Nebraska men’s basketball’s 20-game home winning streak ended Thursday night when Rutgers beat the Huskers 85-82.
It was the Cornhuskers’ first loss inside Pinnacle Bank Arena in 688 days.
Nebraska has lost three straight games for the first time since December of 2022.
Defense Falling
It’s been the defensive end in the three-game losing streak that has let the Huskers down. Iowa, Purdue, and Rutgers have averaged 95.3 points in the three Husker losses.
The once top-10 defense in the country has dropped to 36th in adjusted efficiency on KenPom and the Huskers have given up 48 3-pointers in those three games.
Against Rutgers, they got caught too deep helping in the post and Rutgers found open shooters with skip passes far too often.
The Scarlet Knights made 12 of their 29 3-point attempts (41.4%).
Rutgers’ Stars
Rutgers’ star freshmen Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper were as advertised in the win for Rutgers. The potential NBA lottery picks scored 45 combined points and shot 16-of 33 from the field including 7-of-15 from 3.
If it wasn’t Harper splitting ball screens and making plays at the rim, it was Bailey using his athleticism to get to the basket or knocking down shots.
“I give Rutgers credit, don’t look at their record – that’s a much better team than what their record is because of the four or five games Harper missed or played limited minutes,” Coach Fred Hoiberg said. “When he’s healthy, you see what type of team that is, and the type of problems that he poses on the offensive end with his size and his shiftiness and his ability to shoot the ball. When they’ve got guys out there who can make shots, that’s a hard team to shut off. I always sound like a broken record with this, but we’ve got to find a way to learn from it and move on. Got a lot of season left, still believe in our guys, and got to bounce back with a great effort this weekend.”
You could anticipate those two doing what they do, but it was the other freshman for Rutgers that made the difference. Dylan Grant had a career-high 15 points and was 7-of-8 from the field.
Finishing Possessions
Nebraska’s inability to finish possessions was the difference tonight. If you just look at the box score, you would think Nebraska did a great job of just that. They had 25 second chance points to Rutgers’ 19 and had 19 offensive rebounds to Rutgers’ 17.
However, the Huskers gave up too many second-chance opportunities and Juwan Gary said after the game the Scarlet Knights “wanted it more.”
“Ten missed free throws,17 assists and seven turnovers, you should win the game when that happens, and 19 offensive rebounds,” Hoiberg said. “You outscore them in second-chance points; I think it was 25-19. You’ve got to find a way to win the game when you have those kinds of numbers.”
Particularly in the third stanza of the second half, the Scarlet Knights had three possessions where they got long offensive rebounds and in a one or two-possession game, that just won’t win. Nebraska couldn’t secure a defensive rebound in key moments throughout the game and that was all about toughness according to Hoiberg.
Rutgers is the second single-possession loss of the season for Nebraska, and in both games — this one and St Mary’s (77-74) — the Huskers gave up 17 offensive rebounds.
Excellent Williams
Brice Williams was excellent for Nebraska, Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said after the game. Williams made the first Nebraska shot of the game, a 3-pointer, and finished the game with a team-high 21 points.
Williams made some clutch shots and clearly has become the Nebraska’s go-to offensive player. It was the eighth time this season and for the 24th time in Williams’ career that he has scored 20 in a game.
Juwan Gary had 20 points, just two points shy of his career high, and seven rebounds.
It marked the third time this season that Nebraska had two players score 20 points in the same game and the second time this year that Williams and Gary each had 20 points in the same game.
They got contributions from players like Connor Essegian (12 points) and Rollie Worster (10 points, seven rebounds and five assists). Andrew Morgan was also in double figures with 11 points.
Nebraska will try to right the ship Sunday when the Huskers travel to Maryland for an 11 a.m. CT tip.
