Keisei Tominaga scored 30 points and Nebraska led wire-to-wire, dealing a critical blow to Penn State’s NCAA tournament hopes with a 72-63 win Sunday afternoon at the Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Final from Lincoln pic.twitter.com/jWQkt7VoNH
— Penn State Men’s Basketball (@PennStateMBB) February 5, 2023
Penn State (14-8, 5-7 Big Ten) struggled to get a rhythm early in the first half. Nebraska (11-13, 4-9 Big Ten) started the game by making its first three 3-pointers. Nebraska continued its hot shooting with Penn State looking sloppy defensively, and it jumped off to a nine-point lead at the first media timeout. Nebraska excelled on backdoor cuts, wide-open jumpers and 3-pointers.
Penn State went on a four-minute scoring drought in the middle of the first half. After the next media timeout, Penn State started to play better, making its next five shots and playing better defense.
Penn State’s success was short-lived. Nebraska continued to execute its offense to perfection as its lead ballooned to 15 in the first half. Penn State continues to struggle on both sides of the ball and could never get it going in the first half other than Seth Lundy that made five three-pointers.
Nebraska led Penn State 37-28 at halftime. Penn State went 6-for-17 from the 3, got outscored 18-6 in the paint and failed to get to the foul line om the first half.
Penn State continued to be out of sorts in the second half, having defensive breakdowns, and was called for a shot clock violation to start the second half until cutting the deficit to five.
But Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg continued to run his offense using backdoor cuts. Nebraska continued its hot shooting. Tominaga dominated offensively. Penn State started to creep back into the game with Andrew Funk making back-to-back three-pointers to cut the deficit to three at 53-50.
But Nebraska continued to execute its backdoor cuts. Penn State finally made it to the free throw line with 5:52 left. Kebba Njie made 1 of 2 free throws. Nebraska extended its lead when Tominaga made a 3-pointer to make the score 62-54 with four minutes left.
Seth Lundy led Penn State with 24 points by shooting 8 for 13 on three-pointers, tying a program record for made 3s. Jalen Pickett scored points 15 points for Penn State and Funk added 14.
Penn State will be back at the Bryce Jordan Center Wednesday night against Wisconsin.
Twitter: @bwalkerdadon
