Nebraska guard Dachon Burke (11) is tightly guarded by North Dakota’s Davids Atelbauers (4) with 3 seconds left before he takes a shot, which failed to give them the victory as the Huskers fell 75-74 Saturday at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
FRANCIS GARDLER, JOURNAL STAR
Nebraska forward Yvan Ouedraogo (24) shoots over North Dakota’s Filip Rebraca (12) in the first half Dec. 21, 2019, at Pinnacle Bank Arena.Â
FRANCIS GARDLER, JOURNAL STAR FILE PHOTO
With the 75-74 loss to North Dakota on Saturday at Pinnacle Bank Arena, Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg and the Huskers fall to 5-7.
Cam Mack leaned forward on the table and rested his hand on his fist, looking like a guy who wasn't thrilled to be sitting where he was.
But when asked what the Nebraska men's basketball team needs to do to shake itself out of whatever has caused its uneven performances through the first two months of the season, Mack delivered a message that might make his teammates sit up and take notice.
"I feel like everybody just needs to look themselves in the mirror and ask if they want to play. Period," Mack said following Nebraska's 75-74 loss to North Dakota, "Do you want to play or not? You can't take games off."
In front of 15,010 at Pinnacle Bank Arena, Nebraska trailed for nearly 34 minutes against a team that had played nine of its first 12 games away from home and lost seven of those contests. In its only other games against power conference opponents, North Dakota lost by 31 points at Gonzaga and by 23 at Minnesota.
But after a strong effort in an overtime loss at Indiana and an inspiring performance in a home win against Purdue, the Huskers reverted to the team that lost at home to UC Riverside and Southern Utah at home to begin the season.
"I thought we'd come out and play with great energy, but for whatever reason we didn't," NU coach Fred Hoiberg said. "Sometimes in life you get exactly what you deserve, and that's what happened in this game."
The Huskers (5-7) got out to a 6-2 lead, then surrendered a 15-4 North Dakota run. The Hawks tied the game at the 14:22 mark of the first half, and Nebraska didn't lead again until Matej Kavas hit a three-pointer with 1:42 left in the game.
Then De'Sean Allen-Eikens rebounded a pair of missed North Dakota three-point attempts in the final 90 seconds, turning one into a three-point play and the other into an assist for a layup. He was also fouled on North Dakota's last possession with 7.3 seconds left, making one free throw for the final margin.
Dachon Burke's baseline fallaway at the buzzer missed the mark as the Huskers (5-7) fell to 2-3 at home this season against mid-major opponents.
"Every team that comes in here — mid-major, low-major, high-major — we have to respect. We just have to do that throughout the whole season," Burke said. "It doesn't matter the name on the jersey. Sometimes just mentally as a team I feel like we do that.
"We've just got to play to our standard. No one else's standard. And I feel like tonight we played to their standard, and they came out with the victory."
Marlon Stewart led North Dakota (6-7) with 23 points. Allen-Eikens finished with 15 points and six rebounds while Filip Rebracka had 15 points and 11 boards. Kienan Walter hit four three-pointers on his way to 14 points.
In a one-point game, the Hawks hit 11 three-pointers to Nebraska's nine, and scored 11 second-chance points to Nebraska's six.
"To have this type of effort, it's very disappointing. It's very discouraging to come out here after, I thought, we turned the corner a little bit," Hoiberg said.Â
Mack, one game after recording the first triple-double in program history, finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for Nebraska, which led just once in the second half.
Matej Kavas scored 12 for NU, hitting 4-of-5 from three-point range, while Burke and Haanif Cheatham each finished with 10.
Nebraska rallied from an eight-point deficit with 8 minutes to play, taking a two-point lead on Kavas' late three.
But it was too little, too late. And now, instead of being able to go back into the gym to work on their deficiencies, the Huskers will scatter for the holidays before returning to prepare for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 29.
"It's going to be a painful couple days, there's no doubt about it. For my family's sake I've got to try and let it go, and try to enjoy what the holiday season is all about," Hoiberg said. "But it is frustrating. It's very frustrating. And I hope it stings; I hope it hurts our guys.
"So we'll try to enjoy (the holidays). But when we get back it's go time. We've got to get back at it, and hopefully come out and play better next week."
Nebraska guard Dachon Burke (11) is tightly guarded by North Dakota’s Davids Atelbauers (4) with 3 seconds left before he takes a shot, which failed to give them the victory as the Huskers fell 75-74 Saturday at Pinnacle Bank Arena.