Michigan State Falls To Nebraska, 58-56

Before the game started, it was announced that Divine Ugochukwu was out with an illness. Kur Teng got the start at shooting guard. Even without missing a starter, we knew this was going to be a tough game. I don’t think anyone imagined it being as ugly as it was.

There was a slow start to the game as the first points did not come until more than 2 minutes had gone by. After each team hit one from deep, another drought of nearly two minutes went by until both teams began to settle in. It was obvious from the get-go that both teams were looking for the three-ball. Nebraska was first to double digits when Rienk Mast hit the first of his triples, but MSU went on a 6-0 run for a 14-10 lead. Nebraska came back and eventually opened up the biggest lead of the first half at 28-22, mostly due to Mast’s hot hand from deep. But MSU immediately responded with a trio of triples – two from Kohler and one from Teng – to draw even at 31. Each team made a couple of free throws in the final 2 minutes to get us to the break knotted at 33.

Some first half stats. Jaxon Kohler had 14 points on 5-5 shooting including 4-4 on his 3s. He also had 3 rebounds and 2 steals. Kur Teng and Jeremy Fears scored 6 apiece. Fears also contributed 4 assists, but his shot was not falling as 4 of his points came at the line. Trey Fort’s 3 points were the only bench points in the first half. MSU hit 7 3s in the first half, while Nebraska sunk 8. The Spartans turned the ball over 9 times. Nebraska’s Rienk Mast had 15 points, going 5-9 from deep. He may be the third Wagner brother, or at least a cousin. Jamarques Lawrence added 10 for the Cornhuskers.

The second half also started slowly. Carson Cooper drew a shooting foul just short of two minutes and split the pair for the first point of the 2nd half for either team. Both sides would have a single made field goal in the first four minutes after halftime, with Kohler scoring on a putback for a 36-35 lead.

Leading up to the under-12 timeout, MSU had four consecutive possessions with a turnover, two of which were Kur Teng’s heal clipping the sideline. Amazingly, Nebraska only managed a three-point lead through all of that, and MSU was down 38-41.

Nebraska hit a triple early in the next segment to match their largest lead at six. MSU’s scoring drought approached six minutes. After another made triple for Nebraska, the Huskers were called for a taunting technical. Jeremy Fears hit the two technical FTs to make the score 40-47. On the ensuing possession, Fears elbowed a Nebraska player in the head, drawing a review of the play. Sparty got a break, though, as the review showed the defender was in Fears’ cylinder, which sent Fears back to the line. Two more freebies brought MSU back within 5. 8 of Fears’ 10 points to this point were from the stripe. After forcing a stop, Fears once again drew a foul and another trip to the Charityville, and suddenly the game was 44-47. Nebraska responded with a triple, but Kohler wasted no time with a deep one of his own. Kur Teng tied it with a corner three on the next trip down, but could not get over the top as Nebraska blocked shots on consecutive MSU possessions. Nebraska briefly took the lead back, but then Teng splashed another triple to put MSU up 53-52. The game finally had its under-8 whistle at 5:09.

Fears finally hit his second FG with a runner in the lane to put MSU up three. A foul on MSU on defense and we reached the under-4 timeout, possibly the shortest interval in real time between adjacent commercial breaks in the history of televised basketball.

Nebraska’s FTs after the timeout brought them within one. MSU came up empty, and a foul on Cooper sent Mast to the line. He made the first, missed the second, and Nebraska got the offensive board but missed a quick triple. With the game tied at 55, the Huskers forced another turnover at the 2:03 mark. Mast sunk a triple to put his team up three. On offense, a Fears lob for the Alley-Coop did not go down, then Kohler got two opportunities on the offensive glass but he could not convert either, and finally Cooper drew a foul. His trip to the line resulted in one point, bringing MSU to within two. Mast missed a triple on their possession, which could have been a dagger. MSU took over with 51 seconds, and Izzo called a timeout to set something up, but Fears ended up dribbling the ball off his foot for MSU’s 19th turnover. MSU played defense and forced the miss at the end of the shot clock. MSU took over with a dozen seconds remaining. MSU struggled to get anything going and the ball made its way into Carson Cooper’s hands outside the three-point line. Cooper quickly drove to the lane and put up a shot, drawing a foul that drew the boo-birds from the Nebraska crowd. With 0.7 seconds and down two, Cooper headed to the line. After missing the front-end, Cooper had to intentionally miss the second, but he was whistled for going over the FT line to soon. Nebraska threw the ball downcourt to get it inbounds and have the clock run out. MSU lost its second game of the season and first conference game, 58-56.

19 turnovers. That is why we lost this one. MSU shot the ball better at all three levels – 2s, 3s, and FTs. The Spartans outrebounded Nebraska 45-31 and committed less fouls. All those turnovers, though, led to Nebraska getting 7 more field goal attempts. Sloppy game where we caused ourselves to lose.