COLLEGE STATION, Texas — It began to have the look of an upset.

Ten-point underdog Nebraska, in its Big 12 basketball opener Saturday at Texas A&M, took its first lead midway through the second half, had set the tempo and methodically quieted the Reed Arena crowd of 9,628.

Then the Husker offense lurched to a halt — ironically, by going too fast.

During a 10-possession span of quick shots and out-of-rhythm sets, Nebraska produced one basket. Within five minutes, that one-point lead turned into an 11-point deficit, and A&M rolled on to a 64-53 win.

NU coach Doc Sadler summed it up with one sentence: “We just didn't execute when we had to.''

Husker point guard Lance Jeter grudgingly agreed.

“You kind of felt you had the game under control, and then we took a couple of quick shots,'' he said. “It was shots that could break their back or shots that could break our back.

“It broke our back because we gave them a chance and the momentum changed. Coach Doc is always preaching, ‘Grind them, grind them,' especially on the road. But we bailed them out.''

Nebraska, after falling behind by as many as nine points in the first half, got into contention with the strong play of freshman Christian Standhardinger.

In his first official appearance after a 15-game NCAA suspension, the 6-foot-8 forward led the Huskers with 13 points and seven rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench. It was his 3-pointer and a free throw in two of three possessions that put Nebraska ahead 43-42 with 9:09 to play.

Despite the good statistical line, Standhardinger wasn't pleased.

“I realized I am really rusty,'' he said. “I'm not there yet where I want to be. I don't think my performance was good, and I don't think our team performance was good.''

But Texas A&M thought differently.

“He affected the game a lot,'' said A&M senior center Bryan Davis, who had 11 points and 11 rebounds. “He kept them in the game.

“We didn't know much about him, so we just had to play solid and get a feel for him. Then they started going to him more in the second half and we had to double-team him.''

But Standhardinger's work and 10 points from fellow freshman Jorge Brian Diaz weren't enough for Nebraska (12-4, 0-1) to hold off A&M (12-3, 1-0).

At the time NU took its 43-42 lead, the Aggies were 2 of 20 from the 3-point line. So they went to Plan B: Attack the basket and draw fouls.

That wasn't a direct order from A&M coach Mark Turgeon.

“He didn't say to stop shooting 3s and start driving,'' A&M senior guard Donald Sloan said. “We kind of took it on ourselves.''

Texas A&M quickly flipped that Nebraska lead by making 7 of 8 free throws in the next five possessions. That was more free throws than the Huskers made in the game.

NU was 6 of 9. Texas A&M was 25 of 33, including 13 of 14 by Sloan, who led all scorers with 26 points.

“He's a very good player,'' Jeter said. “He used his body to go one-on-one, and can go right or left. A player like that is going to find his holes, and he did tonight.''

The free-throw differential clearly bothered Sadler.

“You can't send a team to the free-throw line 33 times and you only get nine,'' he said. “That's just fouling too many times.

“They were a little tougher than we were mentally, and they made the plays and we didn't. Welcome to the road, and welcome to the league.''

Contact the writer:

444-1024, lee.barfknecht@owh.com

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