Indiana Nears All-Time Worst Loss in 70-69 Defeat to Nebraska

You just have to shake your head after that disappointment of a game. What a joke.

The Hoosiers' 70-69 loss to one of the worst programs in major college basketball is an embarrassment to a once-potentially-great season.

This is the last couple of seasons all over again. You suffer a couple of bad defeats, and suddenly you can't fix the mistakes and break the losing trend.

When you start 15-1 and beat Kentucky and Ohio State, you don't lose to Minnesota and Nebraska in the span of a week. No disrespect to the Gophers or Huskers, but if you want to consider yourself one of the big boys, you should never lose to them.

The Hoosiers were still in the hunt for the Big Ten championship, but now at four losses, they're on thin ice at best.

This was the ultimate letdown by this Hoosiers team—a team that led by seven to 10 points for almost the entire game, yet allowed Nebraska to come back. There are no excuses for that.

I hope this stings deep for the Hoosiers ball club. When you see those fans rush the court in a game the home team didn't deserve to win—and when you read the stat lines—it should hurt, because Indiana was clearly the better team.

Indiana shot 51 percent from the field including 44 percent from threes. Compare that to Nebraska's 37 percent from the field, and a dismal 10 for 30 behind the arc. How do you lose?

When you look at rebounds, Indiana won that battle 33-29. On assists, Indiana won that battle as well, 17-15.

How on earth do you lose to a bad program going nowhere on those stats?

I'll give you the answer. It's all about heart.

When you're up by 13 points in the second half, you push the throttle down harder and beat the team that didn't even deserve to be on the same court as you. You get a little swagger and blow them out.

Instead, Indiana let Bo Spencer and Toney McCray get going, nailing threes to get the Huskers back in the game in the last five minutes.

Where's the heart? Where's the defense? Push through screens get a hand up, and don't let them make those shots.

Nebraska was shooting 28 percent of their threes in conference play, for crying out loud.

Once Nebraska made the comeback, they were down by one with under a minute to go. Jordan Hulls was fouled with 36 seconds left near midcourt and nailed both of his free throws.

Nebraska then came down and hit a shot to make it a one-point game.

Jordan Hulls was fouled before the inbounds pass, and missed a rare free throw after going 4 for 4 in the last game, and Nebraska rebounded. At that point, the superior team is supposed to suck it up and not take a loss for an answer.

Instead, they let a soft Jorge Brian Diaz shoot and get fouled near the basket. Diaz made both free throws, and Indiana was now trailing by one.

Jordan Hulls missed a heave that fell out of bounds near the Indiana bench, and Indiana lost its third consecutive game.

I hope Coach Crean doesn't let these guys touch a basketball in an organized practice the next couple of days.

These guys deserve punishment and discipline. They need to learn that you can't lose to these teams anymore, starting now. They need to work on help side defense, shell drills, ball drills, and conditioning.

Indiana has another shot at a lousy team on Sunday, when they take on Penn State. That game will make or break the season. If you drop three of four to the worst three teams in the Big Ten, consider this season a waste.

A win will help end all of this heartbreak, and get that swag back to push through the conference and make a tournament run.