Nebraska 64, Northwestern 49
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Northwestern had a 5-1 road record entering Saturday's game at Nebraska, while Nebraska hadn't won at home in nearly a month.
Naturally, in the topsy-turvy Big Ten Conference, Nebraska won -- handily.
Dylan Talley scored a conference season-high 20 points, and Nebraska defeated Northwestern 64-49 at the Devaney Sports Center for its second Big Ten victory. It was its largest margin of victory at home this season.
Nebraska (11-10, 2-6 Big Ten) ended a three-game losing streak at home, winning its first home game since Dec. 29. Meanwhile, Northwestern (12-9, 3-5) couldn't maintain momentum after winning two of its last three games against ranked teams.
The Wildcats were within 35-31 following Alex Marcotullio's 3-pointer with 13:10 remaining.
But Ray Gallegos, who was shooting 21.9 percent on 3-pointers in Big Ten games, hit three straight 3-pointers to give Nebraska a 44-33 lead with 9:50 remaining, and the Huskers led by double digits the rest of the way.
Gallegos, who didn't score in the first 27 minutes, finished with 11 points.
Dave Sobolweski scored 21 points, equaling his season high, to lead Northwestern. Sobolweski was 8-for-16 from the field, including 4-for-8 on 3-pointers, but the rest of the Wildcats were just 10-for-40 overall (25 percent).
Nebraska shot 45.1 percent from the field and is 11-0 this season when shooting at least 40 percent.
Nebraska led 24-22 at halftime, despite making just one of its first 11 shots.
The Huskers trailed 10-5 after Sobolewski's first of three 3-pointers in the first half, but they responded with a 10-2 run, holding Northwestern without a field goal until the 4:21 mark.
Sobolewski's second 3-pointer pulled the Wildcats within 18-17, but after Northwestern switched to a 1-3-1 zone defense, Talley hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to give Nebraska a 24-17 lead, its biggest of the first half.
Freshman center Alex Olah scored an easy basket off a pick-and-roll play, and Sobolewski hit another 3-pointer from the same spot in front of the Nebraska bench, cutting the Huskers' lead to two points entering halftime.
Northwestern shot 8-of-25 in the first half, including 3-of-10 on 3-pointers.
NOTES: Nebraska guard Benny Parker had a steal and layup in the first half for only his second field goal in eight Big Ten games. ... Nebraska senior Brandon Ubel scored 14 points and climbed into the Top 50 of the school's all-time scoring leaders. ... This was Northwestern's first game in Lincoln since 1975 and its first with Nebraska a member of the Big Ten. ... Northwestern entered the game allowing 61.3 points per contest.
