LINCOLN — Talk about delaying the inevitable.
Nebraska scored the first five points in Monday night’s men’s basketball game against North Texas. Hoping to blunt that 58 seconds of momentum, Mean Green coach Grant McCasland called time.
Nice try.
After the stoppage, the Huskers scored 20 of the next 22 points, built first-half leads as big as 28 points and cruised to an 86-67 victory in front of 9,028 fans at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
The Huskers (2-0) used all 12 scholarship players in the first half, with nine scoring.
For the game, NU got 18 points and five rebounds from guard James Palmer;15 points, two assists and two steals from point guard Glynn Watson; and 11 points and seven rebounds from forward Isaiah Roby.
Nebraska missed its first shot of the game, but got the offensive rebound and reset the offense for a Palmer 3-pointer. That was the first of seven straight made baskets, which Palmer capped with another 3 for an 18-2 lead.
A miss from Roby broke the streak, but he grabbed his own rebound and eventually canned a 3-pointer to help build Nebraska’s lead to 25-2 with 11:56 to go in the half.
It wasn’t until North Texas’ 15th shot that it recorded a second basket.
Nebraska late in the half went up by 28 points, 42-14, on Watson’s steal and breakaway layup with 3:55 to go. The Huskers used another basket from Watson just before the buzzer to boost the halftime lead to 52-30.
NU struggled shooting in the second half when North Texas changed to a zone defense. The Huskers missed 20 of their first 25 attempts but still kept their lead at no less than 17 points.
The Huskers play next Thursday at 5:30 p.m., CST at St. John’s. The game will be carried by KNCY 1600 AM, 105.5 FM.
