Not a good night for Nebraska Basketball.
Pathetic. That would be a tremendous word to describe Nebraska basketball’s effort in a 95-71 loss to Penn State on Wednesday night. In a game that started out poorly, that trend would continue throughout the course of the night. In a game where they started out behind, they ended up being blown out by a tough Penn State team. To their credit, the Nittany Lions showed grit and effort. Nebraska basketball did not.
With the loss Wednesday, that should put them out of the NCAA tournament discussion. They already entered into the contest with a slim margin for error. Now, they have to basically win out to even have a shot at postseason play. It would be one thing if the Nebraska basketball schedule had a few “softball” opponents along the way. Instead the team will be met with a gauntlet of games against opponents who will certainly have the opportunity to play in March.
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Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, and Iowa are the remaining four games on the Cornhuskers schedule. Michigan is the highest ranked opponent at number seven in the country. Iowa is their lowest-ranked opponent out of the slate of games, checking in at number 21. Nebraska basically has to win out in order to even have a shot at the NCAA tournament and I don’t see that happening.
Wednesday, it looked like they were sleep-walking through their entire contest. Penn State had more intensity, energy, and effort throughout the course of the game. Again, the same issues Nebraska basketball has been experiencing throughout the entirety of the season reared their ugly heads. Lack of rebounding, three-point shots not going down, and lack of hustle doomed Nebraska again.
Nebraska fell behind early in the first half and never fully recovered. Tanner Borchardt scored the first basket of the game, which was great to see. That would be the only lead Nebraska basketball would have in this contest. Penn State seemed to be making all their shots. A 9-0 run gave Penn State some breathing room and put them up by a 11-4 score at the 16:25 mark of the first half. Nebraska would get as close as five points following a Thomas Allen jumper at the 14:03 mark, but that would be as close as the Huskers would get. By the time the first half came to a close, the Penn State would lead by a 44-25 margin.
In the second half, Nebraska basketball began to find their groove a little bit, but it seemed like no matter how many times they would get buckets, Penn State would answer right back. Glynn Watson made the first basket of the second half and that looked to be a good sign for Nebraska. James Palmer would begin to get on a roll as well. He would get to the free-throw line and make a three pointer, trimming the deficit to 47-33. However, a made basket by Lamar Stevens negated the excitement.
James Palmer had a decent night all things considered. He would finish the game with 24 points to lead the team, but went seven-of-20 from the field. Those numbers aren’t exactly efficient. Isaiah Roby would go eight-of-10 from the field including making a three-point shot. He would finish the game with 17 points and finished second on the team in scoring for the game. Those efforts were not enough to defeat a Penn State team who is truly firing on all cylinders right now. Josh Reaves in particular had a special night. He scored his 1,000 point, certainly a tremendous accomplishment in college basketball.
Nebraska basketball was outscored by only five points in the second half. Even still, it was not enough to overcome what was a miserable first half. Reaves finished with 10 points for Penn State while Stevens was the team’s leading scorer with 29.
Nebraska basketball faces Purdue on Saturday for a 3:00 p.m. start. Nebraska basketball ultimately may have blown their tourney chances and now they face a tough stretch. Barring an impressive sweep of the tough four games on their schedule, this team will be playing for pride from here on out. This was an absolutely sleepwalking effort on the part of Nebraska basketball, and they should be ashamed.