If living up to the hype is a thing, the No. 13 Nebraska men’s basketball 58-56 win over No. 9 Michigan State surely did.
The win improved Nebraska to 2-0 in ranked-versus-ranked home matchups in school history with the other one coming on March 3, 1991, when No. 15 Nebraska defeated No. 10 Kansas, 85-75.
The anticipation leading up to the game was weeks long. After Nebraska’s road win at then-No. 13 Illinois, the steam was building towards another epic night inside Pinnacle Bank Arena — which ended in another court storming.
“It should happen here,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “This is kind of a new experience. That is the beauty of what you do as you build a program … I thought it was great.”
Did the tougher team win? Yes.
“When it’s effort related, when it’s toughness related, coming up with a big rebound, those things bother me,” Izzo said. “That shouldn’t happen in this program. They did, so I’ve got to do a better job, and I promise you I will.”
Was it the top shooting performance of the season for Nebraska? No. Nebraska shot just 31.6% from the field in the game and 24.1% in the second half.
“Not very often are you going to win a game when you shoot under 25% in the second half against a top-10 team,” Coach Fred Hoiberg said after the win.
Was it the best environment Nebraska has played in this season? Yes.
“Love the environment, big fan of Fred and his team,” Izzo said.
Was it Nebraska’s best home court environment since “No Sit Sunday?” Yes.
“Environment was the best I’ve seen here (Nebraska),” Izzo said of the crowd inside of Pinnacle Bank Arena. “It’s always good here, but it was one of the best I’ve seen in a lot of years anywhere in the Big Ten.”
“Your fans are better,” Izzo said. “They were good last year, really good. They’re better. They are just a better team all the way around, fans are better, everybody is better.”
Nebraska had two keys leading up to the game: rebounding and transition defense.
Michigan State got its first offensive rebound on the second possession of the game. At the under-8 timeout of the first half it was a 2-1 MSU advantage.
“We got out-rebounded by 14, but I thought we did a hell of a job,” Hoiberg said. “In that first half where we really needed to go out and set the tone, I think they had two (offensive rebounds) at halftime. I thought our transition defense was exceptional and we never took the wrong path chasing down a rebound that we couldn’t get. This is the best defensive rebounding team in the country and we were dead if we were going to chase balls down.
“I thought our guys really followed the game plan. Those were the keys, it was get back and rebound. I said it about 1,000 times in the last three days.”
Was Nebraska elite defensively? Yes.
The Huskers forced 19 turnovers, and Hoiberg said that was the difference.
“I thought our activity on the defensive end, 19 turnovers is what we forced; they take really good care of the basketball and that was the difference, was finding a way to manufacture some points,” the husker head coach said.
The key to the Michigan State turnovers was the Huskers’ hand activity, something Hoiberg has preached to his team this season. They held Michigan State to just one point in the final 4:41 of the game.
“Hands, activity, I thought the deflections — We weren’t great early in the deflections category.” Hoiberg said. “I really thought we got active on it, that was the key to the turnovers. They play so fast, and for us to get back and force them into the halfcourt, that is exactly what we needed to do.”
As far as stopping the high-powered Michigan State transition offense, Nebraska gave up just six fast-break points in the game.
Nebraska improved to 14-0 on the season, extending its best start in school history. The 18 straight wins dating back to last season is also a school record and the longest winning streak in the country.
