Hoosiers lose to Nebraska to open conference play
By CALEB LYNN
ISL Contributor 
BLOOMINGTON — Coming into Wednesday night, the Hoosiers had won 26 straight games at Assembly Hall. That streak was snapped, as Nebraska shocked the Hoosier faithful with an 87-83 victory to open conference play.
To make matters worse, Juwan Morgan could be lost for a period of time as he went down hard with a shoulder injury. “It seems to be a bruise,” Coach Tom Crean said. “But it does not appear to be anything that would be overly serious.”
It was physical inside in this game, and Thomas Bryant had a performance that was strong with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and four blocks. Bryant had this to say after the loss: “It’s frustrating, but all we have to is bounce back from it.”
In the loss, Robert Johnson was 7-of-11 from the field and dropped 19 points but was in foul trouble early in the first half. Over Johnson’s last six games, he has shot 52 percent. “We did not come out with the right mindset,” Johnson said. “We thought it was going to be easier than it was going to be.”
Coach Crean spoke about Johnson’s foul trouble and how it impacted IU in the second half. “It really hurt us. I had a pretty good idea how Rob is, but playing without him for us tonight, I got a real indication of how good he is and how much we missed him.”
Turnovers were once again a problem for Indiana. They had 19 turnovers which was just one ingredient of why IU came out on the wrong end of a tough game.
Coach Crean was asked about the loss and IU’s next step into getting better. “I’m real comfortable when you hit adversity. I’m good with that. We’ll figure out how to overcome it. We’ll find out who can learn the same thing. It’s one game.”
Nebraska played with lots of confidence tonight and really showed what they can do. For Nebraska, Tai Webster gave a big punch against Indiana with 21 points off of 7-13 shooting. His backcourt mate Glynn Watson Jr also joined in on the fun with 26 points in the big win.
After a disappointing start to conference play, the Hoosiers will now play another non-conference game against Louisville on Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. It will be a big game for both teams.
