NU men’s basketball defeats Penn State, earning first Big Ten victory

Nebraska basketball made history Wednesday night with its first Big Ten victory against Penn State by a score of 70-58.

The Huskers beat their new annual football rival by shooting 55 percent, and holding the Nittany Lions to 33.3 percent on the night.

But despite the 12-point margin of victory, Penn State managed 20 more shots than the Huskers. Penn State had a never-say-die attitude that made it difficult for Nebraska to get its first conference victory in its fifth try, NU coach Doc Sadler said.

"Overall it was a tough game," he said. "Penn State's tough, it was a good win it was hard earned. Every game is going to be in this league."

And the victory will let Nebraska players and coaches rest easy, point guard Bo Spencer said, after leading the Huskers with 19 points and five assists.

"We got a big monkey off our back," Spencer said. "It was a big win for us."

However, the Huskers are already looking past their first win and toward another this weekend in Madison. They just hope they can play as well against the Badgers as they did against Penn State.

"But now we've already proved that (we can win), it's time for us to come into practice tomorrow and have that same intensity we did with against Penn State and translate it into Sunday's game against Wisconsin," Spencer said.

An important element for NU's victory was the returns of Dylan Talley and Jorge Brian-Diaz to their roles on the court, both had 27 minutes on the floor.

"(Their return) is huge for us," Toney McCray said. "You all know Diaz and his scoring presence and Dylan he can shoot it with anybody so you know that helps us out tremendously and gives us more depth."

Talley managed 12 points and five rebounds while Diaz maintained an authority inside with three blocks and five rebounds of his own.

And that presence gave NU something they needed inside, Sadler said.

"You can't play this game without having a low-post presence," he said. "I don't care what kind of guards you got."

But the guards were able to put up jumpers, NU only had 20 points inside the paint and many of those points came from three-point land.

The Huskers went 7-19 from behind the arc while nine separate Nittany Lions took three pointers with only three falling in out of 24 total attempts.

"It just seems that we can't make shots on the road," PSU coach Patrick Chambers said. "That's a credit to Nebraska, they played great on defense. Doc came up with a great game plan. But the game becomes very difficult if you can't make shots, though."

One bright spot for PSU came from Tim Frazier. The guard from Houston put up 30 points and was on the court for the Nittany Lions for all 40 minutes.

But despite the impressive point total the Huskers did well defending PSU's leading scorer, according to Sadler.

"I thought we really did good in the first half," he said. "He's in every play offensively, so he's going to score 30 points a game.

"I think we did a really nice job on him, because he could have 40 or 45 because he's in every play.  I thought we did an excellent job."

After beating PSU, the Huskers turn to a game on the road against Wisconsin, so it's not time to rest yet, Sadler said.

"Our guys confidence is up," Sadler said. "But that's not to say all our problems are fixed."

robbykorth@dailynebraskan.com