Huskers Upset No. 24 Wildcats, 71-64

Lincoln ? Aleks Maric collected his seventh straight double-double and Steve Harley scored a career-high 20 points to lead Nebraska past 24th-ranked Kansas State, 71-64 in front of nearly 10,000 fans Wednesday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

 

Maric hit 5-of-8 shots from the field on his way to 15 points, but his two biggest shots of the game came at the free-throw line, where Maric calmly sank both ends of a 1-and-1 to give Nebraska a 68-64 lead with 32.1 seconds remaining. Harley, who drilled 9-of-12 from the field, also added a pair of late free throws that accounted for the final margin.

 

To go along with his 15 points, Maric also pulled down a season-high 17 rebounds as he dueled against another of the top big men in the country in Kansas State's Michael Beasley. Beasley also recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, but he took seven more shots than Maric.

 

With the win, Nebraska's second over a ranked squad this season, the Huskers improved to 15-9 on the season and 4-7 in the Big 12 Conference. K-State, which entered the game one-half game out of first place in the league, fell to 18-7 and 8-3.

 

The Huskers shot a blistering 56.5 percent from the field in the second half and finished at 51.9 percent for the game, the second-best mark of the season and easily Nebraska's best shooting performance in conference play. NU also knocked down 13-of-17 from the charity stripe, including 6-of-8 down the stretch, a key stat considering Nebraska went the final 5:08 without hitting a field goal.

 

In a competitive first half, Nebraska withstood a pair of early 6-0 Kansas State runs to lead for the final 10:29 of the period.

 

A pair of 3-pointers gave K-State an early 6-2 lead before Harley’s second basket and a Ryan Anderson three put NU in front 7-6.

 

The Wildcats then used their second 6-0 run of the half to pull ahead 12-7. Once again the Huskers roared back, using a 7-0 run to take a 14-12 lead. Nebraska would not trail again for the rest of the half, building its lead to as large as eight with less than seven minutes remaining.

 

K-State came back with a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to one before Nebraska scored four of the final six points of the half to take a three-point lead into the break.

 

In the second half, KansasState pulled even on a Clent Stewart 3-pointer just two minutes into the period. The Wildcats then took their first lead in more than 14 minutes when Blake Young drilled a 3-pointer to put KSU in front 45-44.

 

The Huskers responded with a 7-0 run to force a K-State timeout with NU on top 52-47. Nebraska would never trail again despite several late charges from the Wildcats.

 

With seven minutes remaining, Beasley attempted to take over for K-State, scoring eight consecutive Wildcat points to cut the lead to as few as two. Nebraska answered when Anderson and Chris Balham each completed traditional 3-point plays. Leading 65-61 with under five minutes to play, Young buried a 3-pointer to cut the lead to one at 65-64 on what would prove to be the game's final field goal.

 

Neither team scored for more than two minutes until Cookie Miller went to the line with 1:30 remaining and hit 1-of-2 to push the Huskers lead to 66-64. On the second miss, Anderson pulled down his first rebound of the game to give Nebraska an extra possession.

 

The Huskers couldn't convert on the extra chance and a Beasley rebound gave K-State possession with 55.6 seconds remaining following a Wildcat timeout. Jacob Pullen missed a contested layup following the timeout and Maric pulled down the rebound and was fouled.

 

He then hit his two crucial free throws to put NU up by four before Anderson hit 1-of-2 and Harley knocked down a pair to secure the victory. Anderson was the third Husker to score in double figures, finishing with 11 points.

 

Nebraska returns to the road this weekend, when the Huskers travel to Texas A&M this Saturday for a 3 p.m. game that will be televised on ESPN Plus.