Muhleisen Pushes Nebraska to Road Victory

Waco, Texas ? Jake Muhleisen scored 18 of his game-high 20 points in the second half to lead four Huskers in double figures, as Nebraska posted a 74-63 victory over Baylor Saturday at the Ferrell Center.

 

Muhleisen recorded at least 20 points for the second time in six games while helping the Huskers (11-10, 4-6 Big 12) snap a three-game conference losing streak. The Lincoln native had posted at least 20 points in a game just twice in his first 87 career games.

 

The three-year captain came on strong after the intermission, as he scored 11 of NU’s first 20 points of the second period. Muhleisen hit 7-of-10 shots from the floor on the night and 5-of-6 from the line while adding three boards and two assists.

 

Baylor (9-12, 1-9 Big 12) pulled within four, 42-38, at the 13:09 mark on Tim Bush’s traditional three-point play before Muhleisen extended the lead to nine on a three-pointer and jumper.

 

Freshman Aleks Maric then took over as he scored all 10 of his points in the next four minutes, including eight straight. Maric, who was battling back from an illness that slowed him the past two games, finished with 10 points and seven boards, helping NU to a 34-25 advantage on the glass.

 

Down the stretch, the Huskers kept answering each Baylor run.

 

Freshman Joe McCray’s three-pointer at the 3:49 mark gave Nebraska its biggest lead of the night at 12, 64-52. McCray finished with 14 points and a game-high eight rebounds. He hit 4-of-10 shots from three-point range and moved into the Nebraska single-season top 10, as he now has 61 treys on the year.

 

Marcus Neal Jr. added his second strong game of the week as he had 15 points with six rebounds. He hit 6-of-7 attempts from the foul line, helping NU hit 82.6 percent (19-of-23) at the charity stripe. Neal helped the Huskers hit 50.0 percent from the field on the night, NU’s best shooting percentage on the road this season. The Huskers hit 55.6 percent in the second half as they started to break down the Bears’ zone defense.

 

Baylor hit just 40.4 percent from the field, including only 33.3 percent from long range. It was the fourth time in eight road games NU held its opponent to less than 65 points.

 

Aaron Bruce, the top-scoring freshman in the Big 12 Conference, scored 17 points to lead Baylor. Bruce reached his average by hitting 8-of-8 attempts from the foul line, but was harassed into 3-of-13 shooting from the field, including 3-of-10 from beyond the arc. Tim Bush added 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting while Tommy Swanson added 14 points. Patrick Fields came off the bench to post 11 points for the Bears.

 

Both teams played solid defense in the first half, as Baylor led just 12-9 until Bruce hit his first three-pointer of the game to give the Bears a six-point cushion with 11:57 left before halftime. Nebraska battled back and tied the game just a minute later on consecutive three-pointers from Neal and Wes Wilkinson. Baylor went back on top by five two more times in the opening period, but the Huskers rallied each time. The Bears scored just one basket ? a Swanson three-pointer at the 1:26 mark ? over the final 6:08 of the opening period.

 

Nebraska used the solid defensive pressure to post a 9-3 run to end the half. The Huskers went into the locker room with a lead for the fourth time on the road this season, and now owns a 3-1 record in those contests. It was the second road win in league play for Nebraska, their most away from Lincoln since 2001.

 

The Huskers complete the two-game road swing against Oklahoma in Norman, Okla., on Wednesday, Feb. 16. The game has been picked up by ESPN2 and will tip off at 8 p.m. It can also be heard on the Pinnacle Sports Network and Huskers.com.

 

 

Barry Collier, Nebraska Head Coach
"Aaron Bruce is an excellent player. You start on him and stay with him defensively when you are game planning for Baylor. We had a number of guys who gave good efforts against him. Jake Muhleisen was assigned to him, but we switched off a lot and by and large our guys did a good job."

"I thought Scott Drew prepared his team well. They played hard and followed their plan. We were able to get to the boards a little more in the second half and that was probably the biggest difference. They played smart and fouled us when they needed to. We were able to get inside more against their zone, which was encouraging because a number of teams in the Big 12 are playing more zone."

Jake Muhleisen
"We had guys step up tonight, especially defensively. On the other end we were able to get some lay ups and easy baskets, which was huge for us. Everyone took a turn defending Aaron Bruce. We switched off a lot and it was a team effort on him, but he's as great player and still made some big shots."

 

Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs Baylor 02-12-05 7:00 p.m. at Ferrell Center (Waco, Texas) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska 11-10 (4-6) TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 44 Turek, John......... f 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 4 4 0 1 0 0 16 01 Dourisseau, Jason... g 0-1 0-0 3-4 1 1 2 0 3 1 1 1 0 13 02 McCray, Joe......... g 5-14 4-10 0-0 1 7 8 1 14 1 3 0 2 36 10 Neal, Marcus........ g 4-8 1-5 6-7 0 2 2 2 15 6 2 0 1 35 12 Muhleisen, Jake..... g 7-10 1-2 5-6 2 1 3 4 20 2 0 0 0 31 03 Richardson, Charles. 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 11 11 Wilkinson, Wes...... 2-5 1-2 2-2 1 1 2 3 7 1 0 1 0 19 21 Simms, Corey........ 0-1 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 15 31 Maric, Aleks........ 4-6 0-0 2-2 3 4 7 4 10 0 4 3 0 24 TEAM................ 2 4 6 Totals.............. 24-48 7-20 19-23 10 24 34 20 74 14 12 5 3 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-21 42.9% 2nd Half: 15-27 55.6% Game: 50.0% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-10 40.0% 2nd Half: 3-10 30.0% Game: 35.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 5-6 83.3% 2nd Half: 14-17 82.4% Game: 82.6% 1

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Baylor 9-12 (1-9) TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 20 Bush, Tim........... f 6-11 1-2 3-3 0 5 5 2 16 1 1 0 0 37 22 Hurd, Richard....... f 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 1 1 0 1 21 32 Swanson, Tommy...... c 6-10 1-3 1-2 2 3 5 4 14 1 4 0 0 31 03 Biggers, Roscoe..... g 2-5 1-2 0-0 0 3 3 2 5 5 0 0 0 32 14 Bruce, Aaron........ g 3-13 3-10 8-8 1 1 2 4 17 5 4 0 0 35 02 Pryor, Ryan......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0+ 10 Fields, Patrick..... 4-8 2-4 1-3 1 2 3 1 11 0 0 0 0 22 12 Shipman, Kevis...... 0-3 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 13 40 Shepherd, Mark...... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 TEAM................ 3 1 4 Totals.............. 21-52 8-24 13-16 8 17 25 18 63 13 11 0 1 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-23 43.5% 2nd Half: 11-29 37.9% Game: 40.4% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-12 41.7% 2nd Half: 3-12 25.0% Game: 33.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 1-1 100 % 2nd Half: 12-15 80.0% Game: 81.3% 2

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Tom O'Neill, Hal Lusk, Don Daily Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. Baylor-TEAM. Attendance: 3753 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska...................... 27 47 - 74 Baylor........................ 26 37 - 63 ID-286143 Technical Fouls: BU Bench 13:46

Points in the paint-NU 26,BU 24. Points off turnovers-NU 8,BU 11. 2nd chance points-NU 11,BU 11. Fast break points-NU 8,BU 2. Bench points-NU 18,BU 11. Score tied-6 times. Lead changed-8 times. Last FG-NU 2nd-01:51, BU 2nd-00:22.