It would be hard for January to be going much worse for the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ basketball team. And yet, there’s also at least some hope that things have hit rock bottom with an 85-82 home loss to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
Yes, you read that correctly. Not only did Fred Hoiberg’s squad drop a must-win game to a 9-8 Rutgers team that entered Thursday with a 2-4 Big Ten record, but they lost to that team at home. At Pinnacle Bank Arena. The place where until tonight, they were nigh unbeatable.
In the process, real questions have to be raised about the direction of a Hoiberg squad that looked like it was poised to make a return to the NCAA Tournament. Suddenly, it looks like NU might be lucky to make it to the NIT.
Nebraska Cornhuskers look far too beatable these days
Among the questions that Fred Hoiberg needs to answer, is just what he’s going to do to improve the team’s perimeter defense. The Rutgers game wasn’t just the Huskers’ third straight loss. It was the third straight game in which a Nebraska opponent shot at least 40% from behind the 3-point line.
The Scarlet Knights hit 12-of-29 from deep. That’s a follow up from their blowout loss to Purdue where the Boilermakers hit 19-of-33 from deep and the game where they blew a 15-point lead to lose by 10 to Iowa in overtime thanks to the Hawkeyes hitting 17-of-35 shots from beyond the arc.
Perimeter defense has never been fantastic under Hoiberg. But it’s reaching new levels of bad in the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ head coach’s 6th season. And it’s doing so at a volume that has to make onlookers wonder if opposing teams haven’t noticed something in the defense NU runs that is far too easy to exploit.
It’s worth pointing out that the last time Nebraska won, and held an opponent under 40% shooting from 3, it was against a UCLA team that has been in an absolute freefall since. Mick Cronin’s team has lost four straight and doesn’t look anything like the Bruins team that came into Lincoln ranked No. 15 in the country.
It’s hard to say which team has played worse since that matchup.
Now the Nebraska Cornhuskers have to bounce back from its first home loss since February 28, 2023. And they have to do it on the road against a very solid Maryland Terapins team. Should they lose there, and history says they will, things will begin to look very bleak.