Juwan Gary's Career High Not Enough as Nebraska Falls to USC

The Huskers have lost five consecutive games.

USC's Desmond Claude shoots the ball during the second half against Nebraska's Connor Essegian (left) and Berke Buyuktuncel. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Nebraska men's basketball's hopes of going back to the NCAA Tournament are getting slimmer by the day.

The Huskers have now lost five consecutive games, including Wednesday's 78-73 disappointment to USC. Nebraska is now 12-7 on the year and 2-6 in the Big Ten Conference while Southern California improves to 12-7 overall and 4-4 in the league.

After 20 consecutive home wins, NU has now lost back-to-back contests at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Nebraska forward Juwan Gary shoots the ball against USC guard Kevin Patton Jr. during the first half. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Juwan Gary and Connor Essegian combined to score Nebraska's first 22 points, giving the Big Red the lead for much of the final nine minutes of the first half. USC opened the second half on an 11-6 run and never trailed the rest of the way.

Nebraska despite a stretch of nearly five minutes without a made shot kept the game interesting and never trailed by more than five points. The Huskers tied the game multiple times, including on a Brice Williams 3 with 1:19 to go.

But USC answered with a triple of their own and Nebraska's offense turned into "stand around and hope" mode, settling for a pair of layups after burning a bunch of clock as the Trojans made their free throws on the other end to seal the game.

Nebraska's Ahron Ulis drives against USC's Matt Knowling during the first half. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

For the first time this season, Nebraska lost a game when the opponent shot worse than 39% from deep. USC made just 6-of-21 from beyond the arc as part of a 44.3% shooting night.

The Huskers shot 49.1% for the game, including 5-of-24 from 3.

Gary finished with a career-high 27 points on 11-of-19 shooting, including 0-for-5 form deep. The Husker senior added three rebounds and a blocked shot.

USC guard Wesley Yates III dunks the ball during the first half. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Williams, after taking 16 minutes to even put up a shot, eventually got rolling and scored 17 shots.

Nebraska will take the losing streak on the road this weekend, facing No. 18 Wisconsin Sunday. Tip from Madison is slated for noon CST on the Big Ten Network.

Box score

Nebraska Athletics Notes

• The game featured nine ties and10 lead changes, as the largest lead for either team was six points.
• Juwan Gary scored a career-high 27 points, eclipsing his previous career high of 22 points against Minnesota on Feb. 25, 2024. Gary posted his third 20-point game of the season and the sixth of his career.
• Gary’s 11 field goals were the most by a Husker this season.
• Brice Williams added 17 points, including 15 in the second half. Williams scored in double figures for the 17th time in 19 games this season.
• Connor Essegian finished with 15 points, his ninth double-figure game off the bench this year. NU now has 20 double-figure efforts from its bench in 2024-25.
• Essegian hit three 3-pointers, marking his eighth game of the season with at least three 3-pointers.
• Rollie Worster tied his season high with six assists while adding six rebounds and four points off the bench.
• Nebraska was efficient from inside the arc, finishing 22-of-31 (71 percent) on 2-point field goals.
• Nebraska was out-rebounded for only the third time in 19 games this season as USC held a 36-31 advantage on the glass.
• Ahron Ulis made his first start as a Husker player Thursday, as Nebraska used its fourth different lineup of the season.

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