KANSAS CITY, Mo. With Aleks Maric scoring 17 points, pulling down 13 rebounds and making a key block in the final seconds, Nebraska survived the first round of the Big 12 tournament Thursday night for only the second time in nine years.
But look who awaits the Huskers (19-11) in Friday's second round none other than No. 5 Kansas, which has dominated them in recent years and will no doubt have a big crowd squarely in its corner.
"I'm the happiest guy in the gym, because if we wouldn't have won we wouldn't be getting a chance to play again," said coach Doc Sadler. "The happiness ends there."
The crowd in Kansas City's new Sprint Center is certain to be heavily pro-Kansas. The last two times the Jayhawks caught Nebraska at home they blew them out 92-39 and 84-49. In their game in January in Lawrence, Maric failed to score for the first time since his sophomore year.
But the 6-foot-11 senior, who moved past Tyronn Lue and Erick Strickland into sixth place on the school's career scoring charts, said he hadn't given the Jayhawks a single thought.
"I'm fresh off the court against Missouri," said the first Cornhusker named first-team All-Big 12 in nine years. "That was our main focus. We are going back to the hotel as a team, rest up and look at them tomorrow."
"I am very disappointed in our performance tonight," Missouri coach Mike Anderson said. "I thought we'd be ready to play. That's just a snapshot of our season. But the one thing I can say about our team is we went down fighting. We couldn't throw it in the ocean, it wasn't our day. We had our opportunities, but we couldn't convert. We've had inconsistencies all year."
Nebraska, which led by as many as 10 in the second half, took a 57-52 lead after two free throws by Maric. But DeMarre Carroll scored for Missouri, the Huskers committed another turnover, and Jason Horton sank a little runner that pulled the Tigers to 57-56 with 2:08 to play.
After Keon Lawrence missed a 12-footer that could have given the Tigers the lead, Steve Harley took an inbounds pass off a backdoor cut and sank a contested lay-up that put the Huskers on top 59-56.
With 33 seconds left, Nebraska's Sek Henry missed the front end of a one-and-one and the Tigers grabbed the ball and called time out. After Horton missed a lay-up, Leo Lyons got the rebound but Maric blocked his shot.
Jay-R Strowbridge, fouled immediately, sank both foul shots with 8 seconds left.
"We switched on everything there," said Sadler. "I was concerned they might drive to the basket so we switched out on everything, even Aleks on their point guard Horton."
Harley had 14 points for Nebraska, which hit only 3-of-13 3-pointers but outrebounded the Tigers 42-31.
Keon Lawrence had 15 points for Missouri, which was 9-of-19 from the 3-point arc. Matt Lawrence had 12 and Carroll, the Big 12's newcomer of the year, had 10 points and eight rebounds.
Matt Lawrence described Missouri's season as "a roller-coaster ride."
"There have been highlights. After some bad things happened," he said. "We came together and some good things happened, like beating K-State. We started the (conference) season by beating Texas. It's had its highs, but it didn't end the way we wanted it to."
The Huskers were 0-for-7 from 3-point range in the first half and didn't hit their first 3 until Harley connected from the left wing for a 36-29 lead.
Missouri was 5-of-11 from 3-point range in the first half, with Horton and Keon Lawrence each hitting two 3-pointers on consecutive possessions.
The Tigers took a 25-20 lead, but the Huskers closed out the first half on a 10-3 run and Harley canned a runner at the buzzer for a 30-28 lead. The bucket was reviewed to make sure he got rid of the ball in time.
Maric, one of four Big 12 players with 900 career rebounds and 1,500 points, had four blocks.
At Kansas City, Mo.
NEBRASKA 61, MISSOURI 56
MISSOURI (16-16)
Carroll 4-9 2-3 10, Lyons 2-12 3-4 7, K.Lawrence 4-10 4-4 15, Tiller 1-6 0-0 2, M.Lawrence 4-8 0-0 12, Horton 2-4 0-0 5, Brown 1-3 0-0 3, Safford 0-0 0-0 0, Volkus 0-1 0-0 0, Butterfield 0-4 2-2 2. Totals 18-57 11-13 56.
NEBRASKA (19-11)
Maric 5-6 7-10 17, Henry 2-5 0-2 4, Harley 6-11 0-0 14, Dagunduro 3-9 2-4 8, Anderson 3-8 0-0 7, Strowbridge 2-6 3-4 7, Miller 1-1 0-0 2, Velander 0-1 0-0 0, Balham 1-2 0-1 2, Salomon 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-49 12-21 61.
HalftimeNebraska 30-28. 3-Point GoalsMissouri 9-19 (M.Lawrence 4-8, K.Lawrence 3-5, Horton 1-1, Brown 1-2, Lyons 0-1, Carroll 0-2), Nebraska 3-13 (Harley 2-4, Anderson 1-4, Dagunduro 0-1, Strowbridge 0-1, Velander 0-1, Henry 0-2). Fouled OutNone. ReboundsMissouri 31 (Carroll 8), Nebraska 42 (Maric 13). AssistsMissouri 17 (Tiller 4), Nebraska 11 (Anderson 3). Total FoulsMissouri 14, Nebraska 11. A18,758.
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