INDIANAPOLIS — When Nebraska visited the Kohl Center back in early February, University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team had little trouble taking down the Cornhuskers in a 72-61 victory behind junior forward Nigel Hayes’ 20 points.

Nebraska’s Shavon Shields, however, was not playing in that game.

The Cornhuskers’ star was inactive for their trip to the Kohl Center due to a head injury he had suffered in the game prior. He was not only Nebraska’s leading scorer, but also led the team in assists.

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Shield’s presence was felt strongly Thursday night when he led a sub-500 Nebraska team to a 70-58 victory over the Badgers in the second round of the Big Ten tournament.

The senior forward scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds en route to the most shocking defeat of the Greg Gard era thus far. And Gard saw this kind of performance coming from Shields before the game even started.

“He is their best player on both ends of the floor, and I knew that that was going to be a factor because he has been though it, a senior that’s going on his last lap,” Gard said. “He’s hurt us before.”

Shields, who boasts a 6-foot-7, 220-pound frame, proved to be a walking mismatch all game for the sluggish Badgers.

Wisconsin attempted to use both Nigel Hayes and junior forward Vitto Brown on defense in an effort to stop Shields, but to no avail. The senior simply could not be stopped, and as a result, neither could Nebraska.

“I think the team really plays well around [Shields],” junior Zak Showalter said. “Obviously they fed off his energy early and they kept that going all game. We couldn’t really take him out of it and it’s tough to stop a team when they’re playing like that.”

Above all, the plays Shields was making seemed to always come at the right time. Most notably, with just over eight minutes remaining and the Badgers within two points following a layup from redshirt freshman Ethan Happ, Shields made a nice pass to junior guard Tai Webster who hit a layup to bring the lead back up to four.

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No more than 15 seconds later, following a missed 3-pointer for UW’s Showalter, Shields drove to the basket, finished the layup and was fouled. His free throw brought Nebraska’s lead to seven, and Wisconsin would never recover.

There was simply no question Shields was a difference maker Thursday night beyond the numbers he produced, and his performance sent the Badgers home much earlier than they expected.