Juwan Gary (4) goes up for a layup during the game against USC at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Assistant Sports Editor
Juwan Gary (4) goes up for a layup during the game against USC at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Nebraska’s season continues to go in a downward spiral, falling to USC 78-73. The loss extends the Huskers’ winless streak to five in another instance where they beat themselves down the stretch.
“We have to find a way to stay together through this tough time, and hopefully get this thing reversed soon,” head coach Fred Hoiberg said postgame.
Here are four takeaways a question from Wednesday night’s loss:
For the fourth time in the last five games, the Huskers found themselves in a dogfight. However, the same result took place with Nebraska struggling to pull through.
The Huskers had the effort needed on some occasions, but couldn’t piece it together to build a sustainable lead. Almost every score on offense was followed by a defensive lapse on the other end.
“It’s just about who’s gonna be tougher, who’s gonna get the 50/50 balls and that’s going to be the team that wins and we haven’t been doing that consistently enough,” senior guard Brice Williams said postgame. “We’ll do it for one or two possessions but then we’ll slack off for five and that’s the game right there.”
Nebraska seemed off on offensive with communication being a problem. Spacing was non-existent at times and possessions went nowhere including an instance where senior guard Rollie Worster held onto the ball for nearly the entire shot clock before throwing up a miss.
While a run late gave the Huskers a chance, USC responded with a devastating 3-pointer from junior guard Desmond Claude that Nebraska never overcame.
Nebraska has not been up to par for a team that prides itself on the defensive end, with Wednesday being no different.
The Trojans had their way with the Husker defense, especially in the second half averaging a whopping 1.469 points per possession. While 0-of-9 from deep in the first half, USC came alive in the second connecting on 6-of-12. Many of those 3-pointers came pretty much wide open as Nebraska was slow on closeouts.
However, the Huskers struggled the most down low with the Trojans easily finding their way inside. Even if they pieced together a miss, USC dominated the glass with 12 offensive rebounds to Nebraska’s six.
“They out-toughed us,” Williams said postgame. “We got the stop on the first shot and then they got the second shot and then the third shot and we compounded it with fouls. It was on us tonight.”
The Huskers could have easily dominated the first half with the Trojan offense out of sorts, but turnovers plagued them. They gave it up seven times with USC coming away with nine points off of them, keeping the deficit at just two points.
“We gotta get a shot up on the glass whether it goes in or not so we can get our defense set,” Hoiberg said postgame. “When you give them free baskets on the other end, it just does so much for a team’s confidence.”
While Nebraska limited turnovers in the second half, they still came at inopportune times highlighted by Williams throwing the ball away while down three with two seconds left. On the night, the Huskers finished with 11 turnovers to just 12 assists.
Outside of a late takeover from Williams, Juwan Gary was practically the entire Nebraska offense. The senior forward put up a career-best 27 points on 11-of-19 shooting, keeping a dormant Husker offense in the game.
Gary lived in the paint, scoring at will against the Trojans. In the first half alone, he accounted for nearly half of Nebraska’s points with 16 as he and junior guard Connor Essegian were the only Huskers to settle in.
With 20-plus points in two of his last three games, Gary is becoming the scoring threat Nebraska desperately needs, especially on nights like Wednesday where Williams couldn’t find an open look in the first half.
A couple of weeks ago, the Huskers were firmly in the NCAA Tournament field. Now, they find themselves on the outside looking in with a make-or-break stretch coming up.
Nebraska’s next three games are all against ranked teams with two on the road. Win the majority of them and you’re back on the Tournament bubble. Lose them all and you’re at serious risk of not even making the Big Ten Tournament.
This Husker team is capable of pulling off major wins, as shown earlier in the season. But to do so, they will have to break out of the rut that has put them in this predicament.
“We just gotta look at ourselves in the mirror and figure out do we really want this bad,” Gary said postgame. “I know I do, I know Brice do, I know a lot of the guys do for sure.”
Anthony Rubek is an Assistant Sports Editor at The Daily Nebraskan. Follow him on X at @AnthonyRubek.
sports@dailynebraskan.com
Assistant Sports Editor
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.
We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:
