As one can imagine, Fred Hoiberg isn't sleeping well these days.

Not when his Nebraska crew (17-12, 7-11), which a couple weeks ago appeared to be sitting comfortably in the Big Dance discussion, all the sudden finds itself in danger of missing the 15-team Big Ten Tournament.

Not when half his team's 12 losses have been by one possession or in overtime.

"A lot of that stems from replaying the last sequence a million times in my mind, and just sitting there, literally a punch-to-the-gut feeling laying in bed, staring at the ceiling," Hoiberg said Monday at the Devaney Center before the team plane took off for Columbus, Ohio, for Tuesday night's 8 p.m. rematch against Ohio State (16-13, 8-10), an opponent Nebraska beat 79-71 in Lincoln about a month ago.

Day/Time: Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT

TV: Peacock with Paul Burmeister and Stephen Bardo on the call.

Stream: Peacock App.

Listen: Huskers Radio Network with Kent Pavelka and Jake Muhleisen on the call, including KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln, KXSP (590 AM) in Omaha and KRVN (880 AM) in Lexington. The pregame show begins an hour before tipoff and will also be available on Huskers.com and the Huskers app.

This is a rematch from Nebraska's Super Bowl Sunday 79-71 win over Ohio State.

The Huskers will need their A-game on a quick turnaround as it will play Ohio State just three days after hosting Minnesota. The Buckeyes, however, will be well-rested after having not played since Wednesday's win at USC, so they'll be on six days' rest.

If Nebraska is to save its season and keep the goal of a return trip to the NCAA Tournament alive, beating Ohio State and Iowa at home would be a good start. A win over the Buckeyes would add another Quad 1 win to the résumé and protecting the home floor against Iowa would give the Huskers much-needed confidence and momentum heading into the Big Ten Tournament.

If Nebraska splits the last two games and makes the conference tournament, multiple wins in Indianapolis will likely be needed to keep the Big Dance hopes alive enough to make Selection Sunday interesting.

Nebraska woke up Monday with seven Big Ten wins and in a four-way tie with Minnesota, Northwestern and Rutgers for 11th in the league standings. Keep in mind, 15 of the 18 teams in the conference qualify for the tournament, which means Nebraska is in danger of missing the cut. Minnesota and Rutgers own the tiebreaker over Nebraska should it come down to that.

With Nebraska being jumbled near the bottom of the standings, it'll be worth it to keep an eye on specific opponents and what they do down the stretch.

Northwestern hosts UCLA tonight at 8 p.m. with a chance to get to eight conference wins. On Tuesday, Rutgers has a tough one at Purdue, though the Scarlet Knights are always dangerous with the duo of Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey — Michigan needed a buzzer-beating 3 to win last week. Minnesota hosts No. 11 Wisconsin on Wednesday.

The Huskers need to keep an eye on Iowa and USC, too. The Hawkeyes and Trojans are just one game back with six league wins and also own tiebreakers over Nebraska. The Huskers host the Hawkeyes in the regular-season finale on Sunday, March 9.

USC hosts Washington on Wednesday while Iowa hosts No. 8 Michigan State on Thursday.

The Huskers can't afford to sleepwalk through the opening minutes of Tuesday's game. Slow starts have plagued this team far too often against Big Ten opponents this season, and it's been a real problem down the stretch.

In the last seven games, Nebraska has trailed in every one at halftime by an average of 10.4 points. Of those seven games, the deficit at halftime has been at double digits three times.

Nebraska has shown it's capable of overcoming those slow starts and clawing back — three of those games have been Nebraska wins (Washington, Ohio State and Northwestern) — but after losing three in a row, including a massive gut punch from Minnesota because of how badly it hurts the Huskers' NCAA Tournament hopes, Nebraska must start strong in Columbus.

The head-hanging and poor body language is what needs to change the most, Hoiberg said. It can be easy for a team that's on a slide to lose focus and confidence when adversity hits.

But that can't happen, though it continues to pop up at the worst moments.

"That's the change that can be made. We can't go out and put in a whole new system at this time. We can't do it," Hoiberg said. "We had maybe our best defensive performance ever when we played against Michigan. We have to take that on the road. Offensively, that second half against Minnesota, we got it going. We found a little bit of a rhythm. So we have to combine it — you have to combine it. You have to play a complete game on both ends, and you have to have consistency."

Hoiberg called his team "fragile" during those stretches when nothing is going right and the opponents go on one of those knock-out runs that puts Nebraska in a deep hole. On-court leadership can help counter that.

"I told the guys, it's okay, it's allowed in the game of basketball, when things aren't going well, to talk to each other," Hoiberg said. "It doesn't only have to happen when things are going good for your basketball team."

Hoiberg called the losses to Michigan and Minnesota "one of the toughest weeks" of his professional career. And yet, the team's goals are still alive, even if they are hanging on by a thread.

For having a flawed roster, Nebraska has come so close to being an NCAA Tournament lock. Six of Nebraska's 12 losses have been by a single possession or in overtime.

But being close doesn't mean anything. Wins and losses do are what run this business. Hoiberg knows it better than anyone.

"We're one shot away from being in right now. But there's nothing we can do about that," Hoiberg said. "All we can focus on is the task at hand in the next one, which is tomorrow night against Ohio State, against a really, really good team that's in a similar situation as us."

In order to stop the head-hanging, Hoiberg said the leaders of the team — the veterans like Juwan Gary and Brice Williams — need to get on the guys better than they have been.

But really, it's all the seniors. They're the ones guaranteed two more games in their college basketball lives. When it comes to the true leaders on the court, though, it's Williams and Gary.

While Williams is the go-to scorer and the one guy on the roster who can win a game, he's never been the vocal-leading type. It's instead Gary, the junkyard dawg, who has been called the heart and soul of the team before.

"It's got to be the guys that have been here, and Juwan has been here the longest, so he's been really good for the most part this year," Hoiberg said. "He's the guy, when he's vocal, when he's out there flying around, our guys follow. When Brice is doing his thing, we're a pretty damn good team. So it starts with those guys."

With two games remaining in the regular season, Hoiberg is looking for answers. That includes finding the right five-man lineup to ends games with. That lineup usually includes Berke Büyüktuncel at the 5, but the UCLA transfer has struggled in his return from a sprained left ankle.

Büyüktuncel missed all 10 of his shots against Michigan and was 1-of-6 against Minnesota. After playing 13 minutes in the first half against the Gophers, Büyüktuncel played just five in the second.

The five guys on the court the most in the second half against the Gophers, and more importantly down the stretch, included Williams, Gary, Sam Hoiberg, Connor Essegian and Andrew Morgan.

"I'm looking for the five out there that are going to go compete," Hoiberg said. "We found five guys, and obviously we shortened our rotation in that second half. Was it the right thing to do? Did we run out of gas a little bit? I don't know, but those were the guys who were competing that I felt gave us the best chance to win."

The last time Nebraska played Ohio State was perhaps Büyüktuncel's best game. That night he scored 15 points and grabbed six boards with three assists. He went 3-of-6 from 3-point range. Then the ankle injury happened with about 40 seconds left in the contest, and it's been downhill offensively since.

Hoiberg called Büyüktuncel's defense against Michigan "unbelievable" but there was a step back against Minnesota on both ends of the court for the Huskers' 6-10 big.

"I didn't think he played as well in the last one, and he knows it," Hoiberg said. "And he was in here at 8 in the morning getting an individual workout the next day after the Minnesota game, which I know doesn't matter, but it just shows he was not pleased with how that game went. So it's important to get him going again."

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