Live Blog: Follow Indiana's Game Against Nebraska in Real Time
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana (14-11, 6-8) looks to avenge its previous loss to Nebraska (18-8, 8-7) on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET inside Assembly Hall.
Back on Jan. 3, the Cornhuskers defeated the Hoosiers 86-70 in Lincoln, Neb. behind 28 points from Keisei Tominaga. Since then, Indiana has gone 4-7 and Nebraska has gone 6-6. The Hoosiers are coming off a 76-72 home loss to Northwestern on Sunday, while the Cornhuskers won 68-49 at home against Penn State on Saturday.
Welcome to our live blog, where we'll share updates, highlights and thoughts on the game.
10:48 p.m. – Final: Nebraska 85, Indiana 70. IU played one of its worst halves of the season in the first 20 minutes, digging a 51-31 hole, but was +5 in the second half. Tominaga had 20. Mgbako had 22. Nebraska 14-33 from 3. IU 4-12 from 3, 14-24 FT. Indiana is 14-12, 6-9. At PSU Saturday.
10:27 p.m. – Trey Galloway has had a tough time taking care of the ball tonight. He has tied his season high with five turnovers as IU trails 76-64 with 3:28 to play. Indiana is actually winning the second half 33-25, but dug itself way too big of a hole by giving up 51 points in the first half. It's been yet another case of this team being so hot and cold.
10:19 p.m. – Lawrence knocks down a three, and Nebraska's lead is back up to 71-57. That's a 12-1 run. Just as soon as Indiana got close, it gave the lead right back.
10:09 p.m. – Nebraska punches right back with a 5-0 run. Its lead is back up to eight with about nine minutes left.
10:02 p.m. – Reneau got Tominaga switched onto him and scored easily. Nebraska responded with a three on the next possession, but CJ Gunn answered right back. He's got six important points off the bench. That's the closest it's been since 7-6 at the 16:33 mark of the first half. IU is on a 16-2 run in the last 4:51. Nebraska leads 59-56 with 11:12 left.
9:58 p.m. – Ware has missed four consecutive free throws, and he's visibly frustrated. The Assembly Hall crowd tried cheering him on before the last. Gunn knocks down a corner three, then Reneau gets a steal and dunk. Nebraska's lead is down to 57-51 with 12:56 left.
9:54 p.m. – Big rejection at the rim by Ware. On a nice pass from Galloway, Ware gets inside and draws a foul on Allick, his third. Ware goes 0-for-2 at the line. IU trails 57-44 with 15:03 left.
9:48 p.m. – Tominaga airballed a three, but Williams was there for the rebound. He fell to the ground with the ball, but was awarded a timeout. It sure looked like a travel to me. Cupps and Mgbako immediately pleaded for a travel, too, but it wasn't called. IU trails Nebraska 54-38 with 17:03 left.
9:43 p.m. Reneau got elbowed in the face defending a drive by Juwan Gary. Looked like he was in a lot of pain. It's Reneau's third foul, but he stays in the game. IU trails 54-33
9:40 p.m. – Nebraska opens the second half with an alley-oop to Brice Williams. This half could say a lot about how much pride Indiana has left to show.
9:25 p.m. – Halftime: Nebraska 51, Indiana 31 IU walks into the locker room amid some booing at Assembly Hall. Tominaga scored 18 points to lead a Nebraska offense that scored 1.4 points per possession and shot 9-19 from three. Ware and Mgbako combined for 20, but IU shot 37.5%.
9:19 p.m. – Tominaga now has 18 first half points on 7-for-10 shooting with four 3-pointers. IU has had some defensive miscues, but he's hit some really tough shots, too. IU trails 49-31 with eight seconds left in the half.
9:16 p.m – On the replay, it looked like Malik Reneau got kicked in the face. Nothing intentional or very forceful, but he stayed down for a moment. Reneau picked up his second foul diving for the ball. Leal checks in for him.
9:11 p.m. – Nebraska doesn't have much of a rim protector, and it's really starting to show. Ware and Mgbako are taking it right to the hoop and have 20 combined points. Nebraska leads 44-31 with 3:48 left.
9:08 p.m. – Reneau hits Ware on an alley-oop, which was virtually unguardable. After a defensive stop, Mgbako drives and draws a foul. He hits both free throws. IU is cutting into this lead a bit, trailing 40-27 with 5:02 left in the half.
9:04 p.m. – Ware missed his first two attempts, but kept getting his own rebound and eventually drew a foul. He went just 1-for-2 at the line, though. IU trails 35-22 and has to find a way to break Nebraska's offensive rhythm in the last seven minutes of the half.
8:58 p.m. – Nice move from Mgbako, stepping through the Nebraska defense and finishing the layup through the foul. He hit the free throw, too. Nebraska remains on fire so far, though, shooting 12-for-20 from the field with seven 3-pointers. Cornhuskers lead 31-19 with 8:18 left.
8:56 p.m. – Galloway with three turnovers now, and Nebraska turns his latest one into a layup the other way. After Mgbako goes 1-for-2 at the line, Cupps replaces Galloway. IU trails 26-16 with 9:35 left in the half.
8:53 p.m. – IU going a bit smaller now, replacing Reneau with Gunn. Mgbako, Ware, Leal and Galloway are the other four out there. Hoosiers score two quick buckets out of the timeout, cutting Nebraska's lead to 24-15.
8:50 p.m. It's another game with IU getting hurt by the 3 ball. Nebraska is 6-for-11, while IU is just 1-for-5. The Hoosiers haven't scored in 2:46 and trail 22-11 with 11:52 left in the half.
8:47 p.m. – Another bad turnover from Galloway, this time missing Mgbako by a couple feet on a skip pass. It seems like he's leaving his feet without knowing exactly what he's going to do. Leal checks in for Cupps, with IU trailing 16-11.
8:41 p.m. – Brutal sequence for Indiana about four minutes in. Galloway left his feet without much of a plan and threw a bad pass to Cupps, who hurled the ball over his head right to Tominaga. On the fastbreak, Tominaga knocked down a three. He hit two more threes on the next possessions. Mgbako answered with a corner three. IU trails 16-11.
8:40 p.m. – Mgbako missed a three, but Reneau was there for the offensive rebound and putback. Mast answers with a layup on the other end. Nebraska leads 7-2.
8:39 p.m. – Shot-clock violation for Indiana to start. Cupps airballed a fadeaway just before the buzzer. Plenty of ball movement, but no one really tried to drive. Gary makes a layup for Nebraska to start, then Williams hits a three. Nebraska up 5-0 early.
8:37 p.m. – Ware wins the tip and we're under way.
8:32 p.m. – Starters for Indiana tonight remain the same: Gabe Cupps, Trey Galloway, Mackenzie Mgbako, Malik Reneau and Kel'el Ware. For Nebraska, it's Keisei Tominaga, Brice Williams, Juwan Gary, Josiah Allick and Rienk Mast. Officials are D.J. Carstensen, Kelly Pfeifer and and Eric Curry.
8:03 p.m. – Although Xavier Johnson remains out tonight, he wasn't wearing the brace on his elbow that he's worn since suffering the injury on Jan. 30 against Iowa. That's a good sign for his potential return this season. Mike Woodson said Monday that he hopes Johnson can return in a week or two.
7:16 p.m. – The Hoosiers are 2.5-point favorites, and the over/under is 148.5 points, according to the SI Sportsbook.
7:00 p.m. – Indiana point guard Xavier Johnson remains out with an elbow injury, according to the Big Ten's pregame availability report.
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