Ace Bailey had 24 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots as Rutgers edged Nebraska 85-82 in Lincoln, Neb., in the Big Ten matchup on Thursday night.
Dylan Harper supplied 21 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Scarlet Knights (10-8, 3-4 Big Ten). Dylan Grant added 15 points.
Brice Williams led Nebraska (12-5, 2-4) with 21 points. Juwan Gary had 20 points and seven rebounds, and Connor Essegian chipped in 12 points, but the Cornhuskers took their first home loss.
The Scarlet Knights led 40-37 at the break after holding Nebraska to 36.7 percent shooting from the field.
Bailey led the Scarlet Knights in the first 20 minutes with 11 points and six rebounds. Gary topped Nebraska with 13 points.
Nebraska led 15-6 with 13:40 left in the half, but the Scarlet Knights went on a 14-5 run to tie it up.
Rutgers didn’t take the lead until Bailey made a jumper with 5:03 left in the half to make it 31-30. Bailey’s 3-pointer with six seconds broke the tie going into halftime.
Nebraska opened the second half with an 8-0 run. Braxton Meah converted an alley oop pass from Gary. That was followed by a layup and a dunk from Gary. Meah capped it off with a putback dunk.
That lead didn’t last long as Rutgers scored the next five points. Minutes later, the Scarlet Knights took a 52-51 lead on Harper’s 3-pointer.
Neither side had a lead bigger than two points in the next few minutes until Essegian knocked down a 3-pointer to put the Cornhuskers ahead 70-67 with 8:05 left.
The Scarlet Knights regained the lead at 77-76 when Harper set up a Bailey 3-pointer. That was followed by a pair of layups by Harper.
A layup by Williams with 15 seconds left trimmed the Cornhuskes’ deficit to 81-79. Bailey hit two free throws with 10 seconds left to push the lead back to four, before Williams made a 3-pointer with five seconds left.
Grant’s basket with two seconds remaining clinched Rutgers’ victory.
–Field Level Media
