Nebraska men’s basketball falls to Northwestern on the road

There’s time in the cold tub. Flexibility and mobility work. Whatever attention the various aches and pains that accumulate over the course of a season require. It can take around an hour every day.

“As the season goes on, you gotta just take more care of your body, but I didn’t know about that when I first came in,” Williams said. “All the young guys after practice, they can just go straight home. They don’t have to do as much recovery, but the more and more you play as the years go on, you start needing that recovery, so I had to learn.”

At this point in the season, it’s especially necessary. Nebraska has played 24 games. Four have been since Jan. 27. The last time the Huskers had more than four days between games was almost a month ago. It makes for a tired team, one trying to maintain its edge as the white-knuckle push for the postseason rapidly approaches.

It also adds another factor to Nebraska’s season-long search for consistent toughness under the basket. NU coach Fred Hoiberg thought his team looked tired in its road loss to Northwestern on Wednesday, and the Huskers were hammered on the glass, outrebounded 36-29.

Hoiberg had tried to inject some physicality into the starting lineup by inserting Juwan Gary at small forward. It gave the Huskers four players standing at least 6-foot-6 on the floor to begin the game, with three statistically solid rebounders in Gary, Josiah Allick and Rienk Mast.

The Wildcats, who pull down the second-fewest offensive rebounds in the Big Ten and allow the fourth most, had six boards, including two off their own misses by the time Nebraska made its first substitutions. The Huskers had five, none on the offensive end. The three forwards finished the night with nine rebounds among them.

Michigan comes to Lincoln on Saturday as a solid offensive rebounding team, but the Wolverines give up more than its fair share of boards on the other end. There are few other areas in which UM thrives, so in a heavy, physical conference, Nebraska once again has its opportunity right in front of it: shake off the fatigue, control the paint and set up a good chance at winning.

“We have to make first contact. If not, obviously we’re not athletic and long enough to get those balls when we don’t make first contact,” Hoiberg said. “The other thing is we gotta find a way to generate some extra possessions, and we’ve been under five the last two games on the offensive rebounds, and that’s another reason. Josiah, and I talked to him about this, played the other night without a rebound, and that can’t happen when we play a bigger lineup like that.”

Practice is generally shorter and lighter for the Huskers than it was early in the season. Hoiberg ramped up the intensity between their games against Maryland and Wisconsin in late January, but now there’s more emphasis on preservation and sustainability with seven regular-season games remaining.

Taking on greater importance is film study and remaining dialed in mentally. The exhaustion, four months into the season, is inevitable. NU and every other team in the conference has to manage it. And what they can’t manage, they have to grit through as the Big Ten Tournament — and possibly more after that — approaches.

“At this point in the season, you do start to feel the wear and tear on your body,” Williams said, “but you just have to be mentally tough and push through.”

When/Where: Pinnacle Bank Arena, 11 a.m.

TV: Big Ten Network | Radio: 590/1400

Nebraska (16-8, 6-7 Big Ten)

G – Jamarques Lawrence 6-3 So. 6.0

G – Brice Williams 6-7 Jr. 13.0

G – Keisei Tominaga 6-2 Sr. 13.8

F – Josiah Allick 6-8 Sr. 6.4

F – Rienk Mast 6-10 Jr. 13.7

G – Jaelin Llewellyn 6-2 GS. 5.3

G – Nimari Burnett 6-4 GS. 9.3

F – Terrance Williams II 6-7 Sr. 12.3

F – Oliver Nkahmoua 6-9 GS. 15.5

F – Tarris Reed Jr. 6-10 So. 8.7