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Published Dec 13, 2024
How it Happened: Indiana allows Nebraska to dominate late, falls 85-68
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Colin McMahon  •  TheHoosier
Staff Writer
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In Indiana's first true road game of the season it was defeated by Nebraska 85-68, as the Huskers dominated for the final 10 minutes, allowing for this double-digit victory.

After a 13-3 start for the Huskers, it was close for the vast majority of the game, with no team leading by more than 10 again until Nebraska started to pull away late.

This was mostly because of Brice Williams' excellent play, as he scored 30 points on 10-for-15 shooting, truly taking this one by storm from start to finish.

He was a part of an incredible shooting night for Nebraska, as the Huskers shot 30-for-49 for a 61% clip for the game, making Indiana's 23-for-65 mark look weak, and the Hoosiers' 8-of-35 showing from three look simply awful.

For Indiana, Myles Rice was the leading scorer, as he had 20 points that included a stretch where he scored 13 straight points for Indiana.

Besides Rice, the IU offense went completely cold for the final fifteen minutes of this one, resulting in a 17-1 Nebraska run to end the game and another disappointing road performance for Mike Woodson's team.

With all that being said, here's how it happened:

INDIANA TRAILS AFTER HIGH SCORING FIRST HALF

After what was a high scoring first half, Indiana found itself behind 44-41 at the halftime break, although this was quite the improvement after how the trajectory of this one was looking just a few minutes in.

After just three minutes of play, Nebraska gained a 13-3 lead and Mike Woodson was forced to call a timeout with his Hoosiers looking similar to the way they did against Louisville and Gonzaga.

After this, though, Indiana responded well, erasing the Huskers' double-digit lead and even gaining a four point lead with just over 11 minutes left in the half.

Although IU responded well after Nebraska started out incredibly hot, the Huskers didn't let this Indiana run continue, as it regained the lead once more just a minute after the Hoosiers got ahead.

This would start a back-and-forth that would continue for the rest of the half, as no team would lead by more than five for the final ten minutes of the first period.

The half ended with a 44-41 Nebraska advantage, with the Huskers using a 10-4 run to take the lead into the break.

Nebraska shot an incredibly impressive 15-for-23 in the half, with an even more exceptional 5-of-7 from three.

The Huskers got a great start to this one by Brice Williams, who had 14 points at the break, while Connor Essegian had nine and Juwan Gary had seven to impact the contest early on.

Indiana wasn't as impressive with a 13-of-29 mark from the field and 5-of-5 from 3-point range, although the Hoosiers held more respectable clips in both categories before they went cold late in the half.


MYLES RICE IMPRESSES IN 2ND HALF

Myles Rice may have only scored six points in the first half, but he really found his groove after halftime, scoring 14 points after the break to give him 20 for the game.

After Nebraska got out to a nine point lead with less than 14 minutes to play, Myles Rice went to work, immediately scoring four quick points to cut the Husker lead to five and kept Nebraska from pulling away early in the second half.

This wasn't all though, as Rice would score nine more points in the next four minutes to keep Indiana in it, while also making it 13 straight Indiana points for Rice.

This tied up the game at 62 with just ten minutes left in the game, setting up Indiana to possibly win this game in Lincoln.

While Rice did set up Indiana for a possible close finish this did not come to fruition, as the final ten minutes would not treat Indiana well.

NEBRASKA PULLS AWAY LATE FOR THE WIN

While this one was tied 62-62, and then 64-64, Nebraska pulled away late, allowing for the 85-68 Husker victory.

Right after IU tied it up once more at 64, Brice Williams scored two to put his Huskers ahead, a lead they wouldn't look back from for the rest of the game.

In the last 10 minutes plus, Nebraska went on a 21-4 run where it simply dominated, mostly thanks to Williams himself.

He scored seven points in the last five minutes of the game, making it 16 for the half and an astounding 30 for the game, truly willing his team to the home conference win over Indiana.

The Hoosiers are certainly to blame as well though, as they went completely cold late in the game, not scoring for the final 3:08 of the game, missing 17 of their last 18 field goals.

This allowed Nebraska to really run away with this one, making it look like a blowout win when it was tied with just around 10 minutes left in the contest.

Nevertheless, this dominant run in the final stretch allowed Nebraska to pull away and give Indiana its first loss since Thanksgiving Day, this one moving IU to 1-1 in conference play, 8-3 overall.

FINAL STATS

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