Huskers Run By Baylor, 75-55, On Senior Night

LINCOLN, Neb. ----- Senior guard Cary Cochran scored a career-high 27 points, including a school single-game record eight three-pointers, to lead Nebraska past Baylor, 75-55, in the Huskers' regular-season home finale Wednesday.

Playing in front of Devaney Center crowd of 8,322, Cochran got a hot hand early, as he hit 6-of-9 from behind the arc in the opening period while helping Nebraska to a 12-point, 35-23, advantage at the intermission. Cochran's eight treys helped him set an NU single-season record, as he now has 81 three-pointers this season. Last year, Cochran tied the previous record of 78 set by Tyronn Lue in 1998.

Baylor came out strong, earning an 8-3 lead in the first two minutes, and extended its advantage to seven points, 19-12, with 12:24 to play before the break. But Nebraska, which came into the game 11-4 on its home court, turned up the defense and began to hit shots to erase the lead. Nebraska went on a 23-4 run to finish the half as Cochran had three three-pointers in the run, while John Robinson II and Jake Muhleisen each added a pair of baskets to key the Huskers.

Nebraska used a 7-3 run to open the second half, before Baylor started to make a charge. The Bears got back-to-back three-pointers from Keven Henry and a layup by Matt Sayman to cut the Huskers' advantage to eight, 42-34, with 14:59 left in the game. After John Turek jumper put Nebraska ahead by double-figures, Baylor's Lawrence Roberts cut it back to an eight-point deficit, but that was as close as it would get the rest of the way.

Roberts, a freshman who came into the game leading Baylor with 16.1 points per game, was held to just six points on 3-of-12 shooting from the floor. Freshman John Lucas led the Bears with 12 points, while R.T. Guinn and Wendell Greenleaf each had nine on three three-pointers apiece.

Nebraska used runs of 7-0 and 10-0 down the stretch to seal the contest. The Huskers held their largest lead of the game at 21, 73-52, with 1:43 to play. The victory was the largest for the Huskers this season, and the largest since Senior Night last year when Nebraska defeated Texas A&M 97-69. It was the sixth time this season Nebraska had won by at least 17 points.

Prior to the contest, seniors Cochran, Robinson, Justin Boeker, Kedrick Ford and Ross Buckendahl were honored. The five seniors started the contest, the first career start for Boeker and second for Ford.

Cochran led all scorers with 27 points on 9-of-19 shooting from the floor, including a single-game record 13 three-point attempts. He added a career-high tying seven rebounds with three assists and two steals. Robinson had seven points and a caeer-high seven rebounds while Buckendahl had four points on 2-of-2 shooting.

Freshman John Turek had a game-high nine rebounds and career-high five blocked shots, while Muhleisen had 15 points, four rebounds and four assists. Muhleisen became just the fifth rookie in NU history to reach 300 points, as he now has 309 points to rank fourth in the freshman record book.

 

Nebraska Head Coach Barry Collier
On the game:
"We're excited to be able to get through an emotional night and come away with the win. Our defense was better tonight against probably the best shooting team in the Big 12. They have 10 guys who can shoot the three and we defended them well. We certainly didn't expect a 20-point win, so we are pleased with that."

On senior night:
"We are really happy to see all five of them go out with a win. Their effort helping to get their teammates to play was important because we expended a lot of energy on Sunday. It can be a tough time to play because it is usually an emotional night. They had the mentality to go out and beat the world and that is a good thing. Cary shot it extremely well tonight. John struggled shooting, but he played well on the defensive end."

On Cary Cochran:
"Cary has had a couple of big games this week. I had to let him know tonight that you are not penetrating, you are shooting the ball. He did a great job of cutting and reading screens. He to a great extent of the game, kept them at bay"

 

Senior Forward Ross Buckendahl
On team's momentum:
"There's a little momentum there. If we can get a win Saturday at Kansas State, then that's a lot of momentum going into the Big 12 Tournament."

On margin of victory:
"They beat Missouri at their place so when they came in here, we expected everybody to play hard. But we stuck to our game plan. It was a big surprise, the margin of victory."

 

Senior Guard Cary Cochran
Overall thoughts on the game:
"I've been shooting a lot but my shots aren't falling off. It's a great feeling, I was expecting a little more emotion tonight. Nebraska means a lot to me, I feel like an adopted son being from Iowa. This is a great way to go out at home."

