Nightmare Second Half Dooms Huskers in Loss at Minnesota

Nebraska men squander strong start with brutal 20 minutes, suffer second straight defeat

Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

There are losses, and there are LOSSES.

This was the latter.

Nebraska men’s basketball led Minnesota by as many as 17 points late in the first half and led 39-24 at the break. The Huskers then blew the lead less than seven minutes into the second period, dropping their first conference game of the season Wednesday night in Minneapolis, 76-65.

Brice Williams scored 17 of his game-high 18 points before halftime. Juwan Gary again sparked NU off the bench by leading the team with a first half plus/minus of +16 and finished with 11 points.

Everything was coming up Huskers in the first half. NU hit 10 of its last 13 shots before the break while forcing the Golden Gophers to miss 12 of their final 14 attempts of the half. The Huskers held the edge in rebounding, 20-11, and dominated points in the paint, 24-4.

Unfortunately for Nebraska, two different teams emerged from the locker rooms.

The Gophers erased the 15-point deficit quickly. They nailed four of their first six 3-pointers after halftime. They won seemingly every loose ball, snatching eight offensive rebounds compared to just eight Nebraska defensive rebounds. Minnesota doubled the Huskers up 52-26 in the horrible half.

Brice Williams managed just one point in the last 20 minutes while turning it over four times and committing five fouls, including a technical. Keisei Tominaga, who entered the game as Nebraska’s leading scorer at 15.5 points per game, scored only four points, all on free throws. Tominaga put up just one shot in the first half and missed all four of his 3-point attempts in the second half. Jamarcus Lawrence added 16 points and a team-best seven rebounds but turned it over seven times against just one assist.

The Huskers will hope to rebound from back-to-back losses when they host Michigan State on Sunday.

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