White III leads Nebraska past Mississippi Valley State 97-51

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) Jack McVeigh and Andrew White III had some special fans watching as they each made their Nebraska debuts Saturday night.

The pair combined to score 34 points and lead the Cornhuskers to a 97-71 win over Mississippi Valley State.

McVeigh's fans were half a world away, watching the freshman from Australia come off the bench to hit all four of his three point attempts and all four of his free throws.

''It's around 10 o'clock on a Sunday morning. They're all up and watching the game. They're all excited to see my first college game. I've got a couple friends watching back home. It felt good just getting out there... I had easy shots. I got to take a little time and line up the shots. It was good. It was a nice way to start my college career.''

White's fans were in the Pinnacle Bank Arena stands watching the transfer from Kansas hit 7 of 10 shots, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range.

''His parents were here, which was good to see,'' sad Nebraska coach Tim Miles. ''I think he was really excited about that. His first shot went in, you could see a little fist pump. For him, it's a do over, right and he wants to do it right. We're going to give him an opportunity to make an impact. And he is making an impact for us.''

Nebraska opened up a 19-7 lead with 11:49 left, at which point Mississippi Valley State had three baskets and nine turnovers. McVeigh poured in 10 straight for Nebraska, putting the Huskers up 31-13 after his second 3-pointer with 7:33 left.

Nebraska's largest lead of the first half was 26 points. The Delta Devils cut the lead to 20 in the second half. Nebraska responded with a 17-0 to take a 70-33 lead.

''I think the game was a shock to a lot of my guys,'' said MVSU coach Andre Payne. ''Having 11 new players, I've been telling them how good this level is. They did an exceptional job of scouting us. They did an exceptional job of getting their players prepared for the things we do. We weren't ready mentally because they don't know how good a ''Nebraska'' can be.''

Nebraska matched last season's single-game high with 10 3-pointers Saturday.

''It's good to have game one and match your season high last year,'' Miles said. ''This team is definitely not last year's team in a lot of ways that scare the heck out of me and a lot of ways that really excite me.

''Defensive rebounding worries me to death. But I think we share the ball, I think we move the ball. Right away, we turned them over and got a lot of baskets in the fast breaks. After that I thought we really shared the ball, there was a point where we had 12 baskets and seven or eight assists. That's good basketball.''

White said he expects Nebraska's strong 3-point shooting to continue, starting Tuesday at No. 11 Villanova.

''We put in a lot of work on our shooting,'' he said. ''We come into practice early and shoot. We stay after practice and shoot. We have a culture in us now where guys are putting in a lot of extra time. You can't make guarantees, but when you're making shots before practice and making shots after practice, it gives you a little momentum. Obviously we have some tighter games coming up ahead so we'll really test that.''