Despite a bleak end to 2021, Nebraska men’s basketball started the new year by going toe-to-toe with 12th-ranked Ohio State for 40 minutes, but the Buckeyes forced overtime and things quickly turned ugly for the Huskers, who fell 87-79 Sunday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Junior Derrick Walker did it all for the Big Red, double-doubling with 15 points and 10 rebounds along with swiping a game-best and career-high 4 steals. Leading Big Ten freshman Bryce McGowens led NU with 18 points on an inefficient 6-19 from the field. Fellow freshman CJ Wilcher added 13 off the bench with a Husker-best 3-4 from 3-point range, along with solid defense.
“Bryce we used a lot with the ball in his hands tonight and playmaking situations, and he made some big plays for us,” head coach Fred Hoiberg said. “I thought he attacked better tonight, he got downhill on a couple occasions. CJ obviously was terrific for us all night on both ends.”
It was an exhilarating second half for Nebraska (6-8 overall, 0-3 Big Ten) as they tied the game five separate times before finally taking the lead at 63-62 with 6:39 remaining. Walker nailed a pair of free throws to provide the slimmest of margins.
Walker then put back an offensive rebound on the next possession to extend the lead to 3, and another free throw made it 66-62 with less than 5 minutes left.
Staring a road conference upset loss in the face, Ohio State (9-2, 3-0) responded. Buckeye freshman Malaki Branham, who scored a career-high 35 points, made 3 of 4 free throws to cut it to one point.
Walker answered with a reverse layup after an offensive board from McGowens. Junior Lat Mayen then converted a layup after two offensive rebounds, giving Nebraska their largest lead of the game at 70-65 with just 2:10 to go.
Branham knocked down a short jumper, the teams traded missed 3-pointers, then the Huskers made what appeared in the moment to be the clinching play: senior Kobe Webster dribbled into a wide-open lane from the right wing, drew four defenders, then rifled a right-handed pass over his head to a cutting Mayen, who slammed home a thunderous dunk and readied the raucous crowd for a huge upset victory.
“I haven’t experienced that type of environment yet in college,” Wilcher said. “It was dope for me personally, just to have the fans behind us like they did.”
The celebration was short-lived though, as Penn State transfer Jamari Wheeler answered with a cold-blooded 3-ball, making it 72-70 with 27 seconds left.
Mayen was subsequently fouled, but he missed both free throw attempts. EJ Liddell, who entered the game 4th in the Big Ten in scoring at 20.6 points per game, nabbed an offensive rebound, was fouled on a putback attempt. Despite being held to 10 points on just 2-14 shooting, he calmly sank two clutch free throws to tie it at 72 with less than 9 seconds remaining.
Webster attempted a game-winning driving layup, but it went begging, and Derrick Walker had his last-second follow blocked at the rim by Liddell, sending the game into overtime.
The Buckeyes made quick work of NU over the final five minutes, burying their first three 3-pointers and going 4-5 overall and 4-4 from the line. McGowens nailed a 3 and a pair of free throws, but they were sandwiched by four missed shots and an ill-timed turnover.
“We’re not about moral victories,” Hoiberg noted. “Still extremely disappointing, a very disappointed locker room, but that shows what we’re capable of. We outscored that team by 10 in the paint, shot 9 more free throws than them, so a lot of positives that we can build on.”
Early on, Nebraska found themselves down by 8, but stayed close with a pair of 10-0 runs. “They went on runs, we went on runs. I think there’s some growth in that area,” Wilcher said. “Usually when teams go on runs we kind of die down. I think we stuck together, and that’s something we can build off of. At the end of the day, we’ve got to find a way to get through that and get that win.”
Webster & Wilcher knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to close the first 10-0 run, flipping a 14-6 hole into a 16-14 lead.
Walker, who entered the game shooting 79%, got the crowd going on a slam dunk after Verge found him under the hoop.
Facing their largest first-half deficit of the game at 30-22, the Huskers reeled off their second 10-0 run before halftime. The streak consisted of four shots in the paint and a pair of free throws. McGowens scored all six of his first-half points over that stretch.
As highly-rated a recruit as Bryce McGowens was, Malaki Branham was also a top 50 player coming out of high school last season. Branham shocked the Huskers early with 21 first-half points. His previous career high – for an entire game – was 11. Branham started 8-12 overall and 5-8 from long range. He finished with a game-high 42 minutes and made 13-19 shots from the field, including 6-10 beyond the arc.
Webster ended up with 8 points. Freshman Keisei Tominaga added 7, and Eduardo Andre scored 4 to round out the bench scoring. Senior point guard Alonzo Verge scored 6 points and dished out 4 assists – all in the first half – before sitting a majority of the second half and all of overtime. Lat Mayen scored 8 points and tied his season-high with 7 rebounds.
The Huskers hit the road for their next game, meeting #10 Michigan State in East Lansing on Wednesday night.