LINCOLN, Neb. -- After trailing by just three points at halftime (36-33), Sacramento State was outscored in the second half by a 47-28 margin as Nebraska posted an 83-61 victory over the Hornets in a non-conference men's basketball game Sunday evening at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

The game marked the season opener for Nebraska while the Hornets (0-2) were playing their second road game in three days. The first came Friday in a 90-53 loss to a Colorado team currently receiving votes in the AP and USA Today top 25 polls.

Sacramento State is now 0-10 all-time against teams from the Big Ten Conference, including an 0-4 mark against Nebraska. The two teams were playing each other for the first time since Jan. 20, 1993. It's never easy to start a season against two Power Five conference schools, and the Hornets will take on one more Power Five school on Dec. 21 at Washington State.

The Hornets will now turn their attention to the home opener this Thursday against Antelope Valley at 7:05 p.m. Antelope Valley is an NAIA school from Lancaster, Calif.

In was the tale of two halves in tonight's game as the Hornets trailed just 36-33 at the break. However, Nebraska had a big second half that saw the Huskers shoot .577 (15-26) from the field, .500 (3-6) from the 3-point line and .824 (14-17) from the free throw line. In fact, Nebraska started the second half on a 9-2 run and led by double figures the final 13:59 of the contest. The Huskers' largest lead was 26 points with less than a minute to play.

While Nebraska finished the game shooting .477 (31-65) from the field and .545 (6-11) from the 3-point line, Sacramento State converted on just .415 (22-53) of its attempts from the floor and 6-of-21 (.286) from beyond the arc. Nebraska also held big advantages in the rebounding department (43-29) and points in the paint (40-22).

After shooting .481 in the first half, Sacramento State shot just .346 in the second half, including a 2-for-12 performance from the 3-point line. The Hornets finished the game with two more free throw attempts than Nebraska, but Sacramento State converted on just 11 of those 20 opportunities (.550).

"We had a pretty good first half and the separation happened during the first couple minutes of the second half," Sacramento State head coach Brian Katz said. "They got five points in transition and what started as a 36-33 deficit turned into a 41-33 deficit, and that really got Nebraska going.

"I thought we played very hard but we broke down a little bit defensively. They wore us down a bit with their size in the second half. I would have to look at the tape, but I thought they were a little more solid in running their stuff and they took us out of what we were trying to do."

A bright spot for the second straight game was the play of fourth-year senior and team tri-captain Nick Hornsby, who finished with yet another double-double. After recording 16 points and 11 rebounds at Colorado, Hornsby had 14 points and 10 rebounds tonight. That included shooting 5-for-8 from the field, 1-for-2 from the 3-point line and 3-for-6 from the free throw line. He also had a block and a steal in 35 minutes of play.

He was joined in double-figure points by junior Justin Strings who had 12 points, three rebounds and two assists in a game-high 36 minutes. However, Strings finished just 4-for-19 from the field and 2-of-10 from the 3-point line. Eric Stuteville had nine points (4-of-6 shooting) and six rebounds, and Grant Dressler had a career-high tying six points to go along with three rebounds and two assists in 19 minutes.

Guard Marcus Graves had four points, seven assists and one steal, and sophomore Jeff Wu, who was making his first career start, finished with five points and an assist in 22 minutes. Guard Jiday Ugbaja made the most of his six minutes, finishing with four points and a rebound. Ten different Sacramento State players scored in tonight's game. For the second straight contest, freshman guard Izayah Mauriohooho-Le'afa did not play because of injury.

Nebraska received huge production from its starters, as the unit combined for 74 of the Huskers' 83 points. That included Glynn Watson Jr. who had 23 points, six assists, five rebounds, zero turnovers and three steals. Tai Webster added 20 points and five rebounds, Ed Morrow Jr. had 15 points and six rebounds, and Jack Mcveigh added 14 points and seven rebounds.

After Thursday's home game against Antelope Valley, Sacramento State will not play inside the Nest until Dec. 3 vs. UC Merced. In fact, the Hornets will play three straight games on neutral floors beginning on Monday, Nov. 21 against UC Davis at the Golden 1 Center. Following that game, the Hornets will play at a tournament in Cheney, Wash., in which the team will play San Francisco on Nov. 26 and Denver on Nov. 27.