The Nebraska basketball team went into Value City Arena looking for a big upset. They almost got it.
Over the course of the Tim Miles era of Nebraska basketball, we have seen games when you think “if they could find just one more scorer …”
That line of thinking has never been more true than it was for the Huskers on Monday night. It was a game where if one other Cornhusker had decided to bring his “A” game, they likely would have pulled off the upset.
Instead, the Huskers lost yet another close game late, this time to Ohio State, 64-59.
James Palmer Jr does the heavy lifting.
There was certainly one Cornhusker who showed up to play Monday. James Palmer Jr, otherwise known as JPJ had a career night against the Buckeyes. One has to wonder if Nebraska would have set new records for futility had he not been on the floor.
Nebraska Cornhuskers Basketball
Palmer scored 34 points on 11 of 18 shooting. That includes 5 for 11 from behind the arc. He was also 7 for 8 from the free-throw line.
The 34 points were a career high for Palmer, but they were also a high for points scored … by anybody in the Value City Arena. It’s an incredible shame that performance was wasted.
The first takeaway from this game is that if Palmer can actually come even a little bit close to repeating this kind of performance, the Cornhuskers have themselves a real offensive weapon.
The good news is, it seems more likely than not that he will have at least a similar performance again. Since Big Ten play started, JPJ has scored in double digits in eight of the team’s nine games.
The only game he has scored less than 11 points, the Huskers lost to Penn State. In that game, Palmer was just 1 for 9 shooting and was benched, late.
Palmer’s last three outings for the Nebraska basketball team since that game, he’s scored 24, 19, and 34 points. James Palmer has become the go to scorer for the team. That’s both good and bad in some ways.