Huskers Shut Down Cold Shooting Vols, 77-62

Lincoln ? John Turek scored a team-high 21 points, as Nebraska bounced back from its first loss of the season earlier in the week to post an impressive 77-62 victory over Tennessee at the Devaney Center Saturday afternoon.

Turek, who had scored 18 points in the last four games, broke out of his slump by hitting 7-of-13 shots and all seven free throws to lead three Huskers in double figures. The 6-9 junior from Council Bluffs, Iowa, also chipped in five rebounds and three steals in 31 minutes.

Senior guard Nate Johnson had 14 points and a career-high nine rebounds, while Corey Simms chipped in 12 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the floor. The Huskers improved to 6-1 with the win, their eighth straight at the Devaney Center dating back to last season.

The Huskers took advantage of Tennessee’s shooting woes. The Vols entered the game averaging 90.0 points per game, but shot just 27.8 percent from the floor, including 11.1 percent in the opening 20 minutes. UT was the sixth opponent that NU has held under 45 percent, as Nebraska ranked seventh nationally in field goal percentage defense last week.

Tennessee, which was playing its first game since Dec. 2, took a 6-4 lead on Stanley Asumnu’s three-pointer with 15:15 left in the half, but the Huskers took control of the game with a 26-8 run. Turek scored all 11 of his first half points in the spurt.

The Vols, who dipped to 3-1 with the loss, hit just 3-of-27 from the floor in the first half, including a drought of 15:09 without a field goal. Tennessee also committed 10 turnovers before trailing 30-17 at the break. Brandon Crump’s dunk with 9.9 seconds left before intermission was UT’s first and only two-point basket of the entire first half.

Crump scored a game-high 25 points, including 18 in the second half, but was the only Tennessee player to finish in double figures. The Huskers held guard Scooter McFadgen, who was averaging a team-high 22 points per game, to just seven points on 3-of-22 shooting. McFadgen and C.J. Watson hit a combined 2-for-15 from three-point range in the loss.

The Huskers continued to build on the lead in the opening minutes of the season half. Nebraska took its largest lead of the day at 50-26 on Jason Dourisseau’s thunderous dunk with 12:37 remaining. The dunk caused a short delay as the support stand came crashing down, putting the 8,206 fans in attendance on their feet.

UT mounted a comeback, closing to within 11 points several occasions, but could not cut the lead into single figures. NU converted 21-of-25 from the foul line in the second half, including a 10-for-10 effort from Johnson.

The Huskers have finals next week before returning to action on Saturday, Dec. 20, against Bethune-Cookman at the Devaney Center. Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m. and the game will be carried on the Pinnacle Sports Network and video-streamed on HuskersNside.

Nebraska postgame Notes
** The Huskers improved to 9-19 all-time against Southeastern Conference teams. The last time NU played an SEC School was in the 1998 NCAA Tournament, when the Huskers lost to Arkansas. NU had lost three straight against SEC competition, with its last win coming in a 69-61 victory over Georgia in the first round of the 1995 National Invitational Tournament (NIT).

** Tennessee finished the first half hitting just 3-of-27, the fewest field goals the Huskers have allowed since at least the 1993-94 season. NU had allowed five field goals in a half against Creighton in 1994-95, UNC Greensboro in 1997-98 and Centenary in 2002-03.

** Nebraska held Tennessee to just 11.1 percent (3-of-27) shooting in the first half, the lowest percentage since at 1993-94. The last time NU held an opponent to less than 15 percent shooting from the floor in one half was Nov. 16, 1997, when UNC Greensboro shot just 14.7 (5-of-34) percent in the first half.

** Jake Muhleisen tied his career high with three steals in the first half. Muhleisen was one of four Huskers with steals in the opening period, before finishing with 12 as a team for the game, tying its season high.

** Freshman point guard Charles Richardson Jr. made his third career start, picking up a career-high nine assists, the most for any Husker this season. Richardson's total is the most since Jake Muhleisen had a career-high 10 against Minnesota at home last season. Richardson, Marcus Neal Jr. and Jake Muhleisen were tied for the previous team high of five each earlier this year.

** Nate Johnson added 14 points, and had a career high nine rebounds. Johnson's previous high was eight rebounds against Iowa State last season at home. Ten of Johnson's points came at the free throw line, where he led the Huskers by hitting 10-of-10 from the charity stripe.

