Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports
Nebraska Outlasts Michigan State
The first Big Ten Conference win of the 2023-24 campaign is in for Nebraska men's basketball.
NU beat Michigan State 77-70 at Pinnacle Bank Arena Sunday. The victory gets the Huskers to 1-1 in league play and 8-2 on the season. It also snaps an 11-game losing streak to the Spartans and is the Huskers' first win over Michigan State in Lincoln since 2015.
In the epitome of a back-and-forth battle, neither team led by more than five points in the first half. That clash continued in the second half with Nebraska using a 15-6 run to open the half and go up six points.
A pair of Spartan free throws tied the game with exactly two minutes to play, but Big Red made eight free throws from there and added a Rienk Mast jump hook to salt away the game.
Both teams made 27 shots, with Nebraska shooting at a 50 percent clip and Michigan State at 47 percent. The Huskers made 10-of-23 3s while MSU got 8-of-17.
The teams were even in the rebounding category with 31 boards each.
Juwan Gary scored a team-high 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Keisei Tominaga got a trio of 3s to go in as part of his 15-point night, followed closely by the 14 points for Brice Williams.
Mast was just shy of a double-double with eight points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Nebraska has a week off before facing Kansas State next Sunday in Manhattan.
