Nebraska grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat Saturday afternoon as the blazing hot Keisei Tominaga and a raucous Huskers crowd propelled Nebraska to a 73-63 comeback win over the Wisconsin Badgers.
After the game, Fred Hoiberg said he loved Husker fans energy.
“The Crowd was absolutely phenomenal today, and it’s why you do it”
The crowd was not as big of a factor early on as through the first seven minutes, both sides were tied at 10.
The Badgers then exploded, going on a 12-2 run, grabbing a ten-point lead, and silencing the Husker Faithful. NU did not score a point for nearly four minutes during the run.
Nebraska’s offense looked lost without veteran point guard Sam Griesel who was on the bench as Wisconsin began taking over the game. When Griesel returned to the game, his poise sparked a 9-0 Big Red run, making it a 22-21 Wisconsin lead with 5 minutes to go.
Wisconsin responded fiercely, outsourcing NU 13 to 4 the rest of the half, ending the first up 35-24
Three-point shooting and turnovers were a massive problem for Nebraska in the first The Huskers turned the ball over 8 times, allowing 9 points off of turnovers. NU also made one three-pointer compared to Wisconsin’s six.
The beginning of the second half mirrored the end of the first for Nebraska. Over the first, three and a half minutes of the second, Nebraska turned the ball three times. All three turnovers came from Derrick Walker.
The Badgers took advantage of stringing together a quick 10-4 run extending their lead to 17 with 16 minutes to go.
Walker was taken out of the game for Blaise Keita following his rough start. Walker said he after the game his play wasn’t good enough
“I was horrible, I don’t know how many turnovers I had, but it was too many”
Walker said that when he was subbed out, he took the opportunity to get back into the right mental headspace
“He (Hoiberg) got me out of the game and I was frustrated, but I hit a point where I was just like I needed to reset”
Walker returned to the game with a new mindset and a new position as Keita was kept in the game at Center and Walker played the Power Forward.
The “Big-Big” lineup, as Hoiberg called it, was a massive part of the Husker comeback.
After Walker’s return, Nebraska put together a 20-2 run thanks to the incredible play of Keisei Tominaga.
Tominaga hit four threes over five minutes, including the final one of the run, giving Nebraska a 48-47 lead with 11 left.
Tominaga’s hot shooting got his team and a packed Pinnacle Bank Arena crowd into the game.
A Chucky Hepburn three stopped a 4:41 scoring drought for the Badgers and put them up 2 with 10 to go.
The next ten minutes were arguably the most intense and competitive basketball PBA has seen all year. For nearly the rest of the game, no less than half the crowd left their feet.
The two teams traded points and big shots for the rest of the half. Young players such as Redshirt Freshman Sam Hoiberg and true Freshman Jamarques Lawrence made massive three down the stretch as the game was tied with 61 with 2:44 to go.
Derrick Walker had a chance to take a lead with under a minute left but missed a heavily contested layup at the rim. Wisconsin took a timeout with 18 seconds left to draw up a play.
Chucky Hepburn heaved up a long three out of the set sideline out-of-bounds play that was off target.
After the game when asked about the play Wisconsin coach Greg Gard was visibly upset about the shot and said the goal of the final play was to get the ball to the paint.
The two teams went into overtime tied 61.
Nebraska, and in particular, Derrick Walker, dominated the 5 minutes of play.
Nebraska outscored Wisconsin 12-2 in OT, six of which came from Walker and walked out of Pinnacle Bank Arena victorious.
Walker finished with 18, Tominaga finished with 22 and Blaise Keita was awarded the game ball from coach Fred Hoiberg after snatching 11 rebounds in 23 minutes of play.
The 17-point comeback from the Huskers was the largest deficit overcome at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Nebraska moves to 12-14 on the season and travels to New Jersey to take on Rutgers Tuesday, Feb 14th