Alonzo Verge Jr. scored 22 points and Bryce McGowens added 16 as Nebraska snapped a 14-game Big Ten regular-season losing streak with a 78-65 win over Minnesota on Wednesday night in Lincoln, Neb.
The Cornhuskers (7-17, 1-12 Big Ten) recorded their first win in conference play since last March, and they also ended a 10-game overall skid. They did it by turning defense into offense, converting 18 Minnesota turnovers into 25 points.
The 18 giveaways were the most for the Golden Gophers (11-10, 2-10) in a conference game since January 2020.
Jamison Battle scored a team-high 21 points for Minnesota, all of them coming in the second half. The Golden Gophers have lost five in a row and nine of 10 since a 10-1 start.
Nebraska held a 32-21 halftime lead, a complete reversal from its previous game when it trailed Northwestern by 22 at the break en route to a 24-point home loss. But Minnesota, which missed all nine of its 3-point attempts in the first half, got hot from deep and hit seven of 12 from long distance in the second half.
Jamison Battle drained three treys in the first five minutes of the second half, the last completing a 7-0 run that got the Golden Gophers within 38-31. The Cornhuskers responded with a 14-1 run, getting five points from Verge, including a layup after he inbounded the ball off the back of a Minnesota player, to make it 52-32 with 11:43 to go.
Verge, who finished 8 of 12 from the field, scored 20 points in the second half.
Back-to-back threes by Battle got the Gophers within 55-43 with 8:59 remaining, but the visitors couldn’t closer until the final minutes as Nebraska shot 57.7 percent in the second half.
A 3-pointer by CJ Wilcher put the Cornhuskers up 20-8 with 11:31 left in the first half.
Minnesota got as close as 29-21 with 1:43 remaining before halftime, but Kobe Webster hit a 3-pointer on the other end to send Nebraska into the locker room with a double-digit lead.
Nebraska hits the road to face Iowa on Sunday. Minnesota hosts Penn State on Saturday.
–Field Level Media
