Husker Corner
Fansided

Nebraska Basketball: Rutgers gets domi-knighted against Huskers

By Oliver Vandervoort

Nebraska Cornhuskers guard Keisei Tominaga (30) drives to the basket as Rutgers Scarlet Knights center Clifford Omoruyi (11)(Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports)
Nebraska Cornhuskers guard Keisei Tominaga (30) drives to the basket as Rutgers Scarlet Knights center Clifford Omoruyi (11)(Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Has Nebraska basketball figured out how to win with the guys it has on the floor? For the second straight game, the answer appears to be yes.

This time, the Huskers didn’t need a massive come back or overtime in order to log the victory. No, this time, the Nebraska basketball team looked like the better team for about 30 of the game’s 40 minutes.

What can you say about a performance where the Huskers shot almost 60 percent from the field and nearly 50 percent from 3-point range? What do you call a performance where CJ Wilcher, who has had a frustrating season goes for 17? How about the fourth straight game where Keisei Tominaga has scored at least 22 points?

Domination doesn’t really seem to cover what we saw from Hoiberg’s Heroes on Tuesday night.

Rutgers gets domi-knighted against Nebraska basketball

For much of the first half, it did look as though the game might be back and forth and neck and neck. But even when the Huskers were leading by just a bucket or two, they looked like the better team.

That they were very clearly the better team really started to show towards the end of the first half when they took a 40-35 lead into halftime. In the second half, Rutgers stayed close, but it always felt as though they were trying to keep up, rather than trying to set themselves up for a run.

And then, Tominaga kicked it into another gear and started hitting everything from everywhere and the Nebraska basketball team ended up with a 82-72 win over a Rutgers team that was ranked in the Top 25 a week ago.

The Huskers are showing life right about the time when it first seemed like they were dead in the water. After a win over Penn State, the Nebraska basketball team looked lifeless against Michigan. They looked lifeless in the first half against Wisconsin. And then suddenly, it’s like someone flipped a switch.

Suddenly, the Huskers are 3-1 in the month of February, are 13-14 on the season and 6-10 in the Big Ten. Now the Cornhuskers will get to host three straight home games and suddenly, the chances of an actual winning record under Fred Hoiberg doesn’t seem quite so crazy.

In fact, it suddenly seems possible that the Nebraska basketball team could be one that no one wants to play. It’s been a while since that feel has been around Lincoln.

Home/Nebraska Basketball