Sam Hoiberg’s career day not enough for Nebraska as Maryland wins 82-63

Jan 29, 2023 - 12:00 AM

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The Nebraska Cornhuskers put up a fight early and redshirt freshman guard Sam Hoiberg had a breakout performance as he posted a career-high 15 points, but it wasn’t enough. The Maryland Terrapins sent the Huskers packing with an 82-63 Terps victory.

The loss moves Nebraska to 10-12 on the season and 3-8 in Big Ten play. Maryland moves to 14-7 on the year and improves to 5-5 in league competition.

Derrick Walker led Nebraska in scoring and on the glass with 16 points and eight rebounds. Hoiberg went 6-of-8 from the field including 3-of-3 from 3-point range for a career-high 15 points in a breakout performance. The redshirt freshman posted career-highs in every scoring category except free throw attempts/made and over 25 minutes on the court.

Sam Griesel scored eight points while dishing a team-high six assists. Jamarques Lawrence notched seven points and no other Husker scored more than four.

Five players for the Terps managed double-figures led by Jahmir Young’s 18-points to lead all scorers. Young also led UMD on the glass with seven boards.

Nebraska managed to keep it a competitive game in the first half until late. After back-to-back layups by Denim Dawson and Walker gave the Huskers a narrow one-point led in the opening minutes, up 3-2 over the Terps, Maryland fought back and made it a back-and-forth affair. The game was tied or the lead changed eight times until a 3-pointer by Donta Scott with 12:17 left in the period gave the home team the lead for good.

The Huskers were able to cut it to one, trailing 22-21 with 8:19 remaining, but that would be the best the team could do for the rest of the afternoon. Maryland kicked off a 12-3 run to open the first double-digit lead of the game, leading 34-24 with 3:02 remaining. By the end of the half, the Terps led 40-30.

Maryland was able to really take advantage in the game of Husker turnovers as the Terps converted 20 points off 15 Nebraska turnovers. UMD relied heavily on points inside the arc, including off fast-break points from those turnovers, scoring 22 points on fast-breaks and 30 points inside the paint overall. The Terps still managed respectable if not great shooting from outside, hitting 34.8% from deep.

Nebraska managed well from deep, hitting 42.9%, the team’s best clip since its trip to Purdue on Jan. 13. Turnovers were the achilles heel in the end as the Maryland’s 19-point win margin was more than accounted for by the 20 the Huskers gave up due to poor ball security.

UNL fought hard coming out of the locker room and managed to cut to just eight twice at the 12:33 and 11:24 marks. Then with 9:06 left, Wilhelm Breidenbach hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 59-50. Maryland led for double digits the remainder of the game shortly after.

The Huskers closed out the day on a scoring drought of over three minutes and that was all she wrote.

Nebraska returns to action with a second-straight road trip. UNL heads to Champaign to take on Illinois Tuesday night Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. Central Time and the game will air on the Big Ten Network.