Nebraska Beat Providence 67-58 as Sandfort Scores 25

Pryce Sandfort scored a game-high 25 points on Saturday night and Nebraska beat Providence 67-58 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, in the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off.

Sandfort shot 9 of 14 from the field and made three 3-pointers for the Cornhuskers, who improved to 2-0. Nebraska led by five points at halftime and pushed the lead to 16 late in the second half before closing out a cold-shooting Providence team.

Support around Sandfort

Boden Kapke added 13 points and five rebounds for Nebraska. Braden Frager scored 12 points and Cale Jacobsen scored 11, giving the Cornhuskers four players in double figures.

Providence fell to 1-1. The Friars shot 19 of 62 from the field, 31 percent, and made only 7 of 38 attempts from 3-point range, 18 percent. Nebraska finished with 12 steals and a 30-22 edge in points in the paint, and that defense held up on a night when the Cornhuskers shot 5 of 24 from long range themselves.

How the game turned

A 7-0 run gave Nebraska a 19-16 lead in the first half, but Providence tied the game on a Marangon 3-pointer with 5:46 left in the half. Nebraska rebuilt the lead before the break and then took control after halftime.

A Sandfort dunk formed part of a 6-0 run that pushed the lead to 53-41 with 8:19 to play. A Damon Wilkinson layup made it 60-45 with 3:31 left, and Nebraska's largest lead of the night was 63-47.

Streak and next game

The win extended Nebraska's regular-season non-conference winning streak to 24 games, a run that goes back to November 22, 2024. The Cornhuskers did it in a building filled mostly with Providence fans, about 60 miles from the Friars' home base, in a game billed as a neutral-site contest.

Nebraska returns home to Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln to play Lindenwood on Wednesday. Providence is back in action next week after its first loss of the season.

Sandfort's week

The Providence game closed a strong opening week for Sandfort. The senior forward, who played his first two seasons at Iowa, passed 1,000 career points in Nebraska's season opener against Le Moyne on Monday, when he scored 20 points in a 106-64 win in Lincoln. He followed that milestone with the game-high 25 points in Uncasville, and he did it on efficient shooting, missing only five of his 14 attempts from the field.

Nebraska is 2-0 for the second game of a season that follows the program's first Sweet 16 run, and Sandfort is the lone full-time starter back from that team.