Hoosiers fall to Nebraska

Since before the season started, IU Coach Curt Miller has emphasized this year isn’t about wins.

He said his team could lose all its remaining games and still have a successful season because the culture around the team has changed.

So, while he said he was disappointed by Thursday night’s 67-38 home loss to No. 23 Nebraska, he wasn’t devastated.

“I don’t always think that we went toe-to-toe and battled with the intensity that we needed, but we never quit,” Miller said. “We kept fighting and scratching and clawing to the end. We’ll learn from this.”

The Cornhuskers (12-4, 2-1) dominated from the opening tip, never trailing in the game.

Nebraska shot 42.9 percent from the field, while IU struggled against the Cornhuskers hands-in-the-face defensive pressure to shoot a season-low 28.3 percent. Nebraska won the rebounding battle 50-27, including 17 offensive rebounds.

IU was at its lowest point production of the season with 38 points.

“We handled the ball, but you can tell that turning people over is not the only way to really change the game with pressure,” Miller said. “We didn’t turn it over, but we never cleanly and smoothly got into offense tonight. Their pressure, still, was very effective against us.”

It took eight minutes and 22 seconds for the Hoosiers to record their first field goal of the game.

By that time, the Hoosiers already trailed 9-4.

The scoring never really improved, as only four Hoosiers recorded points, led by senior forward Aulani Sinclair, who scored 15 points and is now eight points away from becoming the 23rd Hoosier to score 1,000 in her career.

Junior center Simone Deloach also added 14 points off the bench.

“That type of game — you kind of just have to play until the buzzer ends,” Deloach said. “It was tough, but you kind of have to ignore the score and just play basketball and try to chip back. In that kind of situation, you just have to play until the buzzer ends.”

IU closed the gap to 19-15, thanks to Aulani Sinclair’s three-pointer, but Nebraska then closed the final 6:14 of the first half on an 18-2 run to take a 37-17 lead at halftime.

“We don’t have enough offensive firepower to absorb a run like that,” Miller said. “That’s what’s so hard. One run can beat our Indiana team right now.”

Four Cornhuskers, led by freshman guard Rachel Theriot, who scored a career-high 14 points, scored in double-digits. Sophomore guard Tear’a Laudermill also chipped in 14 points, tying her career-high. Sophomore forward Emily Cady added a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Junior forward Jordan Hooper, the team’s leading scorer at over 18 points per game, scored 11 but only had two points at halftime.

“Credit to them that their role players stepped up and made shots when we did not do a bad job on their superstars in the first half,” Miller said.

Indiana lost the battle in points off turnovers (16-4), second chance points (12-6) and fast break points (6-0).

Despite the loss, Deloach still sees this team as improving, coming together and aiming to change the culture.

“This is a new era, and we’re fighting to the end,” she said. “We have a mission, and we have a goal. We’re looking to the future. This game was tough, but we have to look forward.”