After a disappointing 17-point loss to Penn State on Sunday that led to Nebraska splitting its two-game road swing out East, the Huskers were back at home inside Pinnacle Bank Arena on Monday night with Dusty May's No. 15-ranked Michigan Wolverines in town.
Michigan was the team that came out on top with a 49-46 win over the Huskers. Michigan improved to 21-6 and 13-3 in the Big Ten while Nebraska dropped to 17-11, 7-10.
Here are three quick thoughts on the game:
Brice "I'll Do It Myself" Williams needed more help
No, that's not Brice William's middle name, but on Monday night it sure seemed like it, especially in the first half.
Williams was the only Husker player who could score against Michigan's defense. The 6-foot-7 guard poured in 26 points and had 18 of his team's 21 points at halftime on 7-of-13 shooting overall and 4-of-7 from 3-point range.
Yes, Williams' second half wasn't as good. That's not on him, though. It's on his teammates who scored 20 points and shot a combined 7-of-41 from the field.
The amount of pressure on Williams' shoulders to score was extreme. Williams is having a first-team All-Big Ten-type season, but he's not Superman.
This game did not feature an offensive clinic, but Nebraska was OK with that
It felt like San Diego in Lincoln on Monday with temperatures in the mid 60s. But inside PBA, it had that same ice-cold feeling Lincoln had just gotten through.
At halftime, Michigan shot 33% from the field while NU shot 25%. Both teams were hideous from 3-point range, going a combined 5-of-31 from deep. For the game, Michigan shot 30% while Nebraska ended at 26%.
Nebraska is obviously a team that's limited offensively. You can call the game a rock fight and it'd be an accurate description. But a rock fight is what the game needed to be if Nebraska was going to win it, but there was just too many missed shots. No one could hit anything.
The Pinnacle Bank Arena crowd brought it and did its job
Nebraska's home-court advantage has been talked about countless times, but it deserves one more shoutout because the Husker crowd and student section were electric on Monday. They brought the juice.
Your ears were buzzing after nearly every positive thing Nebraska did on the court. It seemed that after each Williams score, the crowd grew louder and louder. That's just not an good environment to be in for an opponent.
With the No. 15-ranked team in Lincoln, PBA brought it and did its job by making life hard for the Wolverines, a good team that proved to be too much to handle.
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