Nebraska tops Penn State 70-58 for 1st Big Ten win
LINCOLN, Neb. — Bo Spencer scored 19 points to lead four Nebraska players in double figures, and the Cornhuskers defeated Penn State 70-58 on Wednesday night for their first Big Ten victory.
Toney McCray added 13 points and Caleb Walker and Dylan Talley scored 12 apiece for the Huskers (9-7, 1-4).
Tim Frazier scored a career-high 30 points for the Nittany Lions (9-9, 1-4) for his conference-leading eighth 20-point game.
The Huskers, in their first season in the Big Ten after moving from the Big 12, avoided their second 0-5 conference start in three years.
Nebraska took control early and went to the locker room up 34-22 after putting together 10-0 and 8-0 runs and holding Penn State to two field goals the last 8:41 of the first half.
The Huskers went 7½ minutes with just one field goal in the second half before Spencer drove the baseline for a 53-40 lead. They put the game away on Spencer’s and McCray’s back-to-back 3-pointers for a 62-44 lead.
Center Jorge Brian Diaz and guard Dylan Talley continued to work their way back into Nebraska’s rotation after missing significant time because of injuries. Each played more than 20 minutes in Saturday’s loss at Illinois.
Against Penn State, Diaz (sore feet) had four points and three blocked shots in 27 minutes and Talley (thigh bruise) scored in double figures for the sixth time in his 11 games.
Diaz’s highlight came on the defensive end when he blocked two straight point-blank shots by Ross Travis.
Penn State’s rough outing made its last two games — Sunday’s six-point, last-minute loss to No. 12 Indiana and last Thursday’s 20-point win over Purdue — seem like a long time ago.
With the exception of the versatile Frazier, the Nittany Lions were badly outplayed early. They made only 7 of their first 24 shots and were outrebounded 19-9 in the first half.
They warmed to 33 percent by the end, and they outrebounded the Huskers 24-12 in the second half to hold a 34-31 advantage on the boards.
Frazier made 10 of 16 shots — accounting for half his team’s field goals — and all nine of his free throws. Take away Frazier, and the Nittany Lions shot just 23 percent (10 of 44).
Both teams struggled from the perimeter. Penn State missed 14 of its first 15 3-pointers and Nebraska was off target with 9 of its first 11 before making three in a row to go up 45-29 early in the second half.