Juwan Gary tied his career high with 19 points off the bench in his season debut and Nebraska matched its best start in five years with an 84-63 win over Stony Brook on Wednesday in Lincoln, Neb.
Gary, a junior forward who had missed the first three games due to a suspension, made 8 of 11 shots to tie his previous high set twice while he played for Alabama. His previous best for the Cornhuskers (4-0) was 18 back in January.
Nebraska has won four straight to start a season for the first time since 2018-19, and it did so with a much better offensive effort than in Monday’s home win over Rider. It shot 33 percent in that game, but on Wednesday was 55 percent from the field, including 14 of 19 on layups.
Brice Williams had 17 points, nine rebounds and four assists, Keisei Tominaga added 16, and Rienk Mast went for 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Nebraska.
Stony Brook (1-3) dropped to 0-3 on the road this season as it shot 37.9 percent and was outscored 42-18 in the paint. The Seawolves were led by Jared Frey’s 15 points and 14 from Dean Noll.
Nebraska led 36-28 at the half thanks to a Mast 3-pointer with two seconds left before the break. He added another triple 13 seconds into the second half to give the ‘Huskers their first double-digit lead, and the margin grew to 53-37 thanks to a 7-of-9 start from the field.
Stony Brook got as close as 56-49 with 12:03 remaining thanks to an 8-0 run, but an 8-0 run by Nebraska made it 72-54 with 6:37 left.
Nebraska takes on Oregon State on Saturday in Sioux Falls, S.D., while Stony Brook heads home to host Rider on Monday.
–Field Level Media
