LOS ANGELES — The Nebraska men’s basketball team used a strong second-half start and a lengthy scoring run to beat USC 82-67 on Saturday to earn its program-best 14th Big Ten win.
The Trojans’ losing streak has hit five games, and they likely remain on the outside looking in when it comes to the NCAA Tournament.
Pryce Sandfort scored a game-high 32 points, just one point shy of his season high, for No. 12 Nebraska (24-2 overall, 13-4 Big Ten).
Chad Baker-Mazara scored 14 points and blocked two shots for the Trojans (18-11, 7-11) before exiting the game early due to an apparent injury. Alijah Arenas also had 14 points with four assists and Kam Woods added 12 points.
USC’s NCAA Tournament hopes will depend on the final games of the regular season and the Big Ten Conference Tournament, and the Trojans were playing furiously in the first half. They worked their way to a 36-31 lead at halftime behind a cohesive effort that got the bench involved.
Woods got USC its first lead of the game 18-17 when he stole the ball and took it across the court for a layup. Jaden Brownell (10 points) came off the bench to aid in the efforts by hitting 3-pointers before and after Woods’ layup to pull the Trojans ahead 21-20 with 9:41 left in the half.
USC was the more efficient team from the floor in the first half and made 52% of its shots compared to the Nebraska’s 35.3%. The Trojans’ bench was also outscoring the Cornhuskers’ 12-3.
Baker-Mazara at first seemed fully recovered after dealing with apparent knee pain in the last game against UCLA. He banked a 3-pointer that topped off a six-point scoring run and got the Trojans’ a 24-20 lead, and later made a shot while falling to the floor to help preserve that lead.
Sandfort was Nebraska’s biggest scoring threat, especially from beyond the arc. He’s close to becoming the Big Ten’s single-season 3-point leader in conference play and is making a conference-best 3.6 3-pointers per game.
The Trojans’ defense held him to 2-for-4 shooting from long range in the first half, but Sandfort was able to adjust and score 12 points. He continued to attack the basket in the second half as part of a strong Cornhuskers comeback effort.
Nebraska went on a 15-0 scoring run to turn the score back in its favor, 66-46.
Baker-Mazara also did not play for the majority of the second half and appeared to be dealing with pain in his right leg as he hobbled to team huddles during timeouts. The Trojans’ shooting collapsed without their leading scorer and slowed to 38.5% from the field and scoreless from 3-point range.
Alijah Arenas stepped up in an attempt to fill the void left by Baker-Mazara and hit back-to-back baskets to separate USC and Nebraska by five points woith 13:08 to play. Ezra Ausar sent a hard pass through the paint to the freshman for the first, then Woods grabbed a steal and dished the ball to Arenas for a layup.
But Nebraska, led by Sandfort, kept rolling with 51 second-half points.
USC has two games left in the regular season: a road trip to Washington on Wednesday and a rematch with UCLA on March 7 before the Big Ten Tournament begins March 10 at United Center in Chicago.
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