MADISON, Wis. — The Nebraska men’s basketball team on Sunday saw another prime opportunity to claim a Big Ten road upset slip away.
The Huskers, who never led in a 50-45 loss to Wisconsin, likely kicked themselves on the trip home for not taking advantage of the game’s circumstances.
“Obviously, we didn’t make the plays down the stretch,” NU coach Doc Sadler said on the Husker Radio Network.
Wisconsin, at one time ranked as high as No. 11, was struggling even more Sunday than it had in a recent two-game home losing skid. The Badgers, leading the country in fewest turnovers at 8.8 a game, gave up the ball 11 times in the first half alone.
“I don’t think we’ve played a better defensive game since I’ve been at Nebraska,” said Sadler, in his sixth year.
But Nebraska could only turn those miscues into six points. Also, NU missed five layups in the first 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Wisconsin shot only 31.3 percent for the game, and 11.1 percent (2 of 18) on 3-pointers.
The atmosphere wasn’t hostile, either.
The Kohl Center, where Wisconsin has won 90 percent of its league games the past 10 years, drew a smaller- and quieter-than-normal crowd because the game time conflicted with the Green Bay Packers’ NFL playoff game.
But Nebraska (9-8, 1-5) still couldn’t pull out a win, even after unranked Wisconsin (14-5, 3-3) made one field goal in the final nine minutes. All-Big Ten point guard Jordan Taylor hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 26 seconds to seal the win. Taylor led all scorers with 19 points.
On Taylor’s only late-game miss — keeping NU within a possession at 48-45 with 17 seconds left — Nebraska’s Dylan Talley grabbed the rebound. But Taylor ripped it from his hands and dribbled away to draw another foul.
Free throws were an issue all night. Nebraska shot only two, making both. Wisconsin was 18 of 24.
“It’s amazing the game was as close as it was,” Sadler said, citing the free-throw statistics. “We’ve got to get tougher or something.
“With both teams shooting the same amount of 3-point shots and both teams being aggressive and taking it to the lane and our inside guys shooting more shots on the low post, (Wisconsin) just did a lot better job of not fouling, I guess.”
The other statistic of note was Wisconsin’s 42-28 advantage in rebounds, which included 17 offensive boards.
In the first half, Wisconsin jumped to a 6-0 lead. Nebraska tied it 6-6 on wing Caleb Walker’s jumper, but that was the only time the game was tied other than 0-0.
Nebraska, down 24-21 at halftime, fell behind 36-25 with 11:36 to play. But 3-pointers from guard Bo Spencer, who led NU with 13 points, helped cut the deficit to three points with 9:45 and 4:10 to play.
Talley’s 3-pointer brought Nebraska within 45-43 with 28 seconds left and a Spencer layup made it 47-45 with 17.5 seconds to go. But Nebraska never got the lead.
Nebraska’s next game is at home Wednesday at 6 p.m. against No. 8 Indiana.
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