No. 3 Jayhawks too much for Huskers in 89-72 loss

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LAWRENCE, Kan. - Nebraska was well aware that going into Allen Fieldhouse and pulling off and upset over No. 3 Kansas was as daunting of a task it would face all season.

For the most part, the Huskers played some of their better basketball of the season on Saturday afternoon. The problem was the Jayhawks were just that much better all game.

Kansas ended up shooting an impressive 59.6 percent from the field with seven 3-pointers to hand Nebraska an 89-72 defeat, marking the Huskers’ fifth loss in the past six games.

Senior guard Tai Webster led NU with 22 points and five assists while sophomore forward Edward Morrow added 16 points and seven rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to counter five Jayhawks in double figures.

“They’re as good of a team as we’ve seen,” head coach Tim Miles said. “We’ve seen some pretty good teams, but they’re clearly a cut above anybody we’ve seen.”

Nebraska actually got off to a strong start and led 10-7 after a layup by Webster with 16 minutes to go in the half, as the Huskers hit four of their first six shots to open the game. But things quickly began to unravel from there.

Kansas responded by going on an 11-1 run while the Huskers went cold during a four-minute scoreless streak. The Jayhawks would end up making 14 of their first 19 attempts (73 percent) from the field, and another nearly four-minute streak without a point by NU pushed the deficit to 18 with three minutes remaining.

The half ended with some salt in the wound for Nebraska, as what looked to be an air ball by KU with three seconds left was reversed to Kansas ball, and Devonte’ Graham rattled in an NBA-range 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it a commanding 54-34 going into halftime.

The Jayhawks ended up shooting 64.7 percent from the floor in the half while making 5-of-10 3-pointers.

“It was rough,” Webster said. “That’s a tough environment to come into. The crowd was nothing like we’d seen before. But they’re just good at what they do. They pressure you full court every time you take it out and they’re relentless. It’s tough.”

Webster knocked down a 3-pointer three minutes into the second half to get Nebraska back to within 17, and sophomore forward Michael Jacobson put back a basket off an offensive rebound cut it to 63-45.

Kansas failed to convert at the free throw line, and eventually sophomore guard Glynn Watson knocked down a 3 to get to down to 65-48 with just under 15 minutes to go.

After falling behind by as many as 24 early in the second half, the Huskers would end up going on a 16-8 run and pulled within 14 on a fastbreak dish and dunk from Webster to Anton Gill with 11:34 to play.

“We sort of locked in on them and started figuring some stuff out and better ways to guard them,” Morrow said. “Then we just started doing better things offensively and we just started to get into the flow and play our game.”

But that run wouldn’t last much longer, as the Jayhawks answered by knocking down their next four shots to push the lead back up to 19 with seven minutes to play.

Nebraska wouldn’t get any closer than 15 the rest of the way, as KU managed to knock down its final six free throws of the day while the Huskers made just one field goal over the final five minutes

“I was really proud of our guys in the second half,” Miles said. “I thought we showed some toughness, some resiliency to just claw back into it and make it at least uneasy for them. I thought we played our style and did the things we needed to do to be successful in the second half.”

Freshman center Jordy Tshimanga finished with 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds, while Gill and junior guard Evan Taylor added seven and eight points, respectively, off the bench.

The Huskers will take a full week off before returning to action next Sunday at home vs. Gardner-Webb and then will close out the non-conference schedule the following Tuesday by hosting Southern.

“We got a lot of experience out of these couple of tough games,” Webster said. “It was a huge learning curve for the young guys especially. We’re a young team and we play a lot of young guys.

“I’m out there with four sophomores to start the game, and they’re playing like they’re seniors. They’ve come a long way from the summer. I think it’s good for us that we had such a tough schedule, and I think we’ll be looking good come conference play.”

1. The offense took a step in the right direction

It's hard to find many bright spots when you lose by 17 points, but Nebraska's offense played significantly better than it did last time out vs. Creighton. Yes, the Huskers only shot 39 percent from the field in the loss, which isn't good by any means, but the approach NU took with the ball was much more fitting of the recipe this needs to win going forward. Nebraska attacked the basket and actually out-scored Kansas 42-40 in the paint, and it went to the line to make 15 of 18 free throws - numbers that can be hard to reach by visitors of Allen Fieldhouse.

2. Several Huskers grew up a bit

Webster once again led the way for Nebraska all game long, but the good news was some new faces emerged with arguably their best outings of the season so far. After struggling to do anything through the first nine games, Gill looked like a totally different player and seemed more confident than ever. Taylor stepped up his game offensively with a career-high nine points in 19 minutes off the bench, and Tshimanga set career bests in points, rebounds and blocks (2).

3. A message has been sent to McVeigh

It's no secret that sophomore forward Jack McVeigh has struggled to open the season, and it finally caught up to him on Saturday. McVeigh got the start but played just seven minutes in the first half without taking a single shot. He then was benched to start the second half and did not see the floor the rest of the game. Gill, Taylor, Tshimanga, and freshman Isaiah Roby all saw increased minutes in McVeigh's absence, and there's a chance that could continue over the next couple of games.

"We're going to play our toughest guys. I've got two of them with me (Webster and Morrow) and three of them in the locker room. That's it. We could play some odd lineups, I don't care. We just don't have enough weaponry with our outside shooting... I just thought tonight the only way we were going to make this a ball game was to make it a fistfight."

- Head coach Tim Miles on the lineup changes he made to start the second half.