The hottest team in the Big Ten, 24th-ranked Maryland, came into Lincoln and answered every single run from Nebraska men’s basketball in the Terrapins’ 83-75 win on Thursday.
It was another opportunity for a Quad 1 win for Nebraska, but the mindset changed in the morning when Nebraska guards Brice Williams and Connor Essegian notified the team they had flu-like symptoms.
“Brice at the shoot-around, he participated in about half of it, then he sat down. The biggest thing was low energy, fatigue and body aches,” Coach Fred Hoiberg said after the game. “That’s really what they were experiencing, and I know there’s so much going around right now. I got a call this morning from our athletic trainer that Brice had reached out, and he had a tough night. He didn’t sleep and had chills pretty much all night long. He came in and got an IV before the game and said he was good to go.
“Connor, you could see it in his face; I thought he was really flushed. It’s hard to go out there and play against a team with those kinds of athletes and those kinds of shotmakers when you’re not 100%, but I’m proud of those guys for giving it an effort. Hopefully, it doesn’t go out through the team; we’re doing some preventative things right now to hope it doesn’t spread throughout the group.”
Juwan Gary said Nebraska didn’t have the edge tonight to start the game and to start the second half. He was right; Maryland had an 18-8 lead 5:34 into the game.
The Huskers had to manage minutes due to Berke Büyüktuncel missing the game with an ankle injury that he sustained at the end of the Ohio State win on Sunday. Then there was Williams and Essegian.
Despite the sickness, Williams played 39 minutes and showed a level of toughness doing it. He scored 12 of his 20 points in the second half, and you could tell by watching him in pregame warmups that something was off.
He and Essegian came out of the locker room after the rest of the guards and were dressed in full sweat suits, which is very unusual for them and the team.
There were no excuses from Nebraska, though, and at this point in the season, many teams are dealing with these types of issues.
Gary stepped up with Büyüktuncel, unable to go. He was a catalyst for the Husker offense in the first half and did his best to hold up against the Terrapins’ size down low. Gary had 15 of his team-high 22 points in the first half.
Nebraska just couldn’t get the key stop they needed and a very talented Maryland team answered every single run the Huskers made.
Maryland’s shot-making late in shot clocks didn’t deflate Nebraska, but it did at times deflate the crowd.
The Maryland size rushed Nebraska at the rim and that led to transition baskets that were more deflating than the extreme shot making, according to Hoiberg.
“The ones that hurt you are the transition ones,” Hoiberg said. “Those are the ones that you contest them in the half-court; if they make those all game, you shake their hand and you move on. I thought we had a couple plays where we rushed it in the paint. Went up one foot, fell down, and that’s what got them out in transition. Brice had a really good one where he pump-faked [Derik] Queen up in the air and got himself to the free-throw line, but I thought we were rushed at the rim. We talked about making smart plays at the rim. I thought that fueled their break a little bit.”
Maryland outscored Nebraska 12-5 in fast break points and without Büyüktuncel, who Fred Hoiberg called the team’s best rebounder and probably their best post defender, the Terps outscored the Huskers 42-26 in the paint and had a 34-22 rebounding edge.
Maryland shot a blistering 58.5% (31-of-53) from the field, including 7-of-15 from behind the arc against Nebraska’s defense despite not getting a point from the bench.
“That’s the most efficient offense you can have, shooting 60% from the field and 46% from 3,” Maryland coach Kevin Willard said. “I think they handled it pretty good.”
Nebraska did play with tremendous effort and toughness, but five-star freshman post Derik Queen was just too much to handle. Queen finished the game with a game-high 24 points and 11 rebounds.
“That’s a really good basketball team. Queen coming off 29 and 15 in his last one, and we certainly missed Berke out there for size on him,” Hoiberg said. “I thought our guys battled, but that size, length, skill-set that he has, that’s hard to battle when you’re down one of your 6-10, and Andrew [Morgan]’s fourth foul was not a good call.”
Nebraska can learn from the loss.
“This had nothing to do with effort; I thought our guys played hard, they battled,” Hoiberg said. “We faced probably the hottest team in the league right now. That’s six of seven for that team right now. Their only loss, they had a double-digit lead at Ohio State, so this team’s rolling. We had our chances, we were right there at the end; same thing as when we played at their place a couple of weeks ago. We cut that thing back down to one possession at the end — we tied it actually. We couldn’t get the stop when it mattered. We’re hanging with the best teams. I’ve said this before: you can play well in this league and lose. I know I’m going to go back in the film and there are going to be some things we need to get better at. But there’s also some possessions where we guarded really well, and they made a tough shot.”
Getting healthy and not letting this loss deflate them will be key as the Huskers head out on an important road trip, traveling to Northwestern and Penn State, two games that are winnable if they have the same mindset they did at Oregon and at Washington to start the four-game winning streak that Maryland snapped.
