Nebraska Basketball: The wheels come off the wagon against Maryland

The writing appears to be on the wall for the Nebraska basketball team after yet another loss. For the fourth straight season under Fred Hoiberg, it appears are headed for a losing season.

While even a Huskers squad at full strength was likely not going to be enough for the Maryland Terapins today, it’s pretty clear that the Cornhuskers roster as it currently stands just doesn’t have the horses to compete in the Big 10. That was rather obvious from the first half and was cemented in the second half. Maryland was bigger, stronger, more talented and better coached. And it seems unlikely that the Nebraska basketball team is going to prove that they’re bigger, stronger, better, or better coached than many teams left on their schedule.

Without Juwan Gary and Emmanuel Bandoumel, the Huskers’ defense, which was something the team could lean on at times this season, isn’t anything special. The offense has never been anything that could be considered “good.”

But the last two games for Nebraska basketball has seen the offense take a couple of steps back, while the defense has also been worse. While Sam Hoiberg’s 15 points on Saturday would have been a nice story if the Huskers had beaten the Terapins, that someone who had 29 minutes played coming into today was second on the team in scoring is a problem.

Once again, the Huskers’ offense attack was Derrick Walker and then a big question mark. He had 16 in the 82-63 loss. Hoiberg’s 15 was the only other player on the team in double digits.

The lack of scoring is concerning enough. That Sam Griesel and Keisei Tominaga had just seven shots attempted … combined … is a problem of coaching. Why weren’t more plays run through them? Why wasn’t it made clear that those two needed to find their own shots? Why did CJ Wilcher (1-for-5) and Denim Dawson (2-for-6) both take more shots than two players that have proven to be dependable, if not outstanding?

Those are answers that likely aren’t forthcoming anytime soon, but I certainly hope they’re queries that Hoiberg is asking himself. Now sitting at 10-12 on the season and 3-8 in the Big Ten, the 2022-23 season is shaping up to look quite a bit like any other season under the Nebraska basketball head coach.

The Huskers will finish out their schedule against Illinois, Penn State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Rutgers, Maryland again, Minnesota, Michigan State, and Iowa. It’s hard to find more than two more wins in that slate.