** The Huskers hit 27-of-34 from the charity stripe as a team, setting team season highs for attempts, made free throws and free throw percentage (79.4) in a single game. Tennessee came into the game having made 69-of-99 free throws while allowing its opponents to hit just 23-of-37 at the line. NU made four more free throws than UT's first three opponents combined.

** John Turek finished with 21 points, marking his second 20-point contest this season and third of his career. Turek has led the Huskers in scoring three times this season. He added a season-high three steals, one of four Huskers with multiple steals.

** Today's game marked the third time this season NU held its opponent to less than 20 points in the opening period. NU has led by double figures at halftime in every home contest this season, including 30-17 against Tennessee.

** NU increased its home-court winning streak to eight games, the most since 1997-98 when NU won 10 straight at home.

** John Turek went a perfect 7-for-7 at the free throw line, the best effort of his career after entering the season as a 41.9 percent shooter from the line. Nate Johnson's 10-for-10 effort at the line today was a team season high, surpassing Turek and Charles Richardson Jr.'s previous best (6-for-6 against South Florida).

** Nebraska held Tennessee to 62 points, 28 below its season average of 90.0 points per contest. The Vols entered the contest ranked ninth in the nation in scoring offense, and 14th in scoring margin at +20.0.

** NU has not allowed an opponent to score more than 64 points this season. Fairleigh Dickinson had 64 in the season opener against NU, and the Huskers have held three opponents to less than 60 points.

** Nebraska topped the 75-point plateau for the third time this season. NU reached 75 points in a game only three times all of last year. NU is 22-3 under Coach Collier when scoring at least 75 points, including the last seven straight dating to 2001-02.

Nebraska Coach Barry Collier Quotes
"We're really pleased that we bounced back as well and with as much toughness as we did from Wednesday's disappointing loss. Today was a great demonstration of team defense."

On NU's defense
"There was a tremendous amount of awareness and help given on Crump, even though he ended up with a lot of points. We still were able to hold down some of the other guys, and that forced them to be a little more one-dimensional."

On the importance of NU's second home win over a larger-conference opponent this season
"It does (have importance), because, like I told the team after the game, 'How often do we get another major-conference (team) in our building. We get some, but not every day (in the non-conference schedule)."

Nebraska Player Quotes
Freshman Charles Richardson Jr.
On the play after losing to Creighton
"I think we were more focused on running our offense today. The coaches said that Wednesday we tried to win too hard, we wanted the game too bad, we weren't really focusing on our offense. I would have to say we would break out of our offense too early and go one-on-one instead of running our offense all the way through and moving the ball and getting a better shot."

On his game
"It was definitely one of my best games. I still had two turnovers. Zero turnovers would have been better, but that is okay.

On the win as a whole
"It's great. It is why I came here. It's a big-time program. The crowd was into it and we want to get more people at the game. It will get us prepared for the Big 12 season."

Junior John Turek
On his game
"Basically I was not hesitating. Wednesday night my biggest problem was that I hesitated to shoot. I wasn't used to the defense sagging off of me like that. Coach gave me the confidence to just go out there and shoot the ball when I was open. He told me not to hesitate when I get the ball, just to make sure I attacked instead of hesitating.

On hitting the first couple of shots
"It's huge for me personally. I think for any basketball player when you go out there and hit your first couple of shots, it gives you confidence to keep shooting those shots and not hesitate.

On defense
"First half especially, we attacked on the defense. We didn't get back on our heels. We kept attacking them. We keyed in on a couple of their players. We made sure we got someone on Crump all the time. Our guards did a really good job.

Tennessee Head Coach Buzz Peterson
On the game
"Nebraska did an excellent job in the first half of being more physical. I warned our guys that they were a very physical team, but they just took it to us. We can't rely on three-point shooting as much. On the road for the first time, it was a good lesson learned.

On shooting struggles
"I never would have bet you that Scooter (McFadgon) would be 3-of-22 (from the field). In the first half I was pleased with our defense, but we couldn't get any buckets. On the road, we've got to getter better shots. Nebraska struggled shooting also and we had our chances. Guys kept fighting to get it to a single-digit game, but we just couldn't get there. We got some close shots, but we never finished. We either got fouled or just missed."