Pryce Sandfort scored 20 points and added nine rebounds and four assists as Nebraska extended the nation’s longest active win streak, beating South Carolina Upstate 72-63 in a nonconference game on Saturday afternoon in Lincoln, Neb.
The Cornhuskers (8-0) have won 12 in a row dating back to last season, their longest win streak since winning a school-record 14 consecutive games in 1990-91. The 8-0 start is also Nebraska’s the school’s best since a school-record 10-0 start in 1977-78.
Sandfort was 5 of 13 from the field but 4 of 8 from 3-point range, hitting half of his team’s triples, while Rienk Mast added 15 and both Braden Frager and Cale Jacobsen pitched in with 11 apiece for Nebraska, which trailed by as many as 12 in the first half.
South Carolina Upstate (4-5) got 20 points from Karmani Gregory, though he needed 22 shots to reach that mark, and 13 from Mason Bendinger. The Spartans shot 36.4% and only attempted eight free throws, missing five.
Nebraska led 32-30 at halftime but SC Upstate tied it twice in the first two minutes of the second half before the Cornhuskers took control with a 7-0 run. A layup by Frager gave Nebraska a 49-38 lead with 11:32 left.
The Spartans cut it to a 6-point deficit but then went five minutes without points, allowing Nebraska to extend to a 61-47 lead with 3:19 to go. Upstate made a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute to get as close as seven.
Upstate used a 10-0 run to build a 17-8 lead less than eight minutes in, increasing the margin to 12 before going more than seven minutes without scoring, missing 10 straight shots. Nebraska used that drought to go on a 17-0 run, going ahead on a Sandfort 3-pointer with 1:20 left in the half.
The Cornhuskers dominated the Spartans in the paint, outscoring the visitors 34-12.
USC-Upstates’s Carmelo Adkins and Jafeth Martinez tied Sandford for game honors with nine rebounds apiece.
