Nebraska basketball has been the story of college basketball this season, as Fred Hoiberg and the Cornhuskers raced out to a 20-0 mark to get into the top five of the AP poll for the first time in program history. Nebraska has passed many tests to this point, but it faced its biggest challenge yet with a trip to Ann Arbor to take on No. 3 Michigan on Tuesday night.
For a while, Nebraska looked ready for the challenge. The Cornhuskers took a double-digit lead early in the game, but Michigan was slowly able to work its way back into the game in the second half. The two teams were neck-and-neck in the final minutes, but Nebraska was held scoreless for the final three minutes in what ended up being a 75-72 loss.
Despite the defeat, a first blemish on a previously-perfect record for the Cornhuskers, it's hard not to come out of this game feeling better about Nebraska's chances of competing for a Big Ten Championship and potentially making a run in the NCAA Tournament. Michigan has blown out more top teams than just about anybody in the country, but the Wolverines couldn't get much separation from Nebraska.
Nebraska was led by Pryce Sandfort and Jamarques Lawrence, both of whom dropped 20 points in the loss. Lawrence's layup with more than three minutes to go was the final bucket of the day for Big Red, as Michigan closed the game on a 6-0 run to win.
It was a balanced scoring attack as usual for Michigan, which was led by Morez Johnson Jr. with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Nebraska was able to keep star forward Yaxel Lendeborg quiet, as the UAB transfer scored just 10 points on 3-for-10 shooting.
Nebraska has no reason to be discouraged coming off of this loss, but more tough tests are on the horizon. No. 9 Illinois will come to Lincoln on Saturday, and Nebraska still has games against Purdue and Iowa coming up in February. However, Hoiberg's squad has shown that nothing is too big for it and it can beat any team on any day.
