Huskers best Buffaloes in low-scoring game

Nebraska scored just 46 points Wednesday night against Colorado, but it was good enough.

The Cornhuskers defeated the Buffaloes 46-41 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. It was the lowest point total in a win for Nebraska since 1966, when it defeated Oklahoma State 45-41 in overtime in Stillwater, Okla.

The 87 total points by Nebraska and Colorado is a Big 12 record for fewest combined points in a league contest, surpassing the previous record of 89 points set in 2006.

It was also the fewest points NU has given up to a conference foe since giving up 41 points to Kansas State in the Big Eight tournament in 1984. Nebraska lost that game, 41-39.

Nebraska coach Doc Sadler said he knew this game wasn’t going to be easy.

“(Colorado) is so difficult to play against,” he said. “They control everything on the offensive end and make you make shots. I thought we got some easy looks early. They stuck with their zone, and it’s a difficult zone to play against. We shot 11 3-pointers in the first half; that’s way too many.”

With the win, Nebraska improves to 16-8 on the season and 6-5 in Big 12 Conference play, moving them into a three way tie for fourth-place with Texas and Kansas State.

The Huskers never trailed in the game, but its biggest lead was only eight on two separate occasions when it led 9-1 early in the first half and 38-30 midway through the second half.

NU seemed to be in control for most of the game, but couldn’t pull away from the last-place Buffs.

“It was a little frustrating,” said senior forward Ade Dagunduro. “We thought we had them earlier in the first half, but Big 12 games are going to come down to the last five minutes, so you can’t expect to blow any team out. It’s not going to happen unless you get lucky, but we did a good job of not breaking.”

Nebraska’s defense once again was the deciding factor in the game, managing to force 16 Colorado turnovers while only turning it over six times themselves.

The Huskers had eight steals and six blocks in the game, including a mammoth swat by Dagunduro that found its way into a front-row spectator’s lap.

Colorado managed to stay in the game by shooting it well from behind the arc. Of its 20 first-half points, 15 came from 3-point range.

Nebraska, however, shot just 35 percent from the field and 27 percent from 3-point land and missed some point-blank range shots early on.

“(We were) missing shots,” Sadler said. “I thought we had some good shots. At the same time, we were doing a nice job in the first half of getting the basketball inside, and we weren’t finishing plays. You don’t get more than one shot at it. We missed some open threes. Paul Velander is a guy that we count on, he had some open looks and we didn’t hit them.”

Dagunduro scored 18 of Nebraska’s 46 points and had some big three-point plays in the second half, but overall he was frustrated with his play.

“I’m happy with the point production,” he said, “but at the same time I was a little soft out there getting my shot blocked a little more than usual. I wasn’t happy with myself.”

Despite being frustrated with his own play, Dagunduro is relieved to get the victory and build momentum for their visit to Kansas on Saturday.

“I don’t think we played our best ball,” Dagunduro said, “particularly myself, but we got the win, so we’re happy with that.”

LUKENICHOLS@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM