Nebraska women’s basketball simply had no answer for No. 14 Michigan Wednesday.
The Wolverines (12-1, 2-0 Big Ten) rolled into Lincoln and left with a 76-59 victory. The Huskers fall to 10-4 on the year, and suffer their first conference loss after a 2-0 start.
“We just weren’t sharp from the jump,” coach Amy Williams said. “You can’t do that against a ranked opponent.”
Michigan utilized their length and physicality to tamper the usually proficient Husker offense. Nebraska’s biggest issue on offense was handling the hard hedge by the Wolverines. Anytime a screen was set on the ball, both Michigan defenders would push the ball closer to half court.
From the tip to the final buzzer, Nebraska failed to make adjustments against that hard hedge and aggressive defense.
Making it harder to handle the intense ball pressure was the absence of guard Allison Weidner. The sophomore left the Kansas game a week ago in the second-half with an injury. Williams announced before Wednesday’s game that Weidner had suffered a season-ending knee injury.
Michigan began the game on a 9-0 run and essentially held that difference for three quarters. The difference got as close as six points in the third frame, but the Wolverines kept up the pressure and pulled away as much as 19 points before the final horn sounded.
“(Michigan) pressured us and we didn’t handle it well,” Williams said. “We just gotta get off to a better start and be a little bit more ready to play.”
Despite the defensive pressure, Nebraska managed to get plenty of open looks. Those looks, however, rarely went down. The Huskers shot just 33.3 percent for the game, including 6-of-26 from 3. At the free throw line, NU made 13-of-20 attempts.
The Wolverines shot the ball at a 51.9 percent clip, including 8-of-18 from deep.
Both teams committed 14 turnovers, but Michigan scored six more points off those turnovers.
Jaz Shelley led all scorers with 21 points, adding a team-high five assists. Callin Hake was the only other Husker in double-figures with 11 points.
In just two years, Leigha Brown took herself from Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year while at Nebraska to playing the heel at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Brown put together a line 20 points, eight rebounds, seven assists. Over the course of her 35 minutes, she found multiple ways to garner reactions from the home crowd. The most obvious came when Brown got away with a push off that dropped her defender. Brown pulled up and hit the jumper then motioned for the crowd to be louder as boos rang out.
With the 2022 calendar year over, 2023 won’t start any easier. The Huskers head to No. 4 Indiana (12-0) on New Year’s Day.