NU men's season comes to end with OT loss
OXFORD, MISS. — With half a second left in regulation in its second-round game in the National Invitation Tournament on Monday, Nebraska stayed alive when Mississippi forward Kenny Williams missed a tip-in.
The Huskers (20-13) couldn’t survive Zach Graham in overtime, though. The freshman guard scored 10 points in the extra period, giving Ole Miss (23-10) a six-point lead with 57.4 seconds to play, and the Rebels held on for an 85-75 victory in front of 5,149 fans at Tad Smith Coliseum.
“You’ve got to give them credit. They played well,” Nebraska coach Doc Sadler said. “They played the way they play at home.”
It took Nebraska’s Aleks Maric more than 9 minutes to get his first basket, but the 6-foot-11 senior finished with 18 points. However, he hit just 1 of 4 free throws in overtime.
Graham, on the other hand was unstoppable .
“You can’t let that happen in overtime, especially on the road,” Maric said of Graham’s overtime spurt. “They’re a very good team. It was very physical. You play any BCS conference, it’s going to be a physical matchup.”
The Rebels had a chance to win in regulation after a Husker turnover, but Williams bobbled the ball and never got the handle for a decent attempt.
Sadler pointed to first-half defensive failures.
“You can’t give up 40 points at halftime on the road,” he said. “They make plays down the stretch, you give up 15 points in overtime, you’re not going to win many games.”
Maric put Nebraska ahead 71-70 with a free throw to open the extra period, but Graham scored 10 of Ole Miss’ 15 points.
“You’ve got to give him credit for driving the basketball, but we didn’t defend very well in overtime,” Sadler said.
Ade Dagunduro added 16 points for Nebraska, followed by 14 from Steve Harley and 11 from Jay-R Strowbridge. Ole Miss was led by Chris Warren's 18 points.
“We weren’t playing defense like we normally do,” Harley said.
After a first half that looked like Ole Miss would run away with the game, Nebraska stormed back from a 38-29 deficit to take a 53-52 lead with 11:14 to play, its first since the early in the contest.
The defensive letdown was the theme in a disappointed Nebraska locker room. Ole Miss shot 52.5 percent for the game, 64.3 percent in the first half.
Nebraska hit 43.9 percent of its shots, 52 percent in the opening half.
“We just picked our defense up and we knew we could get back in the basketball game,” Harley said. “We were hitting shots. We just had to come out and defend, which we didn’t do like we normally do.”
Ole Miss is now 16-2 at home and has yet to lose a nonconference game at home under second-year coach Andy Kennedy.
“It’s tough everywhere on the road. They’re an SEC school,” Harley said. “We knew it was going to be a tough environment.”
The Huskers (20-13) couldn’t survive Zach Graham in overtime, though. The freshman guard scored 10 points in the extra period, giving Ole Miss (23-10) a six-point lead with 57.4 seconds to play, and the Rebels held on for an 85-75 victory in front of 5,149 fans at Tad Smith Coliseum.
“You’ve got to give them credit. They played well,” Nebraska coach Doc Sadler said. “They played the way they play at home.”
It took Nebraska’s Aleks Maric more than 9 minutes to get his first basket, but the 6-foot-11 senior finished with 18 points. However, he hit just 1 of 4 free throws in overtime.
Graham, on the other hand was unstoppable .
“You can’t let that happen in overtime, especially on the road,” Maric said of Graham’s overtime spurt. “They’re a very good team. It was very physical. You play any BCS conference, it’s going to be a physical matchup.”
The Rebels had a chance to win in regulation after a Husker turnover, but Williams bobbled the ball and never got the handle for a decent attempt.
Sadler pointed to first-half defensive failures.
“You can’t give up 40 points at halftime on the road,” he said. “They make plays down the stretch, you give up 15 points in overtime, you’re not going to win many games.”
Maric put Nebraska ahead 71-70 with a free throw to open the extra period, but Graham scored 10 of Ole Miss’ 15 points.
“You’ve got to give him credit for driving the basketball, but we didn’t defend very well in overtime,” Sadler said.
Ade Dagunduro added 16 points for Nebraska, followed by 14 from Steve Harley and 11 from Jay-R Strowbridge. Ole Miss was led by Chris Warren's 18 points.
“We weren’t playing defense like we normally do,” Harley said.
After a first half that looked like Ole Miss would run away with the game, Nebraska stormed back from a 38-29 deficit to take a 53-52 lead with 11:14 to play, its first since the early in the contest.
The defensive letdown was the theme in a disappointed Nebraska locker room. Ole Miss shot 52.5 percent for the game, 64.3 percent in the first half.
Nebraska hit 43.9 percent of its shots, 52 percent in the opening half.
“We just picked our defense up and we knew we could get back in the basketball game,” Harley said. “We were hitting shots. We just had to come out and defend, which we didn’t do like we normally do.”
Ole Miss is now 16-2 at home and has yet to lose a nonconference game at home under second-year coach Andy Kennedy.
“It’s tough everywhere on the road. They’re an SEC school,” Harley said. “We knew it was going to be a tough environment.”
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