The Nebraska basketball team was not facing off against one of the better Illinois Fighting Illini teams. This version of Brad Underwood’s squad started conference play with an 0-3 record and some rather obvious weaknesses outside of its leading scorer in Terry Shannon Jr.
That’s one of the reasons the Nebraska basketball team was talking about being excited to match up against the Illini this year. A win over Illinois at home would have improved the Huskers to 3-3 in conference and 10-7 on the season. At that point, it might have been off to the races.
Some Nebraska basketball fans were even dreaming on an outside shot at an NCAA tournament appearance. While those dreams aren’t totally dead, Tuesday night’s performance was a dash of cold water.
From the opening tip, the Huskers looked confused. Early on, far too many possessions ended with a blocked shot. Or a bad pass. Or a foul.
Certainly, the first 15 minutes of this game was “The Ref Show.” Both teams were getting called for something every time down the court. But that isn’t why the Cornhuskers lost by 26 points at home against a far-from-dominant Illinois team.
Incompetence on offense for long periods of time is just something Nebraska basketball fans have just had to get used to this year. Usually, the trade-off is the team is above average on defense. But tonight it couldn’t really do anything right.
And that’s why this might be the new low of what is supposed to be Fred Hoiberg’s redemption season.
It turns out there wasn’t a single aspect of the game where the Huskers really looked competitive when the smoke cleared. Illinois outshot them 45.9 percent to 37 percent. They outrebounded them 41-33. The Illini had more offensive rebounds (13-9), they had more blocks (a whopping 7 to 2), they had more steals (12 to 3).
The Nebraska basketball team was dominated in every facet. Husker fans can’t even claim the refs were against them. They called 21 fouls on Illinois and 17 against the Cornhuskers.
It was a bad loss that will throw a shadow over the near term. Coming off a 76-50 loss to an only okey-doke Illinois squad, the Nebraska basketball team next has to travel to play #3 Purdue. If they lose like they should, does the season start to circle the drain?