Huskers hit new low in 60-45 loss to No. 24 Maryland

Nebraska made an unexpected change to its starting lineup, went to its bench earlier and more often than ever, and featured Isaiah Roby as a focal point right out of the gates in an effort to find a spark against No. 24 Maryland on Wednesday night.

None of it mattered.

The Huskers’ offense, which had been dismal during a five-game losing streak coming in, was as bad as ever, setting Pinnacle Bank Arena records for fewest points scored and lowest field goal percentage (21.1) in a 60-45 defeat that was the ugliest point yet in a disastrous season collapse.

The loss marked the second-longest losing streak in head coach Tim Miles’ seven seasons in Lincoln, trailing only the nine in a row his team dropped back in 2014-15. After starting the season 11-2, NU is now 13-10 overall and 3-9 in conference play.

The 45 points were also the fewest allowed by Maryland since it joined the Big Ten in 2011.

“I hope and pray to God that this is rock bottom,” Miles said after the game. “But until we get out of our own way on offense – the kids are still competing on defense I think, but until we can get out of our own way and find some rhythm on offense, we’ve got a real problem. I believe it’s mental as much as it’s anything.”

Roby was the spark from the opening tip, as he scored 12 of his team’s first 15 points while Maryland (18-6, 9-4) started 3-of-13 from the field to help Nebraska jump out to an early 15-8 lead.

But the rest of the half would be all downhill from there, as the Terrapins countered with a 15-0 run, including 11 unanswered points from freshman Jalen Smith, that saw Nebraska go 8:13 without a point and miss 15 of 17 shots from the field.

The Huskers ended up going just short of 10 minutes without making a field goal before a James Palmer Jr. with 1:53 left, which stood as NU’s lone made basket for the final 11:41 of the half.

Nebraska shot a season-worst 23.1 percent (6-of-26) from the field, 1-of-4 from 3-point range, 58.3 percent (7-of-12) from the free-throw line. The only silver lining of the first half was that Maryland didn’t exactly light it up offensively either, shooting 37.5 percent and 3-of-11 from behind the arc to leave it at 28-20 score.

The 20 points marked the third game in a row that NU had set a new season low for points in a half.

“When Tanner (Borchardt) got his second foul, we went a whole four-minute segment without scoring, and I really thought we just lost rhythm…” Miles said. “Then you end up with 20 points at halftime. That’s not going to get it done in the Big Ten.”

Six points by Palmer and a 3-pointer by Roby got the deficit down to 31-29 five minutes into the second half. But once again, things would go south again in a hurry.

The key swing play during a 15-4 Maryland response came when Terp center Bruno Fernando backed down Borchardt, who fell to the court after contact. No whistle was blown, and Fernando slammed a dunk with authority before landing on and stepping over Borchardt.

Miles walked onto the court in protest and earned a technical foul, and a chorus of boos from the Pinnacle Bank Arena stands followed with Fernando egging on the crowd from the bench.

Nebraska would trail by as much as 20 and never pulled back within single digits the rest of the way, as the already sparse PBA crowd of 10,360 began filing out with as many as seven minutes still to play.

Roby scored a game-high 20 points, set career-high with 14 rebounds, and added a season-high five blocks in 39 minutes, but also shot just 7-of-22 from the field. Palmer was the only other Husker to score in double figures with 12 points but did so on 2-of-13 shooting.

Fernando once again had his way with NU, scoring 13 points with 19 rebounds and three blocks, while Smith led Maryland with 18 points.

Nebraska will return to action on Saturday when it travels to take on Purdue for a 7:30 p.m. tip on Big Ten Network.

“Nobody’s really having fun right now,” Roby said. “We all had really big expectations for this season, and we know that time just keeps running out with every game we play. I don’t know. I don’t know if guys are – because guys have been working extra and getting extra shots up, so it’s not like we’re not putting in the work. It’s just once we get in the game we’re passing up too many good shots, and it hurts us.

“I don’t know. We lost (Isaac) Copeland, but we’ve still got a lot of talent on this team. We’ve just got to find our spots.”

1. This team’s confidence is shot

Nebraska was already dealing with a severe crisis of confidence well before the loss to Maryland, and now it’s painfully clear that the crisis has turned into a full-blown epidemic. With every defeat, the Huskers seem to lower the bar further down to the point now where they seem to have lost all belief in themselves. Yes, there’s been some adversity, but every team has to overcome hurdles, and few crumble the way NU has over the past 10 games. This is a team that is constantly bracing itself for the worst to happen, and more dirt will continue to be thrown onto it until it stops feeling sorry for itself and takes action. That’s up to Miles and the coaching staff, and it’s up to the locker room full of veteran upperclassmen. Miles said he hoped that this was rock bottom. The way it looks right now, the fall could very well get much worse.

“It’s mental. I really believe it’s mental,” Miles said. “I don’t see anybody having fun; I see stressed out young guys. We’ve got to get back to the love of the game and be able to relax. This is the time of a lifetime, and some of these seniors only have nine more games, and this is it. So let’s play with joy; a little bit of joy. I know they want to do well, but if all you’re worried about is the outcome and the consequence of that then you’re going to get stressed, and you’re going to have problems.”

2. Clarification on the Fernando/Borchardt play

The no-call on Fernando’s dunk over Borchardt and Miles’ ensuing technical foul probably didn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things, but it was the breaking point of the second half and was still a main topic of discussion after the game. Roby said the referee who was in position to make a call said Borchardt flopped on the play. “Because Tanner’s a feather…” Miles said sarcastically. Asked about his technical for walking onto the court to argue the call, Miles said: “I have no comment.” Requests for a pool reporter to ask the officials for an explanation on the call after the game weren’t received in time, but the Big Ten issued this response to TV analyst Andy Katz:

“No request by a coach or player was made to review play (Fernando dunk)," Katz tweeted. "Officials don’t have to go to the monitor if they don’t see a need to review (tech or flagrant). As for pool reporter situation, league said a pool request can’t be made for a judgment call.”

3. Watson is in a bad spot

Losing Copeland to a season-ending knee injury was devastating to a team that couldn’t afford to be without any of its top-line players, but the sudden disappearance of senior point guard Glynn Watson has made things exponentially worse. Watson had already posted back-to-back season-lows of six and five points the past two games, but the fourth-year starter had the worst night of his career on Wednesday. He missed all 10 of his shots and had just one assist in 39 minutes of action, finishing the game without scoring a point for just the second time in his career. The only other time he went scoreless was his freshman season at Creighton on Dec. 9, 2015, when he went 0-of-5 from the field in 10 minutes off the bench. That was also just the 10th game of his college career. Well after the loss to Maryland had ended, Watson came back onto the court to shoot free throws. He knows he’s in a bad slump, and he knows he’s too valuable to this team for it to last any longer.