Huskers fall to Michigan State in 74-56 road blowout
After an impressive victory over Iowa, Nebraska had a chance to make another statement at Michigan State on Tuesday night.
Instead, the Huskers were run out of the Breslin Center in a lopsided 74-56 defeat that – despite a brief second-half rally – was essentially over midway through the first half.
The Spartans had assists on a season-high 24 of their 31 made shots. They shot 47.7% from the field and owned a 46-29 rebounding advantage.
Meanwhile, Nebraska couldn’t buy a bucket in the first half and fell behind by 22 at halftime. Derrick Walker had 15 points and nine rebounds. But NU shot just 41.8% as a team (2-of-16 on 3-pointers) despite hitting 57.7% in the second half.
That allowed Michigan State to lead by as many as 23 before closing with an 18-point victory. The Huskers dropped to 8-7 overall and 1-3 in Big Ten play, while MSU improved to 10-5, 2-1.
Nebraska went blow for blow with Michigan State through the first eight minutes. Wilhelm Breidenbach scored five straight points off the bench to tie it at 11-11 with 12:47 left in the half.
Then the floodgates opened, as MSU reeled off a 15-2 run to jump out to a 26-13 lead. Tyson Walker scored 14 of the Spartans’ first 26 points on 6-of-7 shooting. He had 16 of his game-high 21 in the opening half.
Michigan State went scoreless for the next four minutes, but NU could only trim the deficit to nine. Nebraska scored just four points over the final 11:37 of the half. That allowed the Spartans to close on a 28-6 run and take a commanding 39-17 lead into halftime.
The Huskers shot 27.6% from the field and 1-of-11 from 3-point range in the first half. On the other end, MSU was 50% and assisted on 13 of its 17 made shots.
Nebraska’s shooting was much better to open the second half. It started 6-of-8 and cut the deficit to 48-32 on a 3-pointer by C.J. Wilcher with 15 minutes left.
An And-1 by Breidenbach capped an 11-3 NU run that got it to 56-44 with 9:22 remaining. But that would be as close as the Huskers would get.
A 10-0 Spartan run and a nearly five-minute Nebraska scoring drought pushed the lead back to 22, and MSU never looked back.
Sam Griesel finished with 10 points and three assists, while Breidenbach chipped in 10 points and four rebounds. Joey Hauser had a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards, while Jaxon Kohler scored 10 on 5-of-5 shooting.
The Huskers return to action with another road trip to Minnesota on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 11 a.m. CT on Big Ten Network.
Nebraska let its offense impact its defense
Nebraska’s offense hasn’t been particularly good all season. But, for the most part, it’s made up for it with high-level defense and rebounding.
As the misses piled up early, though, the Huskers looked like their shooting frustrations negatively impacted their defensive effort.
Part of NU’s problem was that the Spartans seemingly couldn’t miss during their 28-6 burst to close the first half. But MSU was the aggressor on that end of the floor from start to finish, and its ball movement kept Nebraska off-balance all night.
“Human nature is that you’re not as energetic on that other end usually when the ball’s not going in the hoop,” NU head coach Fred Hoiberg told the Huskers Radio Network. “For the most part, all year, we’ve fought through that. We’ve found a way.
“We’ve obviously been struggling on that end of the floor and have not shot the ball well the entire season. But we’ve given great effort defensively. That’s what allowed us to win some games and allowed us to hang in on some other ones and keep it close.”
Free-throw struggles reared their ugly head again
Nebraska has had issues at the free-throw line all season, but it had started to turn things around a bit in recent weeks.
After barely shooting above 60% through the first nine games, NU had been above 70% in each of the past five contests.
But the Huskers’ woes at the charity stripe returned on Tuesday night and likely changed the outcome. They finished a dismal 8-for-20 at the line, including going 8-of-18 in the second half.
Derrick Walker was the biggest culprit, going just 1-of-8 at the stripe. Walk-on Sam Hoiberg accounted for three of NU’s eight made free throws after Nebraska cleared its bench late in the game.
“The second half, I thought we came out and had a completely different mentality,” Hoiberg said. “We cut that thing to 12 with about six missed free throws. I mean, that (deficit) could have been six or seven points, and then who knows what happens? But just the inability to make open shots and not being able to convert free ones at the line, those end up costing you.”
Nebraska was dominated on the boards
One area in which Nebraska has dramatically improved this season has been rebounding. The Huskers held a +4 margin on the year and had only been out-rebounded four times in 14 games coming in.
That all changed on Tuesday night, though, as Michigan State ended up +17 on the boards. That included hauling in 14 offensive rebounds for 18 second-chance points.
Nebraska was held to eight offensive boards and five second-chance points after having 14 last time out vs. Iowa.
Only Walker (9) and Emmanuel Bandoumel (6) had more than four rebounds for the Huskers. Hauser and Mady Sissoko both had 10, including five on the offensive end for Sissoko.
“They crushed us on the glass…” Hoiberg said. “We had two things on our board for the game plan. Normally we have a long list of what we need to do. We had two things (tonight): get back and rebound… The glass was an issue all night.”
They said it
“When you win on the road, that’s how you climb the standings. This loss certainly isn’t going to hurt you at the end of the year with as good as this team (MSU) is. We’ve got to find a way to compete on Saturday and we’ve got to protect our home court, which I’m confident we will with the way we’re playing right now.”
NU head coach Fred Hoiberg on his message to the Huskers following their loss to Michigan State.
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