For the first time this season Indiana men’s basketball played in a true road environment. The Hoosiers traveled to Lincoln to take on Nebraska (6-2, 0-1 Big Ten) Friday night inside Pinnacle Bank Arena in front of a 15,500-person sold-out crowd.
Indiana looked to earn its second consecutive Big Ten matchup while the Cornhuskers hoped to defend their home floor, where they posted a 10-0 record in conference play last season. Ultimately, an inability to force defensive stops and second-half shooting struggles plagued the Hoosiers in an 85-68 loss to Nebraska, snapping a three-game winning streak.
Redshirt sophomore Myles Rice’s team-high 20-point performance was overshadowed by senior guard Bryce Williams’ game-high 30 points for the Cornhuskers.
Nebraska opened the game with a 13-3 run that forced Indiana head coach Mike Woodson to call timeout with his team tallying more fouls than points scored over the first three minutes of play. With the help of four early steals, an active Hoosiers defense erased the deficit as Indiana took a 20-19 advantage with a little more than 11 and a half remaining in the first half.
Both teams traded leads for the remainder of the first half, though neither side managed to pull away. Aside from the Cornhuskers’ initial run, the largest first-half deficit was 5 points. Nebraska shot an efficient 65.2% from the field in the opening period and entered the break with a 44-41 lead.
The Cornhuskers continued to find high quality looks when they returned to the floor and built a 9-point lead with a little under 14 minutes remaining. As quickly as Nebraska gained momentum, Indiana’s point guard snatched it away. Rice led a 13-4 run where he scored every basket to single-handedly erase the deficit and tie the game at 62 apiece.
However, as the Cornhuskers defense began limiting Rice, the Hoosiers offense became stagnant. Nebraska sprinted to a 10-0 run in under three minutes, and it proved to be the decisive blow to the visiting Hoosiers. Led by Williams, the Cornhuskers outscored Indiana 19-4 over the final nine and a half minutes of play.
The Hoosiers made one of their final 18 shot attempts.
Indiana (8-3, 1-1 Big Ten) will return to Bloomington for a pair of non-conference games against the University of Tennessee Chattanooga on Dec. 21 and Winthrop University on Dec. 29 before resuming its Big Ten slate.
Follow reporters Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) and Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa) and columnist Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer (@mateo_frohwer) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s basketball season.
