Alonzo Verge Jr. scored a season-high 31 points to go along with eight rebounds and three assists, but nearly all of that came with the Huskers just trying to do damage control.
It was another dismal night from behind the arc for NU, as it shot a season-worst 5-of-35 from behind the arc and had a stretch of 17 straight missed 3-pointers. After its first three makes, Nebraska finished the game 2-of-29 from downtown.
The 14.3 3-point percentage tied for the 16th worst among Division I teams with at least 35 3-point attempts in a game since 2010.
Conversely, Michigan set a season-high and Pinnacle Bank opponent-record for made threes at a 46.9-percent clip. That also marked the most made 3-pointers under head coach Juwan Howard.
“I’ve never been a part of one like this where we just quit competing,” Hoiberg said. “It’s so discouraging. We missed shots early, (and) it affected our energy all over the floor… Today, we were completely out of it. It’s embarrassing. It’s humiliating. We’ve got to find a way to fix it. It’s very, very discouraging what I saw out there as a group, collectively… It’s just unacceptable. It can’t happen.”
Nebraska opened the game by hitting three of its first six 3-pointers and had the game tied at 13-13 after six minutes.
Then the avalanche came from the Wolverines. A 31-11 run put Michigan up 45-24 with four minutes left in the half, and it closed with a 51-32 halftime lead.
Things didn’t get any better after the break, as UM led by at least 20 points for the final 13:37 and closed with its largest lead of the night for the game’s final score.
Keisei Tominaga was the only other Husker in double figures with 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting, while Bryce McGowens added eight points.
Five Wolverines reached double figures in the win, led by 22 from Terrance Williams, 20 from Brandon Johns Jr., and 15 and 12 rebounds from Hunter Dickinson.
The road won’t get any easier for Nebraska, as it now must get ready to take on No. 18 Auburn on Saturday at the Holiday Hoopsgiving event at State Farm Center in Atlanta.
“We didn’t come out as a team like we should have,” junior forward Derrick Walker said. “There wasn’t any energy between us, and we’ve got to be better than that. That was embarrassing for us, and we know that. Now we have to do everything we can to fix that.”
1. This season is already on the brink
As silly as it usually would seem to say a season is on the verge of a complete collapse before Christmas, that’s the point where Nebraska is approaching right now.
Tuesday night wasn’t just a loss. It was an embarrassment at home on the national stage on ESPN2.
The Huskers have had their ups and downs in dealing with adversity this season. But they looked as uninspired as we’ve seen yet against a Michigan team going through a rocky start of its own.
The Wolverines got whatever they wanted all night offensively, with little to even no resistance from NU’s defense.
Nebraska was once again a mess with the ball, too. After missing 10 straight 3-pointers in the first half, the offense reverted to Verge having to try and beat UM by himself on every possession.
The Huskers couldn’t make shots, didn’t move the ball nearly enough, and looked as if they had no plan for how to attack.
Maybe most disappointing of all was how poor NU’s body language was as soon as the game didn’t go its way. There was no fire. The bench sat there watching like spectators while those on the court went through the motions.
A good portion of the listed crowd of 15,426 fans in attendance started heading for the exits after Michigan went up 71-49 with 11:55 still to play.
Nebraska is only 10 games into the season, but it’s officially at a crossroads now.
Friday’s game vs. No. 18 Auburn in Atlanta is shaping up to be another blowout loss. Then Kansas State comes to town next week. A five-game losing streak to start December is a very real possibility if a lot of things don’t get corrected in a hurry.
So is going into the meat of Big Ten play with an 0-6 record against high-major competition.
In other words, this season is on the brink of getting even worse for the Huskers. Much worse.
2. Nebraska had no answer defensively
At 7-1, 260, Dickinson was the obvious matchup problem for Nebraska going into the game.
At first, Nebraska tried to defend him one-on-one with either Walker or Eduardo Andre. That resulted in Dickinson getting whatever he wanted at the rim and making four of his first five shots.
When NU finally decided to double and even triple-team him, Dickinson kicked it out to wide-open shooters. Slow defensive rotations on the perimeter then led to a flurry of Wolverine 3-pointers.
Brandon Johns, whose season-high coming in was seven points, equaled that number just three and a half minutes into the game. He had 16 points in the first half alone and matched his career-high with 20.
The Wolverines also dished out 25 assists on 39 made baskets, led by eight from DeVante Jones. The previous NU opponent high this season was 16 by Creighton and South Dakota.
Of the eight Michigan players who saw at least 15 minutes of action, six had a final plus/minus of 17 or higher. Four were above 21, and Williams ended up at a stunning 34.
“As competitors, as basketball players, as humans, we look at these games and should be licking our chops and should be happy to play,” Walker said. “That wasn’t the case tonight. We didn’t come out with that same energy. We didn’t come out with that fire that we should have.”
3. McGowens’ NBA showcase couldn’t have gone much worse
NBA scouts and front offices have kept a close eye on McGowens all season, but Tuesday night was the largest in-person contingency to see him since Nebraska’s preseason Prod Day.
A whopping 15 scouts from 13 NBA teams were on hand at Pinnacle Bank Arena to see McGowens matched up against Michigan’s projected first-rounder, former five-star freshman Caleb Houstan.
There were two representatives each from the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves, including ‘Wolves GM Sachin Gupta.
A recent composite ranking from HoopsHype.com averaged the projected draft positions from ESPN, NBADraft.net, CBS Sports, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo, Basketball News, and USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s “For The Win.”
McGowens ranked 23rd overall in that ranking, while Houstan was 10th.
Well, NebrNebraska’salded freshman ended up having one of his worst individual performances of the season in his brightest spotlight yet.
McGowens finished with eight points on 2-of-9 shooting and missed all four of his 3-pointers. He attempted just two shots and did not score a point in his 12 minutes in the second half.
On the other side, Houstan dropped 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, going 4-for-7 from behind the arc.
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