Huskers Topple No. 16 Texas

Lincoln ? The Nebraska men’s basketball team made a furious rally from a 12-point second-half deficit to defeat the No. 16/17 Texas Longhorns 58-55 Saturday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

Ade Dagunduro scored 17 points and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds against one of the tallest lineups in the Big 12. He sparked the Huskers to their third straight conference win and first over a ranked opponent this season.

With the victory, NU improved to 15-7 and 5-4 in the Big 12. Texas continued a three-game losing skid, its first in league play since 2004-05, and dropped to 15-7 and 4-4. Nebraska will end the day in fourth place in the Big 12 Conference with seven games remaining.

Trailing 34-22 with 17:21 to play and Texas firing on all cylinders, Nebraska slowly began chipping away at the Longhorn lead. The Huskers reeled off eight straight points in a span of 3:35 to pull within 34-30. Texas pushed its lead back to double digits at 42-32 with an A.J. Abrams 3-pointer with 10:57 to play.

While Texas looked to have taken control of the game at that point, NU refused to give up.

Five straight Husker free throws cut the Longhorn lead in half, and after a Damion James 3-pointer, Nebraska connected on four more free throws to make the Longhorn lead just 45-41 with 8:29 left.

Husker redshirt freshman Toney McCray then made a layup and sophomore Cookie Miller hit a 3-pointer with 6:21 left to give NU its first lead since the 2:35 mark of the first half. Dagunduro then hit a jumper to put NU up 48-45 and cap an 11-0 Husker run.

But the Huskers weren’t done facing adversity. Texas reclaimed the lead at 50-48 with 2:57 to play on a put-back dunk by Gary Johnson. The Cornhuskers’ Sek Henry then hit his only field goal of the game, a long-range 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to send the crowd into a frenzy and put NU up by a point.

The teams traded jumpers and it looked to go down to the wire but Dagunduro gave NU a little breathing room with a huge shot. He hit his only 3-point attempt of the game with 51 seconds left to give NU a four-point advantage. It was only his second 3-pointer in league play and first attempt outside the arc in three games.

A.J. Abrams answered with a 3-pointer of his own with 38 seconds to play to pull UT back within one. Dagunduro hit one-of-two free throws to make it 57-55 with 30 seconds left and NU then came up with a key stop before Sek Henry was fouled on the rebound. Henry hit one free throw to make it 58-55, and Justin Mason missed a 3-point attempt as time expired, giving NU its third straight victory.

Texas came into the game averaging 11.6 turnovers per game, but the Huskers forced five Longhorn turnovers before the first media timeout of the game but was unable convert any of them into points. The Longhorns finished the game with 16 turnovers, marking the third straight game they have turned the ball over 15 or more times.

After hitting just 2-of-12 from the field to start the game, the Huskers connected on five of their next seven shots to turn a 7-3 deficit into an eight-point lead at 18-10, keyed by a Dagunduro old-fashioned three-point play, a Ryan Anderson 3-pointer and another 3-pointer by Paul Velander. NU finished the game at 38.0 percent on 19-of-50 shooting, while the Longhorns hit 38.8 percent on 19-of-49 from the field.

NU hit just two of its final nine shots in the first half, and the Longhorns closed the final 7:22 of the half on a 19-4 run. During the run, Damion James scored all seven of his first-half points. Dexter Pittman also scored seven points in the first half, and the two big men combined for 14 of Texas’ 24 first-half rebounds, which beat Nebraska’s entire team total by one in the first half.

Texas continued its run with five points to open the first 2:39 of the second half and take a 34-22 lead, setting the stage for the dramatic Nebraska comeback.

Texas held a 30-19 edge in the rebounding department at one point in the second half, but the undersized Huskers dug deep and closed the game with 11 rebounds down the stretch, while the Longhorns grabbed just four. In addition to Dagunduro’s career-best nine boards, Toney McCray and Steve Harley each grabbed five as NU was outrebounded just 34-30. McCray also scored eight key points, matching his best output in Big 12 play.

Abrams led Texas with 16 points. James finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Johnson added 12 points.

Nebraska returns to action next week when it hits the road to take on Missouri in Columbia, Mo., on Saturday, Jan. 14. The Huskers and Tigers will tip off at 12:30 p.m. and the game can be seen in select markets around the country on the Big 12 Network.