Guard Tre Demps sparked a first-half flurry and Northwestern stymied a late Nebraska run as the Wildcats waltzed to a 65-54 win over the Cornhuskers on Sunday in Big Ten play at Welsh Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill.

Demps, who torched the Cornhuskers for 17 points in the teams' first meeting the season, scored 17 points again as Northwestern reached 20 wins for just the third time in program history.

Center Alex Olah, whose family traveled from Romania to see him play for the first time, led the Wildcats (20-11, 8-10) with 19 points, eight rebounds and two steals.

Kansas transfer guard Andrew White III and guard Tai Webster each scored 13 to lead the Cornhuskers (14-17, 6-12), who came into the game averaging 71.9 points per game.

Leading scorer and forward Shavon Shields (16.7 points per game) was held to 11 points on two of 12 from the field.

Trailing most of the game and showing little life, Nebraska whittled a double-digit deficit down to six with four minutes to go.

But Shields missed a 3-pointer that would have made it a one-possession game and Northwestern worked the shot clock down for Olah, who connected on a 16-foot jumper to put the Wildcats back up by eight.

The Cornhuskers struggled with their shooting all day. They made only 19 of 52 attempts.

Guard Glynn Watson Jr. put the Cornhuskers up 11-9 with 13:18 to play in the first half. By the time Nebraska would score again on a 3-pointer by Webster, the Wildcats had built a double-digit lead.

Two layups by Olah ignited another Northwestern run and the Wildcats were up 37-22 at halftime.

The Cornhuskers' shooting woes continued in the second half and at one point they missed on eight of nine field-goal attempts.

Compounding their attempt to work their way back into the game was Northwestern's control of the glass where the Wildcats held a 35-23 advantage.