Down 18 at half, Nebraska rallies to stun No. 6 Wisconsin

ASSOCIATED PRESS

LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska came back from an 18-point second-half deficit to knock off No. 6 Wisconsin 80-72 in overtime on Thursday night, the second top-10 opponent the Cornhuskers have beaten this season.

Rienk Mast scored early in overtime to give the Huskers the lead for good, and when time expired the students spilled onto the court for the second time this season. The first was Jan. 9 when the Huskers beat then-No. 1 Purdue 88-72.

C.J. Wilcher scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half, Mast finished with 20, and the Huskers (16-6, 6-5) improved to 6-0 at home in Big Ten play.

Wisconsin Nebraska Basketball — Nebraska’s Brice Williams gets swarmed by fans celebrating the team’s 80-72 overtime victory against Wisconsin, on Thursday, in Lincoln, Neb.

Rebecca S. Gratz, Associated Press

It was Nebraska’s biggest comeback since erasing a 19-point deficit against Iowa in 2013. Since 2000, Wisconsin had been 120-0 when leading by 15 or more points at halftime.

AJ Storr matched his season high with 28 points to lead the Badgers (16-5, 9-2). Max Klesmit and Chucky Hepburn had 13 apiece.

The Cornhuskers were down as many as 19 in the first half but were able to come back as Wisconsin, which shot 55% in the first half, dipped to 36% in the second and got sloppy with the ball.

Brice Williams’ two free throws in the final minute of regulation gave Nebraska its first lead at 67-65. Storr’s layup tied it and Mast and Williams missed two shots in the last 20 seconds.

Nebraska capitalized on a run of eight Wisconsin turnovers over eight minutes in the second half to tie it at 52. The Badgers were ahead 63-56 after Klesmit scored 11 points over two minutes.

But Nebraska came back again, got the game to overtime and posted one of its biggest comebacks in program history.

California Arizona Basketball — California’s Fardaws Aimaq, right, guards Arizona’s Oumar Ballo during the first half of Thursday’s game in Tucson, Ariz.

Darryl Webb, Associated Press

NO. 11 ARIZONA 91, CALIFORNIA 65: Oumar Ballo scored a season-high 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, Keshad Johnson added 15 points, and Arizona rolled over California in Tucson.

Arizona (16-5, 7-3 Pac-12) never trailed, jumping out to a 29-11 lead by midway through the first half. The 7-foot, 260-pound Ballo scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds during that opening stretch.

The Wildcats took a 48-28 halftime lead after shooting 56% from the field and outrebounding the Golden Bears 25-11.

California (8-13, 4-6) cut the margin to 15 points early in the second half, but couldn’t get any closer. Caleb Love’s 3-pointer with 12:30 left pushed the Wildcats back up by 22.

Ballo hit all eight of his shots from the field and had six offensive rebounds, doing all his work in just 22 minutes. He became the 54th player in program history to pass 1,000 career points, hitting the mark early in the first half.

KJ Lewis scored 14 points off the bench while Love added 12.

The Golden Bears were led by Jalen Celestine’s 13 points while Rodney Brown Jr. had 12. Jaylon Tyson added 10 points and 10 rebounds. They shot just 7 of 28 (25%) from 3-point range.

Arizona improved to 11-0 at home this season. The Wildcats swept the season series from the Golden Bears, beating them 100-81 on the road last month.