Tom Izzo's Spartans Fall Short in Lincoln to Improving Cornhusker Program

LINCOLN, NEB. – Michigan State almost pulled off an unbelievable comeback Saturday against Nebraska but it came up short as the Cornhuskers held on for a

LINCOLN, NEB. – Michigan State almost pulled off an unbelievable comeback Saturday against Nebraska but it came up short as the Cornhuskers held on for a 79-77 victory at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Travis Trice scored a career-high 27 points while Denzel Valentine had 21 points and 11 rebounds. Branden Dawson was a monster on the boards and grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds.

But most of Michigan State’s best play came in the second half. In the first half it was all Nebraska as the Huskers took a big lead as Michigan State handed the ball away 11 times and the Huskers led by 14 at halftime.

“We can’t start off the game like that and expect to win on the road,” Valentine said. “It’s hard to be losing by 14 at half and come back in a hostile environment like Nebraska.”

The near comeback was impressive, but it didn’t make the Spartans, who fell to 13-7 overall and 4-3 in the Big Ten, feel any better.

“Yeah (it was frustrating),” Trice said. “Especially with the effort and energy we gave at the end, we should have gave the whole game. But it’s hard to come back. You’ve got to give them credit, when you’re down 14 at halftime and they are rolling and this place was loud. Gotta give them a lot credit. They hit some tough shots and got some of their guys going early. But I say if we play way did last seven or eight minutes of the game we wouldn’t have that problem.”

The biggest problem on the other side of the ball was the paly of Terran Petteway and Shavon Shields. Petteway scored 32 points and Shields added 21. Tai Webster also scored 13.

“The atmosphere in Pinnacle Bank Arena was is always good, but in January and February when we get Big Ten opponents, it’s phenomenal,” Nebraska coach Tim Miles said. “Our fans are so great. … I’m very happy. We’ve done a nice job at home since the Indiana game. We’ve played really tough. I think our offense is getting better. We made our free throws when it mattered.”

It was a bad start for Michigan State as Trice was just 1-for-7 in the first half and Valentine was 2-for-5 with three turnovers.

But the Spartans were a different team in the second half, cutting the Nebraska lead to 47-41 with 11:54 to play after a 3-pointer by Trice. Nebraska pulled away again, but Michigan State battled back. Valentine hit a pair of free throws to cut the Nebraska lead to 66-58 and then stole the ball. He fired a 3-pointer that missed but Trice was there to put it back in and make it 66-60.

Nebraska got the lead back to 70-62 but Trice had a steal and followed with a layup to make it 70-64 with 1:15 to play. After two Petteway free throws Trice hit a deep 3-pointer and was fouled. He made the free throw to cut it to 72-68 with 1:03 left.

Later, Michigan State took advantage of some missed free throws and Trice converted a layup to make it 79-77 with 2.2 seconds left. But the Spartans couldn’t get a final shot after Nebraska threw the ball in deep.

“They deserved to win it,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “They deserved to win it by more than they did. If I take a positive out of this game for me, there was none. But if I really stretch my imagination, I’d say we didn’t quit. We came back and found a way to make it a game. Not a good game, but a game.”

With another game at Rutgers on Tuesday, the Spartans will need to bounce back.

“I think we did some things,” Izzo said. “We bounced back, started the second half, then we let it go. We just didn’t stay with the grind enough. We’re going to have to get better at that. Long season.”