career high — and coming up one carom short of a double-double.

“Coach had talked to us about rebounding,” Watson said. “I just tried to come out and play defense and rebound… I’m just cleaning up. Them guys box out, I’m the guy who comes and cleans up. They told me I needed one more. They hit a couple shots at the end, I guess it wasn’t for me today.”

Nebraska (5-1) was sluggish at the start, trailing Western Illinois 9-4 in the early going. The Huskers then slapped on the defense, holding the Leathernecks (2-4) to just five points in the next 15 minutes.

The Huskers led 17-11 when James Palmer Jr. heated up, hitting three layups, a jumper in the lane and a pair of free throws, putting Nebraska up 27-14 with 4:35 left in the half. Nebraska led by 23 at intermission.

Nebraska hit 57 percent of its shots in the first half while holding Western Illinois to 24 percent.

Nebraska opened the second half with 10-0 run, going up 50-17 on Watson’s 3-pointer with 17:41 remaining.

That lead was built off of the Huskers’ defense, which Nebraska coach Tim Miles praised, at least for the game’s first 23 minutes.

“I thought it was good for awhile, then I thought it fell off,” Miles said. “You don’t build a 33-point lead on anybody unless you’re locking them up. At the time we’d held them to just a couple 3-pointers. We’d rebounded pretty well… I thought we did a lot of things right for a long time. We didn’t finish the job. I’m not happy about that.”

Nebraska scored just 23 points after it took the big lead, in part because the Huskers were firing up and missing quick 3-pointers against Western Illinois’ zone defense. That let the Leathernecks get out in transition and cut the Husker lead to less than 20 a few times in the half.

“In the first half we were not ourselves,” said Western Illinois coach Billy Wright. “I think that had a lot to do with them (Nebraska)… but you look at some things that we didn’t do so well the first half, we were able to correct in the second half and it was 33-32 in the second half. We were still very competitive for most of the second half we just got down too many points from the start.”

BIG PICTURE

Nebraska: After scoring more than 80 points in their first four games, the Huskers had just 52 points in a Tuesday loss to Texas Tech. Nebraska got its scoring back on track Saturday, scoring 40 in the first half. Nebraska is now averaging 80 points per game.

Western Illinois: Leatherneck 7-foot-senior center Brandon Gilbeck came into Saturday’s game leading the nation in blocked shots per game at 5.5 and second in total blocks at 21 Gilbeck was foul-plagued Saturday, playing just 14 minutes before fouling out. He still got three blocks against the Huskers.

UP NEXT

Nebraska: The Cornhuskers travel to Clemson to play the Tigers in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Monday.

Western Illinois: The Leathernecks host Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Wednesday.

— Associated Press —

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The easy field goal that coach Kirk Ferentz didn’t have to fake nearly cost Iowa the game.

The kick the Hawkeyes had to make wound up rescuing them from a devastating defeat — and saved Ferentz from getting excoriated from frustrated Iowa fans.

Miguel Recinos drilled a 41-yard field goal through a driving rain as time expired and Iowa beat Nebraska 31-28 on Friday despite blowing a 15-point lead in the second half.

Mekhi Sargent ran for a career-high 173 yards and scored twice for the Hawkeyes (8-4, 5-4 Big Ten), who have won four straight over the Cornhuskers for the first time.

“For us, this is a black and gold Friday,” Ferentz joked.

The Hawkeyes came within inches of making it a black and blue Friday.

Iowa made the risky decision to fake a field goal at Nebraska’s 3-yard line up 28-13 late in the third quarter. It failed, and it led to a 98-yard scoring drive from the Huskers to make it 28-20 with 13:57 to go.

“We were going for the kill. Simple as that,” Ferentz said about holder Colten Rastetter’s pass to T.J. Hockenson, which was stopped a yard short. “We felt like we could really push this thing through.”

Adrian Martinez then ran it from 3 yards out with 3:22 left, and he used his feet to stay alive long enough to find Kade Warner — son of NFL Hall of Famer Kurt Warner — in the back of the end zone to tie it up.

But Hockenson found redemption with a 10-yard catch on a fourth-and-8 with 42 seconds to go. Recinos also came through on a last chance to redeem himself, putting it through the uprights after missing a 37-yarder with 7:54 left at the same end of the field.

“I kind of had a feeling after I missed that one that they were going to score again,” Recinos said. “Right after the miss I just reset and just back in it to try and make that kick.”

Sargent scored late in the second quarter on a 15-yard run and early in the third on a 5-yard pass from Nate Stanley to help the Hawkeyes jump ahead 28-13.

It felt like another easy wins over the Huskers was in order. But Nebraska and Martinez, their brilliant freshman quarterback, displayed some impressive resilience in nearly pulling off the comeback stunner.

“Adrian Martinez showed us that he’s fearless,” Nebraska coach Scott Frost said. “He made a lot of great plays late.”

Instead, Recinos led his teammates around a drenched Kinnick Stadium in a celebration so raucous that Ferentz wound up with a large cut on his cheek courtesy of quarterback Nate Stanley’s facemask.

Iowa’s supporters then gladly waited in their yellow ponchos to shuffle out of the stadium, cheerfully signing along as “Who’ll Stop The Rain” by Credence Clearwater Revival pumped through the speakers.

“I wish it was a little cleaner. But, I mean, to send the seniors out with a win, you can’t ask for anything more,” Iowa defensive lineman Anthony Nelson said.

