Bradley’s scores 25 as No. 14 Texas romps over Nebraska 91-51

Bradley’s 25 points lead No. 14 Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — Avery Bradley scored 20 points in the first half and No. 14 Texas romped over Nebraska 91-51 on Saturday.

The Longhorns shot 61 percent in the first half against the Big 12’s stingiest scoring defense. Bradley, who finished 6 of 7 on 3-pointers, made five in the first half as Texas built a 53-26 lead. The Longhorns outscored the Cornhuskers 22-4 over the final 6 minutes of the half.

Bradley finished with 25 points, while fellow freshman J’Covan Brown had 12 points and six assists in his first start since Nov. 29.

The victory ended a two-game losing skid by Texas (20-5, 6-4), which reached 20 wins for the 11th straight season. Nebraska (13-12, 1-9) has lost four in a row.

Texas even shot its free throws fairly well. One of the worst free throw shooting teams in the country, the Longhorns went 22 of 30 from the line.

Ryan Anderson scored nine points to lead Nebraska, which shot 28 percent and made just 2 of 18 3-pointers. Texas outrebounded Nebraska 49-27.

The Longhorns, who spent two weeks at No. 1 in January, had lost five of their previous seven games. Coach Rick Barnes started Brown in search of some scoring punch for his beleaguered offense.

Brown’s impact Saturday wasn’t scoring but passing the ball to Bradley and others for open 3-pointers or flashy dunks. Nebraska was also forced to respect him as a shooter and that opened up room under the basket for forwards Gary Johnson and Damion James, who each scored 13 points. Jordan Hamilton added 16 points for the Longhorns.

Bradley, who scored 29 points in Texas’ Big 12 opener against Colorado, was 7 of 9 from the field in the first half. His first shot was blocked but he followed it seconds later with his first 3-pointer for Texas’ first basket.

The Longhorns broke the game open with a 22-4 run to close the half.

Nebraska’s Ray Gallegos made a 3-pointer with 6 minutes left to pull the Cornhuskers within 31-22. Two plays by Bradley sent Texas off and running.

After Bradley made his fourth 3-pointer of the half, Jai Lucas stole the ball and was falling to the ground when he passed to Brown. Bradley sprinted ahead and Brown lofted a soft alley-oop pass that Bradley grabbed over Nebraska’s Sek Henry for a one-handed dunk and drew the foul. Bradley’s free throw made it 39-22.

Bradley made another 3-pointer and Johnson followed it with another dunk. Nebraska, the last-place team in the Big 12, was unable to do anything to stem the run or keep up, shooting 28 percent.

Ryan Anderson’s two free throws with 54 seconds left were Nebraska’s first points in 5 minutes.

Texas’ 53-26 lead at halftime was the first time the Longhorns had at the break since the conference opener against Colorado on Jan. 9.