Bluejays Fly Past Huskers, Game Recap

It was a tale of two halves tonight as the Nebraska Cornhuskers hung tight with in-state rival the Creighton Bluejays in the first half. Nebraska trailed by just four points as the teams headed into the locker room, and was only behind due to Creighton’s three-point percentage despite the Huskers shooting better overall from field goal range.

Nebraska tied it up five times and took a small lead three times in the first half. However, the Huskers never led by more than three points in the game. Despite shooting 38.5 percent from deep and 48 percent overall from the field, the Huskers doomed themselves with 12 turnovers and allowing Creighton to knock back seven threes themselves.

Nebraska mostly kept it competitive, though, with an even 18-18 rebounding battle and managing 4 steals of their own that the Huskers converted for 7 points.

The second half collapse that Nebraska fans have perhaps found far too common over the years reared its ugly head quickly, however. Nebraska coughed it up another 13 times in the second half. The Huskers handed over 16 points to Creighton on fast break points in the second half, and 24 points overall off turnovers.

Offensively, the Huskers repeatedly drove from the top of the key into traffic and failed to get the ball out before losing control of it. It was reminiscent of the Georgia Tech game.

Teddy Allen led in scoring with a career high 26 points, and fell just short of a double-double with 9 rebounds. McGowens was second in scoring with 15, while Banton rounded out the double-digits with 12 points and was second on the boards with 7. Meanwhile Thor put together a performance that reiterates why I keep defending his presence on the floor and calling for him to get the ball more as he went 3-5 overall, including 2-3, to finish with 8 points, was third in rebounding with 6 boards, and led the team in assists with 4.

Nebraska hit a season high 11 three pointers tonight, but gave up a season high 52.1 field goal percentage to its opponent, who also shot 46.7 percent from deep. This is one of the uglier games for Nebraska in this rivalry, and it will be a good one to quickly forget as Big Ten action starts up next with a trip to Wisconsin.

Post-Game Notes and Quotes:

Coach Hoiberg’s Remarks:

Before the game Hoiberg told the team that if they don’t get back in transition then they might as well not get off the bus. Did a good job of that in the first half, but turned the ball over 12 times. Second half just didn’t get back and kept up with the turnovers.

Looking forward to getting back to practice and getting back to fundamentals. Confident this team can refocus and get wins in the Big Ten this season.

Thor’s Remarks:

This was a learning experience. Creighton is a top-10 opponent. We have 20 league games coming up and we need to put this non-conference behind us and take out of this game what we did well. There were a lot of things we did well, but a lot of things we did bad. We need to come back in the gym and correct that.