Give all the credit to the eight Nebraska basketball players who were allowed to set foot on the court in a double overtime loss to Ohio State that likely ended their chances for the NCAA Tournament.
After starting the game with another poor outing, another double digit deficit during one of early play stoppages, they fought and clawed and tried their hardest. That was nice to see after the lack of effort they seemingly gave for far too long in their last game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Nebraska basketball head coach Fred Hoiberg entered the game with an interesting plan. A plan that might have made sense at some point, but was yet another misstep in a season of missteps once the game went to double OT and Brice Willaims and Juwan Gary were exhausted. Eight Huskers saw action on Tuesday night. Three of them fouled out.
Nebraska basketball’s latest loss could be Big Dance ender
In the end, the Huskers simply didn’t have the juice and they lost 116-114. Williams did everything he could, scoring 43 points in 49 minutes (of a 50 minute game). Gary did as well, scoring 24 in 48 minutes.
Connor Essegian and Andrew Morgan came on late, scoring 16 and 14. Though both started scoring far too late in the game.
And then there was a truly awful job by the referees. They were ticky tack early in the game and at some point, both sides could have had a complaint, but the final few minutes were a clinic in some of the worst officiating of the season.
Earlier in the game, Williams was called for the ticky-tackyest of Flagrant 1 calls. That indeed up giving OSU four points that allowed them to go to OT. Then in the second overtime period, an Ohio State player slammed the basketball down after being called for a foul. That should have been a technical.
And then there was the way the game ended. With an Ohio State player running the baseline on an inbounds play with a few seconds left. That should have been traveling. Instead, NU was called for a foul and OSU iced the game.
This was an especially painful loss for several reasons. The most painful reason is that the Nebraska basketball team may have lost its chance to go to the NCAA Tournament barring an incredible run in the Big Ten tournament (assuming they get there) This one is going to sting for a while.