Shields' return not enough in 56-55 loss at Penn State
Nebraska got a major shot in the arm with the return of senior forward Shavon Shields for Thursday night’s road game at Penn State. Unfortunately it just wasn’t enough for the Huskers to avoid another painful step back.
Shields, who had missed the past four games while recovering from a concussion, did all he could to get his team back on track by scoring a game-high 25 points, but his final shot as time expired fell short to leave Nebraska with a 56-55 defeat.
After trailing by as many as 18 points in the second half, the Huskers (14-15 overall, 6-10 Big Ten) pieced together one of their more impressive rallies of the season and eventually tied the game up on a pair of free throws by freshman Michael Jacobson with just 50.3 seconds left in the game.
Penn State’s Shep Garner, who finished with a team-high 22 points, made one of two free throws to put the Nittany Lions up by one with just seven seconds to go. With no timeouts remaining, NU got the ball in Shields’ hands, but his drive and floater missed its mark, sending the Huskers home with their seventh loss in their past nine games.
"The last shot we all know didn't cost us," head coach Tim Miles said on his post-game radio show on the Husker Sports Network. "It was the first 35-40 possessions where we really didn't do anything that hurt us more than anything. I can live with the effort. We get down 18 with 15 (minutes) to go, and the kids just played with great determination. I thought we gave ourselves a chance to win the game."
Shields’ impact was felt immediately, as his first shot of the night was a made 3-pointer and he ended up scoring 14 points in the first half alone. The problem, however, was that his teammates did little to help the cause.
After a seven-minute scoring drought put NU down by six midway through the half, Garner would go on a 7-0 run all on his own to give the Nittany Lions (15-13, 6-9) their biggest lead of the half at 28-18 with just over two minutes remaining.
A jumper by Benny Parker would send the Huskers into halftime down 28-20, but the overall lack of offense beyond Shields was a major point of concern. Shields was 5-of-8 from the field in the first half, while the rest of the team went 2-of-15 and managed just four points.
Penn State, on the other hand, knocked down six 3-pointers, including three from Brandon Taylor and two from Garner. Taylor (12) and Garner (11) accounted for 23 of PSU’s 28 points in the opening half.
"I thought we might be disjointed a little bit early, and we sure were," Miles said. "But I didn't think we'd be disjointed that long. Boy, it was hard for us to get anything going."
That same theme carried on over to the start of the second half, as Taylor and Garner scored the Nittany Lions’ first eight points after halftime to spark a 14-4 run that gave them their biggest lead of the night at 42-24 with a little more than 14 minutes to go.
Just went it looked as if the route was on, though, Nebraska came storming back with a 15-3 run that cut what was once an 18-point deficit down to 47-41 after a 3-pointer by junior Andrew White with just under eight minutes remaining.
Taylor ended the run with another 3-pointer and then Garner followed with a trey of his own to push the lead back up to 12. But once again, the Huskers would chip away and get back to within two possessions after a 3-pointer by Shields got it to 55-49 with 3:52 left on the clock.
Shields then converted an And-1 finish less than a minute later to make it a three-point game, and a free throw by junior Tai Webster made it 55-53 with 2:46 left. Nebraska got the ball and called its final timeout with 1:03 to go, and Jacobson was fouled and hit two free throws to tie it up at 55-55 with 50.3 to play.
Penn State ran the clock down inside of 30 seconds and then Garner was fouled to send him to the free-throw line with 24.3 remaining. He made the first to reclaim the lead, and even though he missed the second attempt, Nebraska couldn’t convert on its one last opportunity as the final buzzer sounded.
Shields ended the night 9-of-17 shooting, but no other Husker made more than three field goals in the loss, as they shot 40.4 percent from the field. Taylor added 19 points for Penn State, as he and Garner combined for 41 points and 10 made 3-pointers and PSU was 11-of-25 as a team from beyond the arc.
The Nittany Lions came into the game ranked 13th in the Big Ten in 3-point shooting at just 28 percent. Nebraska, which won almost every other statistical category, was just 5-of-14 from downtown.
The Huskers will return to action Tuesday for their final home game of the season against Purdue, which will be Senior Night for Shields and Parker. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.
"Shavon's a devastated guy in the locker room, and I told Shavon, 'Listen, that's not the problem,'" Miles said. "This is going to be good if we let it be good. If we can take this and say we know we haven't played with this determination in a while. We have to go and play with this determination against Purdue, and then it'll come in bunches."
Around the rim
***Along with Shields, freshman Edward Morrow also returned for his first action after missing the past four games while dealing with a lingering foot injury. Morrow played 12 minutes and didn't attempt a shot, but he hauled in two rebounds and posted a game- and career-high four blocks.
"Thank goodness for Ed Morrow," Miles said. "I know he's hurting, but I just said, 'Ed, can you be the toughest guy on the floor?' And he said 'Yes.' My goodness. Two rebounds, four blocks, and he really made an impact on the game."
***Webster made his first Big Ten start of 2015-16, as freshman Glynn Watson had been ill with the flu. Webster finished with seven points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals.
***Shields now has seven 20-point games on the season following his 25-point effort.