Nebraska Cornhuskers have to wait to clinch NCAA Tournament
The Nebraska Cornhuskers loss to Ohio State on Thursday night is a bit of a bad, news, good news situation. On the one hand, the Huskers lost yet another road contest against an undertalented opponent.
On the other, Nebraska did not look as bad as they have on the road. But there's a caveat there too as the Huskers simply did not play very well. In the end, Nebraska cannot shoot under 40 percent from the field and expect to win games.
The 78-69 loss is disappointing for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is that they had their opportunities to take over the game and simply could not. That despite the fact that Ohio State had essentially one scorer in Jamison Battle.
Ohio State was without their best player in Bruce Thornton, who went for 16 points and dished out 6 assists the last time the two squads played. It appeared that the Buckeyes rallied around Battle, who scored 32, while the Nebraska Cornhuskers couldn't rally around anyone.
Nebraska Cornhuskers studs
There were times when Jamarques Lawrence looked like he was going to take over the game the way he has before this season. He scored 14 on 5-of-7 shooting and dished out 5 assists, but it wasn't enough.
Nebraska Cornhuskers duds
Keisei Tominaga is likely hoping the Nebraska Cornhuskers don't have to see Ohio State any more this season. His two worst games of the season were both against OSU. Tonight he had just 9 points on 3-of-12 shooting and 2-of-7 from beyond the arc. He also look unengaged on defense far too often.
Juwan Gary seemed a bit too desperate to put the team on his back on Thursday night. He had open look after open look and had a hard time getting anything to drop. Far too often, when he missed, he was simply putting too much behind the shot. He finished 3-of-12 and 0-for-6.
Why Nebraska lost
Long periods of poor transition defense and streaks where it seemed like there was a lid on the basket. The Huskers' big 3, Gary, Mast and Tominaga were a combined 11 of 38 from the field. The Huskers haven't had a ton of games where all three of those guys were having off nights at the same time.
Next up
The Huskers come back home against Rutgers on Sunday. They're going to need to find a way to bring the energy they didn't bring on Thursday.