HONOLULU — When it comes to people traveling to a tropical well-known vacation spot, cold conditions are not usually on the agenda.
Unfortunately, for Murray State’s men’s basketball team, the first half of Sunday night’s opener in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic against a good Nebraska team from the Big 10 Conference had to seem like an unwanted trip to an ice box. Simply, the ball would not go through the basket to the tune of a frigid 4-for-28 performance from the field (14.3%), as the Cornhuskers built a 20-point halftime lead.
That was going to be too much to overcome for the Racers, who did experience a gratuitous thaw in the final 20 minutes (13-for-27 for 48.1%) but still suffered their third straight loss, 66-49. The Racers are now 6-5 on the season, while the Huskers improved to 8-2.
“Man! We just couldn’t score,” said Murray State Head Coach Steve Prohm said in a postgame interview on FROGGY 103.7. His team was getting open shots, more often than not, in the first half, but was watching the ball bound off the rim with great frequency. “At first media (timeout with 16:25 left in the first half), it’s 4-0 (Nebraska with the lead) and I was like, ‘I really feel good. We’re playing hard.’ First play, they lob it and we lock it up and they turn it over, so I felt like we were in a good place. Now, I wish it would’ve been 6-4 instead of 4-0 (as the Racers missed several in-close shots that, if successful, almost certainly would have had them in the lead).
“They’re really good. They’re elite defensively (with a huge size advantage that featured players 6’10” and 7’1”). They’re long. They’re big and athletic, but I thought we really gave a lot of points away in those first five to eight minutes (where the Racers opened an icy 1-for-10 from the field as the Huskers opened an 11-4 lead) and we had shots at the rim or some open threes. We were 3-for-10 at the free-throw line.
“If we could’ve just been down 10 or 12 at the half, we would’ve made this a game (in the second half)!”
That did not happen, though, and a big reason was Huskers reserve guard Connor Essegian, who had nine points in the opening half, all on 3-pointers. He ended the night 5-for-10 for a team-high 15 points.
“We defended, for the most part, all night,” Prohm said, and the numbers show that. While Nebraska was more efficient shooting wise (26-for-53 for 49.1%), it only was 6-for-17 from long range as a team, plus a team used to visiting the foul line about 20 times a game only toed the stripe nine times.
Nebraska also had 15 turnovers, 10 of those were in the first half. The problem was the Racers, who ended with a very acceptable 10 miscues, only scored one first-half point. On five Huskers turnovers in the second half, Murray State scored six points to Nebraska’s two on only three Racer miscues.
So if there is a silver lining for Sunday it is that Murray State did not quit, though it certainly had the chance to throw in the towel. In much the same fashion as Wednesday night’s disappointing 84-74 loss to Missouri Valley Conference opponent Indiana State in Terre Haute, the Racers fought hard in the second half. Unlike Wednesday, though, a very old and experienced Nebraska team kept the Racers at far enough of a distance to not feel too pressured, only allowing the Racers to cut as large as a 23-point lead to 12 points, 61-49, on a 3-pointer from guard Kylen Milton wth about 3:30 remaining.
The Racers did have two great chances to trim the lead below double digits, but the first-half woes returned. Milton missed on a driving layup attempt and guard Terence Harcum, who had to feel like he was firing blanks all night (1-for-13 overall and 1-for-8 from long range and only three points for his efforts), missed a wide-open 3-pointer.
After those misses, Nebraska, appropriate for this night, “iced” the game with a putback jumper from forward Rollie Worster.
“I thought (in an 81-76 loss at old in-state rival Western Kentucky last weekend in Bowling Green), we played really hard … I mean really hard. Tonight, I thought we played really hard. The only exception is the first half (Wednesday) at Indiana State (where the Racers went from up five points early in the first half to down 15 at halftime),” Prohm said. “Obviously, we’re going through a funk right now. There’s no question about that.
“I told the guys (after the game), ‘Hey! You played really hard. I mean, we competed really, really, really well. We’ve got to figure out where our offensive struggles are.”
Milton was outstanding for the Racers after experiencing a terrible start to the game. Less than 10 seconds into game, Milton collided with a Husker and emerged with a bloody noise, causing him to play the rest of the first half with gauze up his nose, a most uncomfortable feeling.
Eventually, he shed the gauze and became a big problem for Nebraska, slashing and shooting his way to 12 second-half points that gave him a season-high 19 for the game. He had help in the second half as both forward A.J. Ferguson and guard JaCobi Wood had seven points in the final 20 minutes (giving Wood all of his points and Ferguson eight for the game), while reserve forward KyeRon Lindsay had four points with three rebounds (two on offense).
Murray State now will play its second game in this event tonight against North Carolina-Charlotte. That game is slated for about 11:30 and will be televised either on ESPN2 or ESPNU and can be heard on FROGGY 103.7 with Voice of the Racers Jeff Bidwell on the call with color analysis from former Racers assistant Kenny Roth. Pregame is set for 11.