Nebraska basketball put together its best road performance of the year against the Illinois Ilini Sunday night in champagne, but the team’s last-minute comeback fell short in overtime against the number 14 team in the country.
After a Terrence Shannon Jr. three The Huskers trailed the Illini 72-82 with 3:25 to play. Shannon Jr’s shot capped off an 11-4 run and seemed like the games dagger.
The game seemed all but over until the unexpected happened. The Big Red caught fire and put together an 11-1 run, sending the game into overtime. After an incredibly competitive overtime period, and a series of questionable calls, Illinois escaped their home court with an 87-84 victory.
Nebraska’s player of the game was Keisei Tominaga. Heading into Sunday night’s contest, the senior shooting guard scored 14 points in his last three contests. He scored 31 in Champagne on 9-of-14 shooting. Tominaga also had moments of brilliance when handling the ball, notching a team-high three assists. Tominaga silenced the critics and nearly led Nebraska to their most improbable win of the Fred Hoiberg era.
Tominaga was great for the Big Red, but their rebounding wasn’t. The Illini outrebounded the Big Red 50 to 33. Illinois captured 11 offensive rebounds in the second half, contributing to the team’s 20 points in the paint. Illinois’s ability to crash the glass killed Nebraka’s momentum, allowing them to draw and separate themselves from NU in an incredibly close game.
The free throw disparity between Illinois swung the game. The Ilini took 30 free throws to Nebraska’s 14. The Big Red impressively knocked down all of their attempts, but Illinoi’s ability to get to the line was a massive factor down the stretch. Eight of Illinois’ final 14 points came from the charity stripe.
Multiple close calls down the stretch went against NU on both sides of the ball. Regardless of the officiating, Nebraska could not close out a valiant comeback effort on the road against a team that’s one of the best at defending home court.
Despite the loss, NU proved that it is an NCAA tournament-caliber team and has a smooth road ahead to seal its bid. The Huskers play no ranked teams in their final 8 games of the year. They play their next game on Wednesday, February 7. against Northwestern.