Photo Showcase: Minnesota at Nebraska
Box Score: Nebraska 64, Minnesota 49
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LINCOLN — Elbow grease. Floor burns. Bruised cheeks. Plenty of spills. And with 81 missed shots between the teams, not exactly a ton of thrills.
But after giving up 93 and 82 points, respectively, in two straight losses, the No. 20 Nebraska women's basketball team happily accepted a 64-49 win against Minnesota Sunday.
Especially the way NU got it — by forcing 19 turnovers and beating one of the Big Ten's more physical, athletic rosters on the boards by eight.
“We decided to play some defense and rebound,” coach Connie Yori quipped. “It's fascinating what can happen when you put those two things together. We outrebounded a team that's a very, very good rebounding team.”
Yori harped on it for two days after an 82-68 loss Thursday night at No. 10 Ohio State. In Columbus, NU played “tentative,” Yori said. Not so Sunday.
The Huskers were the aggressor, holding Minnesota to 34 percent shooting. They zipped around perimeter ball screens and closed off driving lanes with zeal.
That led to several more on-floor collisions — a few of which stopped play for injury time — but helped Nebraska trap Gopher guards, too. NU's pressure defense forced, among other mistakes, a five-second violation, several traveling calls, and a palming call.
“We did really good on defense tonight, which is really good to see,” sophomore Jordan Hooper said. “Because it's been hit and miss the past two games. But tonight we brought it, all cylinders. Really fun to watch.”
In front of 5,742 at the Devaney Center, the Gophers' defense — which ran a variety of zone and trap defenses — occasionally gave Nebraska (16-3 overall, 5-2) offensive fits, too. Minnesota (11-10, 3-4) had seven blocks and the Huskers missed 44 shots.
But Hooper (23 points) and freshman Emily Cady (13 points) combined to hit seven 3-pointers, extending UM's defense and opening holes in the paint for guard penetration.
The two figured prominently in a 10-minute, 20-0 run that spanned the end of the first half and the start of the second. Hooper scored seven straight points to help extend NU's 27-23 lead to 36-23 at halftime.
“My shots were open, I was open, so I just shot it,” said Hooper, who had family and friends from Alliance, Neb., watching in the stands — and at least 100 more back home, she said — for her “Hometown Husker” day.
Cady — in double figures for the sixth straight game — scored the first five points after halftime. The Huskers' lead got as large as 24 points several times in a contest that Yori said “scared the death out of me” beforehand.
Of course they all do, she added. But after two straight losses, Sunday's game was, she said, “the biggest of the big.”
Minnesota's sloppy play helped stave off any concerns of an upset.
Its two leading scorers — guards Rachel Banham and Kiara Buford — combined to hit 9 of 27 shots. They spent most of the game fruitlessly driving into traffic and trouble. And despite having a size and depth advantage, UM got outscored in the paint 24-20.
“We missed a lot of shots around the rim,” Gophers coach Pam Borton said. “... we had good looks and we couldn't buy a basket in the paint.”
Banham led UM with 13 points.
The Huskers got strong supporting performances from freshman Hailie Sample (a career-high 10 points, 7 rebounds) and senior Kaitlyn Burke (5 points, 3 assists). Because of foul trouble, junior point guard Lindsey Moore played a season-low 21 minutes, but still finished with eight assists.
NU next hosts Iowa on Thursday. The Huskers beat the Hawkeyes in Iowa City earlier this year.
Contact the writer:
402-202-9766, sam.mckewon@owh.com
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