CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Jamarques Lawrence hit a 3-point shot with less than a second remaining Saturday to give No. 23 Nebraska an 83-80 win over No. 13 Illinois.
The undefeated Huskers (11-0, 2-0 Big Ten) are off to the best start in program history. They won 10 in a row to start the 1977-78 season.
Tomislav Ivisic’s 3-pointer — his only points of the game — with 17 seconds to go deadlocked the game at 80-all for the Illini (8-3, 1-1), who trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half and 14 points in the first half.
Lawrence finished with 14 points. Pryce Sandfort scored a career-high 32 points and Rienk Mast had 17 points and seven rebounds for the Huskers in their first road game of the season.
Kylan Boswell scored 20 points for Illinois, which led for only 16 seconds early in the first half. Andrej Stojakovic had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Keaton Wagler had 19 points for the Illini.
Sandfort scored the Huskers’ first 15 points and 26 points in the first half, but Illinois went on a 13-point run to end the half and tied the game at 37-all.
The Huskers, ranked for the first time since 2018, have now won a program-record 15 in a row dating to last season, when they won the inaugural College Basketball Crown post-season tournament in Las Vegas. They won 14 straight during the 1990-91 season.
Saturday’s game was also the Cornhuskers first victory in a ranked matchup since March 9, 1991, according to ESPN Research.
The Illini had won six straight at home against Nebraska. They’re now 15-3 all-time against the Huskers at the State Farm Center, 10-2 in the Big Ten.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
