Inconsistency bites NU again in 82-74 loss to Hoosiers

Nebraska returned to Pinnacle Bank Arena for its first home game in nearly two weeks, but it was still an all-too-familiar result in an 82-74 loss to Indiana on Saturday night.

The Huskers actually got off to a hot start and led by as many as nine points, but then the wheels fell off in a hurry. The Hoosiers rallied to take a halftime lead and turned that into a 19-point second-half advantage before all was said and done.

While NU was able to pull back within six in the game's final minutes, it was once again too little, too late. With the loss, the Huskers have now dropped four of their past five Big Ten Conference games and fall to 7-11 overall and 2-5 in league play.

Nebraska came out firing to open the game, hitting four of their first six 3-pointers to go on an 11-0 run in 81 seconds and take a 23-14 lead.

But the offense would quickly go cold from there, as Nebraska made one field goal over nearly seven minutes to allow the Hoosiers (14-4, 4-3) to rally back with a 12-2 run and take a 32-30 lead with six minutes left in the half.

Indiana’s lead grew to as much as eight before a pair of 3-pointers by Cam Mack in the final two minutes pulled NU back to within 46-41 at halftime.

Despite the hot start, the Huskers ended the half missing four of their final 17 shots going into halftime. That included going just 6-of-13 at the rim and 7-of-18 (39 percent) on two-point attempts.

Indiana kept its foot on the gas heading into the second half, scoring six straight points to take its largest lead yet at 52-41 after just two minutes of play. The Hoosiers would eventually go up 47-28 after hitting 10 of their first 13 shots to start the half.

“We tried to stick to the game plan," freshman Charlie Easley said. "They came in not hitting many threes, but they came out shooting and that’s credit to them.”

The tide would turn once again in Nebraska’s favor, however, and IU suddenly went cold and hit an eight-minute scoring drought. That opened the door for the Huskers to trim the deficit down to 70-62 with eight minutes left after a pair of free throws from Mack.

But NU couldn’t take advantage of the golden opportunity. After getting within eight, Nebraska’s next seven offensive possessions consisted of five turnovers, an airball out of bounds, and a blocked shot.

Indiana made just three field goals over the final 12:52, and Nebraska was able to get it to a two-possession game after a layup by Thorir Thorbjarnarson made it 78-72 with 1:20 remaining. That would be as close as the Huskers would get, though, as they missed 3-pointers on three of their final four possessions to end the rally.

“We got off to a great start," Thorbjarnarson said. "I think we let them get too many points in the first half, but in the end, they went on a little bit of a run to get the lead. The beginning of the second half, we just came up too flat. I think that’s where we lost the game."

Mack ended up with a game-high 20 points and nine assists, while Thorbjarnarson finished with 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Trayce Jackson-Davis led Indiana with 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting, 13 boards, and four assists.

The Hoosiers, which had only shot above 30 percent from 3-point range once over their previous eight games, hit 8-of-26 from behind the arc in the win. That marked their second-most made threes of the season and many as they’d made over their past 14 contests dating back to a win over Troy (9) on Nov. 16, 2019.

Nebraska shot just 17.6 percent (3-of-17) from 3-point range in the second half, were out-rebounded 48-30, and had eight of their 30 missed shots blocked.

The Huskers will return to action on Tuesday when they travel to take on Wisconsin for an 8 p.m. tip on Big Ten Network.

"I talk all the time - I think every time I sit here with you guys I talk about how we have either a lull or we hit adversity and you go through a five or six-minute stretch," head coach Fred Hoiberg said. "We just aren’t deep enough, talented enough right now to fight through those stretches.

"We certainly showed that we’re capable, but the overall consistency needs to get better and that’s where we have got to continue to grow and we’re going to teach and hopefully learn and get this thing to a point where we can give ourselves a chance by not going through those stretches."

1. Another lopsided deficit proves too much to overcome

Tonight’s loss was pretty indicative of Nebraska’s entire season. For some stretches, the Huskers looked far superior to Indiana and played with perfect execution on both ends of the floor.

For many others, though, NU looked completely discombobulated.

After a strong start to the game, Nebraska completely fell apart for a span of about 20 minutes from the end of the first half to midway through the second. That turned a nine-point lead into a 19-point deficit, and once again put the Huskers in a hole from which they couldn’t dig out.

That’s becoming a concerning trend for Hoiberg’s team. In the past three games, NU has fallen behind by deficits of 18, 25, and now 19 points. The Huskers rallied to cut into those leads but fell short each time.

You simply cannot win with that level of inconsistency, especially now where opponents are routinely getting nearly 20 point leads every night.

2. Mack continues to build his profile

On an otherwise disappointing night, Mack was again one of Nebraska’s bright spots with another impressive stat line against Indiana.

The sophomore point guard played a team-high 37 minutes and scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half while keeping his average above 9.0 assists per game in Big Ten play – by far the best average in the conference.

He’s now recorded eight or more assists in eight of NU’s 18 games this season and has had at least six dimes in all seven conference contests.

The rest of the league is starting to take notice of Mack’s play, too. He’s at the top of every opposing scouting report, and Indiana head coach Archie Miller went as far as to call him one of the best pure passers in the Big Ten this season.

"I think there’s maybe one or two players in college with the ability to pass the ball like Cam Mack passes the ball," Miller said. "He’s not seeing (just) the first read. He’s picking on your second and third guys with one-handed baseball passes on a dime across the floor. He’s a special passer."

3. Travel issues didn’t slow down Hoosiers

Not only did Indiana become just the seventh Big Ten team to win a conference road game this season, it did so despite some relatively serious travel issues in getting to Lincoln.

Because of the major winter storm system that dumped snow across the Upper Midwest this weekend, the Hoosiers’ flight to Nebraska was delayed considerably. Instead of arriving on Friday afternoon as originally scheduled, IU wasn’t able to fly out of Bloomington until 9:20 a.m. CT on Saturday morning.

That had them arriving in Lincoln shortly after 11 a.m. CT, less than seven hours before tip-off.

Miller admitted there were points where his team looked tired, especially during its second-half lull that lasted nearly eight minutes and turned a blowout into a close game.

But all things considered, the Hoosiers were able to match NU’s energy enough to pull out a road win that was more important to their NCAA Tournament hopes than some may realize.