Samford stuns NU in 69-58 upset
A week after pulling out one of its biggest wins of the season against Rhode Island, Nebraska was about as bad as it’s been all season on Sunday night in a stunning 69-58 home loss to Samford.
The Huskers turned the ball over 17 times and made just 21 shots, while only getting 16 points from players not named Shavon Shields or Andrew White. Shields finished with a team-high 25 points and White posted his second-career double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds, but it wasn’t nearly enough to overcome Nebraska’s rash of mistakes and the Bulldogs’ eight made 3-pointers.
Add in the fact that Nebraska was just 10-of-20 from the free throw line - including missing its first eight attempts from the charity stripe - and 6-of-22 from 3-point range, it couldn’t have been a much worse outing by head coach Tim Miles’ squad, which fell to 7-5 on the season.
"I thought that (Samford) did a lot of things right," Miles said. "They played well, they used their press to shorten our half-court offense, which I felt kept us out of rhythm... I just don't know if I had them in the mode to self-correct enough. I thought the warmth of competition would get us there. We talked about things, we addressed errors, but to have 17 errors ... and then nobody stepped up to help Andrew and Shavon. We go 4-for-20 with 12 turnovers for the rest of the guys. That won't cut it against anybody."
Nebraska essentially sleepwalked through the first half, as turnovers and poor shooting plagued the Huskers throughout the first 20 minutes. After taking a 7-2 lead to open the game, NU ended up committing 11 turnovers to 12 made field goals and missed its first eight free throw attempts of the night.
Shields helped keep the team afloat by leading the way with 14 points in the first half, including scoring six in a row to put Nebraska up 19-15 after trailing midway through the half. But Samford’s Christen Cunningham scored all 11 of his his first half points in the final four minutes, and the Huskers were only able to take a 30-26 lead into halftime.
"We've just got to figure it out and be ready to play," Shields said. "We went through it in practice the previous two days, and we knew what was coming and we knew what to expect. We just didn't go out and execute and we didn't go out and make plays."
The sluggish play carried on into the second half, as Samford opened with an 18-4 run to go up 44-34 with just under 15 minutes left to play. That lead grew to as many as 13 points, as the Bulldogs were continuously able to get easy baskets at the rim while the Huskers struggled to produce much of anything with the basketball.
A 3-pointer by freshman Glynn Watson and then two free throws by Shields got the deficit down to 51-43 with eight minutes to play, and then junior Tai Webster cut it to 55-50 with a 3-pointer with 2:28 remaining. Shields answered a Samford 3-pointer with one of his own to stay within five points with just over two minutes left, but that would be as close as NU would get.
The Bulldogs continued to find answers for any rally the Huskers tried to mount, and the dagger came when Matt Rose buried a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:12 to go to put the Bulldogs up 63-55 and essentially seal the victory. Samford would extend the lead to as many as 14 before settling on a 69-58 victory.
Nebraska will close out non-conference play on Tuesday when it hosts Prairie View for a 7 p.m. tip on BTN Plus.
"I wondered to myself if we were above this or not," Miles said. "I was hoping, right, that maybe with Andrew and Shavon and Benny and these guys, maybe we're above that. That's what I get for thinking."
Around the rim
***Nebraska falls to 18-4 in non-conference games since Pinnacle Bank Arena opened in 2013 and falls to 9-2 all-time against the Southern Conference.
***Along with his double-double, White's 11 rebounds were a career high. His previous best was 10 against Creighton on Dec. 9
***Shields' 25 points marked his fourth 20-point effort of the year and 18th of his career. He also jumped from 14th to 12th on NU’s career scoring list, as he now has 1,320 career points.
***Nebraska shot a season-low .500 from the foul line on Sunday, going 10-of-20 from the charity stripe. NU’s previous season low was .593 (16-of-23) against Tennessee on Nov. 28.