Huskers miss another opportunity in 79-68 loss to Michigan

In a game that pitted two teams desperate for a victory, the table couldn't have been set much better for Nebraska to finally snap a five-game losing streak at home against Michigan on Tuesday night.

Not only were the Wolverines riding a four-game skid of their own, but they were also without two starters in senior point guard Zavier Simpson (suspension) and junior forward Isaiah Livers (injury).

Yet even that wasn’t enough to get the Huskers out of their funk, as a 21-4 second-half run helped UM hand Nebraska a 79-68 defeat.

Sophomore point guard Cam Mack had 19 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds while senior Haanif Cheatham and freshman Kevin Cross both added 17 points, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with a Michigan squad that hit 50 percent from the field and held a 41-27 rebounding advantage.

The Wolverines forced 14 NU turnovers and blocked six shots, while the Huskers were just 13-for-26 on layups. Nebraska's 68 points were the second-fewest Michigan has allowed in a conference game this season.

The sixth straight loss dropped Nebraska to 7-14 overall and 2-8 in Big Ten while, while the Wolverines improved to 12-8 and 3-6.

“We've struggled coming out of the gate with energy,” head coach Fred Hoiberg said. “Tonight we got the lead in the second half; we were scoring the ball and took the lead, so the energy was much better coming out in the second half. Then that eight-minute stretch where we weren't getting the same type of possessions that we had the majority of that game, it cost us, and it's costing us games.

“We have these droughts and lulls, and that's what is digging the hole, and it's hard to keep the energy to get out of that hole and sustain the energy once you get out of it."

Nebraska jumped out to an early 5-0 lead to open the game and kept pace with Michigan to trail just 31-30 after a 3-pointer by Mack with 4:10 left in the first half.

But the Wolverines quickly padded that lead with seven unanswered points over the next three minutes to go up by as much as eight. Mack kept NU within reach with another three and then hit a coast-to-coast floater to make it a 40-35 halftime deficit.

The Huskers shot 50 percent from the field and hit 5-of-11 3-pointers in the first half, but eight turnovers resulted in nine UM points, and the Wolverines were 8-of-9 from the free-throw line while Nebraska missed its only two attempts.

Michigan got things going right away and pushed its lead back up to seven early in the second half. But the Huskers came right back with an 11-2 run and took their first lead since the 9:44 mark of the first half at 52-50 on a step-back jumper by Kevin Cross with 13:49 remaining.

“I thought our flow was really good that got us that lead,” Hoiberg said. “We were scoring, but we just had trouble getting stops so we couldn't extend it.”

That rally wouldn’t last long, though, as the Wolverines answered with a 15-3 run over the next five minutes and took their biggest lead yet at 65-55.

Michigan’s rally would balloon to as much as 21-4 before Nebraska finally snapped a nearly six-minute field goal drought, as the deficit grew to as much as 71-56 on a layup by Franz Wagner with 5:47 left.

“I felt like the ball just didn’t move, and we got a little stagnant and our defensive intensity didn’t pick up when we weren’t scoring,” Mack said.

The Huskers would only get as close as nine the rest of the way, as they’ve now trailed by at least 14 points in each of their past six games.

“The looks that we were getting were based on player and ball movement, and when we stopped doing that and stopped getting the ball in the right guys’ hands, the quality of possessions weren't as good,” Hoiberg said. “That's when they went on their run and started controlling the tempo and getting the ball inside.”

Nebraska shot the ball well in the loss, going 44.1 percent from the field, hitting nine 3-pointers, and making 7-of-12 free throws. But that wasn’t enough to make up for Michigan making half of its shots and scoring 38 points in the paint.

Eli Brooks led the Wolverines with a game-high 20 points and four made 3-pointers to go along with nine rebounds, while Wagner followed up with 18 points and eight boards.

The Huskers will return to PBA on Saturday to host to Penn State for a 6 p.m. on Big Ten Network.

1. Nebraska dug itself another deep hole and it couldn’t dig out

Losing six games in a row is bad enough, but for Nebraska to continuously put itself in such dire situations by falling into massive deficits is a much bigger concern at the moment.

The Huskers went blow for blow with Michigan for 30 minutes on Tuesday night, and it looked like they were ready to take the Wolverines down to the wire after Cross hit that jumper to make it 52-50.

Instead, NU’s offensive flow and ball movement came to a screeching halt, and its defensive energy and effort dropped right along with it. Nebraska didn’t score for nearly six minutes and allowed Michigan to break the game open with a 21-4 run.

The fact that the Huskers have now fallen behind by 14 or more points in six straight contests now has them entering very dangerous territory. At some point, after a team continuously falls apart like that every night, a bad mentality starts to develop of, “Here we go again…”

To Nebraska’s credit, it’s generally done a good job of fighting back after falling behind like that this season. Tonight was a different story, however.

As soon as the tide turned in Michigan’s favor, NU seemed to clam up and go away from all the things that were working so well on offense. Once the shots stopped falling, the defensive effort regressed, and the snowball once again started rolling.

2. Missing star power again not an issue for NU’s opponent

Maybe the most ridiculous stat so far this season for Nebraska, and there are a lot of them, is that the loss to Michigan dropped the Huskers to 1-4 against teams missing at least one starter to injury or suspension.

The Wolverines beat them at home without Simpson and Livers, and Rutgers did the same on Jan. 3 without top guard Geo Baker (injury).

Ohio State beat NU in Columbus on Jan. 14 after suspending starting guards Luther Muhammad and Duane Washington Jr. (suspensions), and Northwestern did the same the game before in Evanston without guards Anthony Gaines and Boo Buie (injuries).

The lone win was at home over Iowa, when the Hawkeyes were without freshman 3-point specialist CJ Fredrick (injury).

The inability to capitalize against undermanned opponents has to be maddening for Hoiberg, as seemingly one backup after another has not only filled in without missing a step for those missing starters, but many times have had one of their best performances against NU.

Sophomore David DeJulius made his first career start at Nebraska in place of Simpson and sophomore forward Brandon Johns Jr. filled in for Livers. DeJulius had five points, four rebounds, and three assists in a career-high 34 minutes, while Johns dropped a career-best 16 points and seven boards.

3. Nebraska, Michigan pay tribute to Kobe Bryant

The devastating news of the deaths of NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, his teenage daughter, and seven other passengers in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif., on Sunday shook the basketball world.

It also had a profound effect on Nebraska’s players, who were still processing the loss of one of their idols when they took the floor for Tuesday night’s game vs. Michigan. According to NU sources, the players came to the university event staff with a request – to honor Bryant and the other victims with a moment of silence.

When the two teams lined up for the National Anthem, the public address announcer requested a 24-second moment of silence, a tribute to Bryant’s No. 24 jersey. The shot clocks were set to 24 seconds, and the game clocks was set to 24.8 seconds (Bryant also wore No. 8).

When the game tipped off, Michigan got the ball and dribbled it out for a 10-second violation. When the Huskers took possession, Mack held it for the rest of the shot clock.

It was clearly an emotional night for both teams, and especially for Hoiberg and Michigan head coach Juwan Howard, who both knew Bryant personally from their NBA careers. That’s why neither coach hesitated to do whatever they could to honor their fallen friend.

“I went over to Fred (before the game) and told him, ‘I want to hold it for Kobe,’” Howard said. “He said, ‘Well good, we’ll do it too.’ I thought that was beautiful.”

Added Hoiberg: "It was a no-brainer. Juwan and I both played against Kobe, and to honor him before the game and have the two possesions was absolutely a no-brainer."