• Box Score: Michigan 62, Nebraska 46
• Photo Showcase: NU men's basketball, Feb. 8
• Video Below: NU coach Doc Sadler at the postgame press conference, Feb. 8
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LINCOLN — A smattering of boos after scoring 15 points in the first half.
Catcalls from the bleacher seats of, “Just shoot the ball!”
Fans from the crowd of 7,019 — the seventh-smallest for a home conference game — walking to the Devaney Center exits with 10 minutes to play.
Altogether Wednesday, it was just another long night for Nebraska men's basketball around a 62-46 loss to No. 22 Michigan that could have been much worse.
Yet Husker coach Doc Sadler, in his eight-minute postgame press conference, used the word “proud” eight times.
“I think our guys played their tails off to the very end,” he said. “I'm proud of them. I'm proud of them for their effort.”
Sadler isn't proud of the offense. The 15-point first half was Nebraska's worst since a 15-point half in 1984 against Kansas State.
The Huskers (11-12, 3-9) missed 12 of 13 shots to start the game, and clanked 11 3-pointers before making one with 12:25 left in the second half.
Bo Spencer was the Huskers' only double-figure scorer with 13 points. With eight minutes to go in the game, NU had 24 points against a Michigan defense ranked seventh in the Big Ten.
Was it just a bad day?
“No, I think our offense was that bad,” Sadler said. “But I do think we missed some easy shots, too.”
The Huskers are struggling to score, Sadler said, because “we don't have a low-post presence” and are trying to change the offense to account for the absence of injured 6-foot-11 Jorge Brian Diaz the past two games.
Diaz is out indefinitely with chronic foot problems. He averaged 8.6 points a game.
Yet, 6-10 Brandon Ubel played 31 minutes Wednesday. Is he not a low-post presence?
Sadler said Ubel is, but noted that with opponents switching on defense and clogging the lane, Nebraska is struggling to get the ball inside.
Ubel said Nebraska shouldn't struggle to execute offensively because whatever is being installed without Diaz is familiar to all.
“It's no different,” he said. “We've been practicing all these different offenses since Day 1. We implement them in different games when we think have different opportunities on offense.”
Michigan (18-7, 8-4) joined Nebraska early in the cold shooting, hitting just 32 percent the first half. But after halftime, the Wolverines drilled 16 of their first 19 shots and exploded to a 59-33 lead.
Guard Zack Novak led three Michigan double-figure scorers with 14 points.
When asked about NU's defense, Sadler said: “We can't guard any better than we guarded. You held a team to 62 points. But it wasn't really a close game.”
Despite the seventh home loss of the season — the most in 49 years — Sadler praised his team profusely.
“I'm 100 percent proud of them,” he said. “If they were throwing in the towel, I'd be very frustrated. I'm disappointed in our record, but I'm definitely not disappointed in their effort.”
Contact the writer:
402-444-1024, lee.barfknecht@owh.com
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• Video: Doc Sadler at the postgame press conference, Feb. 8:
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