No. 9 Michigan State suffers mistake prone 58-56 loss at No. 13 Nebraska
Michigan State, in its first ever matchup against a ranked Nebraska squad, is plagued by turnovers and poor shooting as it suffers its second loss of the year and first conference defeat.
No. 9 Michigan State had its first tough road test of the Big Ten season as it took on No. 13 Nebraska in the first-ever meeting of the programs where the Huskers were also ranked. Turnovers and poor shooting proved too great of obstacles to overcome despite an equally poor offensive performance by the home team as MSU fell 58-56 in Lincoln.
The loss drops MSU to 12-2 on the season and 2-1 in Big Ten play. The Spartans are also now 1-2 all-time against the Huskers when entering the game ranked No. 9, having fallen 79-77 in East Lansing in 2014 and winning 82-53 in East Lansing in 2019. MSU still holds a 15-5 advantage as conference opponents and an overall series edge of 24-11 all time while winning 12 of the last 14 in the series. Nebraska remains undefeated at 14-0 with the win and 3-0 in league action.
Jaxon Kohler notched yet another double-double on the year with 19 points and 11 rebounds, going 5-for-6 from 3-point range while also leading the team in steals with two. Jeremy Fears Jr. added 14 points while leading the team in helpers with seven. Fears was a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line, but went just 2-for-8 from the field and 0-for-4 from 3-point range. Kur Teng was third on the team in scoring and the only other Spartan to hit double figures with 12 points, though he went just 4-for-15 from the field, including 4-for-12 from 3-point range.
On Nebraska's side, seventh-year senior (no, not a typo) Rienk Mast led the Huskers with 19 points, going 6-for-13 from 3-point range. Pryce Sandfort added 13 points before fouling out and Jamar Lawrence added 12 points.
First Half
Both teams got off to a slow start offensively, managing just three points each heading into the first media break. Coming back to the floor, the teams were back and forth when play resumed. MSU struggled with ball security, totaling five turnovers by the second media break. UNL's Pryce Sandfort was forced to the bench with two fouls, though. MSU held a 12-10 lead by that second media break. Helping it get there was a dunk by Carr followed by him blocking layup attempt by Sam Hoiberg on the other end.
The Spartans went ice cold in the next stretch, letting the Huskers take a 16-14 lead before a jumper by Kohler with 7:43 tied it up. Just a short moment later and it was the U8 media break with 7:28 remaining in the half. From there, both teams suddenly found their offense as it was a sprint to the buzzer as the combined for a total of 10 treys, three apiece for Mast and Kohler. At the half, it was all tied up, 33-33.
Second Half
Both teams went cold shooting as second half play resumed. Foul trouble started to rear its head as both Sam Hoiberg for Nebraska and Carr for MSU headed to the bench with three fouls. That kept the score close as MSU gained a narrow 36-35 lead thanks to Kohler's bucket heading into the first media break.
The Spartans were the worst for wear down the midway stretch coming out of the break, though, as turnovers again plagued the Spartans, coughing it up seven times, two of which were by Teng stepping out of bounds in the corner, while UNL mounted a 10-0 run across the roughly six-minute stretch. A trey by Braden Frager gave UNL a 47-38 lead. Frager was called for a technical foul following that score as he made a fake gunshot motion at Fears who was defending him. Fears hit both free throws, and then on the next offensive possession for the Spartans he was initially called for an offensive foul against Frager. After review, the officials reversed their call to a defensive foul and Fears again hit both shots. All told, MSU hit six free throws to cut the lead down to 47-44 with 8:46 left.
Spartan fans likely started to hold out hope for a comeback as Teng was able to tie it up for the Spartans with a trey at 50-50.
MSU extended it to a narrow 55-52 lead soon thereafter with 4:41 left, including another score by Teng.
However, MSU couldn't find the offense down the stretch to hold on. Michigan State didn't hit a single field goal for the rest of the game, ended it 0-for-6 from the field despite holding Nebraska to just 1-for-8 from the floor as well. Despite a 45-31 rebounding advantage, including a 6-11 advantage on the offensive glass, the Spartans couldn't overcome 19 turnovers and a paltry 34% shooting from the field to get the tough road win, falling 58-56. A chance to tie it came in the closing seconds as Cooper was fouled with under one second left on the clock, but missed the first and was called for a line violation on the second to end any chance at forcing overtime.
The Spartans return to East Lansing where they will host No. 24 USC on Monday, Jan. 5 at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The game will be carried on FS1.