Huskers go cold in 66-53 loss to Virginia Tech
Playing in its third game in four days, the tank finally seemed to run out for Nebraska in a 66-53 loss to Virginia Tech in the third-place game of the Wooden Legacy on Sunday in Anaheim, Calif.
Senior guard Tai Webster scored a game-high 23 points, but he didn’t get any help from his teammates the entire game.
When all was said and done, the Huskers (4-2) shot a season-low 29.8 percent from the field with 14 turnovers.
After leading at halftime, the NU was out-scored by Virginia Tech (5-1) 43-27 in the second half and was out-shot 56.5 percent to 22.6 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes, including going just 2-of-14 from 3-point range.
“We lost sight of things at the end of the first half," head coach Tim Miles said. "We were up eight and down three at the end of the first half to the start of the second half and our defensive intensity fell off. You could tell at the start of the second half that we were not locked in.
"We felt to win the game we had to win the rebounds and win in the paint, which we lost the rebounds and tied in the paint. That was not good enough for us. We were inept on offense, so it’ll be good to watch tape and find a way to get better. We have another ACC team on the road on Wednesday. It doesn’t get easier moving forward.”
The game couldn’t have gotten off to a much uglier start, as Nebraska and Virginia Tech combined to start just 3-of-23 shooting from the field with seven total turnovers.
Sophomore forward Edward Morrow scored NU’s first six points, and finally his teammates joined in to help the Huskers take a 20-12 lead midway through the half.
But an 11-4 run by Virginia Tech closed the gap and cut Nebraska’s lead to 26-23 going into halftime.
The Huskers shot just 38.5 percent from the floor with eight turnovers in the first half, but Virginia Tech was even worse at 29.6 and six giveaways.
The Hokies scored six straight points to open second half and take the lead, and they would steadily add to that margin until they pushed it 52-40 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Justin Robinson with just under six minutes remaining.
The Huskers got it back to eight on a layup by Morrow to make it 52-44 with 4:30 left, but a massive dunk by Ahmed Hill pushed it back to double digits with 2:30 to go.
A technical foul on Zach LeDay with 1:34 left led to two free throws by Webster to cut the deficit to 56-50, but that would be as close as it would get, and NU dropped its second loss in a span of three days.
Morrow finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, but no other Husker managed more than six points in the loss.
Sophomore guard Glynn Watson, who scored a career-high 27 points in Nebraska’s loss to No. 14 UCLA on Friday night, ended up with just two points on 1-of-11 shooting.
Nebraska returns to action on Wednesday when it travels to take on Clemson in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Tip-off for that game is set for 8 p.m. CST and it will be televised on ESPNU.
“It’s going to be a good learning curve for us when we watch the film and see what mistakes we made," Webster said. "Obviously we did not come out and execute the game plan that coach laid out for us. It’s day three of the tournament and it was really grueling and they brought it today.”