3-point shooting woes sink Hoosiers vs Huskers

On December 14, 2024By Littum

IU basketball unraveled down the stretch at Pinnacle Bank Arena Friday night in an 85-68 loss to Nebraska.

The game ended with a sellout crowd of Cornhuskers fans raining down “Hoosier daddy” chants as their team closed the game on a 17-1 run over the final six-plus minutes.

Indiana’s last field goal came with 6:51 left in the game — it missed 12 straight field-goal attempts to end the game — and its last point of any kind was a free throw with 3:08 to go against a Nebraska team that came off a 27-point loss to Michigan State.

The Hoosiers (8-3, 1-1 Big Ten) finished the game shooting just 35.4% from the field and 22.9% from 3-point range.

Myles Rice can’t do it alone

Rice showed plenty of fire as he rattled off 13 straight points midway through the second half to keep it a one-possession game.

The Cornhuskers had trouble handling Rice on both ends of the floor — he had two steals and drew a charge in the second half — and they got the basket with ease as he drove through the lane.

It just wasn’t enough.

Rice had 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting in the half, while the rest of the team combined for 13 points on 5-of-27 shooting (18.5%). The Hoosiers had a disastrous 3-point shooting performance, scoring just 10 second-chance points on 15 offensive rebounds.

Although it was a breakout game of sorts for Rice — he scored 20 points for the first time since IU’s win over UNC Greensboro on Nov. 21 — he was held scoreless in the final 10:55.

Mackenzie Mgbako disappears

Mgbako followed up an incredible block just below the basket early in the second half with a left-handed layup in transition.

The athleticism on display was a tantalizing reminder of the sophomore’s pro-level ceiling, but it was the first time he impacted the game in any significant way.

Mgbako picked up two fouls in less than 30 seconds to start the game and played just one minute in the first half. He went right back to the bench with 13:17 left in the game after picking up his third foul.

The game against Nebraska was the third time in four games that Mgbako has played less than 25 minutes. He is averaging just 8.0 points over the past four games after leading IU in scoring (17.2 points per game) in November.

Indiana can’t afford to have its best 3-point shooter on the bench for more than half the game. He tied for the second-most minutes of his career (13).

Michael Niziolek is an Indiana reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read his full coverage by clicking here.