Keisei Tominaga scored 18 of his 20 points in the first half and Jamarques Lawrence added a career-high 19 as Nebraska earned its first Big Ten road win of the season, beating Indiana 85-70 on Wednesday in Bloomington, Ind.
The Cornhuskers (19-8, 9-7 Big Ten) had lost their first seven conference road games, but they jumped on the Hoosiers (14-12, 6-9) early and withstood a second-half run to improve their NCAA Tournament resume.
Nebraska posted its third win in a row overall while Indiana dropped its third straight.
Tominaga was 8 of 15 from the field and 4 of 9 from 3-point range. Lawrence, a 26.7 percent 3-point shooter, was 5 of 5 from deep and 6 of 8 overall to go with six rebounds and five assists. Brice Williams added 18 and Juwan Gary had 15 for the Cornhuskers, who tied a season high with 14 3-pointers.
Indiana got 22 points from Mackenzie Mgbako plus 17 points and 12 rebounds from Kel’el Ware. The Hoosiers shot only 42.6 percent overall, 4 of 21 (19 percent) from 3-point range, and missed 10 of 24 free-throw attempts.
Nebraska led 51-31 at the break thanks to 57.1 percent shooting. But the Cornhuskers were cold to start the second half, missing 12 of their first 14 shots while Indiana went on a 13-0 run cut the gap to 57-53 with 11:59 left.
The Hoosiers got within three, only to see Nebraska score seven in a row and go up 66-56 on a Josiah Alick layup with 8:47 to go.
Indiana went almost six minutes without a field goal, during which time Nebraska extended the lead to as much as 16. The Hoosiers pulled within 78-68 on a Mgbako 3-pointer with 2:14 remaining but got no closer.
Nebraska hit nine 3-pointers in the first half, including three by Tominaga in a 70-second span to build an early 16-8 lead. A triple by Lawrence upped the margin to 29-16 with 9:12 left in the first half.
Indiana was 1 of 11 from 3-point range and shot 37.5 percent in the first half.
Nebraska returns home to host Minnesota on Sunday. Indiana visits Penn State on Saturday.
–Field Level Media