Huskers Eclipse Sun Devils, 66-60

Lincoln ? Corey Simms scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half, as Nebraska improved to 3-0 on the season with a 66-60 win over Arizona State in front of a crowd of 6,995 at the Devaney Center Wednesday evening.

Simms led four Huskers in double figures, as the Huskers used a balanced attack, took advantage of every opportunity on the offensive end and held preseason All-American Ike Diogu in check to stay undefeated. Simms, who added six rebounds and steals, tied Andrew Drevo for team-high honors with 13 points apiece while Jake Muhleisen and Nate Johnson added 11 and 10 points, respectively. The Huskers committed only seven turnovers, while turning 16 ASU miscues into 25 points.

Behind a 13-rebound effort from John Turek, NU out-rebounded ASU 39-38 - including a 16-10 cushion on the offensive end ? to propel the Huskers to a 21-7 advantage on second-chance points. Turek, who was held to a season-low four points on 1-for-8 shooting, was a major factor in the paint, grabbing seven offensive rebounds to keep several critical possessions alive. Turek also played a major role in holding Diogu to just 13 points, half his season average of 25.7 ppg, and six rebounds before fouling out. Diogu also was forced into a game-high five turnovers.

While Turek was held in check, the Huskers found an unexpected star in Wes Wilkinson, who hit a pair of big three-pointers in 14 quality minutes off the bench. Wilkinson’s pass to a cutting Muhleisen for a back-door layup with 6:49 remaining broke a 48-all tie, triggering a decisive 9-2 run that gave the Huskers the lead for good.

ASU, which fell to 3-1 with the loss, led only once in the second half, at 46-45 on a Diogu driving floater with 10:03 remaining. Wilkinson came right back on the Huskers’ next possession, drilling a three from the wing to put the Huskers ahead by two.

The Huskers trailed early on before Johnson sparked a 21-5 run to end the first half, as the Huskers overcame an early five-point deficit to take a 36-25 halftime lead. Johnson, who missed Saturday’s win over Eastern Michigan with an illness, came off the bench to score seven quick points to knot the score at 22. Johnson finished the game with nine points and grabbed four rebounds in nine minutes of action.

The Huskers regained the lead the lead on a five-point possession, as the Huskers grabbed two offensive rebounds off free throws, and Muhleisen capped the sequence with a 3-pointer from the wing to give NU a five-point lead. The Sun Devils closed to within 27-24, but NU scored the next nine points, including a 3-pointer from Wilkinson and an alley-oop to Drevo that gave NU their largest lead of the half at 36-24.

A Drevo 3-pointer extended the Husker lead to 39-25 in the opening minute of the half, but ASU used long-range shooting to get back into the contest, as Steve Moore hit back-to-back three-pointers before Tron Smith’s trey on the next possession trimmed the NU lead to 39-34 with 18:19 remaining.

Moore, who scored 20 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, continued to bring ASU back, scoring six straight points to put the visitors within 41-40 with just under 12 minutes remaining. The teams traded baskets until Diogu’s gave ASU their short-lived lead before Wilkinson’s second 3-pointer of the game helped NU regain momentum.

The Huskers will conclude their season-opening homestand on Saturday, Dec. 6, when they play host to South Florida at 2:05 p.m.

Postgame Notes
* The Huskers are 3-0 for the second time in three years under Coach Barry Collier. NU has now won five straight home games dating back to last season.

* Nebraska opened the game with its third different lineup in as many games, with forwards John Turek and Andrew Drevo, and guards Jake Muhleisen, Corey Simms and Charles Richardson Jr. On Jake Muhleisen and John Turek have started every game this season.

* The Sun Devils are the first of nine teams the Huskers will face this season that received votes in this week's USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll. Also on the NU schedule is Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Colorado and Creighton.

* Nebraska had eight steals in the first half after entering the game averaging 6.5 per contest. NU finished with 12 steals on the game including a career-high four by Corey Simms. NU has not had at least 12 steals since 2001-02, when the Huskers had 15 on Feb. 7, 2001 against Oklahoma State.

* Sophomore forward Wes Wilkinson had a solid all-around night, chipping in six points ? one off his career high ? while hitting two three-pointers. Last season he had just three three-pointers all year. Wilkinson added one assist and one steal, and now has four steals in three games, after gaining three steals all last season.

* Junior forward John Turek had tied his season high with 13 rebounds, his second double-figure rebounding performance of the year. NU has had at least one double-figure rebounder in each of its first three games, and has now outrebounded its opponent in each contest.

* Senior Nate Johnson came off the bench for the first time in his Husker career after sitting out most of last week and the last game with an illness. Johnson sparked the Huskers, scoring 10 points and grabbing four rebounds with two assists and two steals.

Postgame Quotes - Nebraska Coach Barry Collier
Overall
"I thought it was a great college basketball game. Both teams were playing hard and aggressive and both were playing good defense. I was impressed with our guys ability to handle all the things we asked them to, whether we played man or zone or spread and also to their credit, they defended us very well on the road and gave themselves a chance to win."

On play against Diogu
"I thought it was very solid. We gave a lot up in order to take that away. He is a real key player for them and with Hill and Moore shooting the ball well for them, that made us shift our defenses from time to time. Ultimately I thought we did a nice job on Diogu."

On foul trouble for Drevo and Turek
"Obviously we played them each a little bit with two fouls in the first half and we don't want to do that much. We had pretty good depth tonight. Brian (Conklin) hit a big shot for us and Wes (Wilkinson) hit a couple of them. I felt like John and Andrew, with their weight and strength, could help us more, especially John, his rebounding was really good."

On the win
"Well they are very excited right now because we knew this was a really good team. They really controlled us last year. We are a new team and they are a new team, but this is a really nice win for us. We do have to keep our heads about us and understand we have completed 10 percent of our season. We have a long way to go. I like the way we are playing right now though."

Junior Corey Simms
On this year's team
"At this point in the season, I think we're definitely a better team this year. We have a quality team. We're playing together a lot more and it's more like a family this year. It's also been more fun in practice, more fun in the locker room, more fun playing and that's brought us a long way."

On the win
"I think it was a quality win. This is a team that went to the tournament last year and is a great team."

Junior John Turek
On how the team played
"Obviously I think we did very well tonight, even though a few easy buckets were missed inside. We also had some offensive struggles in the second half, but I think there are offensive struggles at some point in every game."

On his improvement this season
"I've been working on my game more this season, working on defense, but also extending my game. I've been working on free throws and having a better touch inside."

On how he played tonight
"I got into some foul trouble and had a hard time playing like I should've been. Once I got into foul trouble I was more hesitant."

Arizona State Head Coach Rob Evans
Opening Statement
"We made just enough mistakes in the first half and that's where the game was won, but we were able to claw back in the second half. Our kids battled back playing on the road for the first time this season and got themselves in a position to win. We had way too many turnovers and they beat us on the glass which means they had more possessions than us. I'm pleased with the whole team."

On NU's offense
"Offensively, they run a good scheme and we didn't do a good job of fighting off screen and that comes down to inexperience. There's a very small margin of error when you're playing on the road. They did a good job on the offensive glass and we just didn't do a good job of blocking out. We talked about it a lot and worked on it a lot, but they beat us on the boards tonight.