LINCOLN, NE — What a start to the new year.
Even if it ended in the first Big Ten loss of the season for Michigan State basketball.
The ninth-ranked Spartans, down a starter, went toe-to-toe with unbeaten No. 13 Nebraska on Friday, Jan. 2, in front of a frenetic, sellout crowd at electric Pinnacle Bank Arena.
They were treated to a belated Christmas gift: a game that more than lived up to its hype and had as many twists and turns as a midsummer tornado on the prairie. The last came as Carson Cooper lofted a desperation shot on a drive with time about to expire, then got fouled with 0.7 seconds left. But the MSU senior missed both free throws amid the din of the Sea of Red, and the Huskers held on for a 58-56 victory.
Half of the Nebraska fans recorded video from their seats as the lower-bowl crowd – even with students gone for the holidays – stormed the court after the inbound pass went long and time expired.
“The way the crowd was, you think you’re down by 20 and you’re only down by six,” said Cooper, who finished with 13 rebounds but made just two of six at the line and two of six from the floor, for six points. “Stuff like that kind of changes how you view the game when you’re in the game, because stuff like that feels so different.
“I think in the second half, we went back and forth a good amount. Then when we got up, we just weren’t able to get crucial stops.”
MSU (12-2, 2-1 Big Ten) snapped a nine-game conference win regular-season streak that dated back to last February, while Nebraska (14-0, 3-0) extended its best start in school history.
Jeremy Fears Jr. finished with 14 points and seven assists, but he committed two of his three turnovers in the final 2:03 after taking over the midpart of the second half. MSU finished with a season-worst 19 turnovers.
“When it’s effort-related, toughness-related, (not) coming up with a big rebound − those things bother me,” MSU coach Tom Izzo said. “That shouldn’t happen in this program. So they did, so I gotta do a better job. And I promise you, I will.
“But when I leave here, we played one of the better teams in the Big Ten. Did we learn something? I think we did.”
Jaxon Kohler had 19 points and 11 rebounds for his fifth straight double-double, going 5-for-6 from 3-point range. Kur Teng added 12 points on four 3-pointers, but the sophomore was just 4-for-15 overall and missed eight from beyond the arc as Divine Ugochukwu sat with an illness.
“Right now, we can’t think about what if, what if, what if, because it’s done, there’s no point in looking back on it,” Kohler said. “We just have to learn what we did wrong and get to the gym (Saturday) and work on it and be better.”
Rienk Mast scored 19 points with six 3-pointers for the ‘Huskers, adding seven rebounds. Iowa transfer Pryce Sandfort had 13 points before fouling out, while Jamarques Lawrence added 12 points.
Bombs away
Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg used backdoor cuts and slip screens on offense and post doubles on defense to perfection early, with the two teams turning the game into a long-distance shooting display in the second part of an evenly played first half.
And from two of the biggest players on the floor.
Nebraska took advantage of drawing MSU post players away from the paint and creating separation to get the 6-foot-10, 250-pound Mast look after look from the perimeter. He took advantage of Cooper backing off for a 3-pointer out of a media timeout with 7:05 to go in the half, then buried back-to-back 3s that forced Izzo to call timeout with 4:10 to go and the Spartans suddenly trailing, 28-22.
Kohler responded and quickly pulled the Spartans back into a tie with a deep-shooting barrage of his own. One came on a trail play in transition, then MSU’s ball movement set up Teng for his second 3-pointer of the half.
Eight of the Spartans’ 10 first-half turnovers came in the first 10:53. But Kohler went 4-for-4 from deep and had 14 points while Mast was 5-of-9 for 15 points all on 3-pointers at the break, and MSU made eight 3s to the Huskers’ seven.
Fears hit two free throws in the final 2 minutes as part of his six-point, four-assist half to send the Spartans into halftime tied 33-33.
MSU finished 10-for-28 from 3-point range, going 3-for-11 after halftime. The Huskers went 5-for-20 from deep in the second, and 13-for-37 for the game.
“I thought we did a hell of a job in that first half, where we really needed to go out and set the tone,” Hoiberg said.
Feisty finish
As everything reverted early in the second half back to the start of the game, with the MSU and Nebraska defenses beginning to reassert themselves, the Huskers started again hitting from deep against the Spartans’ struggling 3-point defense.
Sandfort used a pump-fake to get Fears to fly by and drilled one from the left corner as the Huskers ripped off a 13-2 run, with Braden Frager hitting another over Fears with 9:30 to play that put the Spartans in a 47-38 deficit.
But as the ball swished, Frager used his fingers to mimic shooting a gun at Fears. MSU’s third-year sophomore was shot in the upper thigh on Dec. 24, 2023, and missed the rest of his freshman season. Frager was issued a technical foul, getting pulled aside quickly by his teammate Mast.
After Fears made both free throws, the Spartans retained possession. Frager found himself defending Fears at the top of the key, applying tight defense along the arc, and Fears’ elbow hit the Nebraska redshirt freshman in the face. Home fans quickly went from ecstatic to furious when referees reviewed and issued the foul on Frager for being inside Fears’ “cylinder” rather than giving the MSU point guard a technical foul.
With adrenaline flowing, Fears started to take over at that point. He hit four more free throws after getting fouled again on a drive, then set up Kohler and Teng for back-to-back 3-pointers with crisp passes – the second off a drive and kick to Teng. About a minute later, Fears again attacked off the dribble, scoring through contact. The Spartans led 55-52 with 4:40 left before the ‘Huskers got back in it at the free throw line, tying the game with 2:35 to play, the sellout crowd vibrating with every moment down the stretch.
But Nebraska again turned to Mast, who hit his sixth 3-pointer
Fears turned the ball over twice in the waning minutes, one with 2:03 to play and another coming out of a timeout with 44.9 ticks to play. But the Spartans got a rebound and one more chance.
“Those two definitely hurt,” Fears said. “Those are two free possessions and two possesions we needed down the stretch. So I definitely gotta do a better job – especially at the moment when I’m with the ball. That’s two possessions I took away from the team.”
Time began to evaporate and Teng nearly slipped, tossing it to Cooper. He faked a 3-pointer and drove as the clock ticked, throwing the ball off the backboard through contact. After missing the first free throw, Cooper intentionally missed the second. But he was ruled to have committed a lane violation for trying to follow his shot and illegally crossing over the line. That gave Nebraska the ball and, eventually, an inbounds to seal the victory.
“When you’re down at the under-4 (minute) media timeout and you don’t see any panic and you see the guys in there saying, ‘This is what it’s all about, to be in this position, in this situation. Now go win it,'” Hoiberg said. “And our guys found a way.”
All five of Izzo’s starters played 27-plus minutes, including 35 for Fears, 32 for Kohler and 31 for Cooper. Carr had just two points and six rebounds in 30 minutes.
“I think some of our guys ran out of gas,” Izzo said. “Jaxon was tired, and I thought Jeremy was a little tired.”
What’s next for MSU
The Spartans return home to host USC on Monday (8:30 p.m., FS1), beginning a three-game homestand at Breslin Center. The Trojans entered Friday night’s game against No. 1 Michigan in Ann Arbor at 12-1, with the loss coming at home against Washington on Dec. 6. USC then lost by 30 to Michigan a few days after dropping out of this week’s USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll rankings from No. 25 the previous week. The Trojans defeated MSU last year in Los Angeles, 70-64, in the first meeting Big Ten between the schools.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Turnovers tank Michigan State basketball in epic battle with Nebraska
Reporting by Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
