It’s getting a little tough to feel like this will be a season of redemption after all for Nebraska. It started out well and with so much promise, but may be coming crashing down as we hit the halfway point of Big Ten play.
After last night’s 62-51 home loss to Wisconsin, the Cornhuskers have lost four straight to fall to 3-7 in Big Ten play. Earlier in the week, they lost second-leading scorer Isaac Copeland for the rest of the season, and the 51 points are a season low for a team that averages about 75 a game.
The loss of Copeland means this team will be evaluated differently by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. Essentially, the games from this point on will count a lot more than the ones earlier in the season since they will not have Copeland in the NCAA Tournament just like they won’t have him now. Not helping is that their better wins earlier in the season – Seton Hall, Clemson, Creighton, Oklahoma State – look less impressive given what those teams have done in their respective conferences. Their Big Ten wins have come against Illinois, Penn State and slumping Indiana, which will not move the needle.
In their prior game, Nebraska was the team against who Ohio State snapped a five-game losing streak. Rutgers had lost three straight before beating the Cornhuskers in Piscataway. The loss to Rutgers is the only loss on the entire resume that resembles a bad one, but they need to get some wins if they are to go dancing.
The good thing in all of this is that the Cornhuskers will have plenty of opportunities left to get the kind of wins they need, and not as many where the idea is to avoid a bad loss. One of the latter comes in the next game, which is at Illinois on Saturday, and they still have to host Northwestern and go to Penn State. Getting to the NCAA Tournament got a little harder, but the opportunity is still there.
Theoretically, Saturday’s game can be just what they need should they take care of business and win at Illinois. It can jump-start them the rest of the way.
Side Dishes
Several early games on the night were a breeze for the winning team, like Tennessee pulling away for a 92-70 win at South Carolina, North Carolina going to Georgia Tech and doing the same thing by a 77-54 margin, Buffalo handling Ball State 83-59 and Maryland taking care of Northwestern 70-52 in College Park.
The later games were only marginally better. Kentucky ran away from Vanderbilt 87-52, Clemson beat Pittsburgh 82-69 in a more comfortable win than even that margin suggests, and after Ohio State got out to an early lead, Michigan took over and gradually pulled away for a 65-49 win in Ann Arbor. In a rivalry matchup to close out the night, Nevada handled host UNLV 87-70. One other late game looked to be headed in that direction, as Alabama was in control early against visiting Mississippi State, but the Bulldogs rallied to make it a ballgame before succumbing 83-79.
The night was hardly bereft of close ones, however. In Raleigh, NC State rallied from a 14-point deficit to force overtime against Virginia. It was far from Virginia’s finest effort, but with Markell Johnson missing one of three free throws with less than a second to go in overtime, they held on for a 66-65 win.
Another good one was in Austin, where Texas was trying to avenge a previous missed opportunity against Kansas. This time, the Longhorns managed to finish it off down the stretch to take home an 83-73 win and even up their Big 12 record at 4-4. Texas remains a tough team to figure out, but they have done enough thus far to make you think they can win enough to be an NCAA Tournament team. Meanwhile, the Jayhawks are now a half game out of the top spot in the Big 12, and one of the better observations about this came from an ESPN colleague:
I’m not sure any team in the Big 12 is consistently good enough to end Kansas’ streak. But I’m also not sure Kansas is consistently good enough this season to continue its streak.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) January 30, 2019
In one of the bigger games of the night, Lipscomb went up to Virginia and blasted Liberty 79-59 in a battle of teams that came into the night undefeated in Atlantic Sun play. Liberty scored the first basket of the game and tied it at five, but after Lipscomb scored the next six points it was never really a ballgame.
At one time in the Missouri Valley, Valparaiso was on top with a 4-0 mark. On Tuesday night, the Crusaders lost their third straight and fourth of five, this one a 55-54 overtime loss to Missouri State, who joins them with a 5-4 conference mark. The last two losses have come at home, and now they go on the road for two straight and then get a visit from Loyola-Chicago, who handled them in their first meeting.
We didn’t get to this yesterday, but on Monday we learned what had likely been speculated in a lot of places as Miami big man Dewan Hernandez was declared ineligible by the NCAA. In light of that and where he would have to sit out 40 percent of next season, Hernandez has now decided to turn pro, which shouldn’t be a surprise. Paul Borden has more on this story and how it adds to what has already been a challenging year for the Hurricanes.
Tonight’s Menu
Wednesday is typically a busy night, and this one is no different.
- None of the ACC matchups stand out too much, though one is an old Big East battle as Boston College hosts Syracuse (8 p.m.)
- There’s a key battle in America East on tap as UMBC hosts Stony Brook (7 p.m.)
- In the Big 12, Iowa State hosts West Virginia (7 p.m.)
- Big East play starts with Butler needing to get going as they host Marquette (6:30 p.m.), while two teams that really need a win battle as Providence visits Seton Hall (7 p.m.) A little later, DePaul hosts Villanova (8 p.m.) and a battle of two more teams needing a win is on tap as St. John’s visits Creighton (8:30 p.m.)
- Looking at the Big Ten slate, Indiana tries to snap their losing streak at Rutgers (7 p.m.), and later on Minnesota hosts an Illinois team that blasted them in Champaign just a couple of weeks ago (9 p.m.) The latter game was a candidate for postponement given the cold temperatures there, but the game is still on as scheduled at press time.
- A couple of Pac-12 games are on tap late as Washington State hosts UCLA (10 p.m.) and Washington hosts USC (11 p.m.)
- In SEC play, Florida has a quality win opportunity as Ole Miss comes to town (6:30 p.m.)
