Dominant second half sparks Nebraska to 82-58 win over APBU

What looked like another potential non-conference disaster for Nebraska ended up a comfortable 82-58 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sunday.

The Huskers saw a 12-point lead turn into a 36-33 halftime deficit before falling behind by eight after the break. But a dominant second-half effort, featuring a 24-5 run, ended the threat and improved NU to 3-1 on the season. That ties for the best start under head coach Fred Hoiberg ( 3-1 in 2020-21).

Blaise Keita posted a double-double with a career-high 14 points and 10 rebounds. He had 13 and seven in the second half alone. Juwan Gary had a team-high 17 points and seven boards, while Sam Griesel scored seven with seven assists.

Trailing by as many as eight points early in the second half, Nebraska ended up out-scoring APBU 46-19 after halftime.

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Gary had 12 points in the first half, and NU hit three of its first four 3-pointers for a 20-8 lead. 

But Arkansas-Pine Bluff suddenly flipped a switch and rallied with a 13-3 run to tie the game. The Golden Lions hit 10 of their final 16 shots, including a buzzer-beater three by Shaun Doss Jr. that make it 36-33.

Nebraska shot 50% from the field and hit five 3-pointers in the first half. But APBU countered by going 8-of-12 from behind the arc. That included hitting six of its last seven attempts to end the half.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff quickly pushed its lead to eight less than two minutes into the second half. But the Huskers answered with a 16-3 rally and took a 52-47 lead on a layup by Keita.

That run would grow to as much as 24-5. A 3-pointer by Keisei Tominaga matched NU’s largest lead of the day at 63-51 with 7:36 remaining. The Huskers cruised the rest of the way, leading by as many as 24 before settling on a 22-point victory.

Nebraska scored 25 points off 18 Arkansas-Pine Bluff turnovers and held the Lions to 3-of-12 shooting on threes after halftime. They had made 8-of-12 from behind the arc in the first half. Zach Reinhart, who led APBU with 17 points, did not score after halftime.

The degree of difficulty on the schedule will pick up significantly this week. NU travels to Orlando, Florida, for the ESPN Events Invitational. The Huskers will open the tournament on Thursday against Oklahoma at 4 p.m. CT.

Huskers snapped out of St. John’s hangover 

Nebraska’s players might not admit it, but there seemed to be some hangover from Thursday night’s debacle at St. John’s. 

The Huskers got off to a fast start, but their intensity and attention to detail quickly faded. That allowed Arkansas-Pine Bluff to make things uncomfortable.

Their defensive close-outs and perimeter rotations were too slow. They also stopped attacking the glass despite being the bigger and stronger team.

Hoiberg said NU “got chewed out pretty good at halftime.” To the players’ credit, they responded exactly how he had hoped. 

Trailing by seven with 17:12 left to play, Nebraska forced a shot clock violation by APBU. That led to a 3-pointer by Emmanuel Bandoumel and then another defensive stop. Keita threw down a dunk to cut it to two, and NU came up with a third straight stop.

Griesel hit two free throws to tie the score at 44-44, and it was all Huskers the rest of the way.

“I thought we were hanging our heads a little bit (at halftime), and you can’t do that,” Hoiberg said. “To their credit, they turned that around. Our energy on the bench was phenomenal in the second half… I thought our whole group had it.”

Blaise Keita answered the call

Derrick Walker remained sidelined on Sunday due to vague “healthcare reasons.” That left Keita in the starting lineup for the fourth consecutive game.

Despite being the largest player on the floor, the 6-foot-11, 241-pound sophomore had one point and three rebounds in the first half.

In the locker room at halftime, Keita’s teammates challenged him to take the game over. With 13 points and seven boards after the break, that’s precisely what he did.

After being held scoreless in the loss at St. John’s, Keita surpassed his previous scoring high (9 points vs. Omaha) in the second half alone. He also dished out a season-best two assists. 

His presence helped NU own a 38-14 edge in paint points and hold APBU to 10 points from inside the arc in the second half.

“He was huge for us…” Bandoumel said. “He was being more physical, and we asked him to do that. We told him, ‘Blaise, you need to control the paint.’ And that’s exactly what he did in the second half – contesting shots, grabbing rebounds, and being physical with it… He responded. He responded well.”

The ball movement was much better

Along with getting overwhelmed by St. John’s press, one of Nebraska’s biggest issues was a lack of quality ball movement.

It wasn’t that the Huskers weren’t passing. They weren’t effectively moving with or without the ball to set up high-percentage shots. That led to NU finishing with a season-low nine assists on 19 made field goals in the defeat.

Granted, Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s defense is nowhere near the level of St. John’s. But Nebraska still had much better command on offense and got the ball where it needed to be.

The Huskers ended up with a season-high 17 assists on 29 makes. Griesel led the way with seven dimes, but four other players had at least two. That directly led to NU shooting a season-best 53.7% from the field.

“I really thought, overall, top to bottom, everybody that stepped on the floor had a positive impact on that game,” Hoiberg said.

They said it

“It was a huge stretch for us to know what we’re capable of. If we could bottle up the first 20 minutes at St. John’s and the last 18 minutes of this game and combine them for a full 40, we’ve got a chance to be pretty good. I was proud of the guys for hangining in there… Once we got going, it just shows what we’re capable of doing.”

Head coach Fred Hoiberg on the importance of Nebraska’s rebounding from the St. John’s and finishing against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

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