Nebraska was blown out 89-72 on the road at Penn State on Wednesday night.
The defeat drops the Huskers' record to 17-10 overall and 7-9 in the Big Ten while the Nittany Lions improve to 14-13, 4-12.
Here are three quick thoughts from the game:
Nebraska just seems incapable of strong starts on the road
Nebraska's first half at Northwestern on Sunday was bad. A 15-point-deficit kind of bad.
But three days later on Wednesday night in State College, Pennsylvania, somehow the first 20 minutes were worse than what went down in Evanston. How about a 23-point deficit (50-27) at the break to the last-place team in the Big Ten standings in Penn State that came into this game on a seven-game losing streak?
It happened. And it was ugly. Again.
It's hard to understand how this Nebraska team continues to struggle so much starting games on the road. At this point, it looks like it's mental.
The Huskers didn't value the basketball, and Penn State took advantage
In the last six games, Nebraska has done a good job keeping the turnovers down, averaging just 9.7 during that stretch.
Whatever helped the Huskers limit those ball handling mistakes disappeared at Penn State. Nebraska turned the ball over a whopping 16 times — led by Sam Hoiberg's four — and the Nittany Lions turned them into 16 points.
Eleven turnovers in the first half. Five in the second. The Huskers had no chance of winning the game with how careless they were with the basketball.
Punked in the paint
The Nittany Lions were the stronger and more physical team on Wednesday, which is a difficult thing to believe considering how Penn State's season has gone.
Nebraska was out-rebounded 27-22 and allowed 11 second-chance points off seven offensive boards for Penn State.
Another stat that looks ugly, the points in the paint. Penn State got whatever it wanted and outscored Nebraska 52-36 in the paint.
Nebraska needs Berke Büyüktuncel (ankle) back in the worst way. Hoiberg has said the 6-foot-10 UCLA transfer is the team's best rebounder and post defender. He brings quite a bit of energy to the lineup, too.
ENJOYING INSIDE NEBRASKA?
>> GAIN ALL-ACCESS with an annual or monthly subscription for less than $10/month
>> NEW SUBSCRIBERS get 30 days FREE
>> Sound off on the hot topics on our INSIDER'S BOARD
>> Follow us on Twitter (@NebraskaRivals)
>> Follow us on Instagram (@nebraskarivals)
>> Subscribe for FREE to the Inside Nebraska YouTube channel
