Debate all you want the fairness of what the Nebraska men's basketball team has done over the past two weeks, playing seven games in 12 days after coming off a monthlong COVID-19 pause, and ending the stretch with the second of back-to-back games at Maryland on Wednesday night.
But the Huskers have showed up to play those games, largely because they want to, and in part because they need to as they try to establish a foundation to move the program forward under Fred Hoiberg.
"I don't know if anything's fair right now just based on everything going on in our world. It's just impossible to plan for a hopefully once-in-a-lifetime pandemic like what's going on right now," Hoiberg said after Wednesday's game.
NU showed up again Wednesday night in College Park, Maryland, and for the second night in a row the Huskers were game into the second half before a decisive Maryland run put things out of reach in a 79-71 Terps victory.
Nebraska (5-14, 1-11 Big Ten) chose to play the two Maryland games on back-to-back nights, Hoiberg said, in order to have an extra day off after returning to Lincoln to prepare for Saturday's game against Purdue. Originally the Huskers and Terps were to play Tuesday and Thursday.
"Now it probably cost us our legs here, but I thought it was better to have a day off and then get a day to prepare and then move on to the next portion of our schedule," Hoiberg said. "But nothing's ideal. When you get shut down for 26, 27 days, nothing's ideal and you've just got to try to make do the best you can."
Trailing by seven at halftime, Nebraska got back within 43-39 in the opening minutes of the second half after Dalano Banton knocked down a pair of three-pointers.
But NU missed a layup that would have cut the deficit to two, and Maryland responded with a layup on the other end that started a 12-0 run to give the Terps control.
Maryland led by as many as 21 points before a late NU spurt cut things back to single digits.
Teddy Allen was 8-for-12 from the field and 5-for-5 from the free-throw line on his way to a game-high 25 points to lead Nebraska. Banton had 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots for NU, Lat Mayen scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half, and Shamiel Stevenson finished with nine points and two boards.
Nebraska went 13-for-28 from three-point range and 10-for-12 at the free-throw line, but the 13 threes were only good enough to match Maryland's total (13-for-33). Eric Ayala scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Terps (13-10, 7-9). He and Aaron Wiggins combined to score Maryland's final 17 points of the first half and 30 of the Terps' 40 first-half points.
The Huskers were flying back to Lincoln on Wednesday night, take Thursday off, then use Friday to prepare for Saturday afternoon's home game against Purdue.
Photos: Maryland knocks off Nebraska for second straight day