Illini hand Huskers major blow in 72-66 defeat

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - As each frustrating mistake compounded on top of another, it became painfully clear for Nebraska that it was about to suffer its first “bad” loss of the season at the worst possible time.

After falling behind by as many as 11 points in the first half and then battling back to take a five-point lead with just over 14 minutes to play, the Huskers fell apart in the clutch in a 72-66 loss to Illinois, which came in ranked dead last in the Big Ten Conference standings.

Isaac Copeland scored 17 points and Isaiah Roby added 14 and 10 boards, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a five-minute field goal drought over the final six minutes and NU missing 14 of its last 18 shots of the day.

Add that to the Fighting Illini shooting 43.5 percent and hitting nine 3-pointers, Nebraska dropped to 20-9 overall and 11-5 in league play. The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for the Huskers and a run of three-straight Big Ten road wins.

“It’s tough because we know at this time in the season every loss hurts,” Roby said. “This loss hurts extra.”

For a team that came in ranked 13th in the Big Ten in 3-point shooting percentage (31.6), Illinois seemingly could not miss from behind the arc to start the game.

Led by 17 first half-half points by Leron Black on 7-of-8 shooting and 3-for-3 on downtown, the Illini hit a blistering 62.1 percent from the field and made seven of their first nine 3-point attempts. In IU’s previous two games, it was just 9-of-38 from 3-point range.

That helped Illinois lead by as much as 33-22 with 6:30 left to go in the opening half, but Nebraska was able to stay afloat with the help of 22 combined points from Roby and Copeland.

A three by Anton Gill with 26 second left sent NU into halftime trailing 43-36, which could have been much worse all things considered.

“Coach Miles showed us the stats before the game, and they shoot a lot better at home,” Copeland said. “With it being Senior Day, you’ve got to expect something like that to happen. But to go 7-for-8 (from three) in the first half is pretty hard… They got out to a hot start and it hurt us.”

The Huskers were quickly able to get back to within 45-44 on 8-2 run to open the second half, and a 3-pointer by Gill tied it up at 47-47 with 15:29 left to play.

Finally, a three by Copeland put NU up 50-47 with 14:38 left for its first lead since the 18:45 mark in the first half.

The Huskers ended up starting the second half on a 16-4 run while Illinois went more than five scoreless minutes during that stretch. The problem was after taking a 52-47 lead, Nebraska followed by going five minutes of its own without a point.

“I think it kind of shocked them with how hard we came back,” Copeland. “But offensive droughts have been a problem for us all year. I don’t know how to fix it; the coaches don’t know how to fix it. If we knew how to fix it, I think it would be fixed by now with all the talent we have.”

As a result, Illinois managed to reclaim the lead on a 3-pointer by Mark Smith with 10 minutes remaining. Five straight points by Jordy Tshimanga finally ended the drought and helped Nebraska go back in front at 57-56 with 7:43 to go.

“That was big for us, but we wanted to make that lead bigger,” Roby said. “It was a good spot (to be in), but obviously it didn’t pan out.”

The lead changed hands five times and was tied four times over the next five minutes until a jumper by Black gave Illinois a 67-64 advantage with under two minutes to play.

Nebraska had its chances to answer, but instead missed its next three shots with a costly turnover over the next minute. Illinois got a big break after its missed shot bounced out of bounds off Glynn Watson and then Trent Frazier knocked down a free throw with 25.4 left to make it 68-64.

James Palmer Jr. scored a layup with 19.7 to go, but Frazier answered with two free throws to push the lead back up to four. Copeland missed a three and then Smith added two more from the charity stripe to put the game away for good.

Palmer finished with 13 points and four assists while Gill added eight points and four rebounds.

The area that hurt the Huskers as much as anything was the free-throw line, as they went just 10-for-18 (55.6 percent) as a team and only made four of their final eight attempts over the final seven minutes.

Black led Illinois with a career-high 28 points and seven rebounds, as the Illini improved to 13-15 overall and 3-12 in conference play.

Nebraska will return home on Tuesday night to play host to Indiana, and the Huskers know there is now absolutely zero margin for error from here on out to keep their slim NCAA Tournament hopes alive.

“It doesn’t change anything,” head coach Tim Miles said of the impact Sunday’s loss would have on his team’s postseason fate.

“We were still worried, and we just have to win as much as we can and see what happens there. It might be disappointing, but at the same time, nobody’s going to feel sorry for us.”

1. Watson's struggles now a major concern

Watson might be as important to Nebraska’s ultimate season success as any player on the roster, and his surprising regression the past couple months has been a growing concern.

The junior had another rough day at Illinois, finishing just 1-for-9 from the field for three points, four assists, and four fouls in 33 minutes of work.

Watson has now shot a staggering 11-for-44 over his past four games and is just 3-of-21 in the past two outings. It was clear that he was fighting it all day vs. the Illini, and maybe his biggest mistake came at one of the game’s most critical points.

Trailing 67-64 with just over a minute to play, Nebraska got the defensive rebound and had a chance to cut the deficit to one or even tie the game. Rather than slow things down and set up a good shot, Watson threw up an off-balance transition 3-pointer that missed badly and was quickly rebounded by UI.

“I talked to him during the game, and certainly this game is important to him; he’s an Illinois kid,” Miles said. “But I think he’s fighting his shot a little bit. His confidence level in his jumper’s not where I want it to be, but it didn’t stop him from pulling up in transition (for a 3-pointer) down three. So maybe he’s getting it back, I don’t know.”

2. Bad practices foreshadowed ugly loss

If Nebraska’s effort in practice leading up to the Illinois game was any indication, Sunday’s performance probably didn’t come as a total surprise for Miles and his staff.

Miles said after the game that the Huskers did not practice well at in the days leading up to the trip to Champaign, with maybe the worst session coming on Thursday.

Miles said he addressed the issue with the team on Friday, and the players responded with a good practice that afternoon, but then they had another off day on Saturday.

Copeland said he didn’t think the poor practices should have had much impact on their play in the game, but Roby admitted the effort wasn’t where it needed to be leading up to Illinois, and it showed on Sunday.

“I guess we’re not good enough to turn it on and off between practice and games,” Roby said. “We’ve got to practice just how we want to play.”

3. Passive offense dooms Huskers

Of all the disappointing numbers on the final stat sheet for Nebraska, its whopping 26 3-point attempts in the game might be the most baffling of all.

Illinois was a team that ranked dead last in the Big Ten and was one of the worst teams nationally in two-point defense and was without one of its best bigs - junior forward Michael Finke (concussion) - who had 16 points and 10 rebounds vs. NU in their first meeting in Lincoln.

Rather than consistently attack the rim from the opening tip, the Huskers settled for perimeter shots early and often. While they made 10 of those 26 attempts, they allowed Illinois to be the aggressor on defense and dictate the flow of the game.

What was especially frustrating was that when NU actually did take the ball to the rim, it generally did so with success, as they were a perfect 8-for-8 on layups.