Nebraska saw its four-game road win streak snapped Wednesday evening, falling to Penn State, 89-72, at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Penn State (14-13, 4-12) shot 61 percent from the field, including 67 percent in the first half and put six players in double figures, led by 19 apiece from Zach Hicks and Yanic Konan Neiderhauser.
For Nebraska (17-10, 7-9 Big Ten), Connor Essegian had a team-high 20 points off the bench while Andrew Morgan and Brice Williams had 18 and 17 points, respectively. The Huskers shot 52 percent from the floor on the night but had 16 turnovers and allowed Penn State to take control from the onset.
Penn State got out of the gate quickly, opening the game with a 14-2 run over the first 5:10 of the contest, as the Nittany Lions never trailed in the opening 20 minutes and built a 50-27 halftime lead. Nebraska cut the deficit to eight, at 17-9, after a 3-pointer from Williams at the 13:00 mark, but PSU ran off six straight points, building a 23-8 lead on a D’Marco Dunn layup with just over 10 minutes remaining in the half.
Nebraska was within 41-25 after a 3-pointer from Essegian with 3:19 left, but the hosts closed the half on a 9-2 run to built its largest lead of the half.
Penn State shot 66 percent from the field and 11-of-12 from the line in the opening 20 minutes, as Kiederhauser had 15 first half points for the hosts. Nebraska shot just 36 percent from the floor in the first half, and committed 11 turnovers, which led to 11 Nittany Lion points.
Nebraska got off to a strong start in the second half, hitting five of their first six shots. Morgan led the Husker comeback, scoring nine points in a 13-6 run, that cut the Penn State lead to 56-40 with 16:28 left. The Nittany Lions then responded with seven straight points to push the margin back to 23 on an Ace Baldwin Jr. basket with 14:28 left and NU was unable to get closer than 17 the rest of the way.
The Huskers will return home next Monday, taking on No. 12 Michigan at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and tickets are available by visiting Huskers.com/Tickets.
