Nebraska Basketball Gives Indiana Their First Road Win of the Season: 78 - 71

It was a game of consistency.

Indiana scored the first bucket of the game and held the lead until the end.

Nebraska would score here and there and even string a few scoring possessions along but it would then be followed by a couple scoring possession by Indiana. It was the tale of the night.

Nebraska made a few mini runs, here and there, but could never quite cut Indiana’s lead down. With two minutes left in the first half, Nebraska was down ten. Nebraska outscored Indiana 7-2 as the momentum of the game was shifting.

Then with Indiana’s last possession of the half, Trayce Jackson-Davis caught the ball at the top of the key and drove it. He appeared to fumble the ball and travel. Then while Nebraska was so focused on the fact that he traveled and that the officials didn’t blow their whistle, Jackson-Davis went and laid it up with no time remaining and all of the momentum was lost.

The second half was much like the first except there were a couple of scuffles among the players. Trey McGowens came in changed the game for Nebraska in my opinion. He went for a loose-ball and even after the officials called a jump ball he still fought for it. His teammates reacted to that and they started play with a new level of intensity.

Unfortunately, that they still had trouble scoring the ball consistently. Has coach Hoiberg said after the game which summarizes this game in a couple of short sentences. I think this is the next step of the Nebraska men’s basketball program. I want to isolate the quote because it speaks to this entire season:

“We cut it to four on a few occasions, but we just couldn’t get over the hump. We couldn’t get that big stop; we couldn’t get the basket to cut it to a single possession game. I don’t think we ever got there. You have to find a way to buckle down and get that stop and make the right play. We had a couple plays in the lane to get right to the basket, and we tried to kick it out and turned it over. I think we had three of those, where we had opportunities. We missed a couple right there at the rim. You have to capitalize. You have to finish in order to get over the hump and win these games. You have to be able to make those plays when they present themselves.””

That was the tale of the night.

If you care about such things in a loss....

Bryce McGowens lead Nebraska with 20 points on 13 shots. He was 7-8 from the free throw line. He is definitely a weapon there. Verge was second on the team with 19 points on 15 shots.

Indiana was led by Jackson-Davis with 23 points. Nebraska has no matchup for him. He ended with a double-double as he had 12 rebounds.

Some notes from the Athletic Department

• Bryce McGowens had his fifth 20-point game of the season, which ties Dave Hoppen for the third-most 20-point games by a freshman in program history.
• Alonzo Verge Jr. netted 19 points, recording 15th game in double-figures this season. His last basket marked his 1,000^th career point, including his two seasons at Arizona State.
• Trey McGowens made his first appearance since Nov. 16, finishing with seven points and two steals in 21 minutes. He had missed NU’s last 15 games with a foot injury.
• The Huskers made 17 free throws (17-of-21), tying the most free throws made in Big Ten play this year since knocking down 17 vs. No. 13 Ohio State. Nebraska shot 81 percent from the charity stripe, the second-highest total on the season.