Pryce Sandfort Scores 22 as No. 25 Nebraska Routs Lindenwood 94-60

Lindenwood scored the first basket of the night on Wednesday. It was the only lead the Lions would have. No. 25 Nebraska answered with a flood of 3-pointers and layups, built a 38-point lead before halftime and rolled past Lindenwood 94-60 at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln.

Pryce Sandfort led the Huskers with 22 points, making 6 of 12 from 3-point range and adding eight rebounds, four of them offensive, and four assists. Damon Wilkinson came off the bench for 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting in only 18 minutes, and Braden Frager scored 14 with three steals. Nebraska improved to 3-0. Lindenwood fell to 2-2.

Nebraska led 61-32 at halftime and was never seriously tested after the opening minute. The Huskers shot 52 percent from the field, handed out 19 assists on 33 baskets, forced 18 turnovers and scored 44 points in the paint. They led for 96 percent of the game, according to ESPN, in front of a crowd of 14,714. The game aired on FS1.

Sandfort Sets the Tone Early

Lindenwood won the opening tip, and Makhan Diouf scored on a layup at the 19:11 mark for a 2-0 lead. Cale Jacobsen tied it with two free throws 22 seconds later, and Sandfort took it from there. Sandfort hit a 3 at 18:35 and another at 18:08, and Nebraska never trailed again.

The Huskers led 16-4 at the 13:54 mark and 22-6 at 12:41 after Frager made three straight free throws. Lindenwood was still within 25-9 at 11:22, but the next few minutes decided the game. Nebraska scored 12 straight points over the following two and a half minutes, with Sandfort adding a layup and a 3 and Wilkinson scoring on a pair of layups and a 3, to make it 37-9 with 8:59 left in the half.

The lead kept growing. It was 42-11 at 7:43 and 49-15 at 5:55. Sandfort's fifth 3 of the half, with 3:59 left, made it 56-18, a 38-point margin that stood as the largest of the night.

Lindenwood finished the half with a small push, outscoring Nebraska 14-5 over the final four minutes. Shamiere Green capped it with a 3 at the 0:38 mark. Even so, the Lions went to the locker room down 61-32.

A Big First Half for Two Shooters

Sandfort had 17 points at halftime on five 3s and a layup. Wilkinson matched that total off the bench, scoring 17 in the first half on four layups, two 3s and 3-of-4 shooting at the free throw line.

Sixty-one points in a half is a big number for any team, and it topped the 58 first-half points Nebraska put up against Le Moyne in its season opener on Nov. 2, a total the school's preview noted as its most in a first half since 2005.

Sandfort entered the night averaging 22.5 points per game, according to Nebraska's game preview, and now has three straight 20-point games to open the season. Sandfort set a school record last season with 129 made 3s, a total that led the Big Ten, and is on the Naismith Trophy watch list. On Wednesday, Sandfort also crashed the glass, with four of eight rebounds coming on the offensive end.

Wilkinson was nearly perfect. Wilkinson made 7 of 8 shots, including both 3-point tries, and went 3-of-5 at the line in the most efficient scoring night of anyone on the floor.

The Second Half Stays Comfortable

Boden Kapke opened the second-half scoring for Nebraska to make it 63-32, and the Huskers quickly rebuilt the cushion. Frager hit a 3 and a layup, Kapke added a jumper and Sandfort made two free throws in a 12-4 burst that pushed the lead to 73-36 with 14:45 left.

Green kept Lindenwood from fading completely. Green hit 3s at the 14:25 and 12:26 marks, the second of them making it 75-44, but Nebraska still led 79-48 with 8:53 to play and 81-48 at 8:04. The margin stayed in the 30s the rest of the way.

Lindenwood played the Huskers closer after the break, but Nebraska still outscored the Lions 33-28 in the second half. The Lions grabbed 14 offensive rebounds for the game, one of the few areas where they held their own. The final was 94-60.

Depth and Defense Do the Rest

Nebraska's bench scored 44 points, nearly matching the starters' 50. Behind Wilkinson's 19, Connor Essegian added seven points in eight minutes, Leo Curtis scored five, Sam Orme and Taj DeGourville each had four and Colin Rice added two. Jacob Lanier scored three points with four assists.

Frager, the Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year in 2025-26, made 5 of 11 shots and all three free throws. Frager also had three of Nebraska's 10 steals. Jacobsen ran the offense cleanly with seven points, five assists and no turnovers, and Kapke scored seven with two steals and a block in 12 minutes. Trevan Leonhardt did not score but had three rebounds, an assist and a block.

Eleven Huskers scored, and 15 played. Nebraska made 33 of 64 shots, and the Huskers committed 12 turnovers against 19 assists, a ratio that let the offense keep moving even after the starters sat. Sandfort played 28 minutes, the most on the team, and no one else played more than 22, which is exactly what a coaching staff wants in the first week of the season with a neutral-site game coming on Sunday.

As a team, Nebraska made 11 of 35 3-point attempts and 17 of 24 free throws. The Huskers outrebounded Lindenwood 41-38, blocked five shots and scored 19 points off turnovers while giving up 12 off their own 12 giveaways. They also won the fast-break battle 12-6.

Lindenwood Can't Find a Rhythm

Green led Lindenwood with 12 points, going 4-of-9 from the field and making all three of the team's 3-pointers in five attempts. Green also had three assists and two steals. The rest of the Lions went 0-of-15 from deep.

Diouf, who entered averaging 15.5 points per game, finished with nine on 4-of-7 shooting with five rebounds. Malek Archie scored seven, Dom Clay and Marsai Mason added six each, and Mason grabbed 10 rebounds, four of them offensive. Matar Diop and Kellen Robinson each scored five, and Xavier Spencer and Parker Seithel scored four apiece.

Lindenwood shot 35 percent from the field and 3-of-20 from 3, and its 18 turnovers kept giving Nebraska easy chances. The Lions finished with nine assists and no blocked shots. They did hold their own on the glass, finishing only three rebounds behind Nebraska, and made 13 of 19 free throws.

What It Means

For Nebraska, this was the kind of game a newly ranked team is supposed to win, and the Huskers handled it without much drama. Fred Hoiberg, in an eighth season in Lincoln, has a team that has now beaten Le Moyne 106-64, Providence 67-58 at Mohegan Sun and Lindenwood by 34.

The win also extended a streak the school has been tracking. Nebraska entered with a school-record 24 straight non-conference regular-season wins and 16 straight non-conference wins at home, according to the game preview, and both runs grew by one on Wednesday.

Lindenwood came in having lost at TCU and having beaten Central Bible 120-46 and East-West 115-44. Kyle Gerdeman's team will look to clean up the turnovers before Ohio Valley Conference play.

The Huskers moved into the men's AP poll this week, as covered in Undrafted's look at the Nov. 9 men's AP Top 25. For full stats, see the ESPN box score (opens in a new tab).

Sources: ESPN box score, team stats and play-by-play, Nebraska Athletics game preview. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Nebraska faces Boise State in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Sunday, Nov. 15, and meets Butler in Chicago on Nov. 22. Lindenwood visits Omaha on Friday, Nov. 13.

Photo: Scott Bruhn/Nebraska Athletics.