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The Nebraska Cornhuskers dropped the semi-final game of the Wooden Classic to the UCLA Bruins tonight in Fullerton, California by the score of 82-71.
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First Half:
Nebraska started out playing with the Bruins, taking a 10-9 lead right before the under 12 minute timeout. However, the Huskers couldn’t shoot very well in the half, only hitting 29% to UCLA’s 50%. Nebraska kept it to 22-19 with just under 6 minutes to go in the half, but the Bruins got the next 9 points to pull away a little bit. Glynn Watson & Tai Webster led the Huskers with 6 points each.
What say you coach Miles?
We are too tentative on offense. We have to find a better rhythm and movement in the second half.
— Tim Miles (@CoachMiles) November 26, 2016
Second Half:
The half started better for the Huskers, who shrunk the UCLA lead down to 9 mainly behind the efforts of Glynn Watson, and it got to 7 with 15 minutes to go in the half. It got even better with the Huskers keeping chipping at the lead, getting to 3 points at 51-48 with 13 minutes to go. The Huskers thought they had a goaltend not go their way, but it was a clean block. Lonzo Ball for UCLA hit a 3 to get the lead back to 6 at the under 12 timeout. Ball going out with 4 fouls with 8 minutes to go is a big deal, as the Huskers keep trailing from 3 to 7 throughout the middle of the half.
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Three Things:
- Nebraska needs more than 2 scorers to compete. Last night in a win over Dayton, who should do well in the Atlantic 10, they had Ed Morrow to help out Glynn Watson (a career high 27 tonight) and Tai Webster (19 tonight). Tonight, there was really no stand out help for the Watson/Tai group. Morrow did have 8, but too many missed shots by Anton Gill (1-10) and Jack McVeigh (0-8) and that’ll do it.
- Nebraska’s three point defense was not ideal again, giving up 39% on the night and 44% in the second half. However, the Huskers did show moxie in the paint, outscoring UCLA 40-30 and being outrebounded by one.
- The tournament is a success for the Huskers, winning a game against a potential NCAA tournament team in Dayton & playing with another one in the Bruins. If Nebraska can avoid the mid-season wall with some kids and keep developing in a unforgiving conference in the Big Ten, Nebraska will be alright.
The Huskers get tomorrow off, then will be playing the 3rd/4th place game vs Virginia Tech on Sunday.