Nebraska walked into a building that looked neutral on paper and played like it belonged to Providence. It didn’t matter. The Huskers stayed steady through a messy, physical night and came away with a 67-58 win over the Friars in Uncasville, Connecticut.
It was one of Nebraska’s earliest Power 5 tests in recent memory, and the Huskers passed it by doing enough in the right moments. Nebraska improved to 2-0, while Providence dropped to 1-1.
The game never got clean, and Nebraska had to survive a lot of ugly stretches to keep control. Providence was the sharper team on the glass for long stretches, hammering Nebraska in second-chance points.
The Friars had 12 before the Huskers had any through the first eight minutes, and that edge held up all night. Nebraska finished with just three second-chance points to Providence’s 20.
The first half was especially rough around the edges. Neither team could really find a rhythm, and the shot-making was flat enough to drag the whole thing into a slog.
By halftime, the teams had combined to go 19-for-55 from the field, a 35% clip that felt even colder earlier in the period. Providence also picked up a series of ticky-tack fouls that seemed to help Nebraska settle in.
The Huskers went 7-for-8 at the line, while the Friars were 3-for-3 and didn’t even take their first free throw until 1:46 remained in the half.
Nebraska finally created some separation with an 11-0 run late in the first half that stretched across nearly four minutes. That burst snapped a long stretch of back-and-forth play where neither side could grab momentum. Fifth-year guard Trevan Leonhardt kept finding senior forward Boden Kapke, and those connections gave Kapke chances to do damage around the rim.
The second half brought more of the same: tight possessions, some sloppy execution, and Nebraska still finding a way to stay in front. The Huskers went almost six minutes to open the period without a field goal and still managed to hold the lead.
Outside shooting never really showed up for Nebraska. The Huskers went 2-for-10 from deep in the second half and finished 5-for-24 from 3-point range overall. Providence made sure the perimeter wasn’t easy, and Nebraska had to lean on other ways to score.
That’s where Pryce Sandfort came through again. The senior forward delivered 25 points in what was described as the quietest 25-point outing he’s had in a while. He shot 9-for-14 from the floor, hit 3-of-8 from 3-point range, and made all four of his free throws.
Kapke gave Nebraska a needed inside presence, too. After a slow start to the exhibition season, he looked more comfortable and finished with 13 points and five rebounds. He gave the Huskers a reliable option in the paint when the offense needed one.
Together, Sandfort and Kapke scored 38 of Nebraska’s 67 points. The rest of the roster accounted for 29, which is the kind of split Fred Hoiberg won’t want to lean on for long, especially with bigger non-conference games coming and Big Ten play waiting down the line.
Nebraska has two more non-conference games coming up in the next week. The Huskers host Lindenwood on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Pinnacle Bank Arena on FS1, then head to the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., to face Boise State on Nov. 15 at 12 p.m. on Big Ten Network.
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Nebraska Gets A Useful Early Test Its Defense Cant Ignore
Nebraskas non-league schedule is already doing what coach Fred Hoiberg wants it to do: giving the Cornhuskers a chance to learn something before the games start to matter even more. After the win over Providence, highlighted by Pryce Sandforts 25-point night, Nebraska turns around to face Lindenwood in another early test, with the focus less on the final score and more on how the roster holds up when it has to defend and adjust.
Lindenwood comes in with a recent win over East-West University and a loss to TCU, which makes it a useful measuring stick for a Nebraska team still sorting out its identity. These are the kinds of games that can expose bad habits or confirm progress, and for the Cornhuskers, the defensive end is the part that cant be ignored as they keep working through the non-league slate. [Read more 🡒]