3 takeaways from Nebraska’s ugly loss against UCLA

Nebraska basketball never looked ready on Tuesday night.

Playing at 10 PM local time, 8 PM in Los Angeles, the Huskers looked like they could have been sleepwalking in a game where they never seemed to have a chance, as the Bruins rolled to a 72-52 win in a game that didn’t even feel that close.

We broke down the keys to victory beforehand, but the Bruins won every key. They dominated on the offensive glass, rebounding 34 percent of their missed shots. Nebraska basketball turned it over on 18 percent of its possessions, and to make matters worse, Nebraska shot 38 percent from the field, 20.8 percent from 3-point range, and 50 percent from the free-throw line.

It was ugly all around. Sam Hoiberg led all Nebraska scorers with 12. Rienk Mast had nine, and Pryce Sandfort was held to single digits for the first time in a long time.

Looking back at the fifth loss of the season (Nebraska is 25-5, 14-5) here are three takeaways.

Nebraska basketball no-showed

It’s disappointing because this was an important game. Nebraska controlled its own destiny for the two seed in the Big Ten tournament. A win would have clinched a top-four seed, and another quad-1 win would have helped the NCAA tournament resume.

The late start time probably didn’t help, but it was the second game in LA for the Huskers, so it’s hard to use that as an excuse. The defense wasn’t sharp. UCLA scored the first five points, and the slow starts for the past month finally caught up to Nebraska.

UCLA led wire-to-wire. Never trailed. Nebraska, for the first time all season, didn’t have the lead once. It also didn’t have a realistic chance to win late, which was also a first for this team.

UCLA’s aggressiveness paid off

Some Nebraska fans have complained about pushes on rebounds, but that’s Big Ten basketball. You have to be tougher, especially against a UCLA team that isn’t known for being that tough.

The Bruins were second-to-last in offensive rebounds allowed during the Big Ten, and weren’t very good on the defensive glass either.

Yet, they cleaned up against Nebraska. The Bruins had 35 rebounds total compared to 29 for Nebraska. The offensive rebounding edge was 11-8. It felt like more.

The officials were letting players play, and Nebraska just never responded. The Huskers didn’t value the ball either. They had 13 turnovers compared to 12 assists, while the Bruins had just seven turnovers compared to 17 assists.

Whether it was on offense, defense, rebounding, or attacking the hoop, UCLA was the more aggressive team, and it showed.

No reason to panic

There is cause for concern. Nebraska basketball has beaten only one team with a winning record since January 10th. The Huskers have also repeatedly stumbled out of the gate.

That can be overcome when you’re playing Northwestern, Penn State, Maryland, and even USC, a bubble team if there ever was one, but against teams like UCLA, the kind of team Nebraska could meet in the second round of the NCAA tournament, you have to play 40 minutes.

Nebraska hasn’t done that in a while. The Purdue game was a great example. At least Nebraska got off the mat in that one. UCLA never allowed it. The Bruins shot 35 percent from 3-point range, and defended as well as they have all season.

The bad part is that this loss could be an excuse to drop Nebraska to a four seed. Sunday’s game against Iowa is important, and a win in the Big Ten tournament could be, too, at least if the Huskers want the best seed possible in the NCAA tournament.

This loss doesn’t mean Nebraska will lose in the Big Dance again, but it’s also a reminder that a first-round win, or anything that might come after, is far from guaranteed.

Nebraska has played with urgency and intensity all season. Yet, that’s not something we saw Tuesday night in LA.

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