Advertisement
basketball Edit

Huskers no match for Spartans in 88-72 defeat

FINAL STATS

Riding two straight wins with a chance to take a major step towards a potential postseason berth, Nebraska ended up putting together one of its worst all-around efforts of the year in an 88-72 loss at Michigan State on Thursday night.

It was a game in which not much of anything went the Huskers’ way, as they shot just 39 percent from the field, 38.5 percent from 3-point range, and committed 26 fouls and 11 turnovers.

On top of that, the Spartans owned a 42-28 edge in points in the paint and an 18-3 advantage in second-chance points. They also shot 47 percent from the floor, had three players with 17 points or more, and led for 36:50.

As a result, NU (12-15 overall, 6-9 Big Ten) was handed its most lopsided defeat of the conference season and its second-largest of the year, delivering a big hit to what remains of its NIT hopes.

"It was just a sloppy game," head coach Tim Miles said on his post-game radio show on the Husker Sports Network. "There were fouls, turnovers, and then they (go on a 19-5 run) the last 3:51... It just ended up all heck broke loose."

Both offenses sputtered out of the gates, but Michigan State (17-11, 8-6) struck first with a 9-2 run to take an early 16-9 lead.

The Huskers would eventually cut that down to 23-21 on a pair of free throws by senior guard Tai Webster, but they would follow that by going more than four minutes without a field goal.

As a result, Michigan State fired back with another 12-2 run, including scoring six points in a span of just 32 seconds and highlighted by an off-the-backboard-pass dunk by freshman sensation Miles Bridges.

To make matters even worse, MSU knocked down two 3-pointers in the final 11 seconds of the half, one of which coming on a half-court buzzer-beater by Cassius Winston to go into halftime with its biggest lead yet at 49-31.

The Spartans ended up out-scoring NU 22-4 in the paint in the first half, with an 8-0 edge in second-chance points, while the Huskers racked up 12 team fouls in the opening half alone.

"I don't know if this is just a bad matchup for us, but they were just so powerful inside, we didn't even compete with them," Miles said.

Michigan State would eventually take its biggest lead of the night at 62-38 after an 8-0 run with 13 minutes left, but Nebraska rallied back to get within 15 on 3-pointer by sophomore forward Jack McVeigh two minutes later.

Back-to-back dunks by junior guard Evan Taylor and freshman guard Jeriah Horne once again cut the deficit to 15 at 84-69 with 1:51 remaining, but that would be as close as the Huskers would get.

Webster led the Huskers with 19 points and a career-high nine rebounds, while Taylor followed up with 10 points. Bridges and Nick Ward both finished with 20 points each to lead Michigan State, which also got 17 from Joshua Langford, 11 points higher than his season average.

Nebraska will return to action on Sunday when it plays host to Illinois for a 6:30 p.m. tip on Big Ten Network.

"I said (to the team), 'We have a day and a half to get better," Miles said. "We all know what the problems were: we weren't good in transition, we couldn't stop the ball, guard the ball... I'm going to meet with my staff in the morning, we're going to have individual meetings, we're going to watch individual tape. Then we get to practice, it's going to be rehab and Illinois."

Advertisement