Nebraska falters badly in second half, falls to Illinois in Big Ten tourney semifinals
Nebraska has been an excellent defensive team for more than a month. That changed in the second half Saturday against Illinois and its star wingman Terrence Shannon.
Shannon finished the game with 40 points — including 22 during the final 20 minutes — as Illinois surged to a 98-87 triumph in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Nebraska reached the Big Ten Tournament semis for the first time.
The 6-foot-6, 225-pound Shannon, averaging 21.9 points coming into the game, wound up 11-for-22 from the field and 13-for-16 from the free-throw line.
Second-seeded Illinois (24-8) outscored No. 3 seed Nebraska 58-36 in the second half. In its last eight games, NU had allowed opponents to score an average of only 62.9 points per game. The Huskers won seven of those eight games and led this one 51-40 at halftime.
Nebraska (22-10) was led by Brice Williams with 23 points and Keisei Tominaga with 18. Tominaga, however, was only 2-for-9 from three-point range as the Huskers finished only 8-for-27 from deep (29.6%).
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Mast’s early surge gets Nebraska out of gate quickly
Nebraska surged to its 11-point halftime lead as center Rienk Mast led the way with 13 points.
Mast’s three-pointer gave his team an 18-14 lead with 13:25 left before the break. He scored 13 of the Huskers’ first 18 points, with three three-pointers in the surge. He finished with 15 on 5-for-15 shooting.
Nebraska had a 15-6 advantage in bench points during the first half as speedy guard Jamarques Lawrence contributed nine. His free throw with 3:12 remaining in the first half gave the Huskers a 43-30 advantage, their largest lead to that point.
Nebraska was 19-for-33 from the field in the first half, a sterling 57.6%, but faltered to 36.1% in the second half, including only 2-for-11 from deep (18.2). As has been the case since early February, the Huskers also played excellently on the defensive end, holding Illinois to 35.1% shooting in the first 20 minutes.
But Illinois heated up in the second half, and Nebraska simply didn’t have enough answers.
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