• Box Score

LINCOLN — In six days, the Nebraska men start conference basketball play.

Are they ready?

Depends on which conference you're talking about.

On Saturday, NU was fortunate to own a four-point halftime lead against a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference bottom-feeder that has never won more than 12 games in any season in more than a decade.

Getting outhustled for 20 minutes by Maryland-Eastern Shore, ranked No. 320 in the RPI, won't begin to cut it in the Big 12.

The Huskers kind of got the message early in the second half, going on a 13-3 run in the first four minutes. They then scuffled for another six minutes before pulling away to a 74-60 win in front of 5,288 fans at the Devaney Center.

NU coach Doc Sadler seemed more puzzled than upset with the way things went.

“We've got to find the secret of coming out and playing as hard as we're practicing,'' he said. “The intensity has got me concerned.

“Our practices have been really good and they've really been playing hard. But the first half of the past two or three ballgames, we haven't had the same intensity to start the game as we have in practice.''

That's why Maryland-Eastern Shore (3-9), despite giving up an early 10-0 run, led 15-13, 17-15 and was down only one point entering the final minute of the first half.

In that opening 20 minutes, UMES scored 16 points in transition and outrebounded NU 21-16. Also, 11 of the Huskers' 28 shots were 3-pointers.

“You can't win in the league doing those things,” Sadler said.

Nebraska got a boost in intensity from senior Ryan Anderson. His 3-pointer with 30 seconds left in the first half put NU up 30-26.

Then in the first four minutes of the second half, Anderson hit two baskets and had an assist on Brandon Ubel's three-point play in a surge that put the Huskers ahead 43-29.

Maryland-Eastern Shore was still within 11 points with 10 minutes to play before Nebraska extended the lead to 23 points.

Anderson, who led NU with 17 points, said he can't figure out the first-half blahs. He just knows that it needs to be fixed before this weekend's opening Big 12 trip to Texas A&M.

“We've got to get a little tougher and more physical,'' he said. “They'll see what it's like. I can't explain it to them. I try to help them and talk to them.

“But the first game is going to be a real good tester on the road. League play is real physical.”

Fast, too.

“That's the thing that's really going to trip them out,” Anderson said of his young teammates. “Everybody is bigger, faster, stronger, more athletic.

“When we get into league play, we're playing point guards who are 6-5 — big, quick, strong, all of it. Seven-footers, 350 (pounds), 250. Everything changes.”

• NOTES: Nebraska hit 10 of its first 11 free throws, then finished 14 of 22 (63.6 percent). Sadler has focused on free throws after the Huskers slipped to 283rd nationally in free-throw percentage. ... Point guard Lance Jeter is 2 of 14 from the field the past three games. ... Maryland-Eastern Shore, getting outrebounded this season on average of five per game, bested Nebraska 40-32. The 40 boards were an opponent high. ... The final nonconference game is Tuesday at home with Southeastern Louisiana.


Contact the writer:

444-1024, lee.barfknecht@owh.com

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