LINCOLN, Neb. - While Walter Pitchford was sitting in the stands watching the Nebraska women play Creighton on Saturday morning, he kept flashing back to the Cornhuskers’ dismal performance against the Creighton men a week ago.
“There was something about seeing ‘Creighton’ on their jerseys that really fueled the fire,” Pitchford said.
Still stinging from falling behind by 30 points in the first 13 minutes against Creighton, Pitchford and the Huskers zoomed to a quick double-digit lead on their way to a 79-67 victory over Arkansas State on Saturday afternoon.
Nebraska scored 15 of the first 17 points and was up by 22 after 13 minutes.
“I think the whole team thought that was something we needed to get done,” Pitchford said. “We need to come out like that every game.”
Shavon Shields scored 15 points to lead four Nebraska players who scored at least 10 points. Ray Gallegos added 13 points, Pitchford had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Terran Petteway added 11 points as the Huskers (7-3) bounced back from their 15-point loss to in-state rival Creighton.
Huskers Coach Tim Miles said it was important to move on from the awful offensive showing last week.
“You don’t want to go and have this crisis of confidence - ‘Oh no, what happened to our offense?’ ” Miles said.
Kirk Van Slyke scored a career-high 27 points for Arkansas State (5-3), which was off to its best start in five years and had its three game win streak end. Melvin Johnson III had 18 points for the Red Wolves, who couldn’t overcome 21 turnovers and 38-percent first-half shooting.
The Huskers led by 28 points in the second half, and fans started leaving Pinnacle Bank Arena with just under 12 minutes to play. But Van Slyke scored seven points and Johnson seven during a 14-4 run that pulled the Red Wolves to 69-55 with 6 minutes left, the closest they had been since the middle of the first half. Gallegos’ three-pointer and Petteway’s steal and dunk made it a 19-point game. Arkansas State made one more run to get within 11 points with a minute to play.
“We look at it as if there’s no hole too big to dig out of,” Van Slyke said. “We try to claw back. Today it didn’t work out for us.”
The Huskers shot 53 percent while getting out to a 50-27 lead - their most points in a half since scoring 50 against Alabama State in December 2008.
Arkansas State, playing for the first time in 12 days, might have been down more at the break if it hadn’t been for Van Slyke. The 6-foot-10 senior had 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting and was one of only three Red Wolves to score in the first 20 minutes. He finished 11 of 15.
“They were switching on ball screens and put a guard on me, and sometimes I was able to post him up,” Van Slyke said. “I tried to play hard and let the offense run and if I have a shot, take it. We try to get inside and feel like we have an advantage.”
Johnson, who came in shooting a nation-leading 64.3 percent on three-pointers, was 3 of 5 from three-point range.
“We knew we had to hop on them early,” Miles said. “And you knew they were going to make a run.”
Sports, Pages 29 on 12/15/2013