Pinnacle Bank Arena drew a record crowd as this year’s installment of the Pack PBA game was the third-largest crowd in its history.
Despite the roaring fans and just moving back into the No. 25 spot of the USA Today rankings, Nebraska fell to the No.12 Ohio State Buckeyes after a 72-66 loss to a battle-tested squad.
Here are four takeaways from the Husker’s loss on Sunday:
Nebraska’s offensive struggles
The Huskers’ first-quarter performance was far different from their performance in the latter three quarters. Nebraska shot 4-of-9 from downtown and ended the first quarter with a 21-17 lead. Over the next three quarters, the Huskers shot 19% from downtown which can be a huge hill to climb when 35 of Nebraska’s 66 shots were three-pointers. Despite the struggles from three, head coach Amy Williams was not too concerned about the struggles from outside.
“I think [Alexis Markowkist] did a great job of demanding the basketball. They were really helping from the weak side very hard,” Williams said postgame. “That led to some skip passes and open looks for really good three-point shooters. We have very good confident shooters so I’m never going to tell them those are bad shots.”
Nebraska’s woes were particularly noticeable during the third quarter when Ohio State mustered up a 14-2 run and held the Huskers scoreless for just under four minutes. That run was key for the Buckeyes as it swelled their lead to eight points and gave them a cushion for Nebraska’s fourth-quarter run.
Midway through the period, the Huskers went on an 11-5 run that was spurred by senior center Alexis Markowski as she scored five of her 18 points during the run to help cut the deficit down by two at 68-66.
Despite the hard-earned comeback, Nebraska was never able to take control due to some continued shooting woes and missed opportunities. The Huskers finished the fourth quarter shooting 4-of-14 and 1-of-7 from behind the three-point line.
Star freshmen were quiet
Coming into this matchup Nebraska guard Britt Prince and Ohio State guard Jaloni Cambridge were heralded as two of the best freshmen in the Big Ten with both players coming off Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors. Tonight the stars performed under their season averages with Cambridge being held scoreless. Prince had eight points on 13 shots attempted and went 0-of-6 from behind the 3-point line.
Though Prince did not have the most productive game offensively, she still found ways to contribute as she walked away with eight rebounds and three assists.
“I love the way that this team loves each other and a player like Britt Prince can feel that,” Williams said postgame. “It allows [for Prince] to have the maturity at a young age to be able to say okay maybe I’m not scoring it the way that I would like to, but I can still impact this game.”
Williams also felt that Prince played an instrumental role in holding a player who averages just south of 16 points per game to zero points.
“I thought Britt Prince did a great job on Jaloni Cambridge, but it was going to be a team effort,” Williams said postgame. “A lot of people giving some attention to try not to give direct line drives to her. For the most part, I thought we did a good job of that.”
Buckeye veterans rose to the occasion
In a game that comes down to the wire, all it can take is one or two plays to decide the outcome. For Sunday’s matchup, it felt like what truly changed the game was the play from some of Ohio State’s upperclassmen.
“They had some upperclassmen, some seniors, Taylor Thierry in particular who made big plays. She had hit 12 threes on the season and then hit five in this game,” Williams said postgame. “She made big shots in big moments for them.”
Theirry’s five threes helped her finish with 23 points as she also notched seven rebounds and three steals. For the Buckeyes, senior Madison Greene and junior forward Cotie McMahon also provided key production. McMahon serves as the team’s leading scorer at 16.5 points per game and provided much of the boost during Ohio State’s third-quarter run as eight of her fifteen points came during the third period. She added 10 rebounds and three assists, to go along with her three steals.
Greene finished with 11 points and hit four timely free throws to ensure Ohio State walked out with the road win.
The Huskers are not shying away from the adversity
Even though Nebraska wanted to get the victory over a ranked opponent in a packed crowd, it still understands the value of road bumps in the journey.
“We are gonna be disappointed about this and we are going to learn from it. It’s not going to be easy and we understand that,” Williams said postgame. “The best thing about this team is they are not hungry for easy.”
With the Huskers set to have their next two games on the road, finding their groove again will not be easy. Yet, this team understands that the more adversity there is the easier it can be to overcome.
Nebraska is set to continue its season Thursday on the road against Purdue.