Nebraska Basketball: Key takeaways from the 73-55 loss to Purdue

The Nebraska basketball team lost its second straight game this week and lost by double digits for the second straight time as well. However, the first thing to take away from Friday night’s 73-55 loss to the Purdue Boilermakers is that it didn’t have much in common with the loss to the Illinois Fighting Illini earlier this week.

Once things started rolling the wrong way on Friday, the Nebraska basketball team was able to at least kind of show a bit of fight. Earlier in the week, when things turned sour against Illinois, they turned really sour. Perhaps some of that was the excitement surrounding the idea of playing the Illini and then not playing all that well.

For whatever reason, the Huskers seemed to give in a bit against Illinois. They looked more like a previous version of  Hoiberg’s squad for the first time all season. They didn’t get the win on Friday, but they still managed to show that they weren’t totally overmatched, even if lost by 18 points to the number three team in the country.

Nebraska Basketball Needs Griesel To Get Back Soon

While the absence of Juwan Gary is obviously not ideal, he doesn’t drive the train the way that Griesel does when he’s playing and playing well. The offense just doesn’t look the same without Griesel at the helm. He’s now missed two games this season and the Huskers have gotten soundly beaten in both.

This is true even if he had perhaps his worst game of the season against Illinois. His absence was still very much felt on Friday night. He’s often looked like a leader, more than just a talented player. The team could have used his cool head.

Time To Let Tominaga Out Of The Box

When it comes to the junior guard out of Japan, it feels as if Fred Hoiberg and his staff have handcuffed Tominaga a bit because of what he can’t do. He’s never going to a top defender. He’s never going to be a force on the boards.

But he can be instant offense. He should be playing more than 26 minutes in games like this. Even with that somewhat limited playing time, he had 16 points. Against Ohio State next week, cut him loose. Let him start. And let him fire away. See what happens. Even if Griesel is back, the Nebraska basketball team is going to need another scorer. Let him try it.