Jamarques Lawrence hit a 3-pointer with 0.2 seconds left to help No. 23 Nebraska beat No. 13 Illinois 83-80 in a Big Ten Conference game Saturday afternoon in Champaign, Ill.
Lawrence, who had 14 points, extended the Cornhuskers’ school-record win streak to 15 games. Nebraska (11-0, 1-0 Big Ten) is also off to the best start in school history.
Pryce Sandfort had 26 of his career-high 32 points in the first half for the Cornhuskers, going 12 for 18 overall and 6 of 11 from 3-point range. Rienk Mast added 17 for Nebraska, which shot 51.6% and made 12 of 26 3s to win at Illinois for the first time since 2016.
Illinois (8-3, 1-1) got 20 points from Kylan Boswell, while freshman Keaton Wagler had 19 points and a career-high 10 assists. Andrej Stojakovic added 19 points and 10 rebounds. The Fighting Illini rallied from double-digit deficits in both halves, tying it on a Tomislav Ivisic 3-pointer with 17.4 seconds remaining.
The game was tied at halftime after Nebraska led by as many as 14. It was tied again at 45 on a Boswell 3, but the Cornhuskers were able to build a 61-51 lead with 11:40 to go as a technical foul on Illinois’ Zvonimir Ivisic keyed a 7-0 run.
The Illini got within 66-63 on a three-point play by Wagler with 7:32 remaining. Nebraska extended the lead back to eight and maintained at least a two-score edge until Boswell made two free throws with 1:38 left to cut it to 76-74.
Sandfort scored Nebraska’s first 15 points, nine coming on 3-pointers, while Illinois started 2 of 10 from the field and missed its first eight triples. A 3-pointer by Lawrence put the Cornhuskers up 20-8 with 11:46 left in the first half.
A fifth 3-pointer by Sandfort extended the lead to 30-16 with 6:31 remaining in the half, but Illinois ended the first half on a 13-0 run, with Boswell’s 3-pointer tying it up.
