Huskers Fall to Purdue on Senior NightHuskers Fall to Purdue on Senior Night
Men's Basketball

Huskers Fall to Purdue on Senior Night

Box Score

Lincoln – Despite a season-high 32-point effort from Shavon Shields on Senior Night, Nebraska fell to No. 15 Purdue, 81-62, on Tuesday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Shields, who has averaged 28.5 ppg since missing four games with a concussion, was spectacular in his final regular-season home appearance. The 6-foot-7 senior hit 11 of 19 shots and went 6-for-6 from the line, but was the only Nebraska (14-16, 6-11 Big Ten) player to finish in double figures.

Purdue (23-7, 11-6 Big Ten) relied on a balanced attack as Vince Edwards’ 20 points led four Boilermakers in double figures. A.J. Hammons had 16 while Dakota Mathias and Caleb Swanigan added 11 and 10 points, respectively, as Purdue shot 56 percent from the field, including 7-of-15 from 3-point range.

Edwards scored 10 of his 12 first-half points in a decisive 23-4 spurt that gave the Boilermakers a 30-11 lead with 7:43 left in the half. Nebraska chipped away in the final eight minutes of the half behind the play of Shields, who scored 19 first-half points on 7-of-11 shooting. Shields had nine points in a 14-2 run the pulled NU within 32-23 after an Ed Morrow Jr. basket with 3:28 left in the half.

NU eventually whittled it down to six points, at 39-33, after a Tai Webster steal and layup with 11.3 seconds remaining before intermission, but Mathias was fouled with less than a second left and converted both free throws to push the lead back to 41-33 at the break.

In the second half, NU got the deficit to eight on several occasions, the last at 52-44 after a Glynn Watson Jr. basket with 12:38 left, but Purdue took over. The Boilermakers then took over, using a 10-2 spurt, including 3-pointers by Ryan Cline and Dakota Mathias, to extend the lead to 16, and NU was unable to get the deficit back into under 10 the rest of the day.

Tai Webster had nine points and eight boards, while Ed Morrow Jr. had eight points on 4-of-5 shooting off the bench in a losing effort.

The Huskers travel to Northwestern Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. The game will be televised on BTN and carried across the state on the IMG Husker Sports Radio Network.