Martinez threw for 260 yards and two TDs to lead Nebraska (4-8, 3-6), which went 0-5 on the road in 2018. The Huskers played without injured star wide receiver J.D. Spielman for the second week in a row.

THE TAKEAWAY

Iowa: After a three-game losing streak robbed them of a shot at the Big Ten title, the Hawkeyes finished on a high note and will now await their bowl fate. It wouldn’t be surprising to see them end up in either the Holiday or the Citrus Bowl.

Nebraska: When this rivalry was renewed back in 2011, who would have thought that it’d be Nebraska that couldn’t keep up? The Huskers were expected to be on near-equal footing with Ohio State and Michigan by now, but they head into the offseason looking up at the likes of Iowa and Northwestern. Nebraska showed significant progress over the second half of the season though, and Martinez is a keeper. “I have some fighters in there, and we need fighters,” Frost said. “The result isn’t what we wanted, but I’m awfully proud.”

THE NUMBERS

Stanley finished with 152 yards passing and two touchdowns, and Iowa ran for a season-best 266 yards. …Martinez also ran for 76 yards. Devine Ozigbo had 50 yards on just 10 attempts. …Maurice Washington had 102 yards receiving and a 28-yard TD grab to pull Nebraska within 28-20. …Hawkeyes fans know how Nebraska fans feel. In 2014, the Huskers’ last win in the series, Iowa blew a 17-point lead and lost in overtime 37-34.

HE SAID IT

“Imagine getting second guessed. That really happens?” Ferentz said.

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Texas Tech made every possession a grind, fought for every loose ball, dominated in the paint and imposed its will on Nebraska in a throwback to the old days of the rough-and-tumble Big 12.

All that fight produced a title in the Hall of Fame Classic.

Jarrett Culver finished with 26 points, Matt Mooney scored 15 and the Red Raiders overcame a slow start by ramping up the defensive intensity Tuesday night, pulling away from the Huskers in the second half in a 70-52 victory in the first meeting of the former league rivals since the 2011 season.

“That was an excellent defensive effort on their part,” Nebraska coach Tim Miles said. “It seemed like every time we had a chance to make something happen, they came up with the ball.”

The Red Raiders (5-0) trailed 15-6 in the opening minutes before going on a 12-0 run to wipe out their biggest deficit. The game remained close until midway through the second half, when Culver and Mooney began to get loose on offense and slowly padded Texas Tech’s cushion.

The crushing blow came with 8 minutes left, when Culver hit 3-pointer from the corner. Miles was given a technical foul at the other end when he thought a traveling call should’ve been made, and Davide Moretti made both free throws to extend the Red Raiders’ lead to 57-42.

They leaned on their stingy defense the rest of the way.

“Our team just continues to be a work in progress. Kind of a coaching cliche but so true,” Red Raiders coach Chris Beard said. “We challenged ourselves in a one-day prep to play what I think is an NCAA Tournament team in Nebraska, and we learned a lot about ourselves.”

They also left an impression on one of their biggest fans.

After playing a high-profile Monday night game in Los Angeles, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was courtside for the championship game at the Sprint Center. The Texas Tech alum stood and cheered on just about every made basket, and seemed to lament every miss as much as anyone else.

“I thought Pat might come to the game,” Beard said. “He’s just a great ambassador for Texas Tech. We tell our guys not to forget where you come from and he’s the perfect example.”

Isaac Copeland Jr. scored 20 points and James Palmer Jr. had 13 for the Huskers (4-1), who were trying to win their first in-season tournament title since the 2000 San Juan Shootout.

Copeland joined Culver and Mooney on the all-tournament team along with Southern California’s Bennie Boatwright and Missouri State’s Keandre Cook, who squared off in the third-place game.

Culver was voted the tournament’s most outstanding player.

“Jarrett is a special player,” Mooney said. “He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve seen. He’s really humble, and when he gets it going like that you’re just really happy for him. It was a great game by him. He pushed us to the `W.”

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 99, MISSOURI STATE 80

Boatwright scored 22 points, Jonah Mathews added 21 and USC connected on 17 3-pointers — its most in 17 years — to romp past Missouri State in the tournament’s third-place game.

Kevin Porter Jr. added 14 points, Derryck Thornton had 12 and Nick Rakocevic scored 10 for the Trojans (3-2), who bounced back easily from a turnover-laden semifinal loss to the Red Raiders.

USC used first-half runs of 13-0 and 16-0 to take control, pushed the lead to 44-27 by halftime and coasted down the stretch with the only question whether the Trojans would top 100 points.

“Our players made the choice to play together, share the ball, make the extra pass,” Trojans coach Andy Enfield said. “When you make the extra pass, usually you get an open shot.”

Ryan Kreklow hit six 3-pointers and had 23 points to lead the Bears (3-2). Cook added 21 points and Kansas City native Jarred Dixon hit five 3s and finished with 17.

“They were really good, especially from 3, and we didn’t defend them well,” Missouri State coach Dana Ford said. “You have to give them credit. I thought they played a fantastic offensive game.”

UP NEXT

Texas Tech heads back to Lubbock to face Northern Colorado on Saturday, while Nebraska welcomes a visit from Western Illinois on Saturday. USC returns to the Galen Center to play Cal State Bakersfield on Sunday and Missouri State heads to Murray State on Saturday night.

— Associated Press —