Despite coming off a quadruple-overtime road loss at North Carolina State two days earlier, Nebraska traveled to Indiana for its Big Ten Conference opener on Saturday and led by 10 points after the first 10 minutes.

But the fumes the Huskers were running off of soon ran out from there, as the Hoosiers rallied back and dominated the second half en route to a 68-55 victory at Assembly Hall.

While its defense forced 15 turnovers and held Indiana 14 points under its season average (82.1 ppg), NU’s offense was nowhere to be found over the last 30 or so minutes.

Nebraska shot 37.7 percent from the field and went just 5-of-22 from 3-point range while turning it over 14 times of its own. Alonzo Verge Jr. was the only Husker to score in double figures with 15 points and three assists, but he also committed a game-high six turnovers.

As a result, NU fell to 5-4 overall and 0-1 in league play and is now 0-3 against high-major competition this season.

Behind aggressive pressure defense, Nebraska came storming out of the gates and opened with a commanding 14-4 run over the first seven minutes.

But the Huskers’ shooting suddenly went ice cold from there, which allowed Indiana to close the half on a 22-8 rally and take a 26-22 lead into the break.

NU shot just 30 percent from the field and was 1-of-10 from behind the arc in the first half, making just four shots for eight points over the final 13:26 of the half.

The momentum continued to swing in IU’s favor on into the second half, as a monster put-back dunk by Race Thompson gave the Hoosiers their largest lead yet at 43-30 with just under 14 minutes remaining.

Nebraska switched to a 3-2 zone and briefly got things settled down defensively, which sparked a 6-0 spurt to get within seven. But Indiana answered right back by shooting over the zone with two Parker Stewart 3-pointers to go up 51-38 with 9:13 to go.

A three by C.J. Wilcher, the first for NU since the 17:03 mark in the first half, again cut the deficit down to seven with is minutes to play. That would be as close as the game would get, though, as Indiana responded with a quick 6-0 run and led by double-digits the rest of the way.

Bryce McGowens had eight points but was just 3-of-14 from the field. He didn’t score a point in the second half on five shot attempts. Derrick Walker scored eight with four rebounds, while Kobe Webster added seven points off the bench.

Trayce Jackson-Davis led the Hoosiers with 14 points, seven rebounds, four blocks, and three steals, while Thompson added 13 points and a game-high 11 boards.

1. Nebraska has a serious shooting problem

A Nebraska team built around pace, spacing, and 3-pointers has a serious problem on its hands right now because, so far, it can’t shoot.

The Huskers have shown flashes this year of being the perimeter threat most expected with a roster that Fred Hoiberg himself said made notable gains with its 3-point shooting.

But there have been significantly more instances where NU hasn’t been able to buy anything from behind the arc.

Nebraska came into the game ranked 326th nationally in 3-point percentage on the season at 27.6%. Going 5-of-22 from three on Saturday, it had a stretch where it missed 14 straight attempts.

Three of NU’s five makes came in the final 4:36 of garbage time.

Even worse, the Huskers’ top 3-point options all struggled to get anything going at Indiana. Keisei Tominaga (1-of-5), McGowens (1-5), Webster (1-3), and Lat Mayen (0-2) went a combined 3-for-15 from deep.

CJ Wilcher (1-4), who missed all seven of his attempts at NC State, has now gone 1-of-11 over the last two games.

To be fair, Indiana boasts one of the best defenses in the conference, holding opponents to just 35 percent shooting, including 29 percent from 3-point range.

But if Nebraska insists on living and dying from behind the arc like this, it better start making threes at a considerably higher clip.

“We had some good looks, but unfortunately, they just weren’t falling,” Hoiberg said on his post-game show on the Husker Radio Network.

“Whether it was legs just not being back from the other night or whatever it was, we could just not convert when we had opportunities at open looks, and obviously, it could have been a different outcome had that happened.”

2. Nebraska did its part defensively

As bad as it was offensively, Nebraska had one of its best all-around defensive efforts of the season on Saturday.

Indiana’s shooting wasn’t exactly stellar either, going a season-low 40.4 percent from the field while posting its fewest points in a game on the year. The Hoosiers hit eight 3-pointers but were only 42.8 percent from inside the arc. IU entered the game shooting 51 percent as a team.

Jackson-Davis ended up with a solid final stat line, but he still was eight points under his season average (22 ppg). He came in shooting a whopping 61 percent from the floor but made 5-of-11 (45.4%) shots along with four turnovers.

Now, because of the attention Nebraska paid to contain Jackson-Davis, Thompson was able to go off for his best individual effort of the year.

But overall, the Huskers did what they needed to do on one end of the court to have a chance. The game was lost on the other side.

“The half-court defense was the best it’s been all year,” Hoiberg said. “That’s something certainly we can build off of.”

3. Tominaga gets the start

The fifth piece of Nebraska’s starting lineup has been a bit of a question mark since junior Trey McGowens broke his foot against Creighton on Nov. 16.

Second-year freshman Keon Edwards had started the past five games in McGowens’ place, but he was hardly getting starter minutes or production. Hoiberg decided to shake things up by giving Tominaga his first-career start at Indiana.

Edwards averaged just 10.2 minutes over his five starts, scoring a total of four points on 2-of-11 shooting from the field and missing all nine of his 3-point attempts. The last time out at North Carolina State, he played just four of the 60 total minutes of NU’s quadruple-overtime loss.

In addition to Edwards’ struggles and limited role, another sign that a starting lineup change was coming was that Tominaga replaced him with the first group to open the second half at NC State. Tominaga ended up playing 44 minutes, the fourth-most of any Husker.

The sophomore guard, who had made 10 3-pointers over the previous two outings, didn’t exactly make the most of his opportunity on Saturday, however.

Tominaga was 1-for-5 on 3-pointers and 2-of-7 from the field in 21 minutes of work. His lone made three didn’t come until there were only 43 seconds left in the game.