• Box Score Texas 91, Nebraska 51

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AUSTIN, Texas — It was never a contest.

Texas scored the first seven points Saturday, poured in another 20 in a row later in the first half and rolled on to a 91-51 obliteration of Nebraska.

The 40-point rout matched the 10th-worst loss in Husker history. The margin also was the second worst for NU coach Doc Sadler in his four seasons. The only one bigger was 53 points (92-39) to Kansas in 2007.

The Longhorns, who fell to No. 14 in the rankings after losing five of the previous seven games, looked more like the team that was No. 1 in late January. UT built leads as big as 29 points in the first half (53-24) and 43 in the second (90-47).

Freshman guard Avery Bradley had 20 of his 25 points in the first 16 minutes for Texas (20-5, 6-4). Four other Longhorns scored at least 12 points.

Meanwhile, Nebraska (13-12, 1-9) was physically overmatched in its fourth loss in four straight games against Top 25 opponents. The Huskers had no one in double figures. Ryan Anderson led NU with nine points.

Sadler said his team didn’t respond well to Texas’ attacking style.

“You knew the way they had been playing that they were probably going to be aggressive,’’ he said on his postgame radio show.

“It was, for lack of a better word, men playing with boys. They took it right at us. It wasn’t that we weren’t prepared. It’s just that they were that much better than we were.’’

Sadler called three timeouts in the first 15 minutes, but nothing slowed Texas.

What happened after that third timeout — Texas led 36-22 — summed up the Huskers’ day.

NU forward Quincy Hankins-Cole was stripped by UT guard Jai Lucas, who dove for the ball and flipped a pass to J’Covan Brown to start a fast break. Brown launched a lob to Bradley, who slammed it, drew a foul and completed the three-point play.

Nebraska, which shot its second straight season low from the field (28.1 percent), had a couple of positives in the first half.

The Huskers scrapped back from a 10-2 deficit to close to 13-9 on a Sek Henry 3-pointer. NU got within nine points at 31-22 on Ray Gallegos’ 3 with 5:58 to go. But Texas scored the next 20 points.

Things get no easier for Nebraska. The Huskers play next at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at No. 9 Kansas State.

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