In what has become an all-too-familiar trend in the Miles Era, the Husker basketball team lost to another lowly D-1 school. This time falling to Gardner-Webb, 70-62. What went wrong in Nebraska’s loss to the Running Bulldogs?
Befuddling Losses Under Miles
Add Gardner-Webb to the list of seemingly inferior opponents Nebrasketball has lost to under Miles. In an upset that now seems a yearly tradition, Gardner-Webb joined the ranks of Incarnate
Many of the Huskers losses this season were forgiven, in part because of the toughness of the schedule. Nebraska went into the half with a 30-28 lead, but the Huskers would wither in the final minutes of the game.
Gardner-Webb is not a powerhouse, they’ve only been in D-1 for a little over 15 seasons, so the loss leaves Husker basketball fans again scratching our collective heads again.
Another Lethargic Output By the Offense
Nebraska’s performance on offense was for lack of a better word quite simply terrible. Shooting 39 percent from the field and going three-of-17 from downtown. The Big Red finished with their fourth-lowest point total of the season, against a scoring defense that ranks 115th in the nation.
The performance leaves Nebraska just ninth-46-from three-point range in its last three games. This performance didn’t come against a top-10 team, and leaves more questions about the offense than answers.
From The Line
What was once a strong point, became a weakness against the Bulldogs. Nebraska was once a No. 15 game ranking in the country in free-throw percentage. They missed 11 from the line against Gardner-Webb.
Taking a Break From Twitter
1/2 Bad day at the office. I believe in what we are doing & can't wait to show our fans progress! But until then, going on a twitter hiatus
— Tim Miles (@CoachMiles) December 19, 2016
Top Performers
While the loss was bad, there were some bright spots. Ed Morrow finished with a career-high (and Pinnacle Bank Arena record) 18 rebounds and added nine points. Tai Webster led the team in points, with 17 and Glynn Watson Jr. added another 14 points.
Tyrell Nelson, led Gardner-Webb with 24 points and nine rebounds, including a three-pointer that put the Bulldogs up for good in the second half. Nebraska would hit one field goal in a span of five-minutes and 40 seconds, following Nelson’s basket.
What It Means For The Huskers
With a crowd of 8,144 people cheering them on, the Huskers could never gain momentum. Nebraska is now limping to a 5-6 start, and head into a game against Southern that only lost to them by 11 points in Lincoln last year.
In his post-game comments Tim Miles expressed dismay at the state of the Huskers. “I would have never dreamt in five years this is where we’d be, losing to Gardner-Webb. And that’s not to discredit Gardner-Webb,’ Miles said.”
Up Next
Nebraska go up against the Southern Jaguars on Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 7:00 p.m. CT.