On postseason chances:
"I think we knew we had a chance, but now it's coming down to one game. Coach is stressing that. Obviously that's a goal for us. At the beginning of the season, I bet none of you would have thought we have had a chance to finish at .500. No one but us gave us a chance. We are really looking forward to Saturday's game."

On hitting eight three-pointers:
"After the seventh one, Jake (Muhleisen) said he would get me one more, but before that the game had been really tight, so I didn't notice how close I was to setting the record. John Robinson also said yesterday that he was going to get me going early in the game. I guess he did."

 

Baylor Head Coach Dave Bliss
On the Game:
"We got off to a terrific start to the game. We were up by seven at one time early in the first half. We got a little bit disjointed and shot some bad shots and gave them a chance to get back into the game. Cochran hit a couple of big shots and got it back closer. We ended the first half just like the start of the first half in the Oklahoma State game. Tonight our freshmen played like freshmen and they haven't done that in a long time. Nebraska played good basketball tonight. They had a good game plan for us."

On Nebraska's Three-Point Shooting:
"We ran some different types of defenses to try to defend the three-point shooting tonight. You can leave them open and think that they are going to have a poor shooting night. Cochran is one of the very best shooters. We left him open to many times tonight."

 

Nebraska postgame notes:
** NU head coach Barry Collier started all five of his seniors tonight in the Huskers' final home game of the regular-season. Nebraska senior forward Justin Boeker started his first career game for NU, while senior co-captain Kedrick Ford started his second career game (also in the season opener).

** Freshman guard Jake Muhleisen did not start for the first time this season, making room for all the seniors to be in the opening lineup. Muhleisen, a true freshman, had started 25 straight games before Wednesday's contest.

** Senior guard Cary Cochran broke the NU single-game record for three-pointers previously held by three people by hitting eight treys on the night. He became the first Husker to record seven three-pointers in a game more than once, as he also had seven in the 1999 NIT contest against TCU. Cookie Belcher was the last Husker to record seven treys in a game, doing it last season at home against Kansas, while Chris Cresswell was the first Husker to reach the mark in 1991.

**Cochran had six three-pointers in the first half, and eight on the night, to set the NU single-season record at 81. Cochran had previously tied the mark last year as he had 78 three-pointers to lead the team. The record was originally set by Tyronn Lue in 1998. It was the 26th time in his career he has had at least four three-pointers in a contest.

** Cochran set a career high with 27 points in his last appearance at the Devaney Center. Cochran was 9-of-19 from the floor, 8-of-13 from three-point range and 1-of-1 from the foul line. He added a career-high tying seven rebounds and had three assists with two steals.

** Freshman Jake Muhleisen recorded 15 points to become just the fourth freshman in NU history to reach the 300-point plateau. Muhleisen now has 309 points this season, to move into fourth place on the NU freshman record books, as he passed Cookie Belcher's 305 points in 1997 and Tyronn Lue's 296 points in 1996.

** Freshman John Turek had four blocked shots in the first half and finished with five, which is a personal and season team high. It is the most by a Husker since Kimani Ffriend had seven against Kansas State on 1/30/01. Turek previously had three blocked shots in a contest three times this season. He now has a team-high 34 blocked shots this season and ranks second in the NU freshman record book, only behind Venson Hamilton's 39 in 1996.

** Nebraska are now 11-1 at home this season when leading at halftime. The Huskers held a 12-point advantage, 35-23, over the Bears at the intermission tonight.

** John Robinson II had five rebounds in the first half, and added two in the second half to set a career high with seven boards. He had previously recorded six rebounds in a game on three occasions this season. He helped Nebraska trail by just one on the boards, 41-40, to the Bears.

** Nebraska's attendance for the night was 8,322, giving NU an average of 9,830 in Big 12 Conference play at the Devaney Center this season. That total is the highest since NU averaged 10,883 in the 1997-98 season.

** Nebraska had 15 turnovers in the game, after averaging just 6.0 turnovers per game in the past three contests.

** The Huskers had 11 steals in the game, marking their fifth double-figure steals effort this season. The 11 steals were two off the Huskers' season high of 13 against Colorado at home.

** Nebraska's margin of victory was its highest of the season and the sixth time this year NU had beaten an opponent by at least 17 points.