Indiana basketball failed to do what it has done all year vs Nebraska in season-ending loss. Defend and make 3s.

It was déjà vu for Indiana basketball on Friday night as its major issue shooting and defending 3s reared its head in a 93-66 loss to Nebraska in the Big Ten Quarterfinals.

Shooting is the easiest and quickest way to start a run or on the other hand get blown out. For Indiana, it was the latter as it had no answer for Nebraska all game long as its inability to defend the perimeter began from the tip.

Indiana came into Friday knowing exactly what Nebraska’s offense was — facing it twice this season — and failed to slow it down in any capacity. The firs two made field goals for the Huskers were 3s and it opened up the floodgates after seeing them go down.

“They just started making — knocking down threes,” Indiana basketball senior guard Xavier Johnson said postgame. “We started losing defensively. Tominaga started getting hot, and it was call it a day from there.”

It was Brice Williams who hit the first two 3s, then it was Jamarques Lawrence, then C.J. Wilcher, then Keisei Tominaga. In total, five Huskers made a three in the first half.

12 of Nebraska’s made field goals in the first half were from three. It was 12-of-20.

Tominaga didn’t make his first three until the 6:45 mark of the first half and then made three more in the final 2:58 of the half to spearhead a 17-0 in the final three minutes of the half to blow the game open.

“I just want to find some way to get him (Tominaga) in the action because he can shoot it from anywhere,” Nebraska guard Brice Williams said postgame. “It’s not that hard to get him in action. Whenever Keisei hits one shot, it’s find Keisei the next play. That’s the goal, and that’s what we’re going to keep going to.”

It was 33-27 at the three minute mark before the massive run led to a 50-27 halftime deficit for Indiana.

“I thought our intentions were great when we came out because it was back and forth, but when it got to 33 to 26, 27, we dropped the rope,” Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson said postgame. “And they went in big at halftime and we just never recovered.”

Both Tominaga and Williams had four made 3s in the first half. By halftime, Nebraska had outscored Indiana 36-3 on 3s. Indiana was just 2-of-9.

At that point, the game was all but over but Nebraska made sure to keep its foot on the gas.

“The message was, you remember what happened in Bloomington,” Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg said after the win. “We were up 20. We were up 23 today at three points. We knew they (Indiana) were capable. We knew they’d come out and heat us up a little bit, which they did. Once we started getting our movement back, they did a really good job. We started playing a two-man game with Rienk and Brice. And then I thought we cut really well off of that to build the lead up.

“I think it got up to 17 or 18 at one point, but we built that lead up to 30 again. Just really pleased how we got back to our movement. We did the things that made us successful in that first half.”

Nebraska scored 1.563 points per possession in the first half and 1.274 for the game. It shot 50 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from three.

Indiana scored .794 points per possession in the first half and .892 for the game. IU also shot just 35.3 percent from the field on the night and 25 percent from three.

“We didn’t make enough shots,” Woodson said. “I thought coming down the homestretch these last five games, we shot the three ball extremely well, but early on and midway, we just — we struggled to shoot the three ball. And then we struggled to make free throws.

“We kind of put it all together the last five games prior to coming into this game, and we pretty much looked like a team. We made threes. We made our free throws. The ball was moving, and we got a lot of assists. So a lot of good things was happening in that five-game stretch. But we met a team tonight that was really good and well coached, and we had nothing for them.”

In three games against Nebraska this season, Indiana was outscored 105-54 on 3s. That includes Friday’s 42-15 deficit.

“We just didn’t have any answers tonight from a defensive standpoint because we were just not real good tonight,” Woodson said. “They were very good tonight offensively as well as defensively.”

On the season, Indiana shot 32.4 percent from three, ranked 255th in the country. Even worse, it ranks 352nd overall in three-point rate and 355th in total points from three.

Indiana basketball currently has an offensive efficiency ranking of 106th, the worst since 2014 when it finished 126th.

The Hoosiers finished the season getting outscored by 354 points on 3s.

“Every loss is frustrating because you go in the game with the game plan and you try to get your team to play at a high level,” Woodson added. “I know when they do, we’re a pretty good basketball team, and we’re very competitive. Tonight they were a step ahead of everything that we wanted to do, and you’ve got to give them credit. We’ve just got a lot of work to do this summer to get back and get our team back on top.”

SEE ALSO: ‘The bottom line is we’ve got to get better’: Mike Woodson enters offseason knowing what’s at stake for Indiana basketball with critical few months upcoming

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