LINCOLN, Neb.—Chicago State coach Benjy Taylor had plenty of praise for Nebraska after the Huskers had rolled over his Cougars 74-39 Thursday night. But he was having a hard time figuring out his team.
“I just can’t understand why we can’t make layups right now,” Taylor said. “We’re just missing point-blank-range shots, and it’s putting too much pressure on our defense.”
Chicago State hit just 24.2 percent of its shots and started both halves with long droughts.
Nebraska (6-2) opened an 11-1 lead in the first five minutes. Chicago State (3-4) missed its first four shots and had four turnovers before scoring a basket. The Cougars never came closer than six the rest of the game.
Nebraska outscored Chicago State 19-3 to open the second half, taking a 49-17 lead on Brandon Ubel’s free throw with 11:50 left.
The Cougars missed their first 10 shots of the second half and turned the ball over three times before Antonio Lofton’s layup with 11:27 remaining.
Nebraska’s largest lead was 39 points. And the Huskers impressed Taylor.
“I thought they had a sense of purpose,” he said. “I didn’t know they were that versatile. They can go small, and those guys putting the ball on the floor really hurt us. They’re pretty good. If they can continue to rebound the basketball well, their versatility is going to hurt some people.”
Nebraska coach Doc Sadler had the opposite view of his team’s rebounding. After stressing rebounding in practice this week, Nebraska gave up 23 offensive boards and outrebounded the Cougars only 41-37.
“I’m never going to be disappointed with a win,” Sadler said. “I don’t know that we played that good. Until we get 23 offensive rebounds and 17 turnovers controlled, we’re not going to be able to be a good basketball team or a mediocre basketball team.”
His players echoed Sadler’s thoughts.
“The effort is there,” said Lance Jeter, who led Nebraska with 13 points. “We’re really working hard. It’s different between practice and games. Right now it’s not working.”
There’s one place to get things working right, said Myles Holley.
“There’s a lot of stuff we’ve got to correct,” he said. “We’ve got to get back to the gym, go back to the drawing board and get it right.”
Adrien Coleman and Brandon Richardson scored 10 points apiece for Nebraska. Damian Windham led Chicago State with 11.
