Nebraska’s spirited upset bid falls short, but play vs. No. 4 Purdue brings sense of belief

Despite the result — a heartbreaking 65-62 overtime loss to No. 4 Purdue — the atmosphere inside Pinnacle Bank Arena on Saturday ranks right near the top of what Derrick Walker has seen in his three years at Nebraska.

A sign of the times around the Nebraska men’s basketball program.

“It was amazing,” Walker said. “To me, it just means the fans are really honing in on us this year. They’re excited for what we can be and they’ve been impressed with what we’ve done.”

Saturday’s game put a bow on a six-day stretch that featured three games against ranked foes. Three games against teams that were ranked inside the top 10 last week and Nebraska, picked last in the Big Ten preseason poll, forced overtime against one of the league’s best Saturday.

“Honestly I felt like we should’ve won that one,” Walker said. “That’s a tough one. Playing the No. 4 team in the country and to go into overtime with them and just have such a close game, I felt like we were prepared and should’ve came out on top.”

Purdue head coach Matt Painter was asked after the biggest difference between last year’s Nebraska team and now. The answer was three words — they play defense, which they didn’t do in a 92-65 loss to the Boilermakers last season.

The Huskers held the nation’s most efficient offense to 65 points in 45 minutes Saturday — a testament to the defensive identity that the Huskers have prided themselves on through the first 11 games.

But if Saturday — or the past six days for that matter — has shown anything, it’s that this Nebraska group is not to be counted out.

“We have a really tough group that’s going to battle through adversity and we’re a team that likes playing with each other,” Walker said. “Every night we step on the court we believe that we’re the better team and we believe that we will win every game we play.

“This is a good group. If you can’t tell yet, we have a really special group and we’re going to play hard every single night.”

Walker gave Nebraska its first lead of the day — 58-57 — 2:30 into overtime and put Nebraska back ahead nearly a minute later, 60-59. Keisei Tominaga brought it back within one — 63-62 — but that was as close as the Huskers would get. Tominaga forced overtime by sinking a three-pointer with nine seconds left in the fourth quarter, sending the Nebraska bench and home crowd into a frenzy.

The final few minutes of regulation and overtime were just a snippet of the energy and atmosphere that existed from start to finish. Husker Power chants, showers of boos after each controversial call — including late in overtime — or the roar after each of Nebraska’s nine three-pointers, the support and belief around this team are clear.

“This team, and I’ve talked a lot about it, but I think our fan base can rally behind them,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said. “I can’t thank our fans enough for the atmosphere that they had in that building today and it’s an easy team to rally behind and get behind because of how hard they play every time they step on the floor.”

The Huskers couldn’t have asked for a much better start. However, Nebraska was called for 10 fouls over the final 10 minutes of the first half and fell victim to a pair of costly turnovers late in the half. Nebraska was called for 23 fouls in the loss overall.

Nebraska had the game tied at 19 with 5:45 left in the first half — only to see Purdue respond with a 10-0 run. The Boilermakers made their shots late and eventually took a 10-point lead into the break.

Belief never wavered on the Nebraska bench.

Fletcher Loyer led Purdue with 10 first-half points and the Boilermakers shot 50% (14-for-28) in the half. Nebraska finished the first half 10-for-32 (31.3%) from the field and 4-for-12 (33.3%) from deep. Emmanuel Bandoumel led NU with eight points, including five consecutive in the opening minutes.

Bandoumel’s early buckets had it tied at the first media timeout, 7-7. From there, the Huskers put together another strong defensive effort and double-teamed 7-foot-4 forward Zach Edey, who was limited to a season-low 11 points on the day.

“(Defense) is something we’ve tried to change for the culture of Nebraska,” Bandoumel said. “It was more of an offensive game for Nebraska and now people are seeing that we are a two-way team and we play defense and we’re making it hard on defense.”

Nebraska kept it within four or less for much of the first half until Purdue pulled away with the above-mentioned 10-0 run. However, the Huskers responded with a 10-0 run of their own early in the second half. After seeing Purdue go ahead by 13 — which included a three-for-five start from behind the arc — Nebraska punched back.

Bandoumel drilled his third three-pointer of the day to make it a seven-point game and Tominaga trimmed the deficit to four — 45-41 — with a deep three that was one of several instances where it was so loud it felt like the roof was going to blow off of the arena.

Four minutes later, Juwan Gary hit a three of his own, making it a three-point game with 8:12 left. Nebraska brought it within two points multiple times and the Huskers trailed by one — 54-53 — with 1:57 left and momentum on their side.

However, the Huskers hit a rut from behind the arc and missed a pair of one-and-ones in the final minutes. Nebraska started a perfect 4-for-4 at the free throw line and finished the day 7-for-10. Those back-to-back misses looked costly, then Huskers missed four shots in the final minute.

“It’s very frustrating to not see the ball go down and win that game,” Walker said. “But I’m proud of our team for even putting ourselves in that position to take the last shot. Getting offensive boards and getting our shooters shots, I think we did everything we needed to do towards the end of the game to put ourselves on top.

“Some things didn’t go our way, but we fought. We fought hard.”

Nebraska finished the second half 10-for-30 (33.3%) from the field and 5-for-15 (33.3%) from deep. The Huskers were 23-for-72 (31.9%) and 9-for-32 (28.1%) respectively overall in the loss. Tominaga led NU with 19 points while Bandoumel and Walker both finished with 14.

“Our effort allowed us to stay in that game and guys just kept swinging, kept fighting, kept battling and doing it together,” Hoiberg said. “That’s what I’m most proud of.”

Nebraska (6-5, 0-2) will be back in action next Saturday in Kansas City against Kansas State. The Huskers will return home on Dec. 20 to face Queens and return to Big Ten play on Dec. 29 against Iowa.