Rienk Mast scored a game-high 26 points Saturday and No. 9 Nebraska bounced back from its first two losses of the season with an 80-68 Big Ten Conference road win over Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J.
Mast went 11 of 20 from the field and added a game-high eight rebounds for the Cornhuskers (21-2, 10-2), which shot 46.9 % from the field and committed only six turnovers. Pryce Sandfort added 15 points, while Sam Hoiberg stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Nebraska also got 12 points and seven assists from Jamarques Lawrence. The Cornhuskers led by 14 at halftime and never let the margin dip below 10 at any point during the second half.
Tariq Francis scored 16 points and Kaden Powers added 14 for the Scarlet Knights (9-15, 2-11), which again struggled to get stops and take care of the ball. Rutgers committed 15 turnovers that led to 15 points, canceling out a decent shooting performance. It connected on 48.2 % of shots from the field.
Each team carried dominant storylines coming into the game. The Cornhuskers looked to get back into rhythm offensively after struggling at times during losses to top-five opponents Michigan and Illinois last week, while the Scarlet Knights simply looked for a better performance on both ends after a 98-66 blowout defeat Tuesday night at UCLA.
Only Nebraska got what it wanted, largely because Mast was back in top form after missing the Michigan game due to illness and going 2-for-10 in Sunday’s setback to Illinois. The Cornhuskers fed him constantly in the first half and Mast went off for 13 points.
Francis tried to keep Rutgers in contention with 10 points in the opening 20 minutes, but he didn’t have enough support. The rest of his teammates managed only 17 points on 8-of-20 shooting. The Scarlet Knights coughed it up eight times.
Mast capped his big half by taking Hoiberg’s pass and converting a jumper with 1.4 seconds left, making it 41-27 Nebraska at the break.
