No. 21 Nebraska 80, Northern Kentucky 61: Terran Petteway hit a career-high six 3-pointers and scored 16 of his 25 points in the first half as the host Cornhuskers cruised past the Norse.

Shavon Shields drained each of his four field goals and all 10 of his free throws to finish with 18 points for Nebraska (1-0), which has won 14 straight season openers. David Rivers had 12 points and also enjoyed a perfect shooting performance, going 5-for-5 from the field and hitting a pair of free throws as the Cornhuskers went 26-of-30 from the foul line.

Tayler Persons contributed 13 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals for Northern Kentucky (0-2), which opened its season on Friday with a 62-31 loss at Wisconsin. Anthony Monaco knocked down four second-half 3-pointers and matched a career high with 12 points, but the Norse could not overcome a 9-of-19 effort from the stripe.

Northern Kentucky jumped out to an early 8-2 advantage as Nebraska missed seven of its first eight shots before a three-point play from Rivers and eight points from Petteway sparked a 25-7 surge that left the Cornhuskers with a 27-15 lead. Nebraska pushed the margin to 15 by the break, holding the Norse without a field goal for nearly six minutes late in the half.

The Cornhuskers continued to maintain a comfortable margin after intermission, never letting their lead dip below double digits and increased it to 18 on Petteway’s fourth 3-pointer with just over 13 minutes remaining. Petteway capped off his hot shooting effort with back-to-back triples late as the Cornhuskers’ advantage swelled to 74-52.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Nebraska improved to 6-0 all-time against Atlantic Sun Conference opponents. … Monaco and Persons accounted for the Norse’s first 17 points of the second half and 24 of their 31 points after intermission. … The Cornhuskers have won 25 consecutive season-opening games at home.