Fred Hoiberg said it's best not to repeat the halftime talk on the airwaves.

Whatever was said, Nebraska State, wearing its big boy pants, Sam Hoiberg again showed how important he was when he was on the floor and Pryce Sandfort had just started shooting again.

Within the first two minutes of the second half, Nebraska erased a five-point halftime deficit and held on to beat USC in an 82-67 Husker victory Saturday afternoon at the Galen Center.

Price Sandfort scored 32 points on 12-of-21 shooting, including five 3-pointers, while Braden Frager added 17 points and eight boards after trailing 36-31 at halftime, NU outscored the Trojans 35-10 in the first 11:15 of the second half.

A disappointing first half was old news when Nebraska led by 20.

"Our formula has been to take care of the ball when we play in transition, and we didn't do that in the first half," Hoiberg said on the Huskers Radio Network after the game.

Quick hands appeared.Including Sam Hoiberg, who played just seven minutes in the first half after his second foul with 11:40 left in the half.Nebraska didn't look like Hoiberg off the bench and shot just 35 percent from the field while making 7-of-22 from the arc through the break.

But Nebraska put on a dominant showing coming out of the locker room to go 25-4 overall and 14-4 in the Big Ten.The Huskers forced two turnovers on USC's first two possessions out of halftime, leading to a layup and a dunk.

The tone is set and the recovery continues.

Nebraska grabbed the offensive boards throughout the game, going 18-5 by the end of the game.The Huskers were plus 16 in rebounding overall against a USC team that was strong on the glass.

“It was a big message: you win the glass, you win the game,” Hoberg said.

What was the message of the interval?“I'm not sure I can do it in the air,” the coach said.

And put Sam back on the floor?"That's part of it, no doubt. But again, guys, we were just rattling around. They got under us and we just didn't handle it well."

USC, meanwhile, lost leading scorer Chad Baker-Mazara after he went down hard just three minutes into the second half.He scored 14 points in the first half, but spent most of the second frame watching from a front-row seat behind the baseline.

While that undoubtedly hurt the Trojans (18-11, 7-11), Nebraska seemed to have a different take on it out of the blocks in the second half.The Huskers improved defensively, scoring 51 points in the second half and shooting 53 percent from the field.USC, meanwhile, played right into Nebraska's hands and was 0-for-9 from behind the arc.

It was still a competitive game with 13:08 left and Nebraska up 51-46.It wasn't even five minutes when the Huskers went on a 15-0 run.Berke Buyuktuncel certainly played his part in this big red blitz.

“I thought BK was great,” Hoiberg said of the big man, who had a team-high +24 in 24 minutes.

Sam Hoiberg was +21 despite not playing.Sandfort had +18.Nebraska's Sandfort put the Huskers up 39-38 early in the second half when he hit a four-pointer, making a 3-pointer while being hit behind him.

Even when he had to make an incredibly difficult contested 3-pointer with the clock winding down, Sandfort made it.He finished just one point shy of his career high set a week ago against Penn State.Sandfort has scored 29-plus points in three of his last five games, making 19 3-pointers in those three games.

“Overall a good effort from our guys,” said Hoiberg, whose team will remain in Los Angeles and play at UCLA late Tuesday night.“You go out on the road, it's never easy to win on the road, but our guys found a way.”

The program continued to be recorded.

The 14 conference wins are the most by a Nebraska team in a season.The Big Ten road wins are two more conference wins than any Husker team has ever had.

The Huskers are just one game shy of matching the 1990-91 Husker season-best of 26 wins, a team that won 25 in the regular season and once in the Big Eight Tournament.

Nebraska is currently the No. 1 seed in the nation.2 in the Big Ten standings heading into Saturday night.However, the Huskers knew they had to keep him in L.A.

Hoiberg said, "I asked them if they were satisfied, if they were satisfied with a guy. 'That's what we want. If they say yes, we're in trouble.'