A sold-out and striped-out Pinnacle Bank Arena grew louder as Juwan Gary's putback gave Nebraska a 65-64 lead over Minnesota with 9 seconds left on Saturday.

But as Nebraska's defense failed to pick up Golden Gopher guard Brennan Rigsby, the PBA crowd panicked. As the ball found Rigsby's hands, the Colorado native and Oregon transfer elevated for a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer, which he drilled, with 4.1 seconds left.

Rigsby lifted his right index finger to his mouth, as he did on several occasions in the second half, and told everyone wearing red and white to hush.

As those last 4 seconds ticked off the game clock, Andrew Morgan's desperation 3 didn't fall, sealing a brutal 67-65 loss for Nebraska in a game the Huskers needed to have. Now, the NCAA Tournament hopes are on life support.

Now the Huskers, with an ugly Quad 3 loss on the résumé with two regular-season games left, shouldn't be thinking about the Big Dance. Qualifying for the 15-team Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis should be top of the mind right now.

For a game so important for both teams, Nebraska did not match Minnesota in intensity or urgency to start the game. And that's where the story of this contest needs to start — at the opening tip.

It was another disappointing start for Nebraska, which was smacked in the mouth and out-muscled in the first 24 or so minutes of the game. The Gophers used a 16-2 run to gain a 16-point edge in the first half.

The Gophers scored the first 9 points of the second half, too, giving them an 18-point edge. The Gopher lead got as big as 19 points.

After the game, Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg said he didn't see the same kind of fight he saw from his guys against Michigan.

"The thing about our group that is disappointing in that game, when you go out there and get slapped around a little bit and get punched in the mouth, is the body language, the head-hanging," Hoiberg said. "It makes you sick as a coach to see that lack of fight and urgency to get out of that thing until it's too late."

When asked how Nebraska can start games better, Hoiberg simply answered, "Play harder."

Yes, there was an epic comeback, just like the one at Northwestern. Behind defense that turned into offense, the Huskers rattled off a 25-6 run, and two Gary free-throw makes gave Nebraska a 55-54 lead with 6:28 remaining.

But Minnesota was full of answers, and Rigsby had a lot of them.

If you pegged Rigsby as the guy who was going to hurt Nebraska the most on Saturday, you deserve credit. He came into the game averaging 4.3 points. The past three games, he scored 3 total points and never played more than 8 minutes.

But on Saturday, Rigsby scored a career-high 20 points off the bench and played 23 minutes. He went 5-of-6 from 3 after coming into the day shooting 24.2%.

"We let them get comfortable," Hoiberg said. "And when you hit your first couple as a shooter, that makes your life a lot easier. Then that one at the end of the game is a heck of a lot easier to make."

Another part of Nebraska's start that was tough to watch came at the free-throw line. Braxton Meah, who seemed to have solved his issues at the charity stripe, took a step back against Minnesota. He missed his first five attempts before making one.

At a team, Nebraska shot 55% on its free throws, going 11-of-20.

"I'm sick. I'm absolutely sick on just how that whole thing played out," Hoiberg said of the loss.

Nebraska, which dropped to 17-12 overall and 7-11 in the Big Ten, has two games remaining: A Quad 1 opportunity on the road at Ohio State on Tuesday and Iowa in Lincoln on Sunday, March 9, in the regular-season finale.

The Huskers are now in danger of being left out of the conference tournament by finishing in the bottom three of the league standings. The teams below Nebraska right now, Rutgers, USC and Iowa, all have the tie-breaker over the Huskers, should that come into play.

"We're running out of chances. We're running out of bullets. Big couple days ahead," Hoiberg said.

Brice Williams and Gary each finished with 21 points.

Saturday marked the first Minnesota win in Lincoln since Feb. 5, 2012, when Tubby Smith was the head coach of the Gophers and the Huskers played at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Entering today, Minnesota was 0-10 in PBA.

A road game at Ohio State (16-13, 8-10) on Tuesday at 8 p.m. is what's up next for Nebraska. It'll be a Quad 1 opportunity away from PBA.

"For us, we get two more opportunities to put the uniform on guaranteed. After that, there's nothing for certain at this point."

The Huskers and Buckeyes already played each other once this season, a 79-71 Nebraska victory Feb. 9 in Lincoln that capped a four-game win streak.

Jake Diebler's Ohio State was on a three-game losing streak until it beat USC 87-82 in Los Angeles last Wednesday. The Buckeyes will have fresh legs when they play Nebraska as it will be nearly a week since playing their last game.

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