Nebraska stunned the short-haired state of Ohio at home, 78-70

Bucky, 23, who lost Zed Ki for the entire game and Kyle Young in the second half, lost 78-70 to the Haskers at Schottenstein Center. The state of Ohio had not suffered consecutive defeats throughout the season before Tuesday, but now lost another game to two of the four lowest teams in the conference.

New Nebraska guard Bryce McGowans took the lead with 26 points in an 8 to 15 shot, while the Haskers took the lead at halftime and increased their double-digit lead over Bucky early in the second half.

Ohio reduced Nebraska’s lead to just four points with 55.9 seconds to go, but the Huskers hit a free throw at the other end and EJ Liddell missed a subsequent 3-point attempt that could have made things even closer.

The state of Ohio came in as the favorite for 15 points, but most Buckeyes except Liddell and Malaki Branham struggled to score, as things went from scarlet and gray in the middle of the last period. Liddell led Bucky with 27 and Branham added 16, but the Ohio State shot with only 38.6 percent of the floor for the game.

The first half

Nebraska shot 55.6 percent of the field and 50 percent of the 3-point range, increasing the lead to 43-39 over Buckeyes in the 20th minute.

Ohio looked like they were going to take control around the middle of the road as three straight threes from Malaki Branham, Jimmy Sotos and Justin Ahrons led the Buckeyes 26-19 by 9:28 to play in the first half. But Ohio hit just two more flights from then until the halftime buzzer.

The Huskers’ 8-0 series from 6:30 to 4:34 took Nebraska from five points to three points and increased by seven points in the last minute of the first half.

Branham hit the final blow of the half, 3rd point to reduce the difference of the Haskers, but it was eight minutes after the last goal of the flight for Bucky. Ohio State missed eight of its last nine shots to end the half, and shot 15 percent worse than the Haskers from the floor.

Liddell led Ohio with 13 points in the first half, and Branham added 10 of their own, but the rest of the Bucks shot only 5 against 16 from the field.

The second half

Ohio opened the half with two free throws by Liddle, but Nebraska responded 6-0 to take an eight-point lead and forced an Ohio state timeout just 2:30 after the period.

McGowans, who scored 12 points in the first half, remained hot in the second and gave Nebraska a 53-43 lead with a 15:36 lead. McGowans scored 12 of the first 21 points at halftime for Nebraska, and one and one of the winger for the first year kept the Haskers up nine points with 9:06 left.

Three consecutive free throws from Liddle made the game for six points at 7:15, but Alonzo Verge from Nebraska suppressed this impulse with a discount of three in the next sequence to bring the Haskers back to nine. Liddell was booed as a goalkeeper by Verge with 4:09 per game, and the basket kept Nebraska up nine points.

Virge scored nine consecutive points for the Huskers during a crucial late period, and a pair of free throws at 3:33 brought Nebraska 11 points ahead of Bucky.

Ohio reduced the game to four points by 55.9 seconds before the game, but that was not enough to overcome Husker’s lead. McGowans made a pair of free throws with 36 seconds left to bring Nebraska to seven, which almost froze the game.

Virge finished with 13 points and 11 assists for the Haskers. which surpassed Ohio by 30-24 in combat.

What next

Ohio remains in Columbus to face Tom Izzo and Michigan State Spartans at 7pm on Thursday.

Notes on the game

• Zed Ki missed his first game of the season for Ohio due to an ankle injury he suffered in the second half of Sunday’s loss to Maryland and wore the boot on the sideline.

• Mickey Johnson received medical permission to play without a mask for the first time since January 9. Johnson missed three games in January due to a fractured face and concussion that caused him to wear the mask.

• Kyle Young made only his second start of the season in place of Kee in the center position for the Buckeyes. The start was the 67th in Young’s career.

• Nebraska pushed Bucky into overtime at Lincoln in the January 2 match between the two programs, but Ohio came out with an eight-point victory in the extra period.

• The match was originally scheduled for Tuesday, January 22, but was postponed due to an outbreak of COVID-19 in the Husker program.