Huskers Ease Past UNK, 84-71

Lincoln -- Jason Dourisseau scored 16 points in the first half and helped the Nebraska men’s basketball team run to an 84-71 victory over in-state foe Nebraska-Kearney Saturday in front of 3,981 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. In their final tune-up for the regular season, the Huskers hit 47.0 percent from the floor, including 43.5 percent from three-point range, to improve to 39-5 all-time in exhibition contests.

"We executed well in the first half, but then we got into some foul trouble and had way too many turnovers," Coach Barry Collier said. "We’re disappointed we didn’t play better in the second half, but that has a lot to do with UNK’s aggressiveness. They never backed off and they played very well."

Dourisseau scorched the nets all day long as he finished with a team-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor while adding six rebounds. The junior from Omaha helped the Huskers to a 48-32 advantage at the intermission with 16 first-half points, as Nebraska shot 51.4 percent in the opening period, including 50 percent from three-point range.

Dourisseau started a Husker rally after UNK jumped to a quick 7-0 lead to begin the game. Dusty Jura took the opening tip straight to the basket and added a three-pointer as the Lopers took a quick seven-point advantage. Dourisseau then scored Nebraska’s first points of the game to start a 13-0 NU run. Nebraska outscored UNK 18-4 over the next four minutes and added a 16-2 run to open a 36-18 lead with 7:49 remaining before intermission. Dourisseau and freshman Joe McCray scored 15 of the 18 points in the later run.

In the second half, the Huskers picked it up on the defensive end as they held the Lopers to just 27.5 percent shooting after the break, including only 5-of-13 from beyond the arc. Despite the Huskers’ strong surge on defense, Marty Levinson and Will Taukiuvea led the Lopers with 21 points apiece, including 15 points each in the second half as the Lopers outscored NU 39-36 in the final 20 minutes.

Corey Simms added eight second-half points to finish with 16 points, while helping NU open a 23-point lead twice before UNK came back to pull within 10 points in the final minute. McCray also finished another strong showing with 16 points and added a game-high nine rebounds. The Huskers dominated the glass with a 50-36 advantage, with six Huskers grabbing at least five rebounds.

Marcus Neal Jr. added 18 points for the second straight game while hitting 6-of-10 from the field. Neal scored just seven in the second frame but hit big shots to curtail Loper runs, including hitting 4-of-4 from three-point range for the game.

Nebraska returns to the court for the regular-season opener on Nov. 23 when the Huskers play host to the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions at the Devaney Center. Tip off for the 109th season of Nebraska basketball is set for 7:05 p.m.

Nebraska postgame notes
**Nebraska improved to 39-5 all-time in exhibition play and went 2-0 in the exhibition season for the fourth straight season and 14th time since 1989-90.

**Jason Dourisseau led four NU scorers in double figures with 20 points. Dourisseau’s career high is 21 points against Lipscomb last season.

** Marcus Neal Jr. recorded 18 points for the second straight game to lead NU in scoring during the exhibition season.

** Guard Joe McCray scored 16 points with nine rebounds, marking the second straight game an NU newcomer just missed a double-double. Center Aleks Maric had 10 points and eight boards against Monterrey Tech on Monday.

 

Nebraska Coach Barry Collier quotes
On the game
"We’re disappointed we didn’t play better in the second half, but that has a lot to do with UNK’s aggressiveness. They never backed off and they played very well."

"We executed well in the first half, but then we got into some foul trouble and had way too many turn overs."

On run and gun style of play
"That’s just the way the game presented itself today. We’re always looking to run the fast break every time we get the chance, but in order for that to happen, we’ve got to have stops and rebounds."

On looking to the regular season
"We’ve been practicing right through these exhibition games and we still need a lot more practice against another team. We’ve got to be sharper from this point forward."

On Corey Simms
"Corey had the best game on the entire senior class today. His defense and his rebounding were outstanding, so most of his points came off of drives and put backs."

On individual scoring consistency:
"We want to move the ball to the open man. Because of that, somebody can have a decent percentage, they just may not have shot that much so they don’t have that many total points. We’re just looking to function at a high level overall."

On Nebraska-Kearney:
"Coach Kropp does an excellent job, he’s a very good coach. His teams always play hard and they deserve a lot of compliments for the way they came out here today."

 

Guard Joe McCray quotes
On first half:
"Coach Collier told us to play with intensity. In practice we run through all different situations. I was a little nervous. I am starting to get the hang of it though and my teammates help me out a lot."

On the offense:
"Right now I am still learning all of the plays. We have a lot of different ones we run and some of them have more than one way of running it."

 

Nebraska-Kearney Coach Tom Kropp quotes
On Nebraska’s athleticism
"They played better than when we played against them three years ago. They’ve really improved."

General thoughts on the game
"I’m really happy at how our kids competed; they played a good second half."

Opinion on the second half
"We had no turnovers in the second half, and we were able to keep ourselves in the game."

"We have three really good, quality players and our kids are starting to step up."