Huskers can't hold up in 79-69 loss to Indiana
For the second game in a row, Nebraska played some of its best basketball of the season in the first half but failed to finish in the final 20 minutes, falling to Indiana 79-69 on Saturday to drop to 0-2 in Big Ten Conference play.
The Huskers (8-7 overall) had four players score in double figures and led by three at halftime, but the Hoosiers’ star power proved to be too much down the stretch, as senior guard Yogi Ferrell (24) and freshman center Thomas Bryant (19) combined for 43 points to help IU out-score NU 43-30 in the second half.
"The separation I thought happened early in that second half," head coach Tim Miles said. "We had some looks, tried to go to Shavon (Shields) a little bit... and we just didn't score on any of them. So we just had some empty possessions, and they're up four and you're like, 'We're OK.' Then Yogi goes nuts on us and I think they score 10 points on four possessions and the lead goes from 55-51 to 12. Now, that's too many, and it happened in a hurry."
Nebraska was more than able to hold its own from the opening tip on into halftime, shooting 51.7 percent from the field and knocking down five 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes. Almost equally important, despite allowing 10 points to Bryant in the first half, the Huskers were only out-rebounded 17-15 in the half and actually out-scored the Hoosiers 18-14 in the paint.
Nebraska took the first notable lead with an 8-0 run to go up 25-20 with just under seven minutes left, but Indiana countered with an eight-point spurt of its own to reclaim the lead on a 3-pointer by Ferrell with 5:24 left.
But the Huskers came right back with another 8-0 rally to take their biggest advantage of the game at 36-30 on a pair of free throws by junior guard Andrew White with just over two minutes remaining, but a jumper by Ferrell in the final seconds cut the lead to 39-36 going into halftime.
"I thought we had a really good first half," Miles said. "Nine guys scored, we shot 50 percent. But we just weren't able to get the defensive stops."
Bryant and Ferrell scored 12 of Indiana’s first 14 points to start the second half and the Hoosiers quickly went up 55-49 on a layup by Ferrell with 12 minutes to play. That would eventually turn into a 17-5 run by IU that extended the lead to 62-51 on a basket by guard O.G. Anunoby with 9:48 left.
Another 3-pointer by Ferrell less than a minute later gave Indiana its biggest lead of the day at 65-53, but senior forward Shavon Shields - who had just five points at the time - reeled off five straight points and senior guard Benny Parker added a free throw to cut the deficit to 65-59 with 7:11 remaining.
That would be about as close as the Huskers would get, however. A 3-pointer by guard Nick Zeisloft pushed the lead back up to 12 with 4:26 to play, and the Hoosiers’ advantage wouldn’t drop below five points the rest of the way. The Huskers had a chance to make it a one-possession game with 31 seconds left, but White missed a 3-pointer and IU made two free throws on the other end to put the game out of reach.
White and freshman Jack McVeigh led Nebraska with 16 points a piece, while Shields and Parker both added 10 points. After shooting 51.7 percent from the field in the first half, the Huskers were only 34.6 percent (9-of-26) after the halftime. Indiana, on the other hand, shot a blistering 60 percent from the floor in the second half.
"I know this much, I know somebody asked me about our effort or whatever it was (against Northwestern), and I didn't think we had great tenacity," Miles said. "I thought we had much better tenacity this game. Although it didn't translate into winning, that will translate into way more success for us down the road. Now, I'm not light on losing, and I don't like losing, but that's important to me."
Nebraska will travel to Iowa on Tuesday night for its first Big Ten road game, with tip-off scheduled for 8 p.m. on BTN.
"Obviously as a coaching staff, the biggest (message) is ‘Did your team play hard, and did your team play together?’" White said. "That’s kind of how you evaluate a game regardless of the outcome. I think we did both of those. (Miles) was disappointed, but we’re not taking any moral victories. At this point the game is over, so we need to use whatever positives we do have and carry it into the next game.”
Around the rim
***Miles said he wasn't sure what McVeigh said to earn his technical foul in the first half, but made it sound like he didn't think it was worthy of the penalty.
"I don't think he said anything probably too bad, but it is what it is," Miles said. "(The refs) knew it was going to be an intense game, and they weren't going to let anything go early, obviously. So I think it was that more than anything."
*McVeigh's 16 points matched his career high set against Mississippi Valley State in the season opener. McVeigh also grabbed a season-high six rebounds to become the ninth different Husker to lead the team in rebounds this season.
***Parker's 10 points marked the first time in his career he has recorded consecutive double-figure scoring games. Parker also added two assists and two steals, and now has a 13-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in his last three games, and has three straight multi-steal efforts.
*-Nebraska held Indiana to 79 points, which is 10 below its season average, but the Hoosiers shot 54.9 percent from the field, which was the highest by a Husker opponent this season.
***Freshman forward Michael Jacobson finished with three steals, topping his previous best of two against Villanova on Nov. 17
***Shields dished out six assists, the third time this year he has had at least six assists.
***Nebraska opens Big Ten play 0-2 for the fifth straight year.