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Huskers' season ends in 66-59 loss to Bulldogs in NIT

Nebraska's 2017-18 season came to a disappointing end on Wednesday night with a 66-59 loss to Mississippi State in the first round of the NIT.
Nebraska's 2017-18 season came to a disappointing end on Wednesday night with a 66-59 loss to Mississippi State in the first round of the NIT. (USA Today)

Nebraska came into Wednesday night’s NIT opener at Mississippi State with the attitude that it wanted to play angry and feed off its perceived snub from the NCAA Tournament committee.

A 66-59 loss and first-round exit certainly didn’t ease those frustrations, as the No. 5-seed Huskers’ record-setting 2017-18 season ended with a thud in Starkville, Miss.

James Palmer Jr. scored a team-high 13 points with six rebounds and five assists, but it wasn’t nearly enough to overcome NU’s 35.4-percent shooting as a team and 6-for-22 night behind the arc.

The fourth-seeded Bulldogs ended up dominating the rebounding margin 47-30, and their two bigs - Aric Holman and Abdul Ado - combined for 31 points and 19 boards.

The Huskers end the year with a 22-11 final record, which ties for their second-highest season win total in program history.

"I think any time you have a team that thinks they're going to the NCAA (Tournament) and then doesn't make it, and then you get this seed in the NIT, initially ... you've got to get your rhythm and your bearings," NU assistant coach Jim Molinari told the Husker Sports Network after the game.

"I think we really started slow, not as focused... But on the other side, those guys showed a lot of character and came out and fought. (The Bulldogs) are 19-2 here at home, and we knew they were going to be formidable."

Anton Gill knocked down a 3-pointer to start the game, but then Nebraska missed 13 of its next 15 shots to let MSU take an early 19-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Bulldogs ended up shooting 56.3 percent in the opening period primarily because they scored 16 of their 19 first-quarter points in the paint.

The Huskers opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run and tied the game up at 19-19 on a layup by Glynn Watson with just over seven minutes left in the half.

But after a pair of free throws by Isaiah Roby pulled NU within 24-23 with 3:30 left in the half, Mississippi State countered with a 6-0 run and went into halftime leading 33-28.

While both teams shot less than 40 percent from the field in the first half, the difference was MSU owning a 25-15 edge on the glass, including 10 offensive rebounds it converted into eight second-chance points.

Ado posted 11 of his 15 points and seven of his nine rebounds in just 13 minutes of work the first half.

"They hurt us is pick-and-roll for a while, and then what happened was we couldn't get to the free-throw line down the stretch," Molinari said. "They got to the free-throw line down the stretch. They were 12-for-18 vs. our 7-for-9. I think that was a big difference."

Roby scored NU’s first six points of the third quarter to make it a one-point deficit again, and after neither team scored a point for a full three minutes, Evan Taylor tied it up at 40-40 by banking in a 3-pointer with 4:40 left in the third.

Mississippi State immediately answered once again, though, making three straight shots to go back up by six and eventually took a 50-45 advantage into the fourth quarter.

A layup by Jordy Tshimanga got Nebraska back within one, and then two free throws by Palmer gave the Huskers a 51-50 lead with 7:41 to play. That marked NU’s first lead since the 4:32 mark in the first quarter.

But yet again the Huskers followed that up with another three-minute scoring drought that allowed the Bulldogs to reclaim their lead at 58-53 with just over two minutes left in the game.

A 3-pointer by Quinndary Weatherspoon made it an eight-point deficit with 1:45 remaining, and the Huskers ended up going 0-for-7 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter to end any hopes of one last comeback.

Isaac Copeland finished with 12 points while Roby added 10 points and eight rebounds in the loss.

"I just couldn't be more proud of those seniors who are leaving and the guys who are coming back," Molinari said. "Every game down the stretch - when you win eight of your last nine and you basically have to win every game, was a monumental pressure and stress. Coach (Tim Miles) kept us together, and those guys came to fight every game.

"I told them, you might not be rewarded in the short run, but the character you showed and what you developed, you're going to be rewarded in the long run